🎤 Live from FETC | Plant the Seeds. Then Trust What Grows.

Guest: Kelly Vaughn

Host: Arvin Ross + Dr. Michelle Ament

Presented by: The Human Intelligence Movement

🔍 Episode Summary:

How many teacher preparation programs in California actually center social, emotional, and cultural competency as their foundation?

Kelly Vaughn is the Dean for the School of Education at Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, California. At FETC 2026, she talked about what it looks like to rebuild teacher preparation from the inside out, starting not with curriculum standards or compliance requirements but with the human skills that make everything else possible.

The partnership with the Center for Reaching and Teaching the Whole Child is in year one of a two-year landscape analysis that studies how NDNU's AI initiatives land through a social-emotional and cultural lens. It's slow, intentional, and designed to stick.

Kelly's unavoidable truths came in threes: everyone has a story, so take the time to listen. Say thank you, even when you disagree. And when the stakes are high, focus on the issue, not the person.

This one is for anyone in K-12 education or higher ed who knows that the future of learning starts with how we prepare the people who teach.

🎤️ About the Hosts:

Michelle Ament and Arvin Ross come from different generations, experiences, and disciplines, but their unlikely partnership is built on mutual curiosity, deep listening, and a shared belief in the power of human connection. Their conversations are real, unscripted, and often challenging, in all the right ways.

Dr. Michelle Ament: Co-President of the Human Intelligence Movement & Chief Academic Officer at ProSolve.

Arvin Ross: Co-Founder of ProSolve, educator, speaker, and adaptability enthusiast.

Jena Crossland: Production Manager for Unscripted Intelligence and Director of Operations + Marketing for the Human Intelligence Movement.

🔗 Join the Movement:

Website: Humanintelligencemovement.org

Email: members@hi4ai.org

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