The Office of Career Planning and Development, also known as CPAD, will be celebrating its 10-year anniversary this month at the University of Tennessee at Martin. With the bright yellow hand chair out front, the office is a staple among students and faculty across campus.

CPAD serves as a central hub for career services, including resume writing and review, portfolio planning, free student headshots, mock interview sessions and more. Over the past decade, CPAD has supported numerous students at UT Martin in becoming career-ready and even beginning their careers.

Demetrius Robinson, the current director of CPAD, has worked in the office for five years. As director, Robinson oversees all the planning and preparation for events and resources the office provides.

“UT Martin is in a unique place because a lot of our students do find opportunities and they have opportunities…because employers really do want to hire our students,” said Robinson.

Katie Mantooth is a veteran of CPAD, having worked for CPAD since it opened in 2016 and currently serving as the assistant director of the office. She has seen many changes over the past 10 years.

“I think over time, some things that have changed are recognizing the difference in the student that I worked with early on in my career versus the student I see today, and they’ve experienced different things,” Mantooth said. 

With changes in students comes adaptability. Mantooth has found ways to update CPAD’s services to ensure students are getting the career help best fit for them.

“I think adjusting and meeting our students where they are and having to be very mindful of that…really purposely, meeting students where they are. That’s really necessary in today’s world,” said Mantooth.

The anniversary is not only a milestone for the office but also a great celebration. Robinson and Mantooth, who each share a diverse background in higher education and career services, share their experience with how CPAD came to be the profound resource it is at UT Martin today.

“We are small, but mighty,” said Robinson. “I mean, we are blessed with a decent budget for being a small school.”

“We have a great team,” Mantooth said. “We’ve been blessed with the support from the institution and the support ten years ago when they created this. They saw the need, and we’re still here ten years later.”

CPAD has hosted 69 career fairs since it began in 2016. The office has had nearly 700 unique employers attend with a total of 1,846 employer registrations. Nearly 5,400 students have attended the office’s career fairs over the last decade.

In addition to career fairs, CPAD always tries to make its presence as a resource known to students. This is done by visiting classrooms, hosting informational sessions and hosting networking events.

Outside of future employment opportunities, the office also makes efforts to include current employment opportunities. This is primarily done in the form of on-campus jobs at the university. Since 2016, 283 jobs have been posted on the office’s primary job recruiter, Handshake.

Lacy Collier, a senior agriculture education and law and policy major, has worked for CPAD since 2024. Lacy works as a career peer educator, meaning she helps other students review their resumes, apply for jobs and offers support to other UT Martin students who visit CPAD.

“We’re always improving things and coming up with new ideas,” said Collier.

A notable part of her job is seeing the progression of student success. Similar to Robinson and Mantooth, she explained how she gets to see students change over the course of their time in college through their resumes and supporting them at CPAD.

“I can see resume building every year…that’s always such a reward to see [that] UT Martin has such a big impact on these students’ lives and gives them all these opportunities and their resume gets to keep growing every year,” said Collier.

Within the next 10 years, the office hopes to achieve a slew of new and exciting goals. From expanding their office to growing among their numbers in staff, CPAD intends on staying a vital resource for the students at UT Martin and beyond.