Celebrating 140 Years of UTC: Honoring Our Past, Shaping Our Future
Dear UTC Community,
On Sept. 15, 1886, a university was founded in Chattanooga with a mission to transform lives through education. One hundred and forty years later, that institution has grown into the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga—an internationally recognized university serving more than 12,000 students and strengthening our city, region and state in profound ways.
As we prepare to celebrate Founders Day on Sept. 15, I am pleased to announce the beginning of a yearlong celebration marking UTC's 140th anniversary.
The year 1886 was a remarkable one in American history. It saw the invention of the gasoline-powered automobile, the creation of Coca-Cola in Atlanta and the dedication of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. These innovations and landmarks helped shape the future of our nation. UTC shares its birth year with these iconic moments, and like them, our university has stood the test of time while continuing to evolve and make a lasting impact.
Since our founding, generations of students, faculty, staff, alumni and supporters have built a university that serves as a catalyst for opportunity and progress. For 140 years, UTC has helped shape Chattanooga through education, workforce development, research and community engagement.
That connection to our community will be a central theme of our 140th anniversary celebration.
During Founders Week, Sept. 14-18, the entire campus will come together to celebrate this milestone. A campuswide celebration will take place on Founders Day, Sept. 15, and events throughout the week will highlight the people, traditions and achievements that have defined UTC over the past 140 years. Additional details about Founders Week activities will be shared soon.
As we reflect on our history, we also want to celebrate the influence UTC has beyond our campus boundaries. Over the next year, we will launch two initiatives to showcase and expand our engagement with the Chattanooga community.
The first is the 1886 Challenge. We are challenging our faculty, staff and students to collectively contribute 18,860 hours of community service during our anniversary year. This service is already happening every day across our campus through volunteer work, mentoring, service-learning and outreach. In the coming weeks, we will share details about how these hours can be tracked so we can celebrate and promote the incredible work being done across UTC.
The second initiative is 140 Community Events for 140 Years. Our goal is to recognize and support 140 community-focused events led by UTC faculty, staff and students that actively engage our university with the people and organizations we serve. Like the 1886 Challenge, this initiative showcases work that is already taking place throughout the year. We will soon provide information on how events can be submitted, tracked and highlighted as part of our anniversary celebration.
I also encourage everyone to participate in a new tradition we're calling Gold Fridays.
Throughout the academic year, every Friday will be a Gold Friday, and all faculty, staff and students are encouraged to wear gold to show their UTC pride. This is an opportunity to show UTC pride both on campus and throughout our community. Whether you're attending class, working in the office, volunteering in the community or cheering on the Mocs, let's make UTC visible across Chattanooga every Friday.
Over the next year, we will celebrate our history, honor those who have helped build this university and highlight the impact UTC continues to make. Most importantly, we will reaffirm our commitment to serving Chattanooga and shaping the future for generations to come.
Thank you for being part of the UTC story. I look forward to celebrating this milestone year with all of you.
Go Mocs!
Lori Mann Bruce
Chancellor
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga