New Building Will Meet Tennessee's Growing Demand for Chemical Industry Workforce
The Tennessee General Assembly has set aside $165.5 million in its fiscal year 2025-26 budget for a new chemistry building at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, with a groundbreaking scheduled for September and projected completion in 2029.
The much-anticipated project is the largest state investment ever funded for a single higher education project in Tennessee, and its impact will extend far beyond campus. UT ranks No. 2 for polymer science—a subset of chemistry—in the United States, and the chemical industry has invested more than $400 million in the state over the past six years, creating more than 2,000 jobs.
"I'm extremely proud of the state's investment in modernizing our flagship university's chemistry building," said Senate Speaker Pro Tempore Ferrell Haile of Gallatin, Tennessee. "Chemistry plays a crucial role in developing a skilled workforce for many high-demand careers, both here in our state and across the globe."
More than 16,000 Tennesseans already work in the chemical industry, bringing in an average salary of $82,800—31% above the average of other manufacturing jobs in Tennessee.
"We thank Governor Bill Lee and the state General Assembly for their transformative support of the new chemistry building," said College of Arts and Sciences Interim Executive Dean Robert Hinde. "This building will be a major step for future innovation at UT, enabling us to attract the most promising students and top faculty to UT's world-class chemistry department and meeting the increasing demand to provide high-quality chemistry education and training for the next generation of leaders in this field."
Serving students beyond chemistry majors
The new building will include two lecture halls, 28 research labs, and three teaching labs as well as collaborative spaces for student research.
Right now UT's chemistry faculty and staff are spread out among five buildings, including Buehler Hall, which opened in 1970. The 55-year-old building served the UT community well for decades but cannot support the sophisticated research and education that today's programs require.
"We teach students from a variety of colleges and schools here at the university, from kinesiology to engineering," said Professor and Department of Chemistry Head Viktor N. Nemykin, noting that almost 6,000 students take first-year chemistry courses each year. "And all pre-med, pre-nursing and pre-pharmacy students have to take chemistry, of course."
Allowing room for future growth
Plans for the new eight-story building, which will be located on Cumberland Avenue between Strong Hall and the College of Law, include a range of facilities:
- Two 50-seat lecture halls
- One 50-seat study room
- 28 research labs
- Three teaching labs
- 12 collaborative spaces
- Dedicated workstations for student researchers
"The most exciting part to me is having spaces for collaboration and community building," Nemykin said, noting that the department is currently spread among Buehler, Dabney and Strong halls as well as the Science and Engineering Research Facility and the Institute for Advanced Materials and Manufacturing. "The new building will also improve our hiring and visibility."
Projected impacts include growth in the chemistry department:
- 15% increase in the number of undergraduate majors
- 20% growth in the number of graduate students
- 20% increase in chemistry credit hours
- 25% increase in external research grants
The $10 million design phase for the building, funded by Chancellor Donde Plowman in 2024-25, is close to completion, with final blueprints expected in August. The building will be constructed on the site of UT's recently demolished Panhellenic Building, which housed UT sororities from 1964 until Sorority Village opened in 2013.
Provided by University of Tennessee at Knoxville