Stacie Grisham, UTC’s assistant vice chancellor of student success, will graduate from UTC’s Applied Leadership and Learning (LEAD) doctoral program in Leadership and Decision Making. Photo by Angela Foster.
Like many staff members at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, being a full-time employee isn’t Stacie Grisham’s only role on campus.
For the past five years, she has also carried a second title—student.
“I think going back to school for any degree as an adult is an adjustment,” said Grisham, UTC’s assistant vice chancellor of student success. “For me, some of the evenings and definitely the weekends became class time or homework time.”
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The long hours and homework will pay off on Friday, Dec. 12, as she officially graduates with a degree from UTC’s Applied Leadership and Learning (LEAD) doctoral program in Leadership and Decision Making.
Grisham’s UTC origins began in 2009 when she joined as an academic advisor, a role that was already a dream.
“That was my career goal,” she said. “I got a job as a peer academic advisor at UT Knoxville, where I did my undergrad. At that point, I didn’t 100% know what I wanted to do with my life, but I absolutely fell in love with that job, higher education and student success work.”
At the time, full-time academic advising jobs were new to college campuses. Grisham was among the original professional advisors in what is now the Center for Academic Support and Advisement. She later became assistant director, then director of the center.
In 2018, she moved into her current position in the Division of Enrollment Management and Student Affairs (EMSA), supporting teams focused on academic advising, career readiness and student success initiatives across campus.
“My role is very much a conduit with a lot of other areas on campus,” she said. “In many ways, it’s a space that helps bring everybody together just to talk about the work we’re doing and trying to figure out what we could do to move the needle to be more accessible for students.”
In her day-to-day responsibilities, Grisham found herself thinking about doctoral study, but she viewed it as a “pipe dream” as a first-generation college graduate.
She credits Dr. Yancy Freeman, former EMSA vice chancellor and current chancellor at UT Martin, for giving her the push she needed.
“He said it would not only benefit me if I did aspire in the future for a different administrative rank, but he also said it would really help me and change the way I looked at my work,” she said.
It became a full-circle moment when Grisham realized Freeman was a member of her doctoral dissertation committee.
“To see someone who played an instrumental role in encouraging me to go for it and then also be a part of my culmination—it was very exciting,” she said.
Pursuing the degree while working full-time and parenting two young children required adjustments and extra support at home.
“I have a very supportive spouse and network,” Grisham said, adding that her kids, now 9 and 12, “were in this with me.”
What also kept her motivated was the relevance of what she was learning.
“100% everything,” she said when asked how much of her coursework connected with her career work. “The courses on decision making shape what I do day in and day out. My dissertation topic was very much shaped by something I was passionate about—working with student success.
“It really felt like a perfect way to blend all the elements of my interests and my professional career and wrap that up in a doctoral program.”
She encouraged others to do as she did: take the leap.
“I don’t know if there’s ever going to be a time in your life where you’re going to say, ‘I have all this free time. Let me jump in and work on a degree,’” she explained. “I think you naturally adapt and make the time for things that are important.
“The LEAD program is very much designed for scholar practitioners … I have seen the benefits since the very first semester and I can certainly see how it has shaped the way that I lead and interact with people, and increased my confidence in decision making.”
When Grisham walks the stage, she will carry both a doctoral hood and the ability to say she accomplished what she never thought possible.
“It’s funny, it always felt like it was so far away, but honestly, time has flown,” she said. “I’m done. We’re wrapped up and it’s complete.”
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UTC Applied Leadership and Learning programs
