{"id":79934,"date":"2026-10-07T07:36:38","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T11:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/news\/?p=79934"},"modified":"2026-10-07T09:19:24","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T13:19:24","slug":"utc-students-design-tartan-inspired-by-university-chattanooga-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/news\/2026\/10\/utc-students-design-tartan-inspired-by-university-chattanooga-history\/","title":{"rendered":"UTC students design tartan inspired by University, Chattanooga history\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"UTC

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.<\/p><\/div>\n

Four University of Tennessee at Chattanooga students have designed a new piece of University history.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kaila Bui, Sierra Brown, Ryleigh Simmons and Emma Tuttle won the Chancellor\u2019s Tartan Challenge, an interdisciplinary competition that asked students to create a tartan inspired by UTC\u2019s history and future.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The winning design will now move toward becoming UTC\u2019s official tartan.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI loved the idea of creating something that could capture the spirit of UTC in a unique and lasting way,\u201d Chancellor Lori Bruce said. \u201cWe 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\u2019ve been and where we\u2019re going made this project especially meaningful.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Close-up

Close-up of UTC\u2019s official tartan design.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Full

Full repeating pattern of UTC\u2019s official tartan design.<\/p><\/div>\n

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.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe chancellor called my office at the end of last year,\u201d said Katie Hargrave, UC Foundation Professor and head of the Department of Art. \u201cShe 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.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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,\u201d Ludwig said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Students experimented with physical art supplies and digital tools, going back and forth between the two as their ideas developed.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Brown, a junior entrepreneurship major from Nashville, said the process involved working with students she might not have otherwise met.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI really did learn how to collaborate with different schools. I\u2019ve never gotten to work with the interior architecture group or even the theater arts major as a business student,\u201d Brown said. \u201cI think it was super fun to collaborate and work on something that was mutually beneficial for everyone.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nearly every part of the finished tartan connected to UTC or Chattanooga.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe research helped us educate ourselves and think more about Chattanooga and the history behind it,\u201d Bui said. \u201cIt was really fun to do it and enjoy it.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"UTC

Chancellors Tartan Challenge judges included Director of Engineering and Planning Services Chelsie Ewing (left), senior marketing major Allison Loschinskey and Chancellor Lori Bruce.<\/p><\/div>\n

The group chose blue and gold to represent UTC spirit and achievement, and blue-gray to reference Scrappy\u2019s feathers. Dark oak brown was inspired by local natural dyes and Chattanooga\u2019s landscape, and black represents the black star on the Cherokee flag.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The thread counts also carried specific meanings:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n