Anne Skutnik is the engagement and outreach coordinator within TCE’s Academic and Student Affairs office, and also the education and outreach coordinator at CURENT, an engineering research center located in the EECS department. She offered an overview of her two different positions.

“Within the college, I chair the outreach subcommittee of the Student Success Advisory Board, and with my colleagues on the committee we look for ways to synchronize, collaborate, and coordinate outreach activities that are done by departments, research centers, or other college units, “ explained Skutnik.

“I have a similar role with regards to outreach, and over the past few years I have helped us continue our programs like our Family Engineering Night for K-8 schools, Adventures in STEM middle school girls camp, and the research-intensive Young Scholars Program for high school students,” she said. “I also help coordinate CURENT’s Research Experience for Teachers professional development, and our Research Experience for Undergraduates program.”

Before serving in her current roles, Skutnik was a K-12 teacher in rural North Carolina prior to coming to UT for her PhD in learning environments and educational studies.

“My PhD program was unique because it blended cultural studies in education, educational psychology, and instructional design into an interdisciplinary program,” she said. “That allowed me to gain a wealth of information as well as hands on experience during my graduate assistantships.”

While Skutnik notes that she is not an engineer, she is married to one: Steven Skutnik, joint faculty associate professor in nuclear engineering. More importantly, her doctoral research focused on pedagogy and course design in engineering education. She still does some research, though it mostly focuses on outreach and less on faculty or course development.

Outside of work, Skutnik says her hobbies mostly include filling up her online shopping cart and then not completing the check-out process. She also likes to bake with her kids on the weekend.

“Sometimes, I like to hike,” said Skutnik. “Mostly, I have two small children so I just like to sit somewhere for five sustained minutes at a time.”