Episode Description

In Part 2 of our conversation with Dr. Kate Smith, we turn our focus to the future of learning, workforce development, and artificial intelligence in higher education.

Kate shares how Rio Salado College is partnering with national employers, emerging industries, and workforce organizations to create flexible, skills-based pathways for learners across the country. We explore partnerships with Guild Education, Walgreens, and a 3D concrete-printing company reshaping construction careers.

The conversation then dives deeply into AI literacy, ethics, and the responsibility of colleges to prepare learners for an AI-accelerated world—while preserving critical thinking, questioning, and human judgment.

This episode offers a hopeful, pragmatic vision of lifelong learning designed around access, adaptability, and real-world relevance.

Key Topics / Show Notes

• Rio Salado’s national workforce partnerships
• Working with Guild Education and employer-driven program design
• Pharmacy, nursing, and career-start pathways
• 3D-printed housing and future construction careers
• Preparing learners for emerging industries
• Serving adult learners, incarcerated learners, and ESL students
• On-ramps, off-ramps, and stackable credentials
• Microcredentials and durable skills
• AI literacy as a core educational responsibility
• Ethical and responsible use of AI in learning
• Redesigning teaching and assessment in the age of AI
• The future of digital learning environments
• Reducing friction and barriers to postsecondary access
• How leaders can engage more learners more effectively

Reflection Question

What can you do right now to embed AI literacy and ethical use into your learners’ pathways?

Episode Description

In Part 1 of our conversation, we sit down with Dr. Kate Smith, President of Rio Salado College, to explore how culture, empathy, and innovation shape sustainable leadership in higher education.

Kate shares her personal leadership journey—from completing an Ironman to stepping into the presidency at a pivotal moment—and reflects on what it takes to intentionally steward culture over time. We discuss Rio Salado’s long-standing commitment to innovation, the Four Practices of Engagement (mindfulness, empathy, happiness, and resilience), and how those practices helped guide the institution through periods of rapid change.

This episode offers a masterclass in values-driven leadership, showing how culture doesn’t happen by accident—it happens through daily, intentional choices.

Key Topics / Show Notes

• Kate Smith’s leadership journey and Ironman story
• Stepping into the presidency during a moment of change
• Why culture must be intentionally shaped by leaders
• Rio Salado’s history of innovation and continuous improvement
• The Four Practices of Engagement:
• • Mindfulness
  • Empathy
  • Happiness
  • Resilience
• Building connection and belonging in a distributed, online institution
• All-employee engagement during COVID
• Launching Rio Salado’s first Alumni Hall of Fame
• Empowering students as partners in innovation
• Learning from other industries to fuel higher-ed innovation
• Creating space for experimentation and “productive messiness”

Reflection Question

Where in your leadership are you letting culture happen instead of intentionally shaping it?

Episode Description:
In the final episode of this series, Dr. Tom Lombardo challenges us to see the future as a shared act of creation. Wisdom, agency, and responsibility—at both individual and collective levels—are essential to shaping what comes next.

Key Topics:
- The future as participatory, not predetermined
- Wisdom as future-directed action
- Individual and collective agency
- Nurturing the future through conscious choice

Find Dr. Lombardo's work on his website at: https://centerforfutureconsciousness.com/