Katie Aranda serves as an Assistant Director in the Office of Student Learning, formerly one-half of Academic Support & Retention, and has been a part of the team, no matter what the name, since June of 2023. Katie collaborates with multiple campus partners to support student learning and help foster the academic success of undergraduate students at the University of Iowa. Specifically, Katie oversees the Metacognition Mentors, oversees the Tutor Iowa Website, Tutor Certification Program, Academic Support Collaborative, and serves on the Learning at Iowa Leadership Team. Katie also collaborates with a variety of academic support centers across campus, and coordinates the Academic Support Tracking System, a tool utilized by over fifteen centers for evaluation and assessment.

Prior to her role in the Office of Student Learning/AS&R, Katie held positions in Student Success, Disability Services, TRiO programs, and Residence Life at several institutions including Iowa Wesleyan University, Missouri Southern State University, and the University of Kansas. Katie earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Recreation, Sport, and Tourism Management and a Master of Education degree in Educational Organization and Leadership: Higher Education Administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Katie lives with her husband and four children in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. In her free time, she enjoys cheering on her children (loudly) in all of their activities, scrolling Tik Tok in order to stay up to date on current trends, and playing with her family’s three dogs.