NEED HELP? ONE CALL AWAY, 24 HOURS A DAY 946-7777
Randy Hamilton
Interim Director
Phone: (865) 974-8161
Email: 
Fax: (865) 974-7786
About:
Jason Cottrell is a UT graduate with a degree in Ornamental Horticulture and Landscape Design. Prior to accepting a position at UT, Jason worked as the Grounds Manager at Blackberry Farm. He joined the UT Facilities Services team in 2005 as a horticulturist before becoming Assistant Director over Landscape Services in 2012. Since then, he has earned the UT President’s Award (2018) and been promoted to Director of Operations. In his spare time, Jason enjoys hiking and spending time outdoors.
Landscape Management:
Landscape Management has eight crews. The university is divided into eight zones and each zone is maintained by a separate crew. The group also has one large crew responsible for mowing the turf and leaf removal through the entire university.The eight maintenance crews are responsible for keeping the campus clean and beautiful. Throughout the year they:
- Prune and trim foundation, perennial & ground cover plantings
- Control weeds in landscape beds
- Apply fresh hardwood and pine straw mulch
- Install seasonal flowers in the spring and fall
- Renovate or remove overgrown or dead shrubs
- Install new trees and shrubs
- Create new and renovate old landscape beds
- Integrated Pest Management
- Trash receptacle service and litter removal
- Clean surface drains
- Manage campus leaf removal (300 tons/year)
Arboriculture:
Arboricultural Services provides tree care and maintenance services to the entire University of Tennessee, Knoxville campus.Services include:
- Preventive Maintenance Pruning
- Caring for more than 8,500 trees
- Management of Campus Tree Inventory Database
- Clearance of streets, sidewalks, fixtures and buildings
- Removal of dead and defective branches
- Removal of dead and dying trees
- Tree selection and planting
- Insect and disease control
                       
Heavy Equipment:
Landscape Services maintains a variety of heavy equipment through which it provides diverse services. Heavy equipment services include grading, excavating, trenching, demolition, street sweeping, storm sewer clean-out, hauling, asphalt preparation and repair, fence repair, general purpose welding, ice and snow removal, handling and placement of heavy pieces of equipment, and other miscellaneous activities.
Turf Management
The Turf Management team is made up of two mowing crews, one Turf Specialist, one Small Engine Mechanic, and our Turf Manager. One of our mowing crews handles all of main campus, while the other is in charge of mowing off-campus properties. Our Turf Specialist is in charge of all event lawn areas across campus and our Mechanic maintains all the equipment within Landscape Services. Throughout the year they:
- Mow lawn areas
- Trim bed edges, sidewalks and tree rings
- Blow sidewalks
- Pick up debris
- Manage leaf removal (300 tons/year)
- Perform cultural practices including aerating and over-seeding turf areas
- Control weeds in turf areas
- Integrated pest management
- Apply fertilizer
- Perform turf renovation projects
- Event clean up
Irrigation:
The Irrigation team is made up by our two Irrigation Techs and our Turf Manager. They manage over 70 irrigation systems on and off campus. Throughout the year they:
- Perform routine systems checks on all systems
- Repair minor issues and make systems adjustments
- Make emergency repairs
- Program and adjust all runtimes and schedules
- Install new systems and expand old systems
- Renovate old systems in need of large repairs
- Perform system winterization and start up
Ice and Snow Removal:
Landscape Services provides ice and snow removal services for the Main and Agricultural campuses. These services are provided on a priority basis, with safety of the greatest number of individuals being used to determine the order of service.