About Us

The University of Tennessee Center for Industrial Services (UT CIS) was established in 1963 by the Tennessee General Assembly and charged with “…. provision of information, data and materials relating to the needs of industry….”. From the outset, CIS was organized along the lines of the long-established and highly successful “extension service model.”

Since that time, CIS has grown to a staff of over 50 professional employees located in 6 offices across the state of Tennessee. Tennessee business and industry are assisted daily by CIS engineering and professional staff in improving their economic competitiveness on a national and global level. On a larger scale, CIS is one of five units of the University of Tennessee Institute for Public Service. This institute is the non-agricultural public service arm of the university providing public service work to business and industry in Tennessee.

The University of Tennessee, the state land grant college, provides three main services to Tennesseans – education, research and public service. As such, CIS is a part of the UT University statewide system rather than being a part of any single campus.​