Why was the University of Tennessee System created? | Know Your Knox

Keenan Thomas, Knoxville News Sentinel
·6 min read

Before he died in September 2023, Joe Johnson served in many roles at the University of Tennessee System: executive assistant to President Andy Holt, vice president for development and eventually president and president emeritus.

But there's another key role he played: co-architect of the UT System.

Though it seems like it's been around forever, the web that connects universities across Tennessee wasn't formed until 1968. That's just the blink of an eye when you consider the University of Tennessee at Knoxville was founded in 1794.

Visionaries Johnson, Holt and Ed Boling dreamed up the UT System, which gave its universities the ability to:

  • Coordinate fundraising and campus planning

  • Manage endowments and oversee fiscal responsibility

  • Share legal staff

  • Present a united front to state and federal legislators

  • Access a large library network

Keith Carver, senior vice president and senior vice chancellor of the UT Institute of Agriculture, said it's "absolutely amazing that (Johnson) had the foresight" to unify the universities. Johnson was Carver's mentor and colleague.

"When you think of all the things that he did for Andy Holt and Ed Boling - some of the executive decisions they made - were really helped put together by Dr. Johnson when he was in those levels of leadership that he served," Carver said. "If you look at the University of Tennessee as it stands now and the way we look, it's got Joe Johnson's fingerprints all over it."

Ayres Hall at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
Ayres Hall at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

When was the University of Tennessee System established?

Johnson credited Holt with the idea in a 50-year anniversary editorial written for the UT System. He said it was a collaborative effort to get the system up and running.

Johnson and Boling, who had both worked for Gov. Buford Ellington's administration before working for UT, used the consensus-building skills they learned in state government work to design and sell the system idea to educational stakeholders, said former UT Alumni Association Executive Director Lofton Stuart.

They planned to unite three universities at the time – the campus in Knoxville, the health sciences campus in Memphis and the campus in Martin  – within the system.

Creating the system didn't require legislative approval, according to UT System spokesperson Tiffany Carpenter. It did require the approval of the Board of Trustees, which was born out of the Knoxville campus' board. That board had existed since the flagship Knoxville campus was founded as Blount College in 1794.

The board approved the idea and the UT System was formed on July 1, 1968.

Delta Dental building at University of Tennessee Health Science Center
Delta Dental building at University of Tennessee Health Science Center

The system streamlined how the campuses worked with the state to get funding. It also led to the creation of the Institute of Public Service, which provides educational resources for local government, businesses, law enforcement and citizens. It was "revolutionary back in the '70s," Carver said.

The UT System started with strong leaders. Holt became the first UT System president, followed later by Johnson, who was president in the 1990s and again in the early 2000s. The current UT System president is Randy Boyd.

"It's the honor of my life, and it's also an incredible responsibility to not only continue the great things that those that came before me created, but also to nurture and grow them," Boyd told Knox News.

"We say that we're going to make this the greatest decade the history of the University of Tennessee, and that's not meant as a slight to those that came before us. I'm confident that people like Dr. Johnson, like Dr. Holt, would expect nothing less of us than to try to make this the greatest decade."

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University of Tennessee System today

The University of Tennessee System is present in all 95 counties of Tennessee with campuses or UT extension offices.

The system includes five primary campuses:

A total of 13,465 students graduated from the system in 2023, including associate, bachelor's, master's, professional and doctorate degrees. Boyd said a majority of those graduating students work in Tennessee.

This fall, the system's enrollment was 58,726 students across every campus, including the flagship Knoxville campus' record-breaking 36,304 students.

The Health Science Center produces 75% of the state's dentists and 40% of the state's doctors, along with nurses and residents.

Students get the benefit of using programs across the system. A UT Martin program allows students to study for three years and then transfer to the Knoxville campus to complete an undergraduate degree. They could then transition into getting a law degree over three more years.

The UT System is responsible for more than $450 million in research expenditures, with the Knoxville campus leading the system. The Knoxville campus recently signed a deal with Volkswagen to extend its research agreement for another five years. The system also has benefited from UT-Battelle, its ongoing partnership that manages Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The main offices for the system are in Knoxville's UT Tower at 400 W. Summit Hill Drive. The system employs more than 14,000 people across the state, not including temporary, student, hospital contract or UT Foundation employees.

Above all, the system has provided Tennesseans access to higher education. Boyd announced a new policy in September that guarantees admittance to any UT System university for Tennessee's top high school seniors.

Starting with the fall 2024 semester, students qualify for the program at UT Knoxville if they meet one of two criteria:

  • Finish in the top 10% of their graduating high school class

  • Achieve a 4.0 grade-point average

UT Chattanooga, UT Martin and UT Southern have an additional way to qualify:

  • Achieve a 3.2 GPA and a composite ACT score of 23 or higher (or an SAT score of 1130-1150 or higher)

This works in tandem with the newly expanded UT Promise, a scholarship program that guarantees full tuition and fee coverage for qualifying Tennessee residents. It's based on household income, which will be increased to a $75,000 threshold for fall 2024.

The UT System continues to grow after 55 years based on the work from Holt, Boling and Johnson.

"(Johnson) dedicated his life to the state of Tennessee to make it better, and the University of Tennessee is the best way to do that," Boyd said.

Know Your Knox answers your burning questions about life in Knoxville. Want your question answered? Email knowyourknox@knoxnews.com.

Keenan Thomas is a higher education reporter. Email keenan.thomas@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter @specialk2real.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: How University of Tennessee System was created