Kathleen Shea Smith

Dr. Kathleen Shea Smith is the Director of Advising First, the network of academic advisors and College Life Coaches at Florida State University. As a researcher/practitioner, Kathleen has dedicated her career in higher education to understanding the complex needs of undergraduates and developing campus programs that reflect a genuine commitment to student success and degree completion. Kathleen sees high quality advising and coaching as expressions of academic and social engagement, the greatest predictors of campus integration and student persistence. She founded the Advising First Center for Exploratory Students, a recipient of the National Academic Advising Association’s Outstanding Advising Program award.

Kathleen currently serves as a regular presenter and leader in the association as Chair of the Advising and Academic Coaching Interest Group. She is an active member of the NACADA Research Committee where she recently served as a facilitator for NACADA’s inaugural International Research Seminar in Maastricht, Netherlands.