University of Tennessee

School mission (as provided by the school):

Ensuring access so all qualified students can attend the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and helping students reach their full potential is the foundation of UT's strategic mission. Exposing students to experiences and educational opportunities that best prepare them for working in a global marketplace is a primary focus.

UT enrolled 30,312 total students for the 2010-11 academic year, with a freshman class of 4,214. The 2010-11 freshmen had an average GPA of 3.76 with an average ACT score of 26.4. ACT scores have risen steadily since the Tennessee Hope lottery-funded scholarship began in 2004. Essentially all of UT Knoxville's in-state freshmen qualify for the state's lottery-funded Hope Scholarship, which covers nearly half of their tuition, fees, and books. As long as they stay in school and keep their grades up, they're eligible for the scholarship for three more years.

The university has created three need-based scholarship and grant programs to allow greater access to all academically qualified Tennessee students. The Tennessee Pledge Scholarship program covers tuition, fees, and room and board for eligible low-income students. The Tennessee Promise Scholarship program provides scholarships to students from select state high schools that traditionally have not sent many students to UT. The Achieve the Dream program helps some of our middle-income families whose incomes are too high to qualify them for Pell Grants or the Pledge Scholarship, but who still need financial help with college costs.

The Haslam Scholars program, a premiere honors program for 15 of the nation's top students, began in 2008 and includes a study-abroad opportunity and up to $5,500 for a senior research thesis. Additionally, in recent years, UT Knoxville has enrolled three Goldwater Scholars, one Goldwater Honorable Mention, a Fulbright scholar, and a Udall Scholar.

UT's long-range program "Ready for the World" continues to help students gain the international and intercultural knowledge they need to succeed in today's world. The effort has enriched campus multicultural programming and has provided new scholarships and study-abroad opportunities.
Graduate and undergraduate education are both enhanced by UT's partnership with Battelle to manage nearby Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy. That relationship helps UT recruit top scientists and offer first-rate internships and research opportunities.

The new UT/ORNL Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education (CIRE) will offer one of the country's first interdisciplinary doctoral degrees in energy science and engineering and will train scientists to take on the world's most challenging energy problems by working with teams of researchers making scientific breakthroughs that could become thriving business enterprises.

UT Knoxville's faculty has an impressive list of honors in the past few years including six Fulbright Scholars ('10), a Guggenheim Fellow ('09), a MacArthur Fellow ('07) and two NEH fellows ('07, '06). UT Knoxville is tied with Washington University and the University of California, Irvine, with the seventh most NEH fellows in the U.S. since 2005.

With an eye on becoming a Top 25 public research institution, UT has launched many new initiatives to help students succeed and graduate on time. The Student Success Center, which opened in 2005, provides information and resources in academic advising, tutoring, and academic support.

UT Knoxville has 11 colleges and more than 300 degree programs. The university is adjacent to Knoxville's redeveloped downtown which offers arts, theaters and cultural activities. The nation's most visited national park, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, is just minutes from campus.