Karen E. Holt

Dr. Karen E. Holt

Dr. Karen E. Holt, 54, of Knoxville, passed away on Tuesday, October 27, 2009. She was an assistant vice president of the Institute for Public Service at the University of Tennessee.

A native of Paducah, Kentucky, Dr. Holt spent the majority of her career fulfilling her passion for public service, civil rights, and civic engagement. The scope and diversity of Dr. Holt's work was extraordinary. Before coming to the Institute for Public Service in 2008, Dr. Holt had previously served as an associate general counsel at University of Tennessee from 1985 until 1995, led the University of Virginia's Office of Equal Opportunity Programs from 1997 until 2003, was an attorney with the Civil and Civil Rights Divisions of the United States Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. from 1983 until 1985, served as executive director of Project Pericles in New York from 2003 until 2005, and was director of the Fanning Institute at the University of Georgia from 2006 until 2008. Dr. Holt was also an impassioned teacher in courses on American Government and Administrative Law at University of Tennessee, and in the Law of Higher Education at University of Virginia.

While serving as associate general counsel at University of Tennessee, Dr. Holt completed a doctorate in Political Science, concentrating in Public Law, Public Administration, and Methodology. Her dissertation research culminated in a book, When Officials Clash- Implementation of the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, published by Praeger Press in 1998. She authored papers published in the Journal of Family Law and the Tennessee Law Review, among others.

Dr. Holt's interest in improving equal opportunity policy led her to accept the position as Director of the Office of Equal Opportunity Programs at University of Virginia in 1997. In collaboration with her staff and university faculty, Dr. Holt revised EEO policies, procedures and outreach to enhance equality and access throughout the university. Describing her time at University of Virginia, one of her colleagues wrote: "During our years working together, her wisdom and kindness meant the most to me; she taught me about coping, about strength and about hope. We are still building on the foundation she created at the EOP. Her impact on the University was extraordinary." Karen was honored at University of Virginia's EOP Champion Awards ceremony on November 2, 2009.

After building the EOP programs at University of Virginia, Dr. Holt became interested in broader educational policy and accepted an offer to become the first Executive Director of Project Pericles in New York in 2003. About her service to Project Pericles, Eugene M. Lang wrote: "Karen was the inaugural Executive Director of Project Pericles, and we could not have asked for anyone better. She helped make the mission of Project Pericles - to encourage and facilitate commitments by colleges and universities to include social responsibility and participatory citizenship as essential elements of their educational programs - come alive, and her energy, wisdom, and interpersonal skills fostered the development of significant contacts and warm relationships with colleges and universities and with leaders in philanthropy, education, and the social service sector."

Dr. Holt began her career with a bachelor's degree in zoology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, working as a park ranger and later a park naturalist at Sam A. Baker State Park in Missouri, where she earned the nickname "Mother Nature" from her co-workers. She was the first female naturalist in the state of Illinois. She often surprised her later colleagues in law and public policy by her knowledge of animal and plant natural history and biology.

Dr. Holt's great love of nature remained a constant throughout her life; special pleasures were walking in the woods, hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains, and being near water. She cared deeply for animals and maintained an ever-changing menagerie of cats, dogs, ferrets and fish. During her time living and working in New York, a pigeon eventually nicknamed "Rusty" came to visit Karen every day, sitting on the ledge outside her office in downtown Manhattan, and becoming a regular character in the office. With her beloved yellow Labrador, Honey Bee, she recently had begun to kayak the rivers near her home in Knoxville.

She was an incomparable friend, colleague, and mentor, caring for others in every community in which she lived.

Dr. Holt received a B.S. in 1976 from the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), a J.D. (cum laude) in 1983 from the Brandeis School of Law, University of Louisville, and Ph.D. in Political Science in 1995 from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. She was a member of the Tennessee Bar Association as well as the District of Columbia, Georgia, and Virginia Bar Associations. Dr. Holt also held memberships in the Athens (Georgia) Rotary Club, Georgia Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives, Georgia Economic Developers Association, the Southern Consortium of University Public Service Organizations and the Jeannette Rankin Foundation. Of these distinctions, she was very proud of her inductions as a Duchess of Paducah and Kentucky Colonel.

She was preceded in death by her parents and a step-brother.

Dr. Holt is survived by her sister, Sharon Barton and her husband, Jim, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and their children, Clark Jackson and his wife, Nicole Bernardi-Reis; Matthew Jackson and his wife, Karen, and sons, Tommy and Frankie; Nora and Ryland Barton; and special friends, Madelyn Wessel and her husband, Tony McCall, of Charlottesville, Virginia.

A memorial service will be held in Knoxville, Tennessee, from 2 until 4 p.m. Sunday, November 22, 2009, at Knoxville Botanical Garden, 2743 Wimpole Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37914-5958.

Donations may be made to the Jeannette Rankin Foundation online at www.rankinfoundation.org or mailed to Jeannette Rankin Women's Scholarship Fund, 1 Huntington Road, Suite 701, Athens, GA 30606.


This obituary was originally published in the Daily Progress.