UT’s Culinary Institute had its beginnings in 2005 when nationally certified Executive Chef John Antun, assistant professor of consumer services management, developed a training proposal to extend the department’s outreach into the community by providing free chef’s training to individuals living within Knoxville’s Empowerment Zone who were unemployed. Empowerment Zone funds were allocated, and the program for 30 low-income, unemployed participants ran from August 8, 2005, to February 2006. The success of the program led to establishing UT’s Culinary Institute, which enrolled its first class in October 2007. The institute, a series of courses offered over a 10-month period, led to a certificate in Culinary Arts and the Servsafe Food Service Sanitation certification. All classes were in the evenings and taught by certified, working chefs. A high school diploma was required to register.
Renovations were made at the UT Visitors’ Center for the program, including an instructional lab offering more space and equipment than a production kitchen. Video instructional technology was then available throughout the lab. The first UT class received their certificates in August 2008.
UT and Pellissippi State Community College forged a partnership in September 2010 through which students enrolled in the associate of applied science program in culinary arts at Pellissippi State completed their classroom instruction at Pellissippi State’s Division Street campus and spent four hours a day, three days a week, improving their culinary skills in the laboratory at the Visitors’ Center under the direction of UT personnel. The joint culinary arts program was the first official partnership between a Tennessee Board of Regents’ school and a UT campus, other than dual degree programs.