2025 Innovative Technologies Symposium

ENGAGE, ENLIGHTEN, ENJOY AT THE UT IT SYMPOSIUM

The Office of Innovative Technologies is excited to announce its 2025 IT Symposium at the Knoxville Convention Center. This two-day symposium will focus on our everyday IT challenges, shared interests, honed skills, and newfound passions. Together, we aim to foster innovative IT solutions, expand knowledge, and form strategic collaborations that can significantly impact the University of Tennessee system. We encourage anyone from the entire UT System to participate.

2025 UT Innovative Technology Symposium: Ramon Padilla, Vice Chancellor for Information Technology and Digital Innovation, and Dan Harder, Chief Academic Technology Officer and Deputy CIO thank symposium attendees for their attendance and participation in the 2025 event.

January 28-29, 2025

For General Public Information

Visit the symposium website

For Registered Attendees

For the full conference experience, download the Whova Mobile App or sign in to the Event Web Portal

The Whova Mobile App allows attendees to plan ahead, receive important updates before, during, and after the symposium, select sessions, engage with speakers, gain insights from sponsors, connect with participants, and register for prizes by participating in fun activities.

Download the Whova mobile app

Questions?

For questions about this exciting symposium, please email the IT Symposium Committee at utitsymposium@utk.edu.

Schedule and Agenda

DAY 1: Tuesday, January 28

10 a.m.
Event check-in

2-4 p.m.
Concurrent afternoon sessions

1-4 p.m.
Fun networking activities and visits with vendors throughout the afternoon

4-6 p.m.
Special opening welcome and networking reception with a cash bar and light hors d’oeuvres

DAY 2, Wednesday, January 29

8 a.m.
Event check-in

8:30 a.m.
Keynote speaker

9:45 a.m.-3 p.m.
Concurrent sessions

1-3 p.m.
More fun networking activities and visits with vendors throughout the day

3-4 p.m.
Closing remarks and raffle from

View the Full Agenda

Location

Knoxville Convention Center

Facility Map

701 Henley Street
Knoxville, TN 37902

Parking & Transportation

Attendees will be responsible for transportation to and from the conference, hotel, and dinner. There are several parking options near the conference center.

Poplar Street Lot
PBA Parking info. for 906 Poplar St, Knoxville, TN 37902
150 spaces will be available free of charge for the day of the Symposium. An attendant will be monitoring the lot from 7:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. allowing only Symposium attendees to park.

Locust Street Garage
PBA Parking info. for 540 Locust St, Knoxville, TN 37902
Chaser tickets will be available at the Symposium check-in for free parking on the day of the Symposium.

KAT Bus
You can find the schedule and route information at Knox Area Transit, Schedules and Maps website.

Lodging Information

For those traveling from other campuses, there are many hotel options in the downtown Knoxville area that offer state rates during the symposium!

Marriott Knoxville Downtown
Located directly across the street from the Knoxville Convention Center.
- $169 per night
- For UT Employees, to reserve a room at this price, you will need to contact World Travel at 865-777-1600 or (877) 210-8189.

Additional hotels in the area available through Concur:

Catering & Accommodations

We’re planning to provide nourishment to keep you energized throughout the day. Expect convenient and tasty meal options to complement your symposium experience. Selections will be offered in the registration form, ensuring we cater to a variety of tastes and dietary needs.

Who Should Attend

The UT IT Symposium invites you to a dynamic convergence of ideas, expertise, and innovation. Prepare for two days of topics where the latest IT developments take center stage, presented through a mix of formats designed to foster interaction, collaboration, and community.

It’s not just about the discussions you’ll witness but also about the community you’ll become a part of. Prepare for an experience where every conversation could lead to new insights, spark a future collaboration, and an opportunity to broaden your IT horizons.

We hope that you will spend these days learning, sharing, and connecting with colleagues from across the state in an exchange focused on UT’s innovative uses and practices of technology.

This is a UT system-wide event. All full- or part-time staff, faculty, and graduate students involved in information technology work, learning, or research are eligible to attend. We are encouraging presenters and attendee participation from the entire UT System:

UT Chattanooga
UT Extension & Research offices
UT Health Science Center
UT Institutes
UT Knoxville
UT Martin
UT Southern
UT System

Cost to Attend the Symposium: Admission and lunch are free for current UT faculty, staff, researchers, and graduate students.

Online registration is now closed

Thank you to everyone who has registered. We look forward to seeing you soon. Visit the official symposium site and mobile app to help you make the most of the event.

The call for proposals is now closed. Thank you to everyone who submitted a proposal!!

Look for presenter information on the Symposium App.

Proposal Information—Areas of Interest, Session Formats

Join us for the UT IT Symposium as one of the presenters. Bring your unique perspective and expertise and share your experiences with your innovative IT solutions, collaborations, research, education, and more. We encourage anyone from the entire UT System to participate.

If you are part of the UT System, we want you to participate, present, and attend!

Symposium areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

Artificial Intelligence (AI): How has AI changed the IT landscape? What new AI tools are making your life easier/harder? What is your AI wish list?
Security, Cloud, Networking, and Infrastructure: Tell us about new developments in security, cloud use, networking, and IT infrastructure. What has changed in this space?
Workforce Development and Training: How are you using IT resources for workforce development and training? How do you recruit and train the new generation of IT professionals? How have the requirements for an IT profession changed in this day and age?
Life Skills and Well-Being in IT: How do you manage time, stress, and work-life balance in IT? What strategies help set boundaries and prevent burnout? Share HR-related insights, soft skills, and techniques for staying productive in a fast-paced environment.
Technology in Higher Education: How do you use IT in your classrooms and in your research groups? What tools have accelerated your research? What is your wish list for tools that will lessen your time-to-science? How has the use of AI teaching tools in the classroom assisted in providing an accessible teaching space?
Technology in Research: How has the landscape changed for managing research computing and data environments? What does democratizing access look like?

Session Formats

We appreciate the vast array of talents within our community and are eager to learn from you—whether that is through a presentation, a hands-on workshop, a lively panel discussion, an interactive birds-of-a-feather, a casual poster chat, or a quick-fire lightning talk. Name what works best for you. Presentations, workshops, birds-of-a-feather, and panel discussions will be set up in 45-minute blocks with the option to request a two-part block for in-depth sessions, dependent on availability.

If your proposal is accepted, you agree to register for the conference.

The deadline for proposals, October 31, 2024, is now closed.