Tyler Porter, a senior at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has received national recognition from Poets&Quants for Undergrads as one of the publication’s 100 Best and Brightest Undergraduate Business Majors of 2026.
Porter, who hails from Bowling Green, Kentucky, is a business analytics major with a minor in entrepreneurship and international business in UT’s Haslam College of Business. He has excelled in and out of the classroom during his time at UT, being named to the dean’s list every semester and maintaining a 4.0 GPA while being active in numerous campus organizations and activities.
Among his many accomplishments, Porter is a member of Haslam Leadership Scholars — UT’s most prestigious undergraduate honors program — and Smith Global Leadership Scholars, the business college’s premier honors program. He is a Peyton Manning Scholar as well as a member of the Melton Scholars Program, which pairs outstanding undergraduate students with business analytics and statistics faculty to pursue academic research.
Porter is co-president of the Haslam College of Business student podcast Project Inspire and a member of the Haslam Student Advisory Council and the Student Library Advisory Council. He has served in the Student Government Association and Student Alumni Associates, presented at the UT Grand Challenges Summit and performed more than 80 hours of community service during his time at UT.
Faculty members praise Porter for his leadership, energy and commitment to excellence. Those qualities have translated to internships with UT men’s basketball, Tractor Supply Company, Warner Bros. Discovery, Growth Idea (London, England) and Pilot Company. In fall 2025, he directed a UT soccer match broadcast for SEC Network Plus.
“I would not be where I am today without the great people around me who invest in me and challenge me to grow,” Porter said. “I am grateful for the tremendous opportunities that have been offered to me at the University of Tennessee, which have set a foundation for becoming the leader I aspire to be.”
After graduating in May, Porter will continue his education in the business college’s MS in Business Analytics with AI program and pursue a career in analytics.
Porter’s honor reflects the strength and growth of UT’s business programs. As the state’s leading public institution, the university is seeing record student interest in programs that equip graduates with the skills to lead in many of today’s fastest-growing fields.
Now in its 11th year, the Best and Brightest list honors business majors who made the biggest impact on their programs and exemplified the best of their peer groups. To compile the list, Poets&Quants invited the top 50 business schools from its 2025 undergraduate ranking to participate, along with other leading institutions.
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Stacy Estep (865-974-8304, sestep3@utk.edu)