The following information provides guidance on grading deadline adjustments, make-up exam arrangements, and available campus support services for students and instructors impacted by the Canvas disruption. Please review each section carefully for scheduling details and contact information.
Grading Deadline Extension for Faculty
The original deadline of 11:59 p.m. on Monday, May 18 has been extended to 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, May 19.
Make-up Exams and Academic Support
Students who were unable to take finals on Saturday, May 9 because of religious observances or extenuating circumstances should contact their instructors to make other arrangements.
Room 270 in the Student Union is being held as a space for instructors to give make-up exams to students affected by the disruption. Room 270 has up to 72 seats and is available Monday-Wednesday (May 11-May 13) from 7:30 a.m. – 9 p.m. and on Thursday, May 14 from 7:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. To reserve the space, instructors should contact Madison Merrifield, Senior Academic Programs Specialist in the Division of Academic Affairs, at [email protected]. Requests should include instructor name, email, day and time for the request, and amount of time needed for the make-up exam. Requests will be considered on a first-come, first-served basis.
Student Disability Services
Students may contact SDS at (865) 974-6087 or [email protected] if they were unable to test on Saturday, and they will work with students to reschedule later in the week with instructor permission.
About the Canvas Outage and Precautionary Measures
Instructure, Canvas’ parent company, shut down Canvas nationwide on Thursday, May 7 due to a cybersecurity incident that affected education institutions across the country. Instructure placed all Canvas environments in maintenance mode at 4:55 p.m. EDT on Thursday, May 7. Instructure gave the “all clear” for use of Canvas environments at 3:53 a.m. EDT on Friday, May 8.
Related to this incident, Instructure has notified the Office of Innovative Technologies (OIT) of a data breach associated with some accounts.
Based on what Instructure has found to date, the data involved appears to include personal information, potentially including full names, email addresses, student ID numbers, and internal messages. At this time, Instructure has found no indication that passwords, dates of birth, government identifiers, or financial information were involved, and the university does not store this information in Canvas.
OIT will reach out if you need to take any action. Please note the following general precautions.
- Be on the lookout for phishy emails and follow OIT’s online instructions to learn how to spot a scam and report it to OIT.
- Access MyUTK, UT Microsoft 365, UT Google, Canvas, and other university websites directly. Avoid opening links and attachments from unknown senders. Do not open attachments unless you are expecting a file from someone.
UT also advises students and faculty to download any needed course materials from Canvas to ensure they have a backup copy in case the platform goes offline again. Instructors whose exams are in Canvas should prepare alternatives that could be offered outside the platform. Instructors should also download student contact information so that they can email students without relying on Canvas messaging.
View Instructure’s status page.
Previous Campus Messages
May 8, 2026 — Service Restored and Updated Exam Schedule
After a nationwide Canvas outage, service has been restored and final exams scheduled for today are moved to Saturday, May 9, at the same times and locations.
May 7, 2026 — Friday Exams Postponed
Due to the ongoing nationwide Canvas outage caused by a cybersecurity incident affecting Instructure systems, all Friday exams are postponed as OIT continues to monitor the situation
May 7, 2026 — Initial Outage Notification
The University became aware of a Canvas service disruption due to a cybersecurity incident affecting Instructure systems, and updates will be shared as more information becomes available.