Abstract
This is the story of a kid from the city who went away to college in a small Iowa town and fell in love with the college and with campus life. Through a series of surprising and serendipitous events and experiences with people who saw more in me than I saw in myself, I exceeded my own expectations by striving to meet those of mentors, peers, and colleagues. There was plenty of play along the way, but the main reasons I’ve succeeded as an academic are the work ethic instilled in me by my parents and being surrounded by loved ones and other smart, motivated, and supportive people. Being a professor is the best job in the world. I cannot imagine anything I would have rather done, except maybe playing point guard for the Chicago Bulls.
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Kuh, G.D. (2013). You Don’t Have to Be the Smartest Person in the Room. In: Paulsen, M. (eds) Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research. Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research, vol 28. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5836-0_1
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