Juliana Smith

Derek Smith:
Hello and welcome to Baylor Connections, a conversation series with the people shaping our future. Each week we go in-depth with Baylor leaders, professors and more, discussing important topics in higher education, research and student life. I'm Derek Smith, and today we are talking Baylor Athletics, specifically Mission Impact & Enrichment and what that means with Juliana Smith, our guest today. Juliana Smith serves as the first executive senior associate athletics director for Mission Impact & Enrichment in Baylor Athletics. In this role, she seeks to cultivate and develop opportunities for promoting spiritual growth, the founding pillar of the Baylor Athletics vision of preparing champions for Life. Smith provides oversight of sports and ministry and serves as the Athletics diversity and inclusion liaison to the NCAA and Big 12 Conference and works with Baylor Women's Basketball as sport administrator.
A student athlete in track and field at the University of Mississippi, Smith went on to serve in the athletic departments at Oklahoma, Texas Tech and Colgate before joining Baylor Athletics last summer. A lot on your plate. Appreciate you making the time to join us today, Juliana. Thanks for being on the program today.

Juliana Smith:
Thanks for having me, Derek.

Derek Smith:
Well, we get to dive into this role. You're the first person in this role and we'll see how it builds on a lot of what's been going on in Baylor Athletics and how it kind of crystallizes, I think, a lot of what we're trying to do in developing student athletes, but let's get a sense just a little bit of what's on your plate first. If we were to look at your calendar over the last few days, where are some places we might see you interacting with student athletes or your colleagues?

Juliana Smith:
Oh, that's a great question. I would start with one-on-one meetings with my direct reports, so each week I'll meet with folks that report up to me. That would be sports ministry team as well as I head women's basketball coach. So we spend some time, one-on-one time with folks that report to me, just making sure that we're aligned with what their objectives are for the week. There's a large chunk of time spent with the executive team as a group each week, so spend a lot of time there. Game operations, we'll spend some time there. As the athletics and diversity inclusion designee for Baylor University, I serve and meet with Big 12 representatives every so often, and so spent some time there this week and practice, try to squeeze in some practice time just to see our student athletes in action outside of game day. But yeah, that's where I spend a lot of my time.

Derek Smith:
Well, a question, I know getting to work with you with women's basketball program, you spent a lot of time there in freezing Iowa and Kansas, but you get into travel with them as well. I know you can do your job while you're traveling, but that's a piece of it too.

Juliana Smith:
Yes. Travel is actually a really important part of my job as sport administrator because it allows for me to see how the program operates in their space, right? So when you travel, it's a business trip for our student athletes and our coaches. They leave campus and they're representing our institution and going to truly carry out what their purpose is and being at Baylor University beyond the classroom.

Derek Smith:
Hopefully picking up some big road wins and home wins as well in the weeks ahead as we visit with Juliana Smith. So your title, the words to stand on are Mission Impact & Enrichment. So how would you describe that concept, what that means here in Baylor Athletics?

Juliana Smith:
I think Mission Impact & Enrichment, although it didn't exist before as a term, it's always been represented. And my understanding about the term and the role is that we are hyper-focused on preparing champions for life. Baylor University's mission is to educate men and women, and so this Mission Impact & Enrichment role allows me to lead our spiritual growth efforts throughout the department. So not just with our student athletes, but how are we also equipping our staff members who are leading our student athletes on a day-to-day basis, but also what is that external representation of how we do what we do here at Baylor? Obviously, college athletics gives us a unique platform to represent the mission of Christ and how we love and represent the kingdom, and that's also where the diversity and inclusion piece comes in as well. The kingdom is so diverse and represents folks from all different walks of life, and how do we do that in a way that is so reflective of the kingdom that people are curious about our God?

Derek Smith:
Visiting with Juliana Smith here on Baylor Connections, and before we dive further into that, I want to rewind a little bit because as you serve student athletes, you were in their shoes as a student athlete not too long ago, mentioned a track and field athlete at the University of Mississippi. When you were a student athlete, did you ever see yourself serving student athletes in the future?

Juliana Smith:
The direct answer is no, I did not, but in some ways I served student athletes as a student athlete. So one could consider my role as a captain in a way that I served our team and my teammates. I also served on the Student Athlete Advisory Committee and served on the executive board of that as a student athlete, which again serves as a vehicle to represent the voice of the general student athlete population to the administration. So already got some time working with administrators within college athletics and also served as the current student athlete liaison to the Alumni Association within athletics. So I should have hindsight 2020, at this point, I'm like, wow, I've kind of been in administration for a lot of my life and didn't realize it.

Derek Smith:
So you were being prepared for this even though you weren't necessarily planning to prepare for that at the time.

Juliana Smith:
Indeed.

Derek Smith:
And I knew at least part of this because I learned that your degrees were in criminal justice, so I'm curious, what were your goals with that and are there any weird ways that that path led you where you are now?

Juliana Smith:
My goal was to be a spy and I wanted to work for the-

Derek Smith:
Wow. You're the first person who said that on the program.

Juliana Smith:
Because that means I'm not a real spy.

Derek Smith:
Yes. Yeah.

Juliana Smith:
I wanted to be a spy and I wanted to live abroad and really just represent the interest of protecting this nation honestly in a very unique way that most people don't get to see in the day-to-day lives. And I studied criminal justice with an emphasis in home and security. I was in the first government-funded intelligence and security studies minor at Ole Miss. Studied abroad, studied MI5 and MI56 in the UK. And I was full throttle going towards that sort of program and decided in graduate school that I couldn't pursue a career that I wouldn't be able to come home and talk about each day, and I missed college athletics. I had never wanted to be a coach and didn't realize there was a career beyond coaching in college athletics, and the rest is history.

Derek Smith:
It's always interesting when people have a college major and then do something different, but maybe they find some connections that you're like, oh, this actually prepared me. Was there anything like that for you?

Juliana Smith:
Absolutely, and I still use it to this day. I would say the number one thing that I still exercise from what I learned through my criminal justice home and security schooling is how to identify which information is missing. And as an administrator, it's so important to have as much information as you can to make a decision, and one of the things I learned is to ask the right questions and the way to do that is to realize what information that you don't have. Because oftentimes administrators are inundated with a lot of information, but it's not always the complete picture of what's needed to make a well-informed decision. So knowing which questions to ask, when, and even how.

Derek Smith:
Well, when we have hundreds of student athletes, and we're going to talk more about that spiritual growth piece, but they're all at a different part of their spiritual journey. They're all unique individuals. So curious, they've got to be helpful, I think when you're trying to identify goals that are probably slightly different for everyone.

Juliana Smith:
Yes, there's a level of discernment, and there's something to be said about truly engaging with people on an individual basis and understanding what's important to them, understanding what their dreams and goals are, and trying to see and facilitate the connections that allow them to pursue their purpose.

Derek Smith:
What about the competitive aspect of being a student athlete? You're pursuing your degree in criminal justice, you're competing in track and field. What aspects of that still play an important part in what you do and how you get to approach what you do?

Juliana Smith:
I don't like losing, that's one piece of it. And so what I've learned is that engaging with other people, understanding your weaknesses, understanding other people's strengths and when to call in help and reinforcements and when two brains are better than one, that I learned early on as a student athlete, which is ironic because as a track and field student athlete, oftentimes week after week, I controlled my own destiny. It all depended on how far I threw in the meet, but there comes a time at the conference meet NCAA championships where my marks counted towards the team's success. And so I had to own my responsibility and what I could contribute to the team's success. And so not only am I wanting to pursue excellence for my own personal satisfaction, but also because I know it's going towards the greater good. And that's basically what I do at work every day.

Derek Smith:
Before we talk more specifically about your role at Baylor, I want to ask you, going back to your student athlete side, did I see you earned All-American honors at one point in your career? Is that a career highlight for you, or what was your career highlight?

Juliana Smith:
All-American was amazing because it's a very elite recognition, and I don't want to dismiss that, but my greatest positive memory about my success in athletics as a student athlete was winning the SEC Championship as a sophomore.

Derek Smith:
Very cool.

Juliana Smith:
Not actually having demonstrated any ability to go into that meet and be competitive. I was coming off of a freshman year where if you ask my coach, I had six legal marks the entire indoor and outdoor seasons. But that indoor SEC Championship meet at the University of Kentucky, I was having a good day and my coach challenged me. She was just like, "If you want the title, you can have it, but you got to go get it." And on my last throw, it was the furthest throw of that competition and I became an SEC champion.

Derek Smith:
Well, and you can see putting yourself, going back to that time when you were a student athlete, now you get to serve, like we said, people in that position now. What do you enjoy about being able to have an impact on student athletes both directly, but then also when you just think about the resources, the programs, et cetera, that you get to put in place?

Juliana Smith:
I would say being at a place like Baylor, it allows our student athletes and our staff members access to all of the resources that we need to help our student athletes be successful. Likewise, we attract student athletes who are innately driven to want to be their best and to want to be successful. And so it's what I was speaking about earlier about being challenged to be your best. So we're pouring into and developing our student athletes, but their excellence and the level at which they commit to their sport and their training encourages us and challenges us to help them be better. And there's just something about seeing student athletes, seeing young people, whether they know it or not, carry out and live out and execute in this season, their God-given talent and purpose.
No one comes here by accident. It's not happenstance. Everything is intentional. And to see it as an adult on the ice... Well, they're adults, excuse me for saying that. But to see it as a professional, watching them go through this season of their life and performing at this level and the amount of responsibility that comes with that, but the joy that still is evident in how they do it, it's priceless.

Derek Smith:
This is Baylor Connections. We are visiting with Juliana Smith. She serves as the first executive senior associate athletics director for Mission Impact & Enrichment. So let's talk about coming here and building this program, building this role out. When did you first hear about the role and what was your thought when you learned about it?

Juliana Smith:
Well, I'm not sure I'm supposed to share this part, but I first heard about the role when it was offered to me.

Derek Smith:
Okay.

Juliana Smith:
No, I guess there's some background to it. So I actually started engaging with the Athletics Department for a different role and much more aligned with what my experience would reflect on my resume. And through that process, getting to know Mack Rhoades, getting to know his leadership team. And it happened to be a time within the department where the executive team was starting to wrestle with a leadership structure and what sort of emphasis we were putting on spiritual growth, what it looked like to have leadership sitting within the executive team that oversaw that pillar, rather it be coupled with some of the other pillars that we have. And through that process, was what I understand, realized that my unique skill set, my story, so to speak, fit what they didn't realize they needed to fill that gap. And through some great support from our campus partners, the athletics department was able to create this position to really allow for someone to come in and lead our complete department efforts in the spiritual growth place.

Derek Smith:
You mentioned you're not starting from scratch, spiritual growth and a focus on this has been a part of things. What were some of the ways, as you maybe looked around, you saw that spiritual growth was baked into the experience, but also that there were opportunities? Like you said, they wanted to develop it further.

Juliana Smith:
Yes. So our sports ministry team is amazing. We have three folks that are on staff who do really impactful work directly with our student athletes and our sport programs generally. That includes our coaching staffs. Their capacity though, was maxed out because they're so great at what they do. The one-on-one discipleship time, the chapel courses that they're teaching. They have two sections of chapel that the three of them co-teach. The iDisciple or Discipleship program that we have, that's specifically for student athletes and mission trips that they're hosting with our student athletes. They were super focused on that boots on the ground ministry work and really just meeting the needs that existed. I think part of the role that I'm called here to fill is what does that look like from a strategic level, from a big picture level? How do we equip our coaches to be an extension of our sports ministry team?
What does it look like to engage and equip some of our other professional staff, whether they be athletic trainers or athletic mental health specialists, or even our communications director? And the folks that are engaging with our student athletes on a day-to-day basis, how can they too be seen and be utilized and mobilized to share the gospel with our student athletes? Because a lot of our student athletes are coming in. Some have relationships with Christ, some are trying to figure out what that means for them, and some have never been introduced. And making sure that as a department that there isn't a student athlete who leaves our care without being introduced to the gospel.

Derek Smith:
So as you described that, I remember we've had John Mao and [inaudible 00:16:05] people on this program before, and certainly we know they're doing fantastic work, but it sounds like are you really trying to empower people across? Because spiritual growth, it doesn't fit in one departmental box.

Juliana Smith:
Exactly, exactly. My role is really weaving together the different patches across the athletics department with this thread of what spiritual growth, what ministry looks like from the seat that you sit in. You don't have to be a minister, you don't have to have gone through seminary to share the gospel, to be a reflection of salvation in the world and to our student athletes.

Derek Smith:
Well, as you work to do that, you've been in this role several months now, right, coming on in the summer? What are some of the tangible ways? That's a big charge. Where do you begin? What is some of the tangible places to dig your hands in initially?

Juliana Smith:
That's a great question. And we started by asking the question, where are you right now? So we developed a survey that we sent out to our entire division, just asking where they were with their walk, how they felt like they could influence and impact those around them, what they needed from us to do that. Was it bible studies? Is it a book club? Is it staff devotionals? What does it look like to get together and pray corporately at work? Because when you think about it and the results that came from that inquiry is that many of the folks, two-thirds of our department, Baylor is the first place they've worked that's a Christian or faith-aligned organization. And so we haven't really equipped our people to know what it means to walk out your faith outwardly in a Christian environment. They've been Christians at work, but what does it look like to do this work at a Christian institution where you're able to outwardly speak about and help develop your faith and the faith of those around you?

Derek Smith:
So you get to visit with people, get to know them. And again, we mentioned that idea that all students are coming in at a different place on their spiritual journey. What have been some elements of this that have been fun for you to see so far? Not that it's all dumb, but some things that you see growing or landing?

Juliana Smith:
I would say these are a couple of recent examples. We had three student athletes get baptized a few weeks ago, or I guess a couple of weeks ago during their team spiritual retreat. And one of those student athletes actually shared that she would've considered herself an atheist. And how at the last spiritual retreat that they had last season, she wasn't engaged at all and over a year's time, just with the presence and not feeling forced or anything like that, came to Christ. And that's just amazing. And it's not something that she was coached to do or that she was forced into, but truly just those around her, her coaches, her teammates showing up, loving her every day and being an example of what a relationship with Christ can look like and led her to that, which is amazing.
Another quick example, another student athlete who was an international student athlete and was in one of the chapel sections taught by our sports ministry team, connected with a faculty member who spoke his same native language and was introduced by one of our sports ministry team members, and they had lunch. And that student athlete has actually since left Baylor, but has come to Christ. And so just those two examples just show that meeting people where they are, but still reflecting the love of Christ is sometimes all that's needed. There are the folks that are going to show up for Bible studies and FCA and things like that, and that's amazing, and there's room and there's opportunity for them to grow, but there's also those who we're their first experience and we got to get it right.

Derek Smith:
Very cool. Very cool. Well, as we head, Juliana, to the final few minutes, I want to ask you, you touched on this earlier, but the diversity and inclusion piece of your role, what does it mean to you to get to be a part of that, and particularly in the context of a Christian university?

Juliana Smith:
It's interesting. Surprise, I've already been talking about it. So when you think about meeting people where they are and reflecting a love of Christ, that's what it is. How do we make folks feel like they belong here no matter where they are in their walk? Whether it be no walk or strayed away from the walk or deep in their walk. And truly loving people and reflecting what Christ reflected in that. I'm going to tell you the truth and I'm going to share the truth with you, but I'm still going to love you until you come to that truth on your own. And so I would say part of that is just making sure that how we do what we do is reflective of that, is reflective of making sure people feel like they belong here and we love them, and that we are willing and equipped to help lead them to Christ when they're ready.
And so it actually warms my heart. I'm over here smiling because it's actually really easy. It's really easy when we talk about inclusion and belonging and representation because people connect with all different types of folks. You never know. And making sure that we don't forgo any one interaction because we don't think we might connect with the student athlete. It's just trying and reflecting that love back to them.

Derek Smith:
That's great. I was going to ask you a summarizing question to close out, but I feel like you just did that so well. All I could do was make you regurgitate to that, so that was a wonderful way to wind down. But as we do, I'm curious, what are you most excited about as you look at this year ahead?

Juliana Smith:
That's a great question. I am most excited about growth. I would say one of the best things about being a leader and being a Christian leader is knowing that we never arrive. There's always room to get better. We can always be more like Christ. We can always love people more. We can always be kinder. And to see that not only I'd say reflected in myself just as a new employee coming into a new space, but hopefully reflected in those around me and those throughout the department, my hope is that everyone feels like over the last year, they've grown personally in their relationships, in their relationship with Christ as a professional because there's a true tangible skill set. So growth, I'm looking forward to growth.

Derek Smith:
That's exciting to look forward to that, and appreciate you taking the time to share with us. Look forward to seeing all the impacts that you and the team and really everyone, the whole team at Baylor Athletics is able to have. Well, Juliana, thanks so much for taking the time to be with us today.

Juliana Smith:
Oh, thanks so much, Derek. This was awesome.

Derek Smith:
Juliana Smith, executive senior associate athletics director from Mission Impact & Enrichment, our guest today on Baylor Connections. I'm Derek Smith, reminding you you can hear this and other programs online, connections.baylor.edu, and you can subscribe to the program on iTunes. Thanks for joining us here on Baylor Connections.