Katie Wiley (she/her) is the Director of Employer Relations in the Center for Career Development and Academic Exploration at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. In this role, she leads initiatives that strengthen the university’s employer engagement ecosystem and expand career opportunities for students. She oversees the Employer Relations Team and provides strategic direction for campus recruiting efforts, including career fairs, employer partnerships, the on-campus VOLintern Program, and the university’s recruiting and engagement platform, Handshake.

Katie brings more than a decade of experience in higher education, with seven of those years at the University of Tennessee’s Center for Career Development and Academic Exploration. Her professional background spans multiple areas of student success and engagement, including residence life, academic advising, engineering career development, and employer relations. This cross-functional experience informs her approach to building partnerships that connect employers, students, and campus stakeholders in meaningful and strategic ways.

Beyond her work at UT, Katie is an active contributor to the employer relations profession. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Southern Association for College and Employers (SoACE) as Director of Targeted Knowledge Groups. She previously served as Chair of the SoACE Employer Relations Knowledge Group in 2022 and 2023 and as Past Chair in 2024. Katie has also contributed to the SoACE Employer Relations Summit through her work on the 2024 (Savannah, GA) and 2025 (Louisville, KY) conference committees and has presented five times at SoACE conferences on topics including artificial intelligence, policy, employer engagement, and emerging trends in career services and employer relations.

Katie is passionate about strengthening the connection between higher education and the workforce, fostering strong interpersonal relationships, and leading with servant leadership and the volunteer spirit. Her leadership style is informed by her CliftonStrengths—Woo (Winning Others Over), Positivity, Communication, Includer, and Maximizer—which shape how she builds relationships, cultivates momentum, and brings people together around shared goals.

Katie holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Sonoma State University (Rohnert Park, CA) and a master’s degree in College Student Personnel from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Higher Education Administration at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her dissertation explores how mothers working in professional staff roles at universities narrate their experiences of navigating and harmonizing career and family life in the post-COVID era.