Arts & Culture

A collage of flower photos.
Historically Speaking

Botanical Photography of Alan Heilman

The botanical photography of Alan Heilman preserves a UT Knoxville professor’s lifelong passion for plants, blending scientific expertise and artistic detail through carefully curated images.

Stack of novels by author William Bass.
Historically Speaking

Founder of the UTK Body Farm

UT Knoxville Professor Emeritus William Bass made history in 1981 by founding the world’s first decomposition research lab, revolutionizing forensic science.

A crowd of attendees fill the Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center.
News and Updates

UTK tops Attendance Records

UT Knoxville topped national attendance records across football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball events during the 2023-24 season.

The Last Word

Writing from a Blue Flame

UT Knoxville alumna Monica Brashears' gothic novel named as one of the best books in 2023.

Ellie and Drew Holcomb
Feature

The Troubadour and the Songstress

Music weaves throughout this UT Knoxville couple’s story of a friendship turned to love.

Beauford Delaney (Knoxville 1901-1979 Paris), Abstraction #12, 1963, Oil on canvas, 51 ½ x 38 ½ inches, Knoxville Museum of Art, 2018 purchase
Feature

Carried in His Heart

UT Libraries purchased Beauford Delaney’s personal archives to bring the Harlem Renaissance painter home.

Featured photo: Left, Cornelius Smith Jr. (Frederick Douglass) in American Prophet, which ran July 15-Aug. 28 at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater in Washington, D.C. Photo By Margot Sschulman
Feature

Whispering Truth

A UT Martin and UT College of Law graduate stood on the wings of a stage this summer to witness the words of Fredrick Douglass come to life and years of work fulfilled.

Expressions of Art on UT Campuses photo collage
Feature

Expressions of Art on UT Campuses

A collection of photos showing UT Students across UT campuses performing and participating in various art forms.

UTC marching band
Alumni Association

Making Beautiful Music

Band members from across the UT System found it life changing and now they help change others’ lives.

Emma Jo Eversole greets the crowd on horseback at Dolly Parton's Stampede
Feature

Learning the Trick

Emma Jo Eversole reaches her goal of becoming trick rider.

the patented Easy Whip device
News and Updates

Alumni Invention to Help Surgery Patients

Lia Winter and Preston Dishner refined their innovative medical device throughout their time in the MS–MBA program at UT Knoxville.

Paula Temple in her studio surrounded by her art
Feature

Art Unfenced

When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down indoor galleries in France, Paula Temple took her talents to the streets and opened a sidewalk gallery.

Erin Zammett Ruddy
The Last Word

Loosening the Grip on the Big Life Plan

Erin Zammett Ruddy learned some life skills in her 20s that also helped her face the pandemic. Just don’t ask about the laundry.

balloons
Alumni Association

Welcome to the UT Family

How UT's campuses and academic program prepared five Class of 2020 graduates.

A tiny perfect bound leather book held between a thumb and index and middle fingers
Feature

The Odd and Rare

Celebrate UT Knoxville’s 225 year with treasures from the UT Libraries’ Special Collections.

Donde Plowman
News and Updates

Ninth Chancellor Appointed

Donde Plowman has returned to UT Knoxville to serve as the campus’ ninth chancellor.

Ryan Windeknecht walks around his philosophy classroom with an oversize yellow notepad
Feature

Game On!

In some classrooms, learning really is fun and games.

Riley Toll
Feature

Making Makers

From labs to clubs to Hodges Library, UT Knoxville makes spaces for makers.

David Harman
Feature

The Maker City

UT alumnus David Harman helps drive Knoxville’s creative space.

Slide Book cover
The Last Word

Make ’Em Laugh

An excerpt from Carl Wolfson's Slide!, a tragicomedy about the 1964 Philadelphia Phillies team collapse as well as about Wolfson, his family and the city.

An attendee of the grand opening of the UT Knoxville Veterans Resource Center salutes the flag.
News and Updates

Veterans Resource Center Opens

The new center provides student veterans with a place to study, socialize and find access to various campus services.

David Platillero onstage at the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville
Feature

A Broken Life Becomes Art

After a car hit him while he rode his bicycle, he thought his dreams of a wife, family and music—along with the ability to walk—lost forever. Yet, as one person says, “The tragedy that broke him, built him.”

Sally Kirkpatrick
The Last Word

Silencing the Sneer

Since the sixth grade, this novelist dealt with anxiety, self-doubt and depression. After she crumpled under its weight, she found her way through.