The College of Education (now Education, Health, and Human Sciences) offered dance classes for credit through its physical education program at least from the 1920s. In 1979 UT first offered dance as a major. The major was discontinued in 1988 because of low enrollment, and dance was offered as a concentration in the College of … Continued

The Dance Team is an official team of the UT athletics program, offering full and partial scholarships to members who are competitively chosen from among female applicants for the team. The dance team program began in 1986 with tryouts for the Volettes, who would perform at men’s basketball games. Dr. WJ Julian, director of bands, … Continued

In the spring of 1902 the Knoxville chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution decided that it would be nice to bring a magnolia tree from Mount Vernon and plant it on the Hill, since UT had been established when George Washington was president. An impressive ceremony was held, but the tree turned out … Continued

The Darwin Coalition, a volunteer organization, has sponsored a Darwin Day annually (since 1997), celebrating the birthday of Charles Darwin and providing information about science and evolution.

In October 1934 the UT student newspaper Orange and White announced the formation, by campus leader Marion “Ikey” Robinson, of a date bureau patterned (but with improvements) over those operating at some eastern colleges. Women registered with the date bureau, and men applied to Robinson for dates, paying a bureau fee of twenty-five cents. Both … Continued

Bruce McGregor Davis entered UT in fall 1961 and attended for six quarters over a year and a half. In 1965 he began taking LSD. In 1968 he met Charles Manson who treated him well and welcomed him into his commune where Davis became one of his chief lieutenants, being in charge of the Spahn … Continued

Pulitzer Prize-winner Owen Davis (for his play Icebound, in 1923) attended UT as a subfreshman in 1888–89. He left UT to enter Harvard. After a brief stint as a mining engineer in Kentucky, where his family had moved from Portland, Maine, Davis went to New York and began to write plays. The first play he … Continued

Richard Beale Davis joined the faculty of the university’s Department of English in 1948. From 1961 to 1974, he served as director of graduate studies in English. He was appointed Alumni Distinguished Service Professor in 1962, serving in this capacity until he retired in 1977. In 1976 he was named Chancellor’s Research Scholar. Dr. Davis, … Continued

Bob Davis, long known as the “gentleman associate athletic director,” was recruited in 1948 by General Neyland from his Bluefield, West Virginia, high school where he played football, baseball, and basketball for Beaver High School. He mastered Neyland’s intricate single-wing center snaps and served as center on the 1951 consensus national championship team and the … Continued

Vic Davis, a native of Millington, Tennessee, graduated from the West Tennessee State Normal College in 1915 and entered the University of Tennessee in September 1916. After serving in World War I, he returned to UT and graduated in 1920. At UT he was a member of Phi Kappa Phi honorary society, an active member … Continued