Dr. Skolits served in Tennessee higher education for over 38 years, earning the title of Associate Professor Emeritus from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His 38 years of higher education service was recognized by the Tennessee legislature (House Joint Resolution # 100, March 30, 2022). At UT, Dr. Skolits served as the Executive Director for the UTK Institute for Assessment and Evaluation for 11 years, after beginning his service as a Senior Research Associate in 2001. Dr. Skolits led, managed, and published over 150 evaluation studies through federal, state, and local evaluation contracts he secured, generating net Institute revenue of over $4,000,000. Due to this revenue generation, Dr. Skolits provided leadership and funding for up to four full-time professional staff, several part-time/temporary project staff, as well as several Graduate Research Assistants. His evaluation work was nationally recognized as reflected in an appointment and subsequent five years of service with the national GEAR UP College Access Program National Evaluation Council, jointly sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Council for Community and Educational Partnerships (NCCEP).

Upon assuming a joint faculty/Institute role as Assistant Professor in 2005, Dr. Skolits became the Director of the evaluation Ph.D. program (currently Evaluation, Statistics and Methodology). In the role of Assistant Professor, Dr. Skolits transitioned the Ph.D. program to the department of Educational Psychology and Counseling, coordinated and supported the hiring of highly qualified program faculty, and supported ongoing revisions of the Ph.D. program to ensure the highest level of scholarship as well as student post-graduation employment opportunities. In 2011, Dr. Skolits received a promotion to Associate Professor and was awarded tenure. In his faculty role, Dr. Skolits regularly taught doctoral level courses and seminars in the areas of program evaluation, research methods, instructional design, student assessment, project management, quantitative reasoning, and qualitative research methods.

Dr. Skolits also participated in over 120 doctoral dissertation approval committees, including acting as committee chair for 20 doctoral students. Dr. Skolits’ research and scholarship endeavors produced 33 peer-reviewed articles, three book chapters, and over 150 evaluation studies. In addition, he was a Senior Editor for an international qualitative research journal focusing on culture (TQR) in which he reviewed and provided editorial support primarily for international journal research submissions. Dr. Skolits earned nominations and college awards (Board of Visitors, College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences) for his faculty work as well as received the Graduate Student Association award for student mentoring.

After serving as a CEHHS senator and caucus chair, Dr. Skolits was elected by Faculty Senators in 2018 to serve as the UTK – UTIA Faculty Senate President, leading to participation as a Fellow in the SEC Academic Leadership Development Program 2018 – 2019 cohort. Leadership roles within the Faculty Senate’s President’s council included the President-Elect (2018-2019), the President (2019-2020), and the Immediate Past President (2020-2021). Three major achievements accomplished in his year as Senate President included: a) the curriculum approval of courses implementing the major UT “Vol Core” General Education revision, b) support for university-wide faculty as they rapidly moved from in-class to online instruction in response to COVID-19, and c) the establishment of an initial productive Faculty Senate relationships with a new campus Chancellor (Donde Plowman), a new UT System President (Randy Boyd), and a new Governing Board chair (John Compton). Of particular note, I proudly represented the faculty during Chancellor Plowmans investiture.

Prior to coming to UT, Dr. Skolits was the Dean of Planning, Research and Assessment at Walters State Community College (1983 – 2001) serving on the College’s executive leadership team where he directed institutional strategic planning, coordinated institutional research as well as led  and managed the College’s Southern Association of Colleges and Schools reaffirmation of accreditation process.