After 16 years of stellar leadership as the chair of the Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Ashley Harkrider, PhD, has been named the new dean of the university’s College of Health Professions.

Harkrider has served since March 2025 as the interim dean of the College of Health Professions, which includes the Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology, based in Knoxville, and the Departments of Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Diagnostic and Health Sciences, based in Memphis.

She has led the department’s outstanding growth in enrollment, clinical care, research, and community outreach since 2009.

Harkrider presided over the renovation of the Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology’s home, which is in the UT Conference Center in Knoxville, and celebrated its grand opening in October 2024. The $20 million, four-year renovation increased the department’s footprint to approximately 65,000 square feet and brought its academic, research, and clinical operations under one roof for the first time in 40 years.

Under her leadership, the department has grown to include 300 students and 55 faculty and staff members and has experienced curricular growth in all degree programs (BS, MS, AuD, and PhD).

The department operates the Knoxville area’s only academic hearing and speech clinics. It offers degree programs for undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral education in audiology and speech pathology. The department’s Doctor of Audiology program reached the top 25 of audiology programs in the country, ranking No. 23 in the U.S. News & World Report’s Best Graduate Schools list.

Harkrider earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina, a master’s degree in audiology from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a PhD in communication sciences and disorders from the University of Texas at Austin.

She is a graduate of the UT Executive Leadership Institute Class of 2023, the recipient of the UT Alumni Association’s Distinguished Service Professorship, and was named a 2015 Distinguished Alumnus by the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Texas at Austin.