In 1990 Mike DePalmer was named Coach of the Year by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, and in 2013 Sam Winterbotham was named Wilson/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Coach of the Year, in his seventh season at UT. In 2013 also, Chris Woodruff was named Wilson/ITA Assistant Coach of the Year. Woodruff won the NCAA singles championship while … Continued

The first tennis court, used for both intercollegiate and student play, was built in 1909 on the Hill behind South College. In 1914 the tennis club was reorganized, and matches were played at the Knoxville Lawn Tennis Club. In 1921 four tennis courts were built on Wait Field (current site of Walters Life Sciences Building) … Continued

Billie Jean King played Hana Mandikova, and Gene Meyer played Steve Denton in a benefit tennis exhibition match at Stokely Athletics Center on April 25, 1983. The four professionals conducted a free tennis clinic in the afternoon. Members of the men’s tennis team played preliminary matches before the exhibition matches. The event was a benefit … Continued

Tenure for faculty was initiated in 1947 with President Brehm’s agreement to follow the American Association of University Professors’ policy on tenure. His agreement allowed the university to be removed from its seven-year position on the AAUP list of censured institutions.  In 1953 President Brehm appointed a faculty committee to draw up a university policy … Continued

The board of trustees passed a post-tenure review policy upon the recommendation of its Academic Affairs Committee in June 1998, stating, “There shall be comprehensive, formal, cumulative, performance reviews of all tenured faculty members to promote faculty development and to ensure professional vitality; each campus shall establish policies and procedures which ensure that these reviews … Continued

The general assembly, having been made aware of the high cost of textbooks by various constituencies, passed a bill in 2007 to try to curb unnecessary costs. The new legislation required that bookstores that sold textbooks packaged with study products allow students the option of buying them separately, that faculty estimate the cost of books … Continued

In 1967 a USDA Textiles and Clothing Laboratory was established on campus as part of the College of Home Economics. There had been a spinning lab on the agriculture campus as an outgrowth of the 1930s research on cotton properties, and Dr. Anna Jean Treece had increased the emphasis on the study of textiles and … Continued

UT purchased 901 Twenty-Second Street, the Thackston Branch Elementary School, in April 2008 with a view to using it as a possible replacement for the child care facility at Golf Range Apartments. The complex consisted of two houses and playground facilities. UT leased the property back to the school’s owner, Judy Wright, through July 2009. … Continued

Dr. Alwin Thaler (1891–1977) joined the faculty of the university’s English Department in 1923 and retired in 1961. He was an internationally recognized authority on Shakespeare. Among his monographs are Shakespeare’s Silences (1928), which placed him in the front rank of Shakespearean scholars; Shakespeare and Democracy (1941); Shakespeare and Sir Philip Sidney (1947); and Shakespeare … Continued

The Thalia Literary Society was the new name of the Women’s Literary Society when it was reorganized and renamed in 1920. On November 8 the society adopted a motto, “Learn to live and live to learn;” a flower, iris; and colors, purple and white. The society faded from existence in 1929, although the university catalog … Continued