Valerie Smith - President of Swarthmore College

In the latest episode, we interviewed Valerie Smith, the current president of Eli's college, Swarthmore College. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Council on Foreign Relations. She serves on the boards of the Consortium on Financing Higher Education, the American Council on Education, Fulbright Canada, and the National Museum of the American Indian. Prior to Swarthmore College, she served as a professor of English and African American studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. She was also the Woodrow Wilson Professor of Literature, founding director of the Center for African American Studies, and dean of the college at Princeton University. She has authored more than 40 articles and three books on African American literature, culture, film, and photography.

Show Notes & Links Of Interest

  • Background [0:00]

  • Introduction [2:26]

  • Question: How would Ms. Smith define herself in her career? [4:07]

  • Question: What is her current passion? [6:38]

  • Question: How did her childhood influence her?[8:25]

  • Question: Why did she graduate high school when she was fifteen years old and would she recommend it to others? [12:47]

  • Question: What was one the hardest things she has had to overcome and how did she attack that? [14:55]

  • Question: Do you feel being a woman was an advantage or disadvantage for you in your career? [19:18]

  • Question: How does she recommend building up a personal network? [25:00]

  • Question: Does she have any specific role-models she has looked up to? [27:16]

    • Ruth Simmons - Past president of Smith, Brown and current president of Prairie View

    • Shirley Tilghman - Past president of Princeton and professor of molecular biology

  • Question: What methods has she used to fight self-doubt and deal with failure? [28:12]

  • Question: Has she faced imposter syndrome during her career? [30:38]

  • Question: What does she think she would be doing right now if she had not gone into academics ? [31:32]

  • Question: What advice would she give to young adults wanting to pursue a similar career path? [33:31]

  • Question: Is there a pivotal moment in her career that brought her to where she is today? [36:17]

  • Question: What does she see as the advantages of big vs small colleges? [41:14]

  • Question: What one quality or trait does she feel young girls should embrace when pursuing their dreams? [44:33]

  • Question: Wrap up. [46:00]

Valerie Smith’s Bio

You can read Ms. Smith’s full bio on her page on the Swarthmore website.

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