Kathy Braun has an EdS in educational psychology, a MS in communication, and a BS in mathematics all from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Yes, she is a VFL! As a lecturer in the School of Communication Studies, teaching Business and Professional Communication, she is able to combine her two loves: academia and performing.

Braun sang and danced with aspirations of a career in entertainment, where she learned valuable communication, broadcasting, advertising, and public relations skills. She also had a career in education and taught mathematics at the middle and high school levels in Nashville and Knoxville. With a background in public relations, advertising, broadcasting as well as teaching, it was a natural progression to a career teaching communication studies at UT.

She and her husband have two sons: Justin, who is a mortgage broker living in Atlanta with wife Holly and twelve-year-old granddaughter Peyton (named for who else?), and four-year-old Leland; and Jonathan, who is a film editor/colorist for Jupiter Entertainment working on a second master’s degree in computer science. Both sons and daughter-in-law are UT graduates, of course.

If you are in a Kathy Braun class, make sure you know the words to “Rocky Top,” because she sometimes leads the class in singing a few verses to ease those pre-speech tensions. 

Education

• Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
• Master of Science in Communication, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
• Specialist in Educational Psychology, , University of Tennessee, Knoxville