Faculty who are appointed as Distinguished Service Professors are among those who have demonstrated effectiveness in teaching; distinction in subject matter or professional field, as evidenced by publications or other appropriate demonstrations of distinction; and distinguished records based on other qualifications that may be regarded as supplements to the two other criteria. The chief academic officer solicits nominations and appoints a committee to consider the qualifications of nominees. Awards, which carry an annual salary supplement as long as the individual is an active member of the faculty, come from three sources: the Alumni Association, which funds 12 of the professorships; an endowment provided by the Benwood Foundation; and UT funds.
The Alumni Association initiated the program in 1962, and the first five recipients were Calvin Buehler (chemistry), J. Gordon Carlson (zoology), Richard Beale Davis (English), E. Eugene Stansbury (chemical and metallurgical engineering), and Charles P. White (finance). The first Benwood Distinguished Service Professorship was awarded in 1964 to Dr. J. Frank Pierce (electrical engineering). The first UT Knoxville awards were made in 1983 to Dr. Schuyler P. Huck (educational and counseling psychology), Dr. Thomas W. Kerlin (nuclear engineering), Dr. Ronald H. Peterson (botany), Dr. Jane Savage (nutrition and food science), and Dr. Ivan A. Sellin (physics).