Dr. Christina Ann “Tina” Kien, 62, passed away peacefully on April 5th in her home with her husband, Art, by her side.  Tina was a vibrant soul who will be remembered for her passion, dedication, and fierce love for others.

Tina is survived by her loving husband, Arthur Boutin, stepdaughters Rebecca and Rachel Boutin, niece Kristi Moore, and K-9 companions: Thor, Bella, and Jackie Longhorn. She was survived by her father, George Spence, whom she then welcomed in to heaven on May 13^th, 2022. She is also survived by her brother Christopher Spence, his wife Gail, as well as numerous nieces and nephews, dear friends, close coworkers, and former students who Tina impacted in big ways. To Tina, everyone she knew seemed to become family. She is preceded in death by her mother Ruth Marie Kien, and father George Spence.

Tina was born on November 6, 1959 in Southgate, California to parents Ruth Marie Kien and George Spence. She attended high school at O'Connell H.S. in Galveston, Texas for 1974-1975 where she ran track and fouled out of every basketball game she ever played in. Tina graduated in 1977 from La Marque High School in La Marque, Texas. She briefly attended Anne Arundel College in Maryland, College of the Mainland in Galveston, and Florida State College at Jacksonville, before finding her true home at The University of Texas at Austin. 

While at UT, Tina received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology in 1983, and then served as an admissions counselor in UT’s International Admissions office. In 1986, she began the School Psychology program at UT. She earned her Master of Education in Educational Psychology in 1992, and began work at St. Louis Catholic School. She moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, and completed a predoctoral internship at the Nebraska Internship Consortium in Professional Psychology with rotations at Rivendell Psychiatric Hospital and Lincoln Public Schools. In 1991-92, at a time when counselors in private schools were uncommon, Tina was selected to create the role at St. Louis School.  Unfortunately, that year the school suffered the devastating loss of two students to violence. The crisis model Tina helped create and implement would turn out to mirror the best practices in development nationally for supporting traumatized schools.

Tina returned to Austin in 1993 to pursue her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology. Her 1996 dissertation was entitled An analysis of clinical attributes of children demonstrating functional cerebral asymmetry. She found her home where she earned her degrees, and she took pride in being an Austinite.

Tina loved dancing, music in any form, her mother’s famous cooking, salsa, snickerdoodles, learning, taking care of others, her pets, particularly cats Magruff, Bert, and Ernie, and, most of all, the Texas Longhorns. After completing degrees at every level on the Forty Acres, Tina went on to help countless student-athletes earn their diplomas and build their careers during the 27 years she worked in Intercollegiate Athletics Student Services. From long-time Academic Counselor, then Director of Learning Services, and, finally, Director of Career and Community Service; she spent thousands of hours devoted to helping students - and staff - find success in their unique ways. She was gifted at understanding student’s individual learning needs and developing pathways to help students invest in their academic identities. Only one student during her tenure did not complete their degree (you know who you are, and please reach out because we would love to see you earn that T-Ring). Hallmarks of her work included being an exceptional listener, and replacing judgment with empathy and genuine care. She loved her most recent role in Texas Athletics, developing, overseeing, and executing the career and community service initiatives of the department. Tina was known for being the last one to leave the office and the first one to volunteer to help any student, colleague, or even stranger. She tirelessly promoted an environment of diversity, inclusivity, and acceptance, and she held herself and others to the highest standard of integrity. Tina was passionate about giving back to the community and coordinating volunteer events. Several of her favorite causes include: Neighborhood Longhorns, Special Olympics, Juneteenth, Longhorn Pride Parade, Outletes and Allies, the LGBTQIA group in athletics, and The Marbridge Foundation.

Tina had a gift for seeing people’s innate capabilities and then relentlessly motivating them to live up to their potential. She was selfless. She was brilliant. She was patient. She was thoughtful. She loved hard and worked hard. Her sense of style was hard to beat. Her generosity is unparalleled - she would drop anything to help someone in need, give you the shirt off of her back, or even adopt your dog if you found yourself no longer able to care for it. Tina’s instincts were incredible, particularly when it came to people. Anyone lucky enough to have known her well has a “Tina Story” of a time when Tina showed up for them in a big way during a time when they needed it most. Sometimes we didn’t even know we needed her, but we did, and she found us. She also knew exactly how to hit you right between the eyes and call you out to get you back on track, and her way was direct and loving. 

Dr. Kien’s Celebration of Life will be held at Life Austin Mueller, on Wednesday, May 25th at 1:00 pm.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to The Marbridge Foundation https://www.marbridge.org/get-involved/secure-online-giving/