One of the first projects of President W. D. Carnes (appointed in 1858) was construction of a gymnasium. The facility was completed for the 1860–61 academic year. The university was one of the first universities in the nation to have a gymnasium (Yale built one in 1859). The gym was destroyed during the Civil War.

The UT chapter for Habitat for Humanity raised approximately $17,000 to build its first house. The house was built in February 1995. The organization had a Name-Your-Nail initial fundraiser through which individuals could purchase a nail that would be used in the building of the house for $1. More than one hundred students helped in … Continued

Mildred Alexander was named head majorette in 1939. At that time the female marchers were called Volettes, (established in 1937), and the band had 85 members.

The first student health fee was imposed in 1875 with the increase of $1 of the $18 per session “incidentals fee” to pay for extra food and for nursing and medicine for sick students, to be “drawn on by the college physician.”

On March 31, 1980, some twelve thousand fans in Stokely Athletics Center cheered for Knoxville’s “Big John” Tate as he defended his World Boxing Association Heavyweight Championship against Mike Weaver. Weaver won by a knockout in the final moments of the 15th and final round. Tate was the heavy favorite and had led until the … Continued

The university’s first home page on the World Wide Web was created in 1994, three years following the December 12, 1991, post of the first World Wide Web page by Paul Kunz, a physicist at the Stanford Accelerator Center. The first UT home page, www.utk.edu, carried the graphic of the institution’s bicentennial logo. Other than … Continued

In 1919 Robert B. Snowden was awarded the first honorary Varsity Letter by the Athletics Council. The letter was to be given as a reward to a senior or a junior who deserved one for “Merit, Spirit, Enthusiasm, Application, Sincerity, and Mental Attitude.” The letter carried all the privileges that go with the Varsity Letter, … Continued

In 1988 UT Hospital opened its Positron Emission Tomography Scanner facility, complete with an associated medical cyclotron that produced the radioactive isotopes used in PET scans. It was one of only a handful of hospitals to operate a PET scanning facility, and the only one to use this technology as a clinical diagnostic technique apart … Continued

April 12 and 13, 2002, was the first reunion of housing staff of the university. About 90 former resident assistants, housing directors, and other staff from as far away as California, attended. Eleven hundred former staff members were identified and invited to participate.

As the preliminary to the Knoxville Knights-Greensboro Generals Ice Hockey game February 11, 1967, the newly organized UT Ice Hockey Club played its first collegiate match against Miami of Ohio at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum. Miami won, 9-6.