After 40 years of being a faculty member in higher education in the United States, I have learned valuable lessons, five of which I would like to share in this Keynote Address. The first lesson learned regards the motto of my current university which reflects the most essential lifelong lesson of my career, "The measure of a life is its service.” The second lesson I learned is that early on in my career, I reflected on "What was the legacy I wanted for myself?." Legacies are built over many years. The third lesson I learned was, to the extent possible, I found ways to integrate my teaching, my scholarship, and my professional service activities. The fourth lesson I learned very early on in my career was to take the time to learn the expectations of my work setting for teaching, scholarship, and service. The fifth and final lesson I learned that I would like to share is to Learn when to say no. It is difficult, at best, to do all things well. These five lessons are ones that have helped me to have the career and the resulting legacy that I have.  It is my hope that you may find them helpful in your career.

John R. Slate, Ph.D., is a Full Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at Sam Houston State University. He is primarily involved in the K-12 Educational Leadership doctoral program where he teaches the Academic and Professional Writing, Proposal Development, Applied Statistics I, and Applied Statistics II courses. At SHSU, he has chaired 110 doctoral students to completion, and over 150 doctoral students to completion throughout his 40-year career. His major research interests involve analyses of national and state education databases for school improvement efforts. To date, he has published over 450 peer-reviewed manuscripts,50 book chapters, and 14 peer-reviewed books. He has received numerous awards throughout his career, including the inaugural Theodore Creighton Publication Innovation Award from the International Council of Professors of Educational Leadership and Reviewer of the Year from the American Educational Research Association.