NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore (lieutenant commander, USN) earned the MS in Aviation Systems at UT Space Institute in 1994. Selected as a pilot by NASA in July 2000, Wilmore reported for training in August 2000. Following the completion of two years of training and evaluation, he was assigned technical duties representing the astronaut office on … Continued

Alan Wilson, a 1980 communications graduate, became the CEO and president of McCormick Spice Company in 2008. He held an ROTC scholarship at UT and, following graduation, served as an army captain, with tours in the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany. Following army service, he was with Proctor and Gamble in progressively responsible positions … Continued

Drew Garrett Wilson, a sophomore in the College Scholars Program who held an Andy Holt Scholarship and maintained a 4.0 average, studied at the Université Charles-de-Gaulle in Lille, France, for a year. On December 26, 1995, while sailing with friends in the Mediterranean Sea, he was washed overboard and presumed drowned. A service to celebrate … Continued

Edward O. Wilson, an entomologist and biologist known for his work on evolution and sociobiology, attended UT in 1950–51. He is credited with coining the term biodiversity. He won the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction for Human Nature and a second Pulitzer in 1991, with Bert Hölldobler, for The Ants. Wilson received the BS and … Continued

Tony Wilson (brother of singer Nancy Wilson) began competing as a high jumper while attending high school in Ohio. He entered UT in 1969 and continued competition until his death from a rare strain of meningitis on March 10, 1973. He was the first UT athlete to clear seven feet in the high jump, and … Continued

The annual regional wine competition sponsored by the UT Conferences Department began in 2002. Wineries from 14 southern states are invited to submit wines for the competition, in six categories.

In 1964 Adawayhi added to the mascot count by having Wingo—originally billed as a Tennessee Walking Horse but actually a five-gaited horse—appear at home football games, sporting an orange saddle and with a rider dressed in orange and white. The rider and owner of the horse was Roger Kesley, a UT student and member of … Continued

Eight fraternity houses followed Alpha Tau Omega’s lead in summer 1991 in installing wireless cable provided by Tennessee Wireless. The fraternity houses could not receive campus cable—because of the lack of cable. The wireless cable was transmitted by a microwave from a tower on Sharp’s Ridge to an antenna.

Students returning to campus in fall 2001 found that the campus had “gone wireless.” Funded largely by the Student Technology Fee, approximately one thousand receiver-transmitter devices were located throughout the campus, allowing wireless Internet access both within buildings and on campus grounds.

Ada Withers, wife of associate professor of Spanish A. M. Withers, was employed by UT in 1921 as assistant professor of arts. She was born in Berne, Switzerland, and was educated in Germany, Italy, and France. She held a diploma in art from the Grenoble School of Art; and had done graduate work at the … Continued