Katelen Watkins

Katelen Watkins initially began work with Vanderbilt Athletics as an intern with student-athlete development, rejoining the staff as assistant director for student-athlete development in September 2023.

Watkins was promoted to student-athlete development coordinator after six months as an intern before moving up to an assistant director position in July 2019. She also worked as an accounting lead in Kroger’s corporate office in between stints with the Ingram Center for Student-Athlete Success.

She earned an undergraduate degree in kinesiology from Tennessee and in exercise science from Middle Tennessee before going to on receive a master’s degree in sport administration from Belmont. Watkins was a founding advisor of the Black Student-Athlete Group at Vanderbilt—helping implement the first-ever campus-wide voter registration drive on campus—as well the Dancing Dores initiative.

Born and raised in Nashville, Watkins is married to a high school football coach and is a proud Autism Mom. She also owns a small business, Tied Twogether, that specializes in custom ballroom décor.