Mohawk

“When people see the mural, I want them to think that we are a proud UT family,” said Beth Douthat, UT Knoxville alumna and owner of Douthat Farms in Mohawk, Tennessee.

The 306-acre family-owned and -operated farm in Greene County is home to the fifth mural in the “Everywhere You Look, UT” campaign. 

Situated approximately 25 feet from state Route 348, the 14-foot-high by 90-foot-wide mural is visible to an estimated 219,000 travelers a year.

Douthat, a Herbert College of Agriculture graduate, was working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service when she met Mark Douthat (UT Knoxville, ’89).

“My late husband wanted to build a 1,500-head dairy, and I was going to be the engineer to design the waste system,” she said. “So, UT gave us a foundation, gave us a connection and a network.

“I take pride in being a UT alumna,” she added. “I wasn’t there for the football. I did go to the games, but that’s not what it was about, it was about the education. The education gave me my career and led me down the path that brought me here.”

The farm has been in the family for more than 60 years, and the Douthats have four children, Luke, Sarah, Rebecca and Jonathon.

“I’m just so excited that we get to have this on our farm, and we get to represent a little bit of what the University of Tennessee means,” said Sarah Douthat, a senior at UT Martin.

“We live in such a small community,” she said. “A lot of people think they can’t go to a four-year University or they can’t really make that much of themselves. But looking at that mural, I want them to know that UT is an opportunity for everyone.”