Liz Upchurch is a graduate from the University of Tennessee with a degree in Geography.  

She served as an AmeriCorps member with the US Forest Service, providing solid waste technical assistance to five rural counties in East Tennessee. After her year of service, she returned to the University of Tennessee and worked at the Water Resources Research Center providing oversight to a newly formed AmeriCorps Water Quality Team. 

In 1998, she became the Program Director for the CAC AmeriCorps Program, Tennessee’s only Environmental Service Corps. In 2003, she joined the Tennessee Valley Authority to focus on water quality improvement, and public land management. 

Her current focus areas include multiple watershed planning and improvement projects, the Tennessee Growth Readiness Program and the Strategic Partnership Initiative.