UT announces campus closures due to COVID-19 outbreak

KNOXVILLE – University of Tennessee Interim President Randy Boyd announced that all in-person classes beginning March 23 will be temporarily suspended until further notice as a proactive measure in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

UT Chattanooga will suspend in-person classes until March 30, while UT Knoxville and UT Martin will suspend in-person classes until April 3. UT Health Science Center will assess its online options within the next 10 days and communicate directly with its campus community. Clinical rotations in hospitals will continue as usual.

While there are no reports of active confirmed cases involving COVID-19 on any University of Tennessee campus, there are confirmed cases in Tennessee.

“Our top priority is the health and safety of our students,” Boyd said. “We are taking this preventative measure with all of our campuses that provide face-to-face instruction out of an abundance of caution.”

Each campus will be sending out specific communications to their faculty, students and staff regarding the details of the suspension and any online accommodations that will be made.

“While we do not want to create undue anxiety on our campuses, we firmly believe that suspending our in-person classes is a prudent and important measure to take given the current COVID-19 situation,” Boyd said.