Luther Keller earned a bachelor’s degree (1950) and a master’s degree (1955) from the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. He joined the faculty of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology in 1960 and served until his retirement in 1994. He headed the UT Knoxville Faculty Senate from 1973 to 1974 and was a member of the UT Knoxville Graduate Council from 1976 to 1979 and from 1986 to 1989. He won the Gamma Sigma Delta Teaching Award in 1975, the Pendergrass Award for Professional Excellence in 1979, and was named the college’s Outstanding Teacher in 1990. He received the Ronald McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Award in 1990 and Chancellor’s Citation of Extraordinary Service in 1993.
He specialized in farm management and production economics, and he authored or coauthored over 50 publications in these fields. He also was active in a consortium of southern states that worked to improve the economy of farms in the region. He was secretary-treasurer of the Southern Agricultural Economics Association from 1970 to 1973. His contributions to the intellectual life of the university have been recognized by placement of a plaque in his honor on a faculty study.