THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE
The University of Tennessee includes the main campus at Knoxville, the Health Science Center at Memphis, the Space Institute at Tullahoma and the statewide institutes of agriculture and public service.
UT is the state's oldest and largest public university and one of the leading institutions of higher learning in the United States.
The University offers undergraduate, graduate and professional studies, conducts a vigorous research program and shares expertise and resources with Tennessee communities, the state and the nation through its programs of public service.
UT offers the largest concentration of doctoral programs in Tennessee and is the only university that offers courses in disciplines such as architecture, dentistry and veterinary medicine.
Students come from every county in Tennessee, every state in the nation and more than 100 other nations.
At Knoxville, several new developments are points of pride. One of the most visible is the new Black Cultural Center. This facility not only draws together African-American students and faculty, but also sends a positive message that UT values and appreciates diversity.
In the planning stages is the new Howard Baker Center for Public Policy. Among the important areas this center will explore are:
· the role of the media in the political process,
· the structure of the American electoral system, and
· the importance of public involvement in governing.
UT has received a $6 million federal grant to help establish the center in honor of Baker, a 1949 UT graduate and U.S. ambassador to Japan. The university will raise money for an endowment and for space on campus to house the center. The center will include Senator Baker's papers, which he already has given to the university. There will also be a Howard Baker chair in public policy, to be filled by a prominent scholar who will provide intellectual leadership.
Probably UT's greatest strength is its ties to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, recently enhanced when UT-Battelle began management of the lab.
Early in 2000, the university took the next logical step in its longstanding relationship with the national lab and entered a partnership with Battelle Memorial Institute to manage ORNL for the U. S. Department of Energy.
This has put UT at the heart of several very significant developments such as the Spallation Neutron Source. This new project will be the most advanced neutron-beam facility in the world when it goes online in summer 2006. The renovation of ORNL's High Flux Isotope Reactor also helps put UT in the forefront of neutron-science research.
The synergy with UT-Battelle enhances UT's involvement in research in computational science and in the physical, biological, materials and environmental sciences.
UT is one of the first major universities in the country to have campus-wide wireless Internet access. The university has about 1,000 receiver-transmitter stations throughout the main campus and the agricultural campus that make possible this wireless computer access no matter where or when faculty or students need it. This has been paid for largely by the student technology fee.
Another point of pride is the performance of UT's new research centers of excellence. In their first year of existence, they attracted more outside funding than was expected in two years. There are nine centers located at Knoxville and at the UT Health Science Center in Memphis, exploring such timely topics as food safety and diseases of connective tissues.
The campus libraries house 2.4 million volumes and are ranked 39th among the more than 110 research libraries in the U.S. The main library, Hodges, has more than 300 graduate student carrels, 200 faculty study rooms and study space for more than 2,000 people. The Hoskins Library is a repository of primary source materials, including three presidential collections (Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, and Andrew Johnson). It also will house the planned Howard Baker Center.
THE CITY OF KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE
· Knoxville is situated at the crossroads of three major interstates, I-75, I-40 and I-81, in the center of the eastern region of Tennessee and is located within a day's drive of half the nation's population.
· Knoxville's city population is nearly 175,000 with a metropolitan area population of 687,249, which includes Knox, Anderson, Blount, Loudon, Sevier and Union counties.
· Knoxville is located in a temperate climate zone with the annual average temperature of 58 degrees. The average July temperature is 77 degrees and the average January temperature is 36 degrees.
· Knoxville's McGhee Tyson Airport serves the East Tennessee region with more than 120 flights daily. Airlines include: American/American Eagle, Comair, Continental Express, Delta/The Delta Connection, Northwest Airlines/Northwest Airlink, Trans World Express, United Express Airlines and US Airways Express.
· Annual Events in Knoxville include the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Celebration, the Dogwood Arts Festival, the American Indian Celebration Powwow, Sundown in the City Concert Series, KUUMBA Festival, Festival on the Fourth, Boomsday Fireworks Celebration, Tennessee Valley Fair, Greekfest, RiverLights Boat Parade, Fantasy of Trees and Christmas in the City.
· Knoxville/Knox County has 5,596 acres of park and recreation space, including 27 recreation centers, six senior citizen centers, 144 playgrounds and parks, 103 tennis courts, five public golf courses (plus 20 public golf courses within a one-hour drive of Knox County) and 14 greenways and walking trails.
· The Knoxville area boasts several professional sports franchises, including the Knoxville IceBears (ACHL), the Tennessee Smokies (Southern League-AA baseball), the Tennessee Riverhawks (NIFL) and the Tennessee Fury (NWBL).
· The nearby Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the country's most visited national park with nearly 10 million visitors annually. Knoxvillians and visitors alike enjoy the beauty and leisure activities that can be found there and at the numerous parks, lakes and resorts which dot the area.
· The Places Rated Almanac recently ranked the Knoxville metro area as the "best place to live in the U.S. among cities with less than one million population."
WHAT'S NEW IN KNOXVILLE
· Knoxville Zoo has several new exhibits, including Black Bear Falls, Gorilla Valley, Chimp Ridge and Stokely African Elephant Preserve, which houses a new barn, three pools, a mud hole and man-made trees for the three female and one bull elephant.
· Ijams Nature Center acquired the Mead's Quarry property, marking the transition from a local nature center to a regional environmental education facility. The 150-acre park contains mulched and paved trails, a waterfront boardwalk and wildlife viewing areas. This free park is open from 8 a.m. to sunset and sits just minutes from downtown Knoxville.
· The Frank H. McClung Museum opened its second renovated permanent exhibit in two years this past September. The newest exhibit, "The Geology and Fossil History of Tennessee," focuses on the last 600 million years of Tennessee's geologic past. "The Archeology and Native Peoples of Tennessee" permanent exhibit opened in fall of 2001 and traces the 12,000-15,000 years of Native American occupation of Tennessee through five cultural periods and numerous interactive displays.
WORLD-CLASS ATHLETIC FACILITIES
Tennessee boasts some of the top athletic facilities in the nation, and they continue to be improved upon.
Numerous recent facility upgrades have been made possible thanks in large part to the athletic department’s STEP UP program. STEP UP is a comprehensive capital campaign to raise $44.25 million for new, renovated and expanded facilities benefiting 17 of UT’s 20 men’s and women’s intercollegiate teams. These improvements are designed to enable UT to continue competing for SEC and NCAA championships in each sport.
Renovations and additions are already underway, including the current expansion of the Neyland-Thompson Sports Center as part of the McKenzie Athletic Center construction, and the construction of the new Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center set for 2004. In total, seven different facilities will benefit or result from the STEP UP campaign.
INTERNATIONAL DIVERSITY
International players have played an extremely vital role in Tennessee’s tennis fortunes for many years. Over the past 10 years, the Vols have seen student-athletes from four different continents garner All-America honors. Tennessee’s roster has included at least one international player every year since 1978. On campus, the University of Tennessee’s International House (I-House) provides many wonderful opportunities for foreign students to get involved with campus life and adjust to the culture in Knoxville and at the University. Serving as a gateway to campus, the house’s staff is comprised almost entirely of international students or students who have lived or traveled overseas--all of whom are dedicated to making the transition to American college life fun and easy.
In the classroom, students can choose from more than 120 programs of study. The University of Tennessee offers numerous programs that cater and appeal to international students. One such program is the Language & World Business Program, a Bachelor of Arts degree program within the curriculum of the Department of Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures. The L&WB program enables a student to combine a major in foreign language with a minor in business. Students are actually required to take more courses in business than needed strictly for a business minor, and there is a growing trend among L&WB students to double major. The label L&WB evokes high quality, versatility and well-roundedness. Graduates of this concentration are ambitious, high-achieving and well-rounded individuals, who proceed into active life or go on to pursue a graduate degree in international business or foreign language.
In addition to completing a rigorous and varied curriculum, students are often required to study and work abroad. Most students study abroad for a year and then complete a domestic internship with a company involved in international trade. Many students also do internships with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the local Center for International Trade. Through the International Cooperative Education Program based in Menlo Park, Calif., students work during the summer in either Belgium, England, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, South Africa or Switzerland.
More and more companies and graduate schools now know that Language & World Business graduates often have better communication skills, more extensive international experience and more practical training than their peers with general business or foreign language degrees.
A curriculum alone, no matter how elaborate, is not sufficient to create an exciting, synergetic program like the Language & World Business program at the University of Tennessee. Students meet regularly with highly experienced and sincerely interested faculty advisors and business mentors to discuss their academic plans and ways to develop business and management skills beyond the classroom. The customer-service aspect of the program has fostered a sincere enthusiasm among students, and many graduates remain in very close contact with the department.
ACADEMIC SUPPORT
The Thornton Center academic counseling staff is committed to assisting student-athletes reach their fullest potential through academics and personal development. The goal of the center is not only to prepare students educationally and socially but to provide them with the tools necessary to live productive lives after their collegiate years.
Completed in the spring of 2001, the Thornton Center is the hub for all academic support and student life activities for Volunteer student-athletes. The center houses two study rooms: the Peyton Manning Study Area and the Lyle Finley Study Area. Each comfortably holds 60 students. The David L. Howard & Family Computer Lab provides up-to-date technological facilities for all Vol student-athletes.
Six full-time counselors/administrators and several graduate assistants staff the area of academic support services. Although students have access to all counselors, the staff is divided according to sport, allowing for continuity in service and relationship-building between the academic departments, student service units, coaches and other Athletics Department staff.
In addition to meeting regularly with their academic counselor, student-athletes are required to meet with an academic advisor in their college or major. The college academic advisor helps the students put together degree plans that meet the students’ academic and career goals. The Thornton Center counselors collaborate with the advisors and help the student-athletes plan appropriately for practice and competition schedules, team travel and the special requirements of the NCAA and SEC.
In addition, the academic counselors play a critical role in monitoring continuing eligibility requirements, assessing the academic preparedness of new recruits, facilitating the university admission process for new students, referring student-athletes to appropriate University academic and support services and coordinating orientation programs.
SEC TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Tennessee has been no stranger to the pinnacle of Southeastern Conference tennis. The Vols have won seven team SEC championships over the years, good for third-most in the conference. Only Georgia (22) and Florida (9) have won more SEC team titles.* The mighty Vols have won at least one SEC team title in every decade since the 1950s.
The Vol title parade began in 1951 under coach Walter D. Buchanan. Tennessee shared its first SEC championship with former conference member Tulane. Complete results are unavailable from the 1951 championships.
A member of that 1951 title team,Tommy Bartlett, later coached the Vols to their second SEC team crown in 1966. The men in orange and white compiled a 16-2 overall record that year while posting a perfect 7-0 mark in conference play.
The Vols’ number came up again in 1970, with Tennessee claiming its third SEC team title. They posted a 14-7 overall mark and a 4-1 conference record that year.
The 1980 Vols grabbed a fourth team SEC title, going 14-6 overall and 6-0 in SEC competition.
The fifth team SEC championship belongs to the 1986 squad. That group posted a 24-10 overall mark. Coach Mike DePalmer Sr. became the only Vol tennis coach to win two SEC championships when his Vols won again in 1990. One of the greatest Vol squads ever, the 1990 Vols posted a 34-1 overall mark and a perfect 9-0 SEC slate. On the way to a runner-up NCAA finish, the 1990 Vols reeled off an NCAA-record 34 consecutive victories.
The most recent Tennessee team championship came in 2000 when the Vols went 23-6 to capture the seventh conference title in school history and finish third at the NCAA Championships.
