Faculty Profile: Margaret Norris

Margaret Norris is the Executive Director for the Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS), housed in the Institute for Public Service at the University of Tennessee. She has been with MTAS since 2001, serving her first sixteen years as a Municipal Management Consultant before accepting the challenge of her current position in August of 2017. 

Prior to joining MTAS, Norris once worked for the agency as a graduate intern. Her other experience includes work for the cities of Chattanooga, Tennessee; Kansas City, Missouri; South Pittsburg Tennessee; and Lumberton, North Carolina. She loves cities and helping municipalities serve their customers. She believes in the aphorism: “Do what you can, where you are, with what you have.”

Norris graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville with dual degrees in Psychology and Spanish and earned a Master of Public Administration from UT Chattanooga. While working for MTAS, she also served as the Executive Director of the Tennessee City Management Association from 2004-2008. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the Tennessee City Management Association, and the International City/County Management Association. She is also a registered member of the National Association of Parliamentarians and has been studying parliamentary procedure since 2010.