Dr. Kristen Singletary, director of the UTC accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program, stands in a nursing simulation lab on campus.
Dr. Kristen Singletary knows that the first path you take doesn’t always lead you to your destination.
Sometimes you must reroute, even though it may not be the quickest or easiest way forward.
This is a message that Singletary—a clinical associate professor, director of the accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program and a three-time alum of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga—wants to instill in her students.
Her own career trajectory began in 2002, after initially receiving a bachelor’s degree in psychology from UT Knoxville.
“As a 21 or 22-year-old, you don’t always know what you want to do,” Singletary said. “I was graduating from UT Knoxville and my family was pushing me to get a postsecondary degree.”
She chose law school, later receiving her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Dayton and becoming a full-time attorney.
“It was not like a burning desire or some wonderful appreciation of legal work,” she said. “It was like, ‘Huh, I can go do that for three years and then have a career.’”
And she did. After graduating, she found a job in a small-town law office that she adored.
A few years later, though, Singletary moved with her three children to Jakarta, Indonesia, where her then-husband worked. She became a community liaison officer for the U.S. Embassy, a job that she said involved “taking care of other people.”
“I was just weaving my way,” she said. “I’ve got three kids that I’m raising and just going through life.”
While living in Indonesia, she returned home to care for her grandmother and spend the last 10 days of her life by her bedside.
“That was my calling,” Singletary said. “I saw the nurses, the aides and all that they did. I was like, ‘That’s what I should be doing.’
“However, I lived in a foreign country, and you can’t do nursing school online and get clinicals in a foreign country.”
When her family moved to Chattanooga years later, she did not miss a beat when it came to pursuing her true passion.
At the time, UTC did not offer an ABSN program, so she considered other universities. In the end, UTC’s close proximity to home made it an easy choice.
“I did the traditional route, which was great,” she said. “I loved it. I don’t regret it at all. Some of my best friends came out of that program. And then I just kept coming back.”
After graduating in 2015, Singletary began working as a bedside nurse in the medical ICU at Erlanger Baroness Hospital. In 2020, she joined UTC’s master’s program in nursing.
Her inspiration? Dr. Christi Denton, now the program director for the adult gerontology acute care nurse practitioner program and assistant dean in the UTC College of Nursing.
“She’s someone I look up to and have worked with for a long time,” Singletary said. “I was like, ‘If I ever go back to get my master’s, I would want to do it with her teaching.’”
It was Dr. Laurel Rhyne, an associate lecturer, who convinced her to begin teaching as an adjunct in 2019.
Though she never saw herself teaching, she quickly discovered a passion for it.
“Finally, I decided to give it a try,” she said. “Then I loved it.”
She joined the UTC faculty while continuing her education, and in December 2025, she earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree.
Today, Singletary teaches fundamentals and a combined pathophysiology and pharmacology course for first-semester nursing students. Watching those students step into the hospital for the first time is one of her favorite parts of the job.
“They get to the hospital and light up,” she said. “They’re like, ‘Oh yes, people.’ All the things that we’ve learned, I’m applying those here.”
Her research has focused on palliative care, particularly helping rural healthcare providers better understand when patients could benefit from those services. Through her doctoral project, she worked to educate providers about palliative care and improve referrals for patients with chronic illnesses.
As much as she enjoys teaching, Singletary said what matters most is helping students find the same sense of purpose she eventually found for herself.
“I want them to be passionate about it,” she said. “Nursing is so versatile for people to be able to find their passion and to try multiple things to get to finding that passion. I want them to always have a spirit of inquiry. We’re never dissatisfied with the answer we get. We’re always asking why.”
After earning three degrees from UTC and seven years as a faculty member, Singletary said UTC still feels like exactly where she is meant to be.
“I like to say I’m UTC’s biggest cheerleader,” she said. “I believe in our campus. I believe in what we’re doing. When you know you’re in a good culture and a good workplace, you want to share that and you want to stay there.”
Singletary said the winding road from attorney to nurse and educator is proof that there is no single path to a meaningful career.
“The main thing I want people to know is that changing tracks is OK,” she said. “Life is about the journey and the adventure.”
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