UT System Style at a Glance

Refers to what was formerly known as the University of Tennessee, Memphis, along with its major campus units located in Knoxville, Nashville and Chattanooga that are under the UTHSC chancellor’s administration. Spell out completely on first reference.

• Colleges within UTHSC: Refer to colleges as “UTHSC” followed by the college’s name. For example, UTHSC College of Pharmacy 
• The UTHSC main campus: Refers to the campus in Memphis
• The UTHSC Nashville campus: Refers to the UTHSC operations located in Nashville
• The UTHSC Knoxville campus: Refers to the UTHSC operations located in Knoxville

Refers to the Knoxville campus units under the UT Knoxville chancellor’s administration. In copy, set Knoxville off with a pair of commas or other punctuation as the context dictates.

Example: This event is sponsored by ORNL’s Biological Sciences Division; the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Office of Undergraduate Admissions; and Covenant Healthcare. 

Note that in this example, our styling makes it necessary to use semicolons to separate the elements of the series.

When to use Knoxville: 

Consider your target audience’s knowledge (or lack thereof) of the university’s organizational structure when choosing whether to use Knoxville. For instance, it is appropriate to use the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Admissions Office since the university has more than one admissions office. It is not necessary to use the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, College of Law, as the University of Tennessee has only one College of Law. Use an approach like the College of Law at the University of Tennessee’s Knoxville campus or the School of Music on UT’s Knoxville campus if the location is important.

When multiple references to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, occur in a document 

Second references to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville: On first mention (and later if far removed from the first mention) use the full name. For second references and thereafter, use UT Knoxville.

• The University of Tennessee Space Institute
• The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture
• The University of Tennessee Institute for Public Service
• The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
• The University of Tennessee at Martin

Avoid the following:

• Never use the University of Tennessee at Knoxville

Only the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and the University of Tennessee at Martin may use “at.”

• Never use The University of Tennessee Memphis
• Never use The University of Tennessee, Memphis

The official name of the Memphis campus is the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.

• Never use The University of Tennessee Tullahoma
• Never use The University of Tennessee, Tullahoma
• Never use The University of Tennessee at Tullahoma
• Never use The University of Tennessee in Tullahoma

The official name of the Tullahoma campus is the University of Tennessee Space Institute.

UT — University of Tennessee

UTHSC — University of Tennessee Health Science Center

UT Knoxville — University of Tennessee, Knoxville

UTSI — University of Tennessee Space Institute

UTIA — University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture

UTM — University of Tennessee at Martin

UTC — University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

IPS — Institute for Public Service

If you need to differentiate a system office from one of a similar name at another UT location, use the following:

• UWA (caps; stands for “university-wide administration”) UWA Audit and Consulting Services or
• System Audit and Consulting Services (uppercase system here only because it is used as an element in the name of the office.