Kim Holder arrived at UTC in 2024 as the managing director of the Center for Economic Education. Photo by Angela Foster.
Understanding economics and personal finance is essential to navigating life’s biggest decisions, according to Kim Holder, managing director of the Center for Economic Education (CEE) at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
The CEE is dedicated to educating students, teachers and local citizens about economic issues in the UTC community and beyond. Holder is carrying out this mission and wants people of all ages and backgrounds to understand the value of economic education.
What brought you to UTC and the CEE?
“I’ve been doing this work for 15 years, but coming to Chattanooga was a chance to apply what I’ve learned in a new setting. I actually lived here in the early ’90s and took my first econ class in Fletcher Hall around 1994. To walk around campus and see all the changes and yet still feel like I was in the same house I had always lived in—the furniture was just moved around a little bit.
“Chattanooga itself was a big draw. It’s a growing city with a strong sense of community and entrepreneurship. I also love that students are here at UTC because they chose to be here. They’re usually here for a specific program or opportunity, and that’s exciting to me.”
Your path in higher education wasn’t exactly traditional. Can you share your experience?
“I was here for two years before I left school. I worked full-time, got married, thought I would stay in school but didn’t. I worked for a university on the staff side, took classes here and there, and then found out I was pregnant. I had to drop out again. It took me 15 years from start to finish. I started at UTC in 1993 and graduated from West Georgia in 2008.
“People assume I have a Ph.D. because I’ve done so much in this space. Sometimes, not having one holds me back, but maybe only by about 10%. There are still spaces where it feels like a union card and you need it to get in. I encourage students who want to be in academia to go for their terminal degree because you will do more work and get paid less without it, especially as a woman. But I’ve still been able to do everything I wanted to do.”
Can you give an overview of what the CEE does?
“The Center for Economic Education falls under the Probasco Chair, and Claudia Kramer is my boss. We focus a lot on K-12 economic education. Across the country, teachers are often required to teach economics without having formal training in the subject. They’re typically certified in social studies—but not necessarily econ—so they may have never taken an econ class themselves.
“Our goal is to teach the teachers and help them feel confident in what they’re teaching and serve as a resource. This is what I did at my prior institution, and I also do it nationally and internationally. UTC is just my new home base.
“Beyond K-12, we look at economic education from cradle to grave. We don’t only help students and teachers but also businesses, entrepreneurs and the broader community. We work locally, regionally and nationally, and I’ve already started outreach efforts to expand what we do.”
Why is financial literacy such an important issue?
“Economic education, including financial literacy, is all about choices. If you don’t recognize that you have choices, or if you feel like things are just happening to you, that changes how you see the world.
“Particularly, personal finance is important because wealthy people and poor people all face choices. When you’re impoverished, your choice set is really small. As you’re able to accumulate wealth, you’re able to open up other opportunities.
“My goal is to help students expand their choices. Education opens opportunities. Financial literacy gives you control over your future.”
How can you help students directly?
“I don’t teach in the classroom like I used to, and I do miss that, but this role gives me more time to really fine-tune what the center is doing. Our outreach to students won’t be in a traditional classroom but through other things.
“A big part of what I do is being a connector. There are so many opportunities—internships, fellowships, programs—but a lot of students just don’t know they exist. Because I have a large professional network, if a student comes to me and says, ‘I’m interested in this field,’ I usually know someone or something that can help.
“We’re also creating more opportunities for student engagement through our programming. Our Economics and Etiquette event and the Economics of Sports program were both a great success, and we’ll keep offering experiences that show how economics is part of everything.”
What’s one piece of financial advice you wish more students understood?
“Students limit themselves without realizing it. They think, ‘I have this degree, so I can only do this specific job.’ But skills are transferable. You don’t have to stay in a narrow lane and there are more possibilities than you think.
“Another big thing I see is decision paralysis. Students feel pressured to make career choices early on, and it feels like everything is narrowing down. But a lot of those limits are in their heads. Your degree doesn’t define your career path as much as you think. It’s about how you apply your skills and how you tell your story.”
Are there any upcoming programs or initiatives you’re excited about?
“We’re working on relaunching our website and social media, building out a speaker slate for events and launching teacher workshops. Those are big things on the horizon.
“I’m also taking three UTC students to Milton Friedman’s summer home in Vermont for an experiential learning program. They’ll be part of a group of students from other universities, getting to discuss economic ideas in the space where Friedman actually wrote them. For some, it might be their first time outside the Southeast. These kinds of experiences are so valuable and I’m excited to make them happen.
“Long term, I want Chattanooga to be a hub for economic education. Tennessee sits in a perfect spot—right in the middle of Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina. Each of these states has its own economic education councils, but they tend to be based in their state capitals. When I look at the map and see where Chattanooga sits, I’m like, ‘Oh, all of these are people who we could run programs in Chattanooga and pull from the corners of all these states.’ I’d love to see us become the place where economic education is thriving across the region.”
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