Robert A. Levy was born on October 27, 1943. He earned his BA in English from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1965, his MA in English from Temple University in 1967, and his PhD in English from the University of Tennessee in 1973. He entered the University of Tennessee's administration immediately after completing his doctorate and worked as the Assistant to the Vice President for Academic Affairs (1973-1976) and as the Executive Assistant to the Vice President for Academic Affairs (1976-1978) before being named Assistant Vice President of Academic Affairs. He went on to serve as the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs (1975-1989) and as Associate Senior Vice President (1989-2004) before becoming the Vice President of Academic Affairs in 2004.

Katherine Noel (Huggins) High was born to Byron Roll and Mary Catherine (Hackett) Huggins on November 29, 1948. She was married twice: first to Robert Louis Bertelsen (1974-1981) and then to Reginald Morris High (1984-). She earned her AB from Miami University (Ohio) in 1970 and her EdD from the University of Tennessee in 1983. After completing her undergraduate degree, she taught at Collinsville Elementary School in Ohio (1970-1971), served as the assistant to the Vice President for Business at Western College in Ohio (1971-1974), and taught in the Knoxville (1974-1976) and Clinton (1976-1980) schools. She came to the University of Tennessee as the Director of Human Resources Development in 1980 and held this position until 1985 when she became the Executive Assistant to the Vice President. She also consulted for a number of Tennessee city governments, including Knoxville (1984-1987), Kingsport (1983-1987), and Johnson City (1984-1985). High later moved to UT Martin, where she served as the Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs and Student Success.