Kate Atchley, PhD, distinguished lecturer in the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business, is executive director of the college’s executive-level MBA programs and director of the college’s Executive MBA for Strategic Leadership program. Since joining the college in 2000, she has served in a number of leadership positions, including as assistant head of the Department of Management and director of the college’s Leadership Development Program.

Atchley earned her PhD in industrial/organizational psychology from the University of Tennessee and is a licensed psychologist in the state of Tennessee. Prior to joining the university, Atchley worked in Thailand as an organizational-change consultant; she was a guest lecturer at Burapha University where she conducted classes in cognitive and emotional intelligence as it related to employee selection. From 2001-2013, she also was the managing partner of the Tennessee Assessment Center, a company specializing in the selection and development of executives and managers.

Atchley has had articles published in The Journal of Vocational Behavior, Personnel Psychology, Human Resource Development Review, and Organizational Research Methods. She has presented papers and has been an invited speaker at a variety of conferences and symposia.

Her areas of interest include employee selection, executive development, and change management. She has been nominated for the college’s Al Keally Outstanding Lecturer Award and, numerous times, for the Physician’s Executive MBA Outstanding Teacher award.