The UT System’s Knoxville footprint is growing to include the Mechanicsville area with the relocation of the UT Institute for Public Service (IPS). The institute’s offices and its 65 employees will move into a building, previously occupied by state of Tennessee employees, at 1610 University Ave. beginning the week of Nov. 16.
IPS’s administrative offices—based in the Communications and University Extension Building on the Knoxville campus—as well as regional employees from two of its agencies, the Center for Industrial Services and the County Technical Assistance Service, will begin occupying the University Avenue building the week of Thanksgiving. Another IPS agency, the Municipal Technical Advisory Service, currently housed at the UT Conference Center, will move into the building around the first of December.
All phone numbers for the institute will remain the same; however, the mailing address will change to UT Institute for Public Service, 1610 University Ave., Knoxville, TN 37921. Visitors to the building must obtain a parking pass upon arrival.
UT purchased two buildings from Knoxville’s Community Development Corporation in May 2014. The 1610 University Ave. building is a two-story, 29,000-square-foot office building. The UT Foundation will be relocating to the second building, at 1525 University Ave. The foundation’s new home is 15,800 square feet with two floors. A timeline for the renovation of 1525 is not set. When the foundation relocates, that will bring the employee total in the two buildings to 120.
IPS, the public service outreach arm of the UT System, is made up of the Municipal Technical Advisory Service, the County Technical Assistance Service, the Center for Industrial Services, the Law Enforcement Innovation Center, and the Naifeh Center for Effective Leadership. Each year IPS agencies complete 24,000 projects and activities supporting 95 Tennessee counties and 345 municipalities, and assisting more than 500 manufacturing firms. Over the past decade, this work has resulted in customer-reported economic impacts exceeding $600 million a year.
CONTACT:
Susan Robertson, (865) 974-8518, susan.robertson@tennessee.edu