In October 1914 a journalism club was founded that endeavored “to take the place of a School of Journalism . . . as far as possible until the college authorities are enabled to establish one.” The College of Communications had its beginnings in fall 1923 in the form of a journalism course and a course in argumentation (public speaking) offered by the Department of English. On April 3, 1924, the journalism classes issued a special edition of the Knoxville Sentinel. In 1925 UT increased its journalism courses to three. In 1930 the College of Engineering first offered a course in radio control operations. In 1932 a journalism lab was established in the basement of Science Hall, set up as the editorial division of a newspaper of the time.
In 1946 the Tennessee Press Association passed a resolution urging the university to establish a School of Journalism, and with the support of Dr. Theodore Glocker, dean of the College of Business, and Trustee Frank Ahlgren, a Department of Journalism was established in 1947 within the College of Business. Its first class (of 11 students) graduated in 1948. The bachelor of science in journalism was first awarded in 1953. The Department became the School of Journalism in 1957. The school moved into the Glocker Business Administration Building when the building was completed and remained there until the College of Communications was created in 1969, at which time it relocated to the new Communications and University Extension Building. In 2002 the School of Information Sciences joined the college to form the College of Communication and Information.