The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga has been nationally recognized for its long-standing commitment to community engagement, earning the 2026 Carnegie Community Engagement Classification—awarded by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in collaboration with the American Council on Education.
City of Chattanooga, UTC Research Institute awarded $1.06 million U.S. Department of Transportation grant to advance roadway safety
The City of Chattanooga and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Research Institute (UTCRI) have been awarded $1,063,393 in federal funding through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program to support a new Roadway Safety Design Technology Platform.
Winter Welcome Week rings in the new semester
New and returning students at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga are heading back to campus for the spring semester with opportunities to connect during the 2026 Winter Welcome Week. The week of festivities will begin Monday, Jan. 12—when students start classes—and continue through Friday, Jan. 16.
Two UTC Honors College students win big at national conference
Vio Midgett’s research was driven by two childhood memories. The first came from the Japanese nursery rhymes her grandmother—who grew up on a United States Navy base in Japan—sang to her when she was a child. The other memory derives from her second-grade history textbook.
UTC officially launches College of Nursing
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga has officially launched the College of Nursing, elevating one of the University’s longest-standing and most impactful academic programs to college status. With nearly 1,000 students enrolled across undergraduate and doctoral programs, the College of Nursing becomes UTC’s fifth academic college.
Sisters saving lives
Sisters Amber Honea and Alexis Murray have found their place helping others. The UTC alums are working as nurses for their respective hospitals in Chattanooga. Honea, who received a BSN from UTC in 2014 and an MSN in 2021, is an acute care nurse practitioner with the pulmonology and critical care department at Erlanger Hospital. Murray, who earned a BSN in 2019, is currently enrolled in the DNP program and works at CommonSpirit Memorial Hospital Chattanooga as an ICU floating nurse.
Top 20 of ’25: A year’s worth of cheers
A lot of great things happened at UTC during the 2025 calendar year. We celebrated student and faculty research, welcomed new faces (including Chancellor Lori Bruce), broke ground on new buildings and commemorated big wins. With so much happening across campus, the UTC newsroom published 427 stories over the course of the year. Here are our top 20 personal favorites in chronological order of website publication.
Dr. Mina Sartipi named interim vice chancellor for research at UTC
Dr. Mina Sartipi has been appointed interim vice chancellor for research, effective January 2026. Sartipi currently serves as the executive director of the UTC Research Institute and as the founding director of the Center for Urban Informatics and Progress (CUIP). She is a Guerry Professor and UC Foundation Professor in UTC’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering and holds a joint faculty appointment with Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Ask, observe, connect: Finding answers that make an impact
“When a faculty member is actively practicing their discipline through research, the classroom benefits. Students benefit,” Chancellor Lori Bruce said. “When a student is getting to participate in the research and be at the cutting edge of their discipline, it’s even more powerful.”
John “Art” Phillips Sales Institute established at UTC with gift from Phillips family
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga has announced that its sales institute in the Gary W. Rollins College of Business will be named the John “Art” Phillips Sales Institute, honoring the late entrepreneur, extraordinary salesman and business leader.