Dr. Ella J. Day joined the faculty of the university’s College of Home Economics (later Human Ecology and now within the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences) in 1929. She served as the first head of the Department of Child Development and Family Relations from 1937 until 1949. She retired from the university in … Continued

Nicole de Man was the first UT female athlete to win an NCAA swimming title—the 50-yard freestyle in 22.59 in 1995. (She also won SEC 50 freestyle championships in 1995 and 1996.) She won 20 All-America certificates as a competitor for UT. In 1996 de Man was chosen Lady Vols Athlete of the Year. She … Continued

From 1898, when Angie Warren Perkins was appointed part-time dean of women, until April 1970, UT had a dean of women (dean of the Women’s Department 1900–1905) who was responsible for regulations, enforcement of them, and support of women on the campus. The last dean of women, Jane E. McCormick, dean since 1966, resigned in … Continued

A 1979 summa cum laude graduate, Dean is a member of the elite Inventors’ Hall of Fame. He received the bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from UT (attending on scholarship through the Minority Engineering Scholarship Program), the master’s degree from Florida Atlantic, and the doctorate from Stanford. He earned three of the original nine IBM … Continued

In 1966 UT purchased approximately 70 acres of land along Woodson Drive in the Deanbrook Subdivision from the estate of J. H. Dean Sr. for $50,000. Approximately eight acres of the land was the “fern woods” developed years prior by dean and UT professor Aaron J. Sharp. The fern woods included virtually all the species … Continued

In 1909 a debating council was formed to provide for efficient management of intersociety and intercollegiate debates. The president of the university was ex officio, chair, and annually appointed two members of the faculty and an alumnus of one of the literary societies to act with him, while an alumnus of the other society (Chi … Continued

The December 1962 UT commencement was the first at which degrees were conferred with honors, high honors, or highest honors. The first students to graduate with high honors were Harry L. Johnson, Knoxville; Ardis Virginia Hunter Rittenberry, Shelbyville; Patricia Joline Crabtree, Winchester; and Prentice Neil Ursery, Troy. Graduating with honors were Joe Gorman, Knoxville; Cissy … Continued

Governor Frank Clement named Clayton Dekle Tennessee’s first state architect in 1955, following Dekle’s service with Tennessee’s Parks System. The Georgia Tech architecture graduate became the UT system’s director of Facilities Planning in 1981, a position he held at his death in 1987. The position was broadened from that of University Architect following Malcolm Rice’s … Continued

Knoxville-born Joseph Delaney served as artist in residence at the university from 1986 until his death in 1991. The younger brother of Beauford Delaney, Joseph dropped out of school in 1919 after completing the ninth grade when his father, a well-respected Methodist minister, died. Delaney worked as a caddy at Cherokee Country Club and as … Continued