Lisa Smith is Administrative Specialist I with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. She came to UT and Knoxville 19 years ago from her hometown of Columbus, Mississippi.

Smith earned her Associate’s Degree in accounting from East Mississippi Community College and her Bachelor’s Degree in business administration from Mississippi State University.

She applies these skills to help keep CEE’s wheels turning with attention to a variety of administrative duties. She handles invoices for payment processing, travel requests and reimbursements, and assorted other financial details.

“It is rewarding to be able to help guide new and old undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, and staff through the reimbursement process,” said Smith. “Travel can be challenging because each one is so different, but it keeps things interesting.”

She learned that she entered the most travel for the entire UT Knoxville campus last year. Smith enters travel with CEE and other accounts across multiple campus units like the Center for Transportation Research and the Institute for a Secure & Sustainable Environment. She provides information to traveling faculty, staff and students beyond just entering their travel requests.

“After entering a travel request where the traveler is going to a particular conference,” explained Smith, “I use the internet to pull all necessary information about the conference such as name and dates of the conference, registration and lodging to have as backup documentation for when the traveler returns from the trip prior to entering their travel reimbursement.”

She uses the www.gsa.gov website to pull information about a city or county the traveler will visit if it is not a major city, and she gathers airfare price quotes.

Outside of her work in CEE, Smith enjoys exercising, reading, watching movies, and—you might have guessed—travel and relaxation.