David Shein spent more than 25 years at Bard College, where he built programs that opened doors for students who might otherwise never walk through them. A first-generation college student himself, he knows what it feels like to navigate higher education without a map. That experience became the foundation of the Learning Commons, Disability Support Services, the Center for Student Life & Advising, and other programs he helped to create. He developed the Clemente Course in the Humanities at Poughkeepsie and co-developed a second location in Kingston, bringing free, college-level courses to adults in those under-resourced neighborhoods. He advised hundreds of students and helped many secure Fulbright Scholarships and Watson Fellowships. He also taught philosophy and First-Year Seminar courses as the William Lensing Senior Lecturer in the Humanities. Before Bard, David worked at Lehman College, while also working towards a PhD in Philosophy from the City University of New York. In February 2026, he retired from Bard and launched an independent educational consulting practice, based inRed Hook, New York. He volunteers at his local library and with the Watershed Community Amphibian Migration Project, where he rescues amphibians and collects data on watershed health.
What is your typical day, and how do you make it productive?
I start my mornings with coffee and a walkif the weather cooperates. I find that getting outside early helps me think more clearly about the day ahead. Once I’m at my desk, I block out time for focused work on whatever project needs the most attention. That might be advising a student, writing a recommendation, or developing a new program framework. I keep my afternoons more flexible for meetings and correspondence. I’ve learned that productivity isn’t about cramming every hour full. It’s about protecting time for deep work and being present when I’m working with people. I also make sure to step away from the computer regularly. A quick walk or even just standing up and stretching resets my focus.
How do you bring ideas to life?
I start by listening. Most of my best ideas came from paying attention to what students and colleagues were telling me they needed. When I helped launch the Center for Student Life & Advising at Bard, it wasn’t because I had a grand vision. It was because students kept telling me they needed more integrated support. Once I understand the need, I look for partners. Nothing meaningful happens alone. I also build in small experiments before committing fully. When we started the Clemente Course in Kingston, we tested the model, learned from the first cohort, and adjusted. I’ve never been good at the kind of innovation that happens in isolation. I need to see how an idea works in the real world, with real people, before I know if it’s worth scaling.
What’s one trend that excites you?
The re-imagining of where education takes place. For too long, the four walls of the classroom defined the boundaries of a university education. In ways both intentional and inadvertent, those walls regulated what was taught, who taught, and who learned. A silver lining of the otherwise horrific pandemic was that many of us learned how to teach online and, while there was a post-pandemic rush to return to the classroom, the walls began to crumble. Many institutions have remained at least partially online, giving students without access to classrooms, or with access only to substandard classrooms, more choices now than they did before. I appreciate the pedagogical and institutional concerns, but the fact remains that teaching these students enlivens and expands our pedagogy and curricula and reminds us that higher education is transformative, not transactional.
What is one habit that helps you be productive?
I write things down. I keep a notebook with me and jot down tasks, ideas, and questions as they come up. It sounds simple, but it keeps me from losing track of things and frees up mental space. I’m not the kind of person who can hold 15 things in my head at once. Once something is written down, I can stop worrying about forgetting it and focus on the task in front of me. I also review my notes at the end of each day to see what needs to carry over to tomorrow. It’s a low-tech system, but it works better for me than any app I’ve tried.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Ask for help sooner. I grew up thinking I had to figure everything out on my own, and that carried over into my career. I thought asking questions or admitting I didn’t know something was a sign of weakness. It’s not. Some of my biggest breakthroughs came when I finally swallowed my pride and asked someone for guidance. I also wish I’d trusted my instincts more. I spent a lot of time trying to fit into what I thought an academic administrator should look like, and it took years to realize that my perspective as a first-generation student was an asset, not something to hide.
Tell us something you believe almost nobody agrees with you on?
I think we’ve overcomplicated academic advising. A lot of institutions have built these elaborate systems with multiple tiers of advisors, online platforms, and mandatory check-ins. But what students really need is one person who knows them, listens to them, and cares about their success. I’ve seen students thrive when they have that kind of relationship, and I’ve seen them struggle when they’re passed from office to office. The best advising I ever did happened in simple conversations, not through a sophisticated tracking system. I’m not saying we don’t need structure, but we’ve lost sight of the fact that advising is fundamentally about human connection.
What is the one thing you repeatedly do and recommend everyone else do?
Read outside your field. I’m a philosopher by training, but some of my most useful insights have come from reading history, literature, and science. It keeps your thinking flexible and helps you see connections you’d otherwise miss. I also think it makes you a better teacher and advisor. When you can draw on a wide range of knowledge, you’re better equipped to meet students where they are and help them make sense of their own education. I recommend picking one book a month that has nothing to do with your work. It’s one of the best investments you can make in your own intellectual life.
When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?
I go outside- take a walk or spend time near water. There’s a creek not far from my house, and I find that being near it helps me reset. If I’m really stuck, I’ll take a longer walk or do something physical- go for a run or split firewood. IWhen I come back to whatever was overwhelming me, I usually have a clearer sense of what actually needs my attention.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business or advance in your career?
Building relationships across institutional boundaries. At Bard, I worked with faculty, student life staff, admissions, and colleagues at partner institutions around the world. I never saw my role as confined to one office or one set of responsibilities. That willingness to collaborate opened up opportunities I never would have had otherwise. It’s how we built partnerships for the Global Degree program, and how we helped so many students win competitive awards. Now, as an independent consultant, that same strategy applies. The work I do depends on being able to connect people and ideas across different contexts. You can’t do that if you stay in your lane.
What is one failure in your career, how did you overcome it, and what lessons did you take away from it?
Early in my career, I tried to launch a new academic support initiative without getting enough buy-in from faculty. I thought the idea was so obviously good that people would just get on board. They didn’t. The initiative stalled, and I felt like I’d wasted everyone’s time. I learned that good ideas aren’t enough. You need to bring people along with you, listen to their concerns, and be willing to adjust your approach. After that, I made a point of consulting widely before proposing anything new. It slowed things down, but it led to much stronger outcomes. The programs that lasted were the ones built with input from the people who would actually use them.
What is one business idea you’re willing to give away to our readers?
Create a platform that connects retired educators with students who need one-on-one advising or mentorship. There are thousands of experienced teachers and administrators who have left full-time work but still want to contribute. And there are students everywhere who need support navigating college, applying for scholarships, or figuring out what comes next. The platform could match them based on interests, background, or specific needs. It wouldn’t replace institutional advising, but it could fill gaps and provide students with access to people who genuinely care about their success. I think there’s a real market for this, especially as more institutions struggle to provide personalized support at scale.
What is one piece of software that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
I’m pretty old-fashioned: I keep notebooks, I use whiteboards, I like teaching on chalkboards. I don’t know where I would be without google calendar, though. It allows me to coordinate multiple schedules and it syncs with my phone so I can make or adjust appointments on the move. Color coding, incorporation of features like zoom invites and notes, etc., make it so easy to use it feels like the old-school appointment notebook I used to carry around with me.
Do you have a favorite book or podcast you’ve gotten a ton of value from and why?
I think I have read Plato’s *Republic” once a year for the past 20+ years. Each time I read it, I find something new. More often than not, this is because a student asks an unexpected question or makes an observation- unexpected by me, that is, because the student is bringing something to the text that I do not. My favorite books are those that invite this sort of multiplicity of engagement, that frame a shared inquiry (What is justice?) in such a way that readers of all types, backgrounds, instincts, and interests find meaningful questions to ask and answers to offer.
What’s a movie or series you recently enjoyed and why?
“Slow Horses” is a British spy series based on the Mick Herron novels, and it’s smart, funny, and really well written. The characters are all intelligence agents who’ve been sidelined to a dead-end department because of mistakes or bad luck, but they keep finding ways to prove their worth. There’s something satisfying about watching people who’ve been written off demonstrate their competence. It also doesn’t take itself too seriously, which I appreciate. After a long day, I want something that’s engaging without being heavy.
Key learnings
- First-generation college students benefit most from advisors who understand what it means to navigate higher education without a roadmap.
- Effective programs emerge from listening to the people they’re designed to serve, not from top-down planning.
- Academic advising works best when built on genuine relationships rather than elaborate systems.
- Career growth often depends on building collaborations across institutional and disciplinary boundaries.
- Productivity comes from protecting time for deep work and stepping away from the desk regularly to reset focus.