Careers Grow Where Community Exists

Wes Johnson: Welcome to the EDUCAUSE Rising Voices podcast, where we amplify the voices of young professionals in higher education. I'm Wes Johnson, and I'm joined by the magnificent, the amazing, the greatest to ever do it in the Ring and out the ring. My co-host

Sarah Buszka: Sarah Buszka! I thought you were going to keep going. I'm like, you can keep…

Wes Johnson: I object. You're a little rush. And we're your co-hosts for the show. We're members, friends and friends of the EDUCAUSE Young Professionals Advisory Committee, also known as YPAC. And today we're going to be talking about ways you can get involved in EDUCAUSE, and not just ways to get involved, but why do it. And we've gotten those questions. And I imagine even for you, Sarah, plenty of times from other colleagues, I asked those questions, hence why I'm here. If it wasn't for some of the connections and opportunities that we found, like the YPAC, like the Young Professionals Community Group, just many different programs within EDUCAUSE. If we didn't have those, we might not even have this show for you. There's a parallel universe where I don't know Sarah because I just said, Nope, I don't want to learn about this. And so we got some great guests that help talk about this. I'm going to pass it over to Sarah so we can introduce them and get started.

Sarah Buszka: Yes, yes. It is such a huge honor to introduce our guests. They are the very new chair and vice chair of the EDUCAUSE YPAC, let's give it up. Yeah, we got to give it up. We're so excited to have you on the show and I really feel like having you two here is a significant transition of the evolution of this group and all the amazing things we're going to dive in and talk about. So I should probably introduce you and share your names. First we have YPAC's new chair, Zach Longsinger. Zach is a learning experience designer at Pennsylvania State University where he works within teaching and learning technology to design interactive learning experiences to foster creativity, curiosity, and collaboration. With over a decade of experience in higher ed, including more than five years as an adjunct instructor, Zach blends instructional design, faculty development, and emerging technology to support meaningful learning. Next we have the new vice chair of YPAC, Devon Keys. Devon is the manager of shared technology solutions at BC Net, a not-for-profit, higher education shared services organization in British Columbia, Canada. She oversees the diverse portfolio of shared IT and educational technology services that post-secondary institutions and research organizations use across the British Columbia higher education sector. She partners with BC Net's members’ community to connect members with service providers unlocking value through cost savings and collaboration. Devon, Zach, welcome to the show.

Devon Keys: Thank you so much for having us.

Zach Lonsinger: Thank you very much, Sarah for the great introduction.

Sarah Buszka: Happy to do it. Well, before we dive into our questions, one of our favorite questions that we ask, and Zach, you know this all too well, being a former guest on our show is what is your superpower? Devon, can I start with you?

Devon Keys: Yeah. So I know I've done this before, so I had to come up with a new one for today's episode. So I am going to say that one of my superpowers would be situational flexibility. So what I've learned so far over the course of my career, which I guess hasn't been long still in that young professionals phase, but I've learned that being the smartest in the room only gets you so far. I mean, of course you want to hone your skills, become a subject matter expert, particularly in the areas you're passionate about. But it's that knowing how to tailor the conversation based on who you're speaking to or recognizing where your strengths will work best within a team environment is really what matters most. If you're talking to your vp, the sales pitch is not to give them the technical nitty gritty, and frankly, true leadership is knowing when to play a supportive role if your expertise isn't going to lead to the most successful outcome. So I found that recognizing this especially matters in your early career because let's face it, when you're early in your career, you're still learning. Things rarely go exactly how you expect that they're going to. And being able to adapt while maintaining your momentum is huge.

Sarah Buszka: Absolutely. Well mic drop. We have a lot of those on the show. There we go. We'll see you next. Zach, what's your superpower?

Zach Lonsinger: Yeah, so that was a great superpower to follow. So I also have done this before, but I would say my superpower switched a little bit from last time. And mine is being oddly comfortable with controlled chaos. So if you listen to the last episode I was in, I mentioned that I like to do hard things. I'm a runner, I sign up for crazy races, I snowboard. So I think when things feel a little unstable, I tend to stay calm, adjust, and I know how to keep moving forward. But honestly, I think the real training with that comes from being a girl dad to three daughters, eight, five, and almost twenty months old. My house is filled with so much joy but also a lot of chaos. And I think that has taught me how to balance patience and adaptability and a lot of humor at the same time. And I think that mindset carries directly into my work. Emerging tech and innovation are messy by nature. Because of that, I'm comfortable experimenting and learning on the fly and not needing everything to be perfect before moving forward. I would say that is my superpower this week.

Sarah Buszka: I love it. So many great superpowers on so, and honestly, the skills that you just mentioned are, I feel like trending skills for 2026, this era of emerging technology, innovation, AI, all the fun things we've been talking about on the show. So no wonder you are chair and vice chair of YPAC. We're lucky to have you.

Wes Johnson: So I guess we can go ahead and get into our questions. And before we dive into the EDUCAUSE piece, we want to learn a little bit more about y'all's career journey. So Zach, I'm going to start with you. Tell us about your journey so far. How did you end up where you are today?

Zach Lonsinger: Thanks, Wes. Great question. I tend to be an oversharer, so cut me off if I get too long here. But I guess how did I get where I am today? We'd have to go all the way back to the 19th century. Wait, no, I'm not going that far back. Alright, so I could, okay, getting ready to fast forward a little bit. Alright, we'll fast forward to the 20th century, 21st century here. So I wish I could say I had a perfectly mapped out five year plan, ten-year plan. But I would say my career has been more of a series of curious detours that somehow makes sense in hindsight. I started with a communications background and a fascination for learning and technology. So more on that later because the group I work for is teaching and learning with technology. But I would say that curiosity kept pulling me towards gigs that allowed me to experiment and build things.

Zach Lonsinger: Before I was in higher education, I spent time as a wedding videographer. I was a technical director in minor league baseball, a summer camp counselor and media director. And then I found Penn State wanting to continue my education. So I started working part-time at World Campus. Eventually that led me into becoming an instructional production specialist in the college of nursing at Penn State, which was a super interesting job. I got to do everything from website development to instructional design to working with the nursing simulators and mannequins, which was super fun. But then it led me to my current position in TLT where I took a temporary contract position as an instructional designer. So this plays into I think my career journey of going into the unknown because at the time my boss was like, are you sure you want to do this contract position? Because it's only for a year. There's no guarantee that it will continue after that time. But I knew at that time that I love to create things. I loved learning, I love designing and technology and instructional designer was what I wanted to do. So I took the contract job and over time that led me to my current role at Penn State where I basically get paid to ask what happens if we try this? And then convinced other people to try it with me too. So I would say if there's a through line, I would say it's curiosity. I didn't follow a strict roadmap. I just followed interesting problems, and that's how I got to where I am today.

Wes Johnson: Oh, that's excellent. I hear a little bit of a risk taker be brave in there too, especially the transition to the contractor role. How about you Devon?

Devon Keys: Yeah, I've heard Zach's background before and I feel like it is so relatable and very much in line with what you see a lot with people who get into higher education. I was the same. I didn't think I was going to end up in higher education. I didn't have that five year tenure plan either. As Zach said, I actually when I was in my undergrad, thought I was going to become an accountant. But being good at your introductory accounting courses doesn't translate to being good at the advanced accounting courses or liking the advanced accounting courses. So thankfully I had done a summer internship in a project management position in the healthcare industry and it just so happened that then when I graduated from my undergraduate, my local university had an opening in their project management office in the IT department and I figured, oh, I kind of liked project management. That sounds good, I need a job. So I started there and it's what introduced me to the world of higher education. It's how I began to learn the terminology and the systems associated with higher ed IT and kind of fall in love with the industry. And it was also how I got introduced to the current company that I work for BC Net because our university, we bought and utilized services from BC Net and it was actually my very first boss when I started at BC Net, this was before I knew him or knew there was a job. He showed up at my office one day and says, “We're going to go for coffee.” And I'm thinking, who is this strange man? I don't think I should be going to coffee with someone. I don't know. But he then explains who he is. He works for BC Net and I think, oh okay, sounds good. I've heard your name around. Yeah, let's go for coffee. And unbeknownst to me the entire time he's telling me about the organization, he's asking about me, he's essentially conducting an interview that I didn't know about. And when we're walking back to the office he says, well I really hope you apply for the job so I can hire you. I didn't know there was a job. Long story short, that was seven and a half years ago and now I've had multiple roles through BC Net and have absolutely loved working in the higher education space in the community I've built here. But similar to Zach, it's not at all where I thought I was going to end up. It was this series of coincidences that pulled themselves together and kind of pointed me in this direction.

Sarah Buskha: I love that.

Wes Johnson: Before we jump to the next one, I actually want to ask for this group, I think it's important for people to hear, raise your hand here if either after high school or after you got done with college, you said, you know what, I'm going into higher ed. It you knew that from jump. Alright, that's what I thought. Devon, your story very similar to mine. I also wanted to go into accounting, hated it, even worked in the finance office and ended up just kind of trip and fail here. So I just wanted to show that to our audience. Like hey, we all kind of tripped and stumbled over here. We made it work. Sorry, I just want to jump into that real quick.

Devon Keys: No, I love it. True though.

Sarah Buszka: Alright. Since we're kind of talking about higher ed and for all of us, myself included, I never even considered higher ed as a career path. I wanted to be a medical doctor, but I can't stand the sight of blood. Now we're here. So I think for a lot of us who are young professionals or even just early career or just entering the field of higher education, immediately we wonder, okay, where's my crew? Who do I engage with in these spaces? What are the conferences? Where are the places that people are going and gathering? I remember very distinctly the first time I heard about EDUCAUSE was actually my former boss who mentioned it to me and invited me to present with him. I had no idea what I was getting into. I didn't understand EDUCAUSE I had written the word Ed cause in an email and I didn't capitalize every letter and I got my hand slapped. So I was like, whoa, what is happening? But I'm kind of curious from Devon and Zach, your perspectives, especially since we have a representative from Canada here. We know that EDUCAUSE has a global representation. And so I'm curious to hear how you first got involved with EDUCAUSE and then what opportunities have you found here along the way that you'd like to share with the community? Zach, are you willing to start first?

Zach Lonsinger: Absolutely. So Sarah, when you were sharing how you got involved, it sounded eerily like how I got involved as well. So my first interaction with EDUCAUSE was actually presenting at an annual conference way back in 2018 was the first conference I attended was in Denver, which I think it's coming full circle this year. We're back in Denver. But I wasn't the main presenter. I was invited to present on a project that we were working on at Penn State with my now current boss. So at the time she was just a colleague, but now she is the senior director of TLTA fantastic person, Dr. Crystal Ramsey. I've learned so much from her. But that was my first presentation at EDUCAUSE. Also my first time really hearing what EDUCAUSE was, I still didn't know what it was other than just a conference you go to and present at.

Zach Lonsinger: So I liked it so much that I came back in 2019 was in Chicago. I got accepted as a poster, submitted for a presentation. They said, not good enough yet, do a poster. So I was like, okay. So I did a poster so I wanted to keep coming back, but we all know what happened in 2020. So I think a lot of the PD got lost and it got weird after that. So then I think there was a dark time in my EDUCAUSE days after 2019 and 2020, I didn't really do much interaction with EDUCAUSE until the year of 2022, when I got an email from yours, truly Sarah, I don't think she knows this, but it was from a Connect group, young professionals that I don't even remember how I signed up for, so I must have been involved at some point or another.

Zach Lonsinger: But the Connect Group was a call to join Young Professionals Advisory Committee. And if you're looking at the timeline here, it didn't match up right because I applied in 2022 for the 2023 cohort and I did not get in. But as I learned more about it, I realized this YPAC thing sounds cool. So I applied again the following year. I learned about it from the same connect group this time from Joseph Caudle who I think is a long time Rising Voices person. He's been around, but I applied in 2023 was accepted. So I love this story of I applied but I didn't get in. And I think that's a big lesson for folks who not only applying to YPAC but maybe applying to present at the conference or just really doing anything in your professional or personal lives that you won't always succeed the first time.

Zach Lonsinger: But if it's something you like, then keep trying and either that door will open or it will open another door to something you didn't even know existed. I would say the biggest opportunity that EDUCAUSE has given me is YPAC. Through YPAC. I have learned so much more of what EDUCAUSE does. The first year in YPAC was drinking from a fire hose, a delicious firehose I should say. There was so much opportunity. And then last year I was the communications chair and this year I was humbled and had the fortunate opportunity to step up and lead YPAC as the chair. But I would say my biggest plug for the listeners of this podcast is you don't have to take my journey in getting involved with EDUCAUSE. And I wish I would've known that earlier, is EDUCAUSE has so many opportunities for young professionals. For one is the EDUCAUSE Review. If you're working on a cool project or want to share something, you can write an article and submit it to the EDUCAUSE Review. EDUCUASE has webinars and institutes learning labs, there's mentoring that you can sign up for if you want a mentor or if you want to mentor someone else. And the biggest thing I would say is how you can involve now our community groups. So when I was preparing for this episode, I was doing a bit of research and I didn't know there are over 70 connect groups out there. So there's definitely something for you, whatever you do at your institution, definitely look into Connect groups actually how I learned about YPAC and got to where I am today. So yes,

Sarah Buszka: That is so crazy to think. I didn't even know that Zach. Thank you. I remember blasting a bunch of those Connect groups to get folks to apply. So thank you for sharing. I love the full circle moment. This is so amazing and I think just totally underscores everything we're talking about. So thank you for sharing.

Zach Lonsinger: You're welcome. It's a great thing. Oh, sorry. No, it's okay. Go ahead. I was going to say it's a great thing I save literally every single email so I can pull up together all of these answers or just information. IT hates me.

Sarah Buszka: We're refreshing more storage all the time. Devon, how about you? Do you have an email in your inbox from me?

Devon Keys: No, no email from you, Sarah. Not until I was part of Rising Voices and YPAC, but I'm thinking this is where it's great to be a guest with Zach because he can cover all of the information that we want to plug with the listeners and then I can just sit back and when it comes to my turn, talk about just myself and I don't have to worry about putting all the information out there. He is done such a good job already. But I'd say very similar to what's already been said. My first experience with Edika was with the conference and it was right when I started my job with VC Net. Literally on my first day my boss said, okay, we have registered you for EDUCAUSE we booked your hotel room. You just need to book your flights now. So it was all lined up and at this point I'm new to my job, I'm new to higher ed, I'm new to EDUCAUSE, but at this point I've been hearing good things. So I'm thinking this is going to be a good experience. So that first conference, I'd say really opened the door to me for the EDUCAUSE community. And after that first one and my first year unlike Zach, I didn't do any speaking proposals. I just showed up and found out what it was all about. But that was enough to keep coming back and then submitting speaking proposals and being fortunate enough to have them accepted and doing poster sessions. And it proved to be an excellent way to kind of push myself out of that comfort zone and ultimately helped me build confidence and create visibility for me in this space. And that's how I ended up with YPAC is that others had come to the speaking sessions I was leading and said, Hey, we think you should try to join YPAC. We've got the call out for applications. We think you'd make an excellent candidate. But I'm realizing all of us are talking about the conference. And I want to say that the conference is wonderful but isn't not the end all be all to get yourself introduced to EDUCAUSE or continue to be involved with EDUCAUSE. I mean myself in 2025, I didn't go to the EDUCAUSE conference for the first time in seven years, which yes was something I was disappointed about, but it caused me to seek out what else the EDUCAUSE community could offer. And that's what motivated me to want to step up within YPAC and put my name forward to be our vice chair. And it got me interested to see and apply to be a mentor through the early career mentorship program. I began attending various webinars and learning events posted by EDUCAUSE and found other ways to get into the community than that initial opening door of the conference.

Sarah Buszka: We've just heard so many wonderful resources and I want to share for our listeners, we will link all of these great resources in our show notes. So please take a look at that afterwards. And I would be remiss too if I didn't mention, we have a wonderful Slack group as well where you can just engage, get informal mentoring or networking opportunities there. We have a LinkedIn group, I can just keep bragging about it, but we'll include it all in our show notes because you've heard so many wonderful things here and I think all of those resources that we share will be great places to start.

Wes Johnson: So Zach, I'm curious, what is one unexpected thing that EDUCAUSE has given you?

Zach Lonsinger: Love this question, Wes. I would say an unexpected thing that EDUCAUSE has given me. I would say it changed. I think it fundamentally changed how I view or approach my career. And I think it's a great lesson for a young professional that I wish I would've known earlier in my career is that through higher education, it's not really just about titles and promotions, but it's really about giving back or contributing to the larger community. I'd say EDUCAUSE has made my career feel less like a job and more like a shared experiments where we're all in this together. I remember presenting back in Denver in 2018, I was presenting on a project called The Moral Moments Project, and after my session I started talking with some folks from other institutions and they were wrestling with the same questions about technology and humanity. And that's what Moral Moments was about, this intersection of humanity and technology. And that was the first moment I realized that the problems and opportunities that Penn State faces that other people face as well. So what we do at Penn State just doesn't help Penn State, but it can help other institutions. And that really fundamentally changed how I approach just growth as well because really not just about giving back to your institution, but how you can give back to the national conversation or the state conversation or the global conversation as well. So I would just say EDUCAUSE made my world bigger at first. My little central PA bubble of this is only what we do here. So I'd say that's one unexpected thing.

Wes Johnson: I love that how you kind of keep sliding in the theme of experiment and you started with your earlier career. Now we're in a shared experiment. I saw what you did there. I like that. Oh yeah. What about you, Devon? One unexpected thing for you so far with your involvement at EDUCAUSE?

Devon Keys: I'm going to echo what Zach said in terms of it made my world bigger. It gave me a better understanding of the broader higher education space and how institutions actually operate. I mean because it's easy to get familiar and make assumptions off of your own experience from your own institution, your own local context, but it gave me the opportunity to get connected to people across different colleges, universities, different countries. I mean, coming from Canada, which this makes me sound like I'm some vast foreigner here, but seeing that the higher education space across our countries is really not that different. And getting to learn about those differences as well in terms of the range of departments, the variety of jobs and roles, how different institutions are structured was so eyeopening and it helped me to learn from others and bring new ideas back to my own space and know that there is so much opportunity out there in the sector beyond what I originally thought it was about.

Wes Johnson: I want to touch on too, I think I heard a little bit both from both of you, Devon and Zach, about the kind of feeling like it's not just you, that it's community and community and me, but I would also kind of add for me, so I'm going to throw mine in there. One unexpected thing is the fact that when folks say it's good to not feel alone in that I would, in addition to that ad, that it's also helpful. I don't know how many times, and Sarah probably doesn't even realize this, that we've had conversations and just being able to explain something to her and hear her say, oh yeah, we haven't quite figured that out yet either is an extremely empowering statement to make because it's like, okay, so it's not just me out here on my own. And I also don't know quite yet what to do. It is also helpful when she's like, oh, you could just do this, but hearing someone else say, yo, no, we're struggling with that too and we all work for top institutions or top, whatever that is, it's just really helpful to be not just that I'm not alone, but we're figuring this out too and we can work together on that. It's just a very empowering thing. And EDUCAUSE has helped create a lot of the scenarios for me to be able to do that. So I just wanted to add that piece in for our guests. I'll go back to you, Devon. What is one core takeaway for our audience that you want them to take away from this conversation?

Devon Keys: Yeah, I'd say when it comes to being involved with EDUCAUSE, all you really need to do is be open to saying yes and exploring the opportunities that are right there for the taking. I found that EDUCAUSE is a space where you can build confidence, try new things, learn new things in a low-pressure, supportive environment.

Wes Johnson: What about you, Zach?

Zach Lonsinger: Yeah, I would echo what Devon said, but also add the confidence piece is a big thing for me too is EDUCAUSE has really given me a lot of confidence and just saying yes. And for me it's really about being ready is a myth. So when you have the opportunity, just say yes, start doing it. You might suck, but you'll figure it out and then you get better. And I think that's a big lesson that I'm learning right now as well.

Sarah Buszka: And that's a wrap on our love letter to EDUCAUSE episode.

Wes Johnson: EDUCAUSE, we love you.

Sarah Buszka: We do, we do. I lecturing all of this and I'm beaming and smiling as I'm hearing everyone because I truly feel so much friendship with all of you and with all of my experiences and folks I've met in EDUCAUSE. And I think that's the special nugget I'm really hearing here is the opportunity, the confidence, building the community, the possibility, the challenges. And I just want to commend both of you for stepping up, taking those opportunities. Even if you were told no, like you said Zach, you kept going. You kept trying. You wanted to find a way to fit in and to add value, and you've done that and you probably didn't even think you would end up being chair of the YPAC when you started out. Right? Now. Look where you are. So possibility, right? So thank you.

Zach Lonsinger: Absolutely.

Wes Johnson: Thank you, sir. Thank you. I was going to say the same things that, same wave. Thank you here today. Always a pleasure to be with such amazing guests and y'all's insights. I hope folks really chime in and listen in to what you had to say because I think be powerful if they take it in and take in those lessons. Sarah, it's always an honor to work with you. We are The Rising Voices podcast and we will be back in your ear waves in a month.