James Sparks came to UT as associate band director in 1993 from Grissom High School in Huntsville, Alabama, where he served as director of bands. He was an elected member of the American Bandmasters’ Association (the youngest person ever elected) and an officer of the National Band Association. Upon the retirement of WJ Julian, Music … Continued

The student-run club Students Promoting Environmental Actions in Knoxville was founded in 1992 by Mary Anne Peine and Michelle Case as an environmental activist group. The organization emerged from a previous environmental group known as Students for a Better Environment. Mother Jones magazine rated SPEAK among the top 20 student environmental groups in the nation. … Continued

Since fall 1984 all entering graduate students whose native language is not English and who have appointments as graduate teaching assistants have been required to take the SPEAK (Speaking Proficiency English Assessment Kit) test. The test assesses linguistic performance on a scale similar to that used by the Foreign Service Institute in the State Department. … Continued

In 1932 the English Department instituted a spelling class, presided over by Dr. John C. Hodges (who drew the short straw in the departmental decision event). Professors of English could send up to five students from each freshman English section for remedial spelling instruction. Dissatisfaction with students’ spelling was reinforced by an experiment performed by … Continued

Charley Mcalexander of Albuquerque, New Mexico, saw Vol mascot Smokey during the televised 1967 Orange Bowl game. Taken with the antics of the dog, Mcalexander wrote to the Adawayhi Pep Club, offering to make a “spirit horn” for the club by carving a cow horn and etching on it the name of the university and … Continued

UT’s Spirit Squad includes cheerleaders, dance team members, mascots, Smokey dog handlers, and spring sports ambassadors. In 1992 Assistant Athletics Director Col. Gene Moeller responded to a proposal from Joy Postell-Gee seeking to consolidate oversight of spirit activities by hiring her part time to do so. The job then grew to a full-time post that … Continued

Herman Spivey was appointed vice president of academic affairs in 1960, a post he held until 1968. He earned the AB, AM, and PhD in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and taught at the University of Florida and the University of Kentucky, where he became dean of the Graduate School … Continued

Spring football practice, which today culminates with the annual intrasquad Orange and White Game, was first held in spring 1917. The Orange and White Game was first played in 1919. In 1932 the contest was the “Orange and Black” game to raise funds for the “T” Club to furnish a room in the new gym. … Continued

The All-Taxa Biodiversity Inventory Project began in 1999 to identify every organism in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. During the project, Dr. Ernest Bernard, professor of entomology and plant pathology at UT and head of the Apterygotes and Myriapods Taxonomic Working Group, discovered a springtail species unknown to science, which was characterized by its … Continued

The Square and Compasses Club was formed on October 24, 1948, on the third anniversary of the United Nations. The club was affiliated with Knoxville masonry. In 1927 the campus Masonic Club had sought to establish a chapter of the Square and Compass Masonic fraternity.