Dream Weaver 

After three decades of dedicated service, Stephanie Kit leaves behind a legacy of impact, mentorship, and success. While people, projects, and spaces evolved over the years, her mission never wavered—connect students with dream careers.  

Wake up each morning at 5:30, workout, breakfast—on Mondays it’s always yogurt, berries, and granola—then a half hour drive from her Karns home to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. On a day when schedules line up, there’s a husband/wife carpool.   

After 30 years of the same daily ritual, Stephanie Kit, Executive Director of UT’s Center for Career Development & Academic Exploration, will soon experience a shift in her morning routine as she welcomes retirement. A schedule that’s changed just slightly over the years when her twin boys started driving and no longer needed a ride to school. 

“Stephanie is probably the most organized person I have ever met, and this helped us navigate being working parents with two children,” says her husband, Kevin Kit, Associate Professor & Director-Cook Grand Challenge Honors Program at UT’s Tickle College of Engineering. “I can’t imagine her slowing down.” 

Big Orange Family  

Born in Maryland, Stephanie—the youngest of six—moved frequently during childhood mostly between Delaware and Virginia. She attended Wake Forest University in North Carolina and briefly worked in business before deciding on grad school at the University of Georgia. She took a chance on a major that sounded interesting and began studying ‘student personnel in higher education.’ 

“I didn’t even know it existed until I found it in a catalog,” recalls Stephanie. “I was working as a graduate assistant at the Career Center at the law school, and it felt like I was really helping. That’s something that appealed to me; I’ve always wanted to be a helper.” 

When a job popped up at UT,  Stephanie decided to take a chance. On her own and with no family in the area, she made the move to Knoxville to accept the position of Assistant Director for Career Planning & Education Placement after graduation. It was 1995. 

“The internet was just taking off; we were having our first career website built. We’d send out printed newsletters with job openings, and students would then line up to get on the schedule for interviews. There were just 12 employees.” 

About five years later one of those employees—her boss and Director of Career Services at the time—Dr. Bob Greenberg, set her up on a blind date with an engineering professor. He had visited the professor’s class several times to make career presentations and thought highly of him. Both were from Delaware so he figured they’d have enough common ground to get through a first date.  

Turns out the commonality was much more serendipitous.  

“Our families lived ten minutes apart in Delaware,” Stephanie says. “He went to the all-boys school, I went to the all-girls school, we graduated within a year of each other but never met until we were here at UT.” 

Two years later, Kevin and Stephanie were married and eventually welcomed twin boys, Nathan and Nolan. This past semester marked another milestone for the family when the boys—who grew up bleeding orange and were regulars at games, concerts or pop-ins at the office—officially became Vols themselves, Nathan majoring in geography and Nolan studying soil science. 

“It’s been really neat to have our sons on campus this semester,” Kevin says. “They grew up coming to campus, but now it’s fun to watch them seek out the activities that align with their interests.” 

 

Building a Legacy  

After just one year on the job, Stephanie’s mentor, Betty Craig, then Associate Director of Career Planning, retired. Several candidates were up for the position, but Stephanie showed the most promise.    

“I only had Betty for a year, but she really took me under her wing and poured into me,” says Stephanie.

Stephanie served in that role for close to 20 years. Over the course of her tenure, she helped build close relationships with campus partners, including First-Year Studies and the academic advising community. She worked one-on-one with students to navigate their career path focusing on career exploration, resume and interview skills, as well as job search strategies.  

The compassion and care she showed the students mirrored the values that made her so beloved as a leader.  

“Stephanie has all the qualities of an effective leader,” says Jenny Ward, Director of the Academic & Career Exploration Center. “She’s a relationship builder people trust, she cares about team culture and the integrity of the work. You know what to expect from her, and she consistently thinks about the future and improvement. People love working for Stephanie, and the team has longevity because of it.” 

In 2014 when the director position opened, Stephanie was transparent about her interest: she didn’t want it. Nathan and Nolan were still young, and she worried about capacity. So she agreed to serve as interim director. But her detailed, organized nature kicked in—and she began to thrive. Eventually, she stepped into the role of director.  

The next few years she led the department through significant change. Her team was the first to move into the Student Union in 2015, the center’s name changed from “Career Services” to the “Center for Career Development,” and along the way an employer development team was added to help strengthen partnerships with key organizations. In 2020, the department—now named the “Center for Career Development & Academic Development”—became part of the Division of Student Success.  

“One of Stephanie’s strengths is delivering new expectations from above while gaining buy-in from below,” Jenny says. “She knows the importance of communicating the why and the how of change with a focus on the positive outcomes. That ability insulates staff from the natural stressors that come with change and has a significant impact on team culture.” 

Stephanie’s leadership also played a critical role in shaping the department’s success. When she first started, the first-destination knowledge rate, a metric used to measure survey response rates of graduates, sat at 41 percent; it’s since grown to an impressive 81 percent. Other points of pride include a 91.4 percent positive career outcome rate (highest on record at UT), a median starting salary of $62,000 for new grads, and more than 1,600 unique organizations now hiring UT grads.    

“The quality of UT’s academic programs allows us to play on a national level with top employers,” Stephanie says. “We’re a university of choice for Fortune 500 employers because our grads do so well. And then that makes them want to hire more, they know what they’re going to get.” 

Career Counselor at Heart 

While Stephanie has proven herself a trusted, capable, and empathetic leader—her heart has always been with students. That’s what energizes her; that’s what she finds most impactful. 

“As her career advanced, she missed working directly with first-and-second years as they learn about themselves and plan for their futures,” recalls Jenny. “She chose to teach a class her final semester to revisit what she’s always enjoyed most about her work—student learning.” 

From the student whose goal was to design haunted houses—eventually steered toward Retail, Hospitality, and Tourism Management—to the student interested in international law who felt she didn’t have a story to tell—family was part of Kurdish refugees rescued from Iraq during the Clinton administration—Stephanie helped weave thousands of students’ dreams over the years. The trick was to be a good listener and then thread their career aspirations with practical steps to achieve those goals. 

“A good career counselor doesn’t have all the answers,” says Stephanie, “but we ask good questions.” 

For Dominique McCord-Cotton, a 2017 UT political science graduate, Stephanie’s help was the catalyst needed to believe in herself and aim high. During her sophomore year, she served as a congressionnel intern and now lives in Washington D.C. working in educational policy. 

“Not only did Stephanie help me obtain what I believe to be the most important internship of my college experience, but she maintained contact with me during and after my internship,” Dominique says. “It’s been nearly ten years since I interacted with Stephanie as a congressional intern, and she still listens to my career aspirations, serves as a thought partner, and has helped me to expand my network. She is one of the most kind and genuine people I know.” 

Endless Possibilities Ahead 

Right now, Stephanie’s plan is to simply enjoy the newfound free time. Not to say she hasn’t thought through what a retirement routine would look like. There’s a sibling trip to Scottsdale coming up in February, plans to serve the local community, more family hikes and traveling to national parks, and plans to learn to play pickleball.  

And it comes as no surprise the career coach wants to keep coaching. 

“I’m open to part-time consulting. Helping a student choose a career path, seeing them have their moment and move into big successful jobs—it’s what makes my heart warm. I’m looking forward to getting back to that.” 

Those who know her best say Stephanie rarely took annual leave without responding to emails and always made students her first priority outside of family. While her job responsibilities changed over time from meeting directly with students to supporting them in a different way—she’s ready to get back to her roots. 

“As she moved into the director position she lost the day-to-day contact with students, and she definitely missed that,” Kevin says. “I hope she will be able to continue to share her knowledge about the career field with staff and students through consulting and maybe teaching because I know she will find that meaningful.” 

It’s impossible to measure how many dreams Stephanie helped weave through the years—likely thousands of uncovered passions and unlocked opportunities. As she prepares to welcome this new chapter, her legacy of servant-based leadership and commitment to empowering others is cemented into the center’s foundation.  

When asked what parting advice she’d share, her words of wisdom share a similar theme to what originally brought her to Rocky Top—a simple enough decision that set the course of her life in motion.  

“In career, there is a theory called, ‘planned happenstance.’” she says. “It means that things just happen to you that can end up opening doors or changing your career path—be open, be ready for it. Take advantage of those chance events and always stay curious to possibility. You never know exactly where a path may lead.”