Chamyra Teasley will graduate with a degree in engineering management on Saturday, May 3. Photo by Angela Foster.
Student body president, Chancellor’s Ambassador, orientation leader, freshman senate advisor and homecoming queen—Chamyra Teasley definitely knows what it’s like to step into the spotlight.
When the engineering management major from Clarksville, Tennessee, first arrived at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, she said it was the perfect distance from home. It was the community that made her stay.
“After my first year at UTC, I had created a community of like-minded individuals and all-around good people,” Teasley said. “I knew that staying here would really help in my growth at such a time where we’re really moldable and our brains are trying to take in so much knowledge.”
On Saturday, May 3, Teasley will walk the McKenzie Arena stage as a graduating senior, closing out a college journey marked by personal growth.
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Teasley joined UTC as a mechanical engineering major but changed her major to engineering management after realizing she had an affinity for leadership.
“The intense math was not my strong suit,” she said. “I understood that my passion came from leadership and teamwork and the ability to work in a group at all times. With engineering management, I can go into the project management field, where my entire job would be to work with a team and to be a leader.”
Adding a political science minor helped Teasley combine her passion for social action and justice with her technical skills. Her decision to enter a field where women, particularly women of color, are underrepresented was intentional.
“I knew that engineering was a male-saturated field,” she said. “Especially for me being a woman of color, I knew that there weren’t going to be many people in my major who looked like me, let alone be a woman.
“I liked the idea of that challenge. I also enjoy learning about the way the world works. That’s essentially why I chose that major; I knew it would challenge me.”
In the end, Teasley said it didn’t make too much of a difference.
“Overall, I haven’t felt singled out,” she said. “Of course, physically I looked different from everyone else in the class, but it didn’t make me anxious or nervous. If anything, it made me realize that I have something to prove and that it made me want to do better. It made me want to do more.”
Following her remarks to UTC students of the Gary W. Rollins College of Business and the College of Health, Education and Professional Studies at the 2024 afternoon undergraduate commencement, Student Government Association President Chamyra Teasley took a selfie with the graduates.
Throughout her time at UTC, Teasley gravitated toward opportunities where she could make a difference, a lot of which came from her experience in the Student Government Association (SGA).
In her junior year, she was elected student body president, an experience that brought with it great responsibility and learning opportunities.
She delivered several public speeches, including a commencement address, met regularly with Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly and represented the student body at the State Capitol.
“Public speaking is not my greatest strength,” Teasley said. “That was something that I had to get comfortable with because—as SGA president—you are the student that people look at when it comes to answers.”
She recalled speaking to state legislators about a bill that would affect higher education.
“Our sole purpose was to make sure our students get represented because we see the impact that it has,” she said. “It helped me find my voice. You had to speak up. If you sat back and watched it, how could you be OK with that?”
While her role as student body president was a highlight of her SGA experience, she said being a freshman senate advisor had the most profound impact.
As an advisor, Teasley said she helped to build confidence and leadership skills in first-year students and assisted them in writing their resumes and practicing interviews.
“Freshman senate helps our students cultivate community for themselves,” she said. “You remember your freshman year—well, me, I felt like a chicken with its head cut off, running around just so stressed. It felt a bit lonely.
“Being able to be part of their freshman year and have a positive impact has really been special to me.”
Serving as a Chancellor’s Ambassador, Teasley represented the University at events across campus—from groundbreaking ceremonies to home football games.
“It’s a really good networking experience,” she said. “You have the opportunity to meet really cool people as well.”
A bonus, she said, “We had really cute blazers.”
Chamyra Teasley was crowned the 2024 homecoming queen.
Teasley described being crowned homecoming queen as an honor and a designation she didn’t take lightly.
“I’m forever grateful for my position as homecoming queen and I’m grateful the students voted me for that,” she said. “I’m really blessed.”
She sees the role as less about popularity and more about making an impact.
“It needs to run on a platform as ‘What have you done for this campus and what do you want to do? How do you give back to the Chattanooga community? How do you give back to the UTC community and what else do you want to bring?’” she said.
Teasley’s ambitions stretch beyond UTC. After completing an internship with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), she said the experience pushed her out of her comfort zone and helped her grow in ways she didn’t expect.
“I started in May (2024) as an engineering specialist intern and that was the most fun,” she said. “TVA was my first corporate internship, so it took some getting used to.
“I was at a nuclear plant, so you knew the ins and outs of Excel and Microsoft Suite, but at the same time, you want to learn about the reactors and the safety protocol.”
What started as a summer internship evolved into a year-long opportunity, where her role grew from an engineering specialist intern to someone regularly working alongside a project control specialist. In that position, she found clarity in her career goals.
“I worked with our project control specialists—they help the project managers keep everything on task,” she said. “It’s a lot of responsibility. One project manager can be responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars and I was learning how to support that process.
“I realized I liked being a part of something from beginning to end—from funding requests all the way through to implementation. It made me even more excited about going into project management.”
Now, she’s exploring job offers in Chattanooga, Knoxville and Nashville while planning her next steps: earning an MBA, attending law school and eventually stepping into local government.
“My dream job is to be a state representative, so I’m going to be working toward that,” she said.
As graduation approaches, Teasley said she feels a mix of excitement and nostalgia.
“Everything is kind of bittersweet. It went by super fast,” she said. “I’m proud of what I’ve done while I was here. UTC will always have a special place in my heart because it’s where I did the most growing.”
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Chamyra Teasley (right) co-moderated a discussion with Dr. Bernice King (green top) and Dr. Ilyasah Shabazz (red top) for UTC’s 2024 MLK Day celebration.
