Views of the Past

UT Martin Postcards

More than 1,000 vintage postcards have a new home in UT Martin’s Paul Meek Library. Ridley Wills II, Nashville historian and former senior vice president of the National Life and Accident Insurance Co., made the donation from his personal collection of some 28,000 unduplicated Tennessee cards. The gift includes all of his Weakley and Lake County postcards. Many of the Lake County cards feature Reelfoot Lake. Tom Pulliam, a personal friend and UT Martin alum who also lives in Nashville, connected Wills with the university.

R. Clayton McWhorter
R. Clayton McWhorter

Ned McWherter Institute molds future leaders

A lead financial gift by businessman and philanthropist R. Clayton McWhorter has established the Ned Ray McWherter Institute for Collaboration and Innovation at UT Martin. The institute, currently in its first year, features a three-year progressive, interdisciplinary program customized to the individual student. Eventually, 30 students–six from each of the five university colleges–will be paired with mentors to help them grow both personally and professionally before entering the work world.

UT Martin Chancellor Tom Rakes, left, Provost Jerald Ogg and UT System President Joe DiPietro officially open the Fine Arts Building
UT Martin Chancellor Tom Rakes, left, Provost Jerald Ogg and UT System President Joe DiPietro officially open the Fine Arts Building

Two dedications and a groundbreaking

Major facilities improvements were marked at UT Martin with two dedications and a groundbreaking. A ribbon-cutting ceremony in August 2013 officially opened the renovated and expanded Fine Arts Building. The expanded building now includes 112,000 square feet at a completion cost of $14 million. Homecoming Week in October 2013 brought the dedication of the new Rhodes Golf Center and Grover Page Team Room, a state-of-the-art practice facility located north of the Dunagan Alumni Center. The next day, ground was broken for four new sorority lodges on the southern edge of campus near University Courts. Each sorority has committed to pay close to $500,000 for their respective lodges, which will each be two stories and about 3,800 square feet each.