Can you tell me about your current profession and role? How did you decide on this career path, and what influenced your decision?
Of course! I work in public policy/government for a national nonprofit organization called The Council of State Governments (or CSG). CSG has been around since the Great Depression, convening state policymakers from across the country to learn about emerging policy trends, exchange best practices, and receive training to sharpen their leadership skills.
These days I primarily focus on the third leg of our work: leadership development. I develop workshops to expand the personal, professional, and emotional skill sets of state leaders, both elected and appointed. I’m formally trained in conflict resolution and developing workshops to help state leaders deal with conflict better is a big part of my job these days.
I came to this career path after I was inspired by the potential of government to make people’s lives better which I experienced first-hand when I interned in the Mayor of Louisville’s office my sophomore year at Centre. I worked in a department that used data to improve the delivery of city services and was impressed by how statistics could be used to make cities run more efficiently. I declared for the Politics major at Centre after that internship and have been a student of American political history, data science, and governance ever since.
Were there any specific professors, courses, or extracurricular activities at Centre College that significantly shaped your career direction?
Absolutely. Former Centre professor, Dr. Benjamin Knoll, taught several courses on policy analysis that got me hooked on the idea that well conducted research can reveal useful things about our political behavior. I give him a lot of credit for making me care about math and research methodologies. In my previous roles at CSG, I was often asked to review scholarly works and synthesize their findings to busy state leaders – a skill that I began to develop as a Politics student at Centre.
Additionally, I was an English minor and Dr. John Kinkade in the English Department was not only an incredible teacher but served as a mentor to me. I give Dr. Kinkade a lot of credit for making me the confident, (usually) engaging public speaker that I am today. He taught me how to structure essays, stories, presentations, and speeches and made me much better at making logical arguments through emotionally relatable stories. These skills have served me well in every part of my life since graduating from Centre, and I believe that they have been contributing factors to my ability thus far to quickly receive promotions and bigger assignments in my career.
How do you continue to leverage your Centre College network or resources in your professional endeavors?
Centre alumni have connected me to job opportunities and have served as mentors to me throughout my career. I’ve been deeply grateful for those connections and am now at a point where I’ve been able to pay it forward by chatting with recent Centre grads about career moves. So, any current students interested in public policy, if you want to run some ideas by someone, feel free to hit me up!
Beyond academics, how did your experiences at Centre College contribute to your personal growth and development?
My Centre experience opened me up to the world, expanding my capacity for empathy and allowing me to approach life with curiosity. I also credit my time at Centre with developing my skills and confidence as a leader.
Being a Bonner Scholar was one of the best things that ever happened to me. My peers in that program came from backgrounds very different from my own, and their willingness to be vulnerable and explore our differing thoughts and opinions on a variety of sociopolitical issues transformed me into being a much more thoughtful person.
Additionally, my time in Phi Kappa Tau allowed me to test and refine my abilities as a leader. With Phi Tau I led fundraising efforts, organized community service events, and ultimately served as President of the organization. In each role, my brothers taught me what good leadership looks like, and how to best utilize the skills of others to accomplish a goal. I’d never been put in charge of anything until I became a Phi Tau. Since graduating though, I have been comfortable stepping up and taking on challenging leadership roles time and again during my career. I think my time in Centre’s Greek life has prepared me to throw my hat in the ring when opportunities arrive.
Can you share a meaningful extracurricular activity or involvement at Centre College that had a lasting impact on you personally?
I loved my time working for Pam Baughman in the Admission’s Office. Both as a tour guide and a senior interviewer, I became comfortable listening to the stories of aspiring students and parents helping them imagine what Centre might have to offer them.
Importantly though, I found myself having a blast articulating to these groups what made Centre special to me. It was almost as if my job was to keep a gratitude journal and share it with people who were chasing that same feeling of belonging and satisfaction.
I still try to explain the work I do to others in terms of the special impact I’ve seen it have on me and others. People respond positively when I frame things this way, and I think it’s made me more persuasive.
Are you currently involved in any organizations or initiatives outside of your professional life that are especially meaningful to you?
Yes! My personal philosophy is that people should – as time allows – stay involved in groups outside of work so to build a sense of community in their lives.
For the past six years I’ve helped lead the Kentucky Chapter of New Leaders Council, an organization that trains and connects self-identified progressives in the Commonwealth. That network has helped me stay connected to the work of my service-minded friends across the state. I credit that network for keeping me anchored here in Kentucky. They make this place continue to feel like home.
I also have the pleasure of serving as the Chair of the Development Committee for Louisville Public Media which operates Louisville’s local NPR station, 89.3 WFPL, as well as 90.5 WUOL and 91.9 WFPK, independently operated classical and contemporary music stations, respectively. I am a big supporter of independent journalism, and Louisville Public Media has one of the most impressive publicly funded, locally focused journalism outfits in KyCIR Investigations as well. Check them out!
Finally, I serve on the board of visitors for my graduate school, the Martin School of Public Policy and Administration at the University of Kentucky and on the Centre College Alumni Association Board.
How do you believe Centre College distinguishes itself in preparing students for post-graduation success?
Centre is hard. The rigor of the courses there, and the closeness of our small college community, are two of the biggest advantages of Centre in my opinion. Being challenged at a young age while also having a supportive community to help me through it, has prepared me for the many curve balls my career has thrown me in the years since graduating. Every time I run into a challenging project I think; “I’ve been here before. I know a way to make this work, and I know how to ask for help from the people around me when I get stuck.” Not all schools prepare students to overcome adversity. When it comes to difficult, intellectual challenges, Centre definitely does.
In what ways has Centre College fostered a culture of lifelong learning and growth for its alumni?
I think the close relationship Centre students get to have with their professors takes some of the frustration out of learning and highlights the joy of it. As a student, I knew that I ever got too stuck on something, all I had to do was go to a professor’s office hours and they would be happy to help get me unstuck.
For me, that made learning less daunting and ultimately raised my confidence in my ability to figure things out. That confidence has stuck with me, and I still see learning as a rewarding exercise, and one that I’m more than capable at doing.
How did living on campus and engaging with the Centre College community shape your worldview or personal values?
As I mentioned before, being a Bonner Scholar opened me up to the worldview that the perspectives and lived experiences of others deserve my curiosity and respect. But beyond that, the culture of Centre’s campus – the intimacy of it – nurtured a love in me for the simple act of hanging out.
Whether on the front porch of the Phi Tau house, the stone base of the Lincoln statute, or at the high tables in Cowan, some of the happiest memories I have from my time at Centre are defined by leisurely conversations I had with other students or professors during those times when we all declared we needed a break. Those conversations were sometimes silly, oftentimes they were about politics, sports, art, and life, but no matter how trivial or serious these talks were, the time spent doing nothing was always appreciated.
As an older adult now, I must remind myself how good it felt to take those breaks and build relationships with my peers around leisure. It’s rejuvenating to do nothing but laugh and argue with friends and Centre was full of opportunities for that.
The theme for this year’s Black History Month is “African Americans and the Arts” — Are there any artists, musicians or other creatives who have inspired you?
Heck yeah! Right now, I’ve been hungry for a little escapism, and I’ve been obsessed with N.K. Jemisin’s science fiction. Last year I read her Broken Earth trilogy and I’m now starting the first book in her Dreamblood series. I think what I like most about these books is the combination of rich world building, deeply relatable character arcs, and her flirtation with social commentary in her books. For example, Jemisin always has something insightful to say about race in her books, even though all the races in her stories are made up. She also doesn’t shy away from difficult topics like climate change, climate war, and the societal impacts of deep inequality.
On the nonfiction side, one of the most consequential books I’ve read in the past few years is by a black woman named Patricia Hill Collins called Black Feminist Thought. Among other things, this book changed the way I think about the intersection of gender and race in America and has significantly shaped how I view the underappreciated and underpaid labor of child rearing in this nation. It also forced me to take a more critical look at how I use my privilege as a masculine-presenting male.
Finally, I was a big fan of the book Caste when it came out. The new movie by Ava Duvernay called “Origin” is about the making of Caste and the life of that book’s author, Isabel Wilkerson. I cannot recommend this movie enough. It’s an emotional journey through a thesis arguing how discrimination in America operates under similar rules with similar goals as the caste system in India and the genocide of Jews in Nazi Germany. It’s also, importantly, about the individuals who defied those hierarchical structures. I learned from the movie that Wilkerson’s deceased husband was a Centre grad as well, and a Phi Tau like me.
What advice would you give to current Centre College students looking to maximize their experiences and opportunities while on campus?
Don’t take leisure for granted. The only regrets that I have about my time at Centre are related to the people I didn’t make an effort to get to know over coffee, or the moments when I let stress about my future prevent me from taking a deep breath and enjoying what I had in the present.
Sounds lame, I get that, but honestly you work a lot better when you remember to give yourself time to reset and power back up. You’re around a lot of cool, brilliant people right now who might be important to you for the rest of your life. Prioritize your relationships with them.