USD-Magazine-Summer-2023

Kimberly White-Smith, EdD Dean, School of Leadership and Education Sciences

Getting It Right

Home Is Where the Heart Is I grew up in a nontraditional way. I was raised by Cleopatra and DC White, who were born in 1919 and 1917 and encountered America when segregation was at its height. Neither were college educated, but they had a strong belief in education. When coming up on retirement, they trained as foster parents and opened their home to children like me. Living with them was an amazing experience — I had an opportunity to see what it looked like to advocate for academic justice. The Road to Berkeley In high school, I began to see the challenges and obstacles faced by students who come from nontraditional households. I had an advisor who told me that people like me didn’t go to college — and she didn’t support me in trying. I lived in South Central Los Angeles and had a friend at an all-girls Catholic high school in Inglewood who was trained as a peer counselor and helped me fill out college applications. I was accepted into a few UCs, including Berkeley. I took those letters of acceptance back to my high school counselor and I said, “I understand if you don’t want to help me, but can you tell me this? Which of these places is the farthest away from here?” She said Berkeley was the farthest. The Heart Knows I didn’t know anything about Berkeley, but I knew, in my heart, that’s where my parents saw me going. They passed away, but I kept them with me. My sister — Cleo and DC’s biological daughter — went with me. I packed a suitcase, got on a plane and we stayed in a dingy motel until we got the dorm situation sorted out. None of it was easy. That’s why it’s always inspiring to meet students who have diverse, nontraditional experiences as they come into higher education, because it says a lot about their journey, strength and what they overcame on their way to where they are today.

From Student to Teacher to Student I had a tough time as an undergrad, but that’s when I learned the importance of finding mentors and finding curricula that sings to you. I was a psychology major and an African American Studies minor and had the opportunity to learn about our history and our contributions to the world. That’s when I began to understand the trajectory of my parents, what they went through and why they felt it was so important to give back to their community. At Berkeley, I took a course taught by Dr. Bil Banks about the historical perspective of Black education in America. After grading one of our exams, Professor Banks passed them back to students, but I didn’t get mine. After class, I told him I didn’t get my exam. “That’s because I wanted to talk with you,” he said. “You got 100%. Have you ever thought about going into education?” He mentored me and encouraged me to apply to grad school. I got my master’s from Teachers College at Columbia University and went on to teach in elementary schools and continuation high schools. Then I decided to work for a nonprofit, recruiting people of color and training them to be exceptional teachers. That’s where I met Dr. Judy Johnson, who encouraged me to get my doctorate. Inspired by Children We already know the inequities that exist in the education system — I was tired of talking about the problems. So, I decided to research communities where schools were getting it right. I talked to teachers, families and principals. I realized the success of these schools was a function of good leaders. So, I studied leaders who produced high student achievement in schools that served minoritized communities. I was pregnant while collecting data. Once my daughter, Chloe, was born, she’d sit on my lap and I’d bounce her on my knee while typing my dissertation. Everything I was doing was about

my family. They were my inspiration. It made sense to me to bring her along so she could see mommy working. It made sense to read aloud to her while I was writing and to model to her what it was like to work in these spaces. Chloe was salutatorian of her class. She identifies as someone who has dyslexia, but she’s paving a way for herself in the education space and thinking about what her next steps will be. Leadership and Education In the School of Leadership and Education Sciences (SOLES), we offer mental health and leadership programs. We have counseling and marriage and family therapy programs. We have a compendium of centers and institutes. We have a Catholic education program. We’re training people to work in student affairs, in nonprofit leadership and management and in pre-K to 12 schools. My vision is to develop an ecosystem where these programs, centers and institutes can work together to prepare SOLES graduates to better serve all students. Looking Forward I find hope in students who are earning their PhD in social justice, students who are in our leadership studies program or in our marriage and family therapy program, students who are earning their licenses and their credentials to become teachers in our schools. I find hope in people who are making affirmative choices to be part of what we’re doing in SOLES and trusting us to give them the tools they need to succeed in community environments that might present obstacles. I find hope in our students who are making midcareer changes to become education advocates. Cleo and DC taught me that education has the potential to build pathways. The work for us, within SOLES, is to reshape education to allow for honest conversation, to create concrete change for people who are oppressed, to provide tools for social mobility and to form a more humane society. — As told to Krystn Shrieve

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Summer 2023