Chris Whittle
Chris Whittle has built empires by challenging the status quo. Born in Etowah, Tennessee, his entrepreneurial drive emerged early. As a child, he kept local sports team stats, wrote play-by-plays ... Read more
Arthur “A.B.” Culvahouse Jr.
For more than four decades, Arthur “A.B.” Culvahouse Jr. quietly has played an important role at the intersection of law, government and politics. Culvahouse grew up in Ten Mile, Tennessee, ... Read more
Paul Blaylock
Born in the cotton fields of what he calls Skullbonia, Tennessee, it seems fate that Paul Blaylock pursued the skull (neurosurgery) and bones (ER trauma) in his career. An early ... Read more
Candace Parker
Through tears after leading her Los Angeles Sparks to a game five victory over the Minnesota Lynx during the WNBA championship game in October, the tournament’s most valuable player, Candace ... Read more
Jimmy Naifeh
Over nearly four decades of public service, Jimmy Naifeh has left enduring footprints from one end of Tennessee to the other. After graduating from UT Knoxville in 1961, then serving ... Read more
Irvine Grote
How do you spell relief? R-O-L-A-I-D-S. Today’s heartburn relief may never have been available without Irvine Grote’s invention of dihydroxy aluminum sodium carbonate. And because of his efforts, many of ... Read more
Margaret Rhea Seddon
Margaret Rhea Seddon didn’t originally set out to be a pioneer. Yet, as a physician and one of the first six women accepted by NASA into the astronaut program, a ... Read more
Jim and Natalie Haslam
By Bill Haslam You don’t have to walk far around the UT Knoxville campus to see the impact that Jim and Natalie Haslam have on the university. The College of ... Read more
Henry “Hank” Hartsfield Jr.
For NASA astronaut Henry “Hank” Hartsfield Jr., his shuttle missions proved anything but clear skies. Seconds before the maiden voyage of the Discovery shuttle in 1984, computers detected a problem ... Read more
John S. Wilder
John S. Wilder served as Tennessee’s 48th lieutenant governor, a seat he held for 36 years (1971-2007). When his tenure ended in 2007, he was the longest-serving presiding officer of ... Read more
Johnny Majors
Johnny Majors was born into a Tennessee football family, the eldest of five sons who all played college football. Coached by his father, Shirley Majors, Johnny Majors played alongside his ... Read more
Tom Griscom
Tom Griscom’s career has taken him from the heart of a metropolitan newspaper to the corridors of the White House to the boardrooms of Fortune 500 companies. The common thread ... Read more
Joe Johnson
By Joe DiPietro Joe Johnson—right up there with Andy Holt and Ed Boling—is synonymous with the University of Tennessee. His career is a progression of leadership posts that took him ... Read more
Mark E. Dean
Mark Dean helped shape modern computing. He was chief engineer on the team that designed the original IBM PC in the early 1980s. He helped develop technologies, including the color ... Read more
Hank Lauricella
By Jim Haslam (Knoxville ’52) Hank Lauricella was my best friend. We met when we were both 17 years old and freshmen at the University of Tennessee in September 1948. ... Read more
Philander Claxton
At 16 years old, Philander Priestly Claxton embarked on a career that would earn him the nickname “Crusader for Public Education in the South.” Born in a cabin in Bedford County, ... Read more
Sharon Lee
When Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Sharon Lee dons her judicial robes and listens to arguments, she carries with her lessons learned as a small-town attorney. “I never forget that I’m ... Read more
Jim and Judi Herbert
Jim Herbert began his UT career living in a 10-by-12 room in the center of a greenhouse. It was board he earned through sweat equity for watering plants. UT also ... Read more
Ray Jenkins
Everyone knew the suspect well—a drunk farmer who lived with his younger wife in Tellico Plains, Tennessee. She’d been beaten to death with a barrel stave, and authorities found her ... Read more
Pat Summitt
By Joan Cronan When Pat Summitt found herself making the sudden and unexpected jump from assistant to head coach because the previous coach took a sabbatical, she felt overwhelmed and ... Read more
Dorothy Hackett Ward
Despite racial tensions that crackled that hot Chattanooga summer, Dorothy Hackett Ward didn’t hesitate to go forward with a performance in the housing project. Midway through the play, Ward noticed ... Read more
Bob Corker
A youthful Bob Corker went on a mission trip to Haiti and came home wanting to give back to his own community. Over the years, in business and public service, ... Read more
