University of Tennessee history

East Tennessee College reopened in 1820 under the guidance of Rev.

1846 - Tennessee’s first medical school, an independent school called Memphis Medical College, is launched.

The campus was ravaged during the Civil War, but its fortunes turned when Congress passed the Morrill Act of 1862.

1865 - East Tennessee University, having been disrupted by the Civil War, reopens after damage created by both Union and Confederate forces are repaired.

In January 1869, the Reconstruction-era Tennessee state government designated ETU as Tennessee's recipient of the Land-Grant designation and funds.

1877 - First session of the Nashville Medical College is launched.

1879 - First dental school in the South established at Nashville Medical College.

Charles Dabney, the University’s 11th president, led the expansion of science and engineering curricula in 1887 and initiated admission of women students.

1889 - Tennessee Medical College is founded at Gay and Main streets in Knoxville.

1904 - Classes at Tennessee Medical College open to female applicants.

The buildings originally used by Tennessee Medical College, which became a part of Lincoln Memorial University in 1909, are later used for the Knoxville General Hospital.

With roots dating back to 1794, the University of Tennessee has been training medical professionals since 1911 when it was recognized as the home of the country's largest medical college, a program that not only survived, but also excelled.

1912 - UT College of Medicine graduates three female physicians.

1914 - Medical students training in Knoxville are transferred to the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Memphis.

1945 - President Harry Truman signs a bill to provide funds to states to build new hospitals.

1946 - State legislature approves a bill to build a $6 million, 550-bed hospital and isotopic research center in Knoxville.

The Municipal Technical Advisory Service was established in 1949 to serve local governments across the state.

Joy Harjo, (born May 9, 1951, Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States), American poet, writer, academic, musician, and Native American activist whose poems featured Indian symbolism, imagery, history, and ideas set within a universal context.

1956 - UT Memorial Research Center and Hospital opens, includes 14 laboratories to be used for research and is accredited to train transitional year residents.

In 1957, programs in Internal Medicine, Anesthesiology, "General Practice" (now known as Family Medicine), Obstetrics and Gynecology, Orthopedic Surgery, Radiology, Pathology, Pediatrics and Surgery received accreditation and were established.

1958 - UT researchers begin to explore the effects of outer space on humans.

1960 - UT President Andy Holt outlines a new plan for physician training that includes continuing education programs for “near-by” physicians.

1963 - UT Research Center-Hospital in Knoxville designated as a graduate and postgraduate training center under the auspices of the administration of the medical units on UT’s Memphis campus.

1964 - Doctor Amoz I. Chernoff named Director of Research.

1965 - New $1 million research center addition opens.

1968 - Knoxville newspapers carry a series of articles highlighting UT’s excellence in the research of birth defects, blood disorders, and cancer research.

1970 - Intensive Care Nursery established.

1971 - Comprehensive Health Manpower Act designed to attract physicians to locate in medically under-served areas by offering attractive loan incentives.

1973 - State’s first Clinical Education Center, predecessor to UT Graduate School of Medicine, opens in Knoxville to train physicians for rural areas.

Harjo’s first volume of poetry, The Last Song (1975), introduced her remarkable observations and insights into the fragmented history of indigenous peoples.

1979 - Plans for Family Practice Center formed.

1982 - UT Family Practice Center serves more than 1,400 patients a month.

1985 - Doctor Mitchell Goldman performs first kidney transplant at UT Hospital.

1986 - First heart transplant is performed at UT Hospital.

Joe Johnson, who served as an assistant to Holt; vice president for development; and chancellor at Memphis, was named UT president in 1991.

1992 - American Cancer Society names UTGSM’s Doctor Alan Solomon as Clinical Research Professor of Clinical Medicine for integrating his laboratory research on multiple myeloma with patient care.

1993 - UT researchers send an experiment to study anemia in astronauts aboard the Columbia space shuttle.

The University of Tennessee celebrated its bicentennial in 1994.

1995 - Doctor Michael R. Caudle is named second Dean of the UT Graduate School of Medicine.

1996 - 168 resident physicians make up the largest group ever trained at UT Graduate School of Medicine..

Doctor Beasley served as chairman of the Department of Medicine at University of Tennessee Medical Center for 30 years and was awarded Professor Emeritus in 1997.

The UT Medical Center separated from the University of Tennessee in 1999 to form a 501 C3 not for profit corporation.

The suit was not settled until 2001, when the Geier Consent Decree resulted in the appropriation of $77 million in state funding to increase diversity among student and faculty populations among all Tennessee institutions of higher learning.

The Covenant Knoxville Marathon has been held every spring since 2005, and the event reflects Knoxville’s relatively short but impressive history in the world of running.

2006 -The UT Medical Center and UT Graduate School of Medicine accepts the 49th class of physician residents while its 1,546th resident completes requirements for board certification.

2007 - Alan Solomon, M.D., director of the Human Immunology and Cancer/Alzheimer’s Disease and Amyloid-Related Disorders Research Program, is awarded a five-year grant renewal from the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Cancer Institute.

2008 - Two new fellowships, Cardiovascular Disease and Pulmonary Disease, join a long list of specialty fellowships approved for physician and dentist education.

Jan Simek, a UT Knoxville administrator and highly regarded professor of anthropology, was named interim president upon Petersen’s departure in 2009.

2010 - The University of Tennessee Medical Center opens a dedicated Heart Hospital which bolsters Graduate School of Medicine fellowship programs in Cardiovascular Disease, Pulmonary Disease and Vascular Surgery.

2011- The Medical Explorations Program designed to provide high school students opportunities to shadow University of Tennessee Medical Center and UT Graduate School of Medicine medical staff celebrates its 20-year anniversary.

2012 - The UT Center for Advanced Medical Simulation opens its new facility with 6,500 square feet.

2014 - New research in the Department of Anesthesiology is aimed at understanding how the brain regulates states of consciousness.

2015 - Robert M. Craft, MD, long-time faculty member and former resident, is appointed Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine, Knoxville.

2016 - John Dougherty, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine's Division of Neurology, was named a 2016 Health Care Hero by the Knoxville Business Journal for Innovation in the medical field.

2017 - W. Bedford Waters, MD, has been named the first Chair of the new Department of Urology at the University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine, taking effect July 1.

2018 - Martha Earl, MSLS, AHIP, has been named the Director of the Health Information Center/Preston Medical Library at The University of Tennessee Medical Center.

2019 - The University of Tennessee Center for Advanced Medical Simulation is reaccredited as a comprehensive Accredited Education Institute by the American College of Surgeons.