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Opening Keynote
Posted by anne.grey | Start the discussion
Presented By: Adam A. Smith, Executive Director for University Academic Advising at the University of Kentucky.
Summary
In this Anderson Conference keynote, Adam A. Smith invites faculty and academic professionals to reflect on the pressures they carry while supporting students, colleagues, families, and their communities. Using the familiar instruction to put on your own oxygen mask first, Smith encourages educators to make space for their own well-being so they can continue doing meaningful work without constantly operating at their limits.
Smith asks participants to recognize the strengths and assets students bring to higher education. He describes today’s students as increasingly first-generation, BIPOC, and shaped by experiences that may differ from traditional expectations of college students. Rather than approaching students as problems to fix, he encourages educators to recognize their resilience, creativity, empathy, problem-solving abilities, and lived experiences.
The keynote also emphasizes community and shared responsibility. Smith discusses coalition building as something that can begin with simple relationships, conversations, and people supporting one another. Using the example of birds rotating leadership in a V formation, he encourages colleagues to share responsibility rather than allowing the same people to remain at the front carrying the greatest pressure.
Participants are also encouraged to reconnect with the reasons they entered education and to recognize the impact they make each day. Smith recommends keeping an impact journal to record meaningful interactions, contributions, and reminders of why the work matters. He closes by comparing a strong educational community to the interconnected Pando forest, where individual trees are supported by a shared root system beneath the surface.
Presentation outcomes
- Reflect on the personal and professional pressures educators experience while supporting students and colleagues.
- Consider self-care, rest, and boundaries as important parts of sustaining meaningful work in education.
- Recognize the strengths, resilience, creativity, and lived experiences students bring to college.
- Explore an asset-based approach to teaching, advising, and supporting students.
- Consider how coalition building and shared responsibility can strengthen relationships and reduce individual burden.
- Reconnect with the personal purpose and values that brought participants to work in higher education.
- Use reflection practices, such as an impact journal, to recognize daily contributions and maintain connection to purpose.
Start the discussion
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