The Public Relations Student Society of America is a professional organization within the School of Journalism for students interested in a career in public relations. It was organized at UT in 1973. Members of PRSSA operate a student-managed PR firm (begun as Campus Practitioners in 1976), providing direct experience in the field of public relations.

The PWA was created under the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933. The goal of this program was to provide jobs and stimulate business. In 1934 UT received a loan from the PWA, which was used to help defray the expense of the renovation and expansion of the Carnegie Library into the Austin Peay Building … Continued

The Student Publications Board sets policy and selects the editors of UT student publications that receive an annual subsidy from the Student Programs and Services Fee. The board is the successor to the University of Tennessee Publishing Association (chartered as a corporation in 1916), known as the Publications Council, which was established by UT President … Continued

Jane Greer Puckett graduated in 1943 as the College of Business’s first female graduate in statistics, also studying mathematics and physics. From Paris, Tennessee, she transferred to UT from Judson College (Alabama) planning to major in engineering but was refused entry into the program because she was female. After graduation, she was employed as a … Continued

Sammie Lynn Puett graduated with a BS in office administration from the College of Business in 1958. While attending UT and for a couple of years thereafter, she worked as a secretary in the Department of Journalism. She then (1960) became a specialist in UT’s Municipal Technical Advisory Service, serving as editor of Tennessee Towns … Continued

Eleven UT Alumni have won 13 Pulitzer Prizes. Owen Davis, who attended UT as a subfreshman in 1888-89, received the Pulitzer Prize for drama for his play Ice-Bound in 1923. Bernadotte Everly Schmitt (BA in chemistry, 1904) received the Pulitzer Prize for history in 1931 for The Coming of War: 1914. John M. Hightower, who … Continued

Walter Pulliam earned the baccalaureate degree from UT in 1936, having served as editor of the Orange and White. He had a distinguished career in print journalism, starting with a stint as correspondent for the Mediterranean Stars and Stripes during World War II. He worked for the Knoxville News Sentinel and the Washington Post before … Continued

Punch cards, prepared by a staff of keypunch operators in the UT Computing Center, were the means of getting data into UT’s first general-purpose computer, the IBM 1620, in 1961. The use of punch cards ceased in 1987.

The Purina Milling Company of St. Louis donated an elegant trophy to the UT Dairy Department in 1928 to be awarded annually to the dairy student deemed most worthy of the honor. The engraved plaque on the front of the trophy identified it as the “Purina Bowl,” and the students’ names were engraved on the … Continued

The first issue of Pursuit was released in March 2010, the journal having been founded in 2009. Payal Sharma, a senior in biochemistry and molecular biology, proposed the journal to the UT Office of Research. Todd Skelton, a senior in College Scholars, was elected editor in chief, with Will Barnes and Jenny Bledsoe serving as … Continued