Kelly Phillips

Lecturer

Teaching students and helping them find and use their voices to tell their stories has been the focus of Kelly Phillips’ work for over three decades. As a magna cum laude UT graduate of the department she now serves, Phillips began her professional journey as an organizational leadership consultant and then lead a team of twelve national consultants who supported a women’s sorority (Sigma Kappa) with over 130 local campus operations for five years.

Phillips earned her MA in college student personnel with a cognate in interpersonal communication from Bowling Green State University (BGSU) while working in Greek Life and Housing as a live-in house director for a men’s fraternity. Kelly has spent more than twenty years on college campuses including BGSU, University of Houston, and UT, teaching leadership and communication both in and out of the classroom.

Phillips also worked in the private sector for nearly a decade in project management and marketing. Much of her professional experience on college campuses has emerged from student life roles ranging from student engagement, sorority and fraternity life, residence life, honor society advisement, and student conduct.

At UT, Phillips has served as a leader in four different departments including five years as the director of sorority and fraternity life, and volunteered as an alumni representative on various strategic planning, funding boards, and mentorship programs. She has been a keynote speaker, session presenter, and group facilitator at countless professional and student conferences on organizational leadership, interpersonal communication, and modern etiquette. In 2022, Kelly joined the School of Communication Studies as a full-time lecturer and now teaches her love for public speaking.

Education

BA, speech communication and political science, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
MA, college student personnel, cognate in interpersonal communication, Bowling Green State University