Master’s Student, Lady Vol Swimmer Katie Mack Finds Calling On Rocky Top

For College of Communication and Information master’s student Katie Mack, the decision to attend the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, was life-changing.

It was on Rocky Top that the Lady Vol swimmer found her calling for sports communications and media and aspires to turn that into a career after she graduates this May. 

“I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life before I set foot on this campus,” Mack, who will receive her master’s degree with a concentration in journalism and media, said. “I really think that this school has really helped me hone those skills, gain the experience and point me in the direction I want to go, so I would not trade it for the world.”

Mack started her NCAA swimming career at North Carolina State University before transferring to the University of Florida, where she was a three-time NCAA Championship qualifier for the Gators. In 2023, Mack used her COVID-19 fifth year of eligibility to transfer to UT to compete for the Lady Vols swimming team as a graduate student. 

While the swimming program was what drew Mack to Rocky Top, the campus and community is what made her fall in love. She said transferring schools can always be challenging, but the professors and classmates she encountered at UT made it easier.

“I got here and totally fell in love with the program, professors, and classes,” Mack said. “Everything I’ve taken really makes me feel prepared for going into the workforce after this.”

Mack said she owes a lot of her experiences to School of Journalism and Media Professor Guy Harrison. She added his encouragement was key in helping her focus on what she wanted to do and finding a home on Rocky Top.

Through classes with Harrison, Mack has gained some invaluable hands-on experience. This includes hosting and producing Transfers Talk Tennessee Sports, a show covering transfer student-athletes experiences. She works on the show with fellow Lady Vols Jewel Spear and Zaida Puni. She also worked on Rocky Top Rundown.

Harrison said the first thing he noticed about Mack was her writing ability and, from that perspective, he knew she belonged in the journalism and media program. The second thing that became apparent was how much of a leader she is. Harrison said her maturity and leadership abilities were so readily apparent in the first handful of productions that he chose her to direct shows. He said directing requires constant communication, assertiveness, poise, and creativity, and despite no prior experience, Mack demonstrated all those qualities immediately.

“Our school is better for having had Katie in it, even if it was for a relatively short time,” Harrison said. “Katie will now enter that phase where she’ll have to discover for herself the career that caters to her passions. That said, because of her communication skills and her soft skills, Katie should find many opportunities available to her.”

Master’s student Katie Mack (right), on the SEC Nation set with junior Griffin Hadley when the production visited UT during the fall 2023 semester.

Another one of Mack’s  favorite hands-on opportunities was getting the opportunity to work for WUOT 91.9 FM.

She learned about this as part of her JREM 515 Journalism Project 1 course with WUOT Interim News Director and Professor of Practice for the School of Journalism and Media Melanie Faizer.

As an English major in her undergraduate years, Mack was familiar with writing but not necessarily comfortable with writing for journalism. She learned a lot about journalism writing from Faizer’s course and put it all into practice at the station.

“It was such an important class,” Mack said. “It was really challenging, but I feel the most challenging classes are always the ones where you learn the most. I feel like I’m going to take so many of those skills that Melanie instilled in all of us forward into my career.”

As Mack prepares to graduate, she feels so grateful for her time at Rocky Top. She has been a student-athlete for several years, adding it was what made her college experience great. However, she said becoming a Lady Vol especially meant a lot to her due to the rich history of women’s athletics at UT. She said it was not until she came here that she truly understood the impact Pat Summitt had on women’s athletics, not just at Tennessee, but across the country.

While she is going to miss Tennessee, she is also ready to be done with school.

“I was telling my mom I feel like I’m finishing up seventeenth grade,” Mack said. “I’m definitely excited but also a little bit nervous. But, I know that God’s got me and that he has a plan for my life. Going to UT was a really special experience and I will always have a piece of Tennessee in my heart.”