Aaron Thompson

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT AARON THOMPSON

I am the son of an illiterate coal miner in rural Clay County Kentucky and the first person in my family to go to college. While my parents didn’t know what college really was, they taught me and my siblings that there were two things worth fighting and dying for: “your family and your education.” I consider my greatest achievement to be earning a bachelor’s degree.I know I am blessed: I have experienced first-hand the transformational power of higher education that is denied to many because of income, race, lack of family support or other factors. For this reason, I have devoted my career, my life, to help others break the generational cycles of poverty through education so they, too, can have greater opportunity for themselves and for generations to come.I have held many positions, encompassing research, teaching and consultation, in the areas of leadership, multicultural families, race relations, student success, cultural competence and organizational design. Each of these is critical to creating accessible education systems that embrace diversity, equity and inclusion. Further, I believe communication is a priority: we must, as a community of leaders and influencers, consistently emphasize that education is the key to helping Kentucky’s underprivileged youth and adults to better lives and brighter futures. I give hundreds of talks yearly to spread this message.But I also know that telling our youth higher education matters is simply not our only action. Many of our minority students go through elementary and secondary school without family support or even role models of color in their classroom. With this in mind, I have also chosen mentoring as a priority for my life\'s work and am active in several local, state and national organizations dedicated to helping underprivileged families.However, focusing on education of our youth is not enough. We also must look within and educate ourselves as to how we contribute to the issues facing our underserved students. To that end, I have authored or co-authored numerous books and peer-reviewed publications on the first-year experience, diversity, cultural competence, and student success.My mother constantly told me, “Boy, you only have one mouth, but two ears.” We must listen to the needs of those we serve and respond in ways that not only mends broken bridges, but also lead everyone across, together. Whether black students in the classroom or white faculty on campus, my goal is to make everyone feel included, to be seen and heard, to be successful in creating a better world through education.