The first director of the physical plant (now Facilities Services) was John Neely, who assumed the newly created post in 1949. He supervised UT’s expanding properties and buildings in Knoxville, Memphis, Martin, and at various experiment stations. He was both a licensed engineer and a lawyer. He graduated from Vanderbilt School of Engineering in 1922 and attended law school at night from 1929 to 1932. Before coming to UT, Neely was employed by TVA, and his TVA papers are in the Special Collections Department of the UT Library.