UTC students design tartan inspired by University, Chattanooga history

UTC Chancellor Lori Bruce holds a fabric sample featuring UTC’s gold, navy blue and light blue tartan design while standing between two students.

Chancellor Lori Bruce stands with two of the winning students Kaila Bui (left) and Sierra Brown while holding their tartan design. Photo by Angela Foster.

Four University of Tennessee at Chattanooga students have designed a new piece of University history.

Kaila Bui, Sierra Brown, Ryleigh Simmons and Emma Tuttle won the Chancellor’s Tartan Challenge, an interdisciplinary competition that asked students to create a tartan inspired by UTC’s history and future.

The winning design will now move toward becoming UTC’s official tartan.

A tartan is a woven pattern of intersecting horizontal and vertical bands in different colors, historically associated with Scottish families and communities. Today, tartans can represent organizations and institutions.

“I loved the idea of creating something that could capture the spirit of UTC in a unique and lasting way,” Chancellor Lori Bruce said. “We have a rich history, a strong sense of identity and such talented students. Bringing students from different disciplines together to create something that reflects who we are, where we’ve been and where we’re going made this project especially meaningful.”

Close-up of UTC’s official tartan design.

Full repeating pattern of UTC’s official tartan design.

The competition joined students from across UTC together over three sessions, beginning with an introduction to the history of tartan and a chance to meet potential teammates.

“The chancellor called my office at the end of last year,” said Katie Hargrave, UC Foundation Professor and head of the Department of Art. “She told me that this is something that she had been thinking about, that she wanted there to be a campus tartan. She and I started talking about how to make it an interdisciplinary competition.”

Hargrave worked with Jessica Etheredge, program director for Interior Architecture and Design, and Ash Ludwig, assistant professor of costume design in the UTC Department of Theatre, to develop the competition. Students came from nearly every college at UTC during the first session, and about 20 initially participated. Ten students across three teams completed the challenge.

“We encouraged the students to start with the research first, going in and thinking about the history of the University, Chattanooga and the history of the tartans,” Ludwig said.

Students experimented with physical art supplies and digital tools, going back and forth between the two as their ideas developed.

Brown, a junior entrepreneurship major from Nashville, said the process involved working with students she might not have otherwise met.

“I really did learn how to collaborate with different schools. I’ve never gotten to work with the interior architecture group or even the theater arts major as a business student,” Brown said. “I think it was super fun to collaborate and work on something that was mutually beneficial for everyone.”

Brown teamed up with Bui, a junior interior architecture and design major from Cleveland, Tennessee; Simmons, an interior architecture and design student; and Tuttle, an English and theatre student.

Nearly every part of the finished tartan connected to UTC or Chattanooga.

“The research helped us educate ourselves and think more about Chattanooga and the history behind it,” Bui said. “It was really fun to do it and enjoy it.”

UTC Chancellor Lori Bruce talks with two women seated at a table displaying several proposed gold, navy blue and light blue tartan designs.

Chancellors Tartan Challenge judges included Director of Engineering and Planning Services Chelsie Ewing (left), senior marketing major Allison Loschinskey and Chancellor Lori Bruce.

The group chose blue and gold to represent UTC spirit and achievement, and blue-gray to reference Scrappy’s feathers. Dark oak brown was inspired by local natural dyes and Chattanooga’s landscape, and black represents the black star on the Cherokee flag.

The thread counts also carried specific meanings:

Sixty-three navy blue threads represent 1963, the year the first Black student was admitted to the University, then known as the University of Chattanooga.
Three yellow threads, one black thread and four additional yellow threads represent the stars on the Cherokee flag: Seven yellow stars represent the seven Cherokee clans, while one black star represents those who died on the Trail of Tears.
Seven navy blue threads represent the seven Cherokee clans, seven members of UTC’s teaching staff in its first year and seven chancellors.
Five brown threads represent five colleges at UTC and five campuses in the UT System.
Thirty-three yellow threads represent 1933, the year the mockingbird became Tennessee’s official state bird.
Twenty-five blue-gray threads represent 2025, the year UTC welcomed its first female chancellor and Chattanooga became a National Park City.
Three yellow threads represent Chattanooga becoming the third National Park City in the world.
Eighteen navy blue threads represent the 118 students in the University’s first class.
Eighty-six yellow threads total represent 1886, the year the University was founded.

The final designs were presented to a judging panel that included Bruce; Chelsie Ewing, UTC director of engineering and planning services and a UTC alum; and senior marketing major Allison Loschinskey.

“What I really appreciate about this design is how much thought went into it,” Bruce said. “There’s so much UTC and Chattanooga history woven into the colors and the thread counts, but it’s also just a beautiful tartan. I can picture it on scarves, neckties and all kinds of UTC merchandise. I’mexcited that people will be able to see it in the Mocs Bookstore and eventually have a piece of it for themselves.”

Brown said the moment of finding out her group won felt “surreal.”

“It’s so exciting and genuinely doesn’t feel real,” Brown said. “I’ve envisioned ourselves winning just because I think that’s the mindset you have to be in whenever you’re presenting and creating something.”

The team’s presentation showed mockups of the tartan on hats, mugs, tumblers and other products.

Before the competition, students also checked an official tartan registry to ensure their designs did not already exist. Hargrave said the next step for the winning design is to pursue official registration.

This means that something the students created together will remain part of UTC long after they graduate.

“We’re so honored to win this,” Bui said.