How to Say Thank You
There’s immense appreciation in being acknowledged for your work; there’s deep joy in celebrating with family, friends, and colleagues; and there’s real humility in being seen in ways you (or at least, I), don’t always expect to be seen.
For me, there’s also ambiguity with these feelings because they are also tempered by: a sense of randomness that in another year with a different pool (of nominations and judges) would wield a different result; a recognition that while I do work hard and care deeply about the field I’m in, so do countless others who do as much or more and may never get the recognition they deserve; that awards are too often a product of cumulative advantage (the Matthew effect) rather than a gateway for those without the accumulated capital.
So, awards are strange things. Important but sometimes often a culmination of things that don’t always reflect the thing itself—even when it does.
This is all preamble to sharing the announcement that I have been the recipient of the 2026 EDUCAUSE Leadership Award and will be receiving today, Wednesday, September 30, 2026 at the annual EDUCAUSE conference. I will have about 1 minute to give remarks (which I will share below) and well, one minute is good enough for a live crowd but not enough for what I want to say.
The Speech
“I’m standing up here receiving this award, but I need everyone to know that I’m not up here alone. I’m surrounded by so many people up here.
This isn’t a “I see dead people” situation. But nothing I do is a solo act. It is all deeply informed, supported, and guided by so many people. Leadership is a not a single-player sport.
So if I may, please close their eyes. I know–it’s getting weird, but just bear with me.
Close your eyes and imagine this stage filled with the most amazing people you could ever know.
Immediately surrounding me are my friends and family.
My parents, Paula and Tod Eaton.
My spouse: Christine.
My family: Trevor, Allison, Gail, Steve, Mike,
My dearest friends: Kara, Rhoan, Deborah, Angela, Liz, Mandy
To my right, more friends and colleagues: AJ, Alex, Anna, Antonia, Autumm, Aubrey, Becca, Carol, Danae, Danielle, Debbie, Hanna, Hannah, Joy, Gail, Klaudja, JT, Julia, Lauren, Maha, Mike, Michael, Peter, Rachel, Rachel (the one who nominated me, Woden, yusef
To my left, folks I mentor but who really teach me so much: Ashley, Blair, Beau, Jaz, Josh, Loren, Nikos, Norah, Oressa, Xiaorui
My mentors as well: Mr. Metropolis, Pat, Avi, Rod, Larry, Andrea, Jay, Gerlese
And in the background, the organizations I’ve been a part of: EDUCAUSE, NEFDC, NEPCA, NERCOMP, and POD
All of those people are what makes this possible. Thank you.”
The Speech As I’d Like to Say It
I get the “math” of it, if you will and so what I’m about to say is not a version of impostor syndrome. On the other hand is the fact that so much of what I do is exactly what I see so many other people doing and so many people I’m learning from and with. My life and career has been often surrounded by so many other good people. To receive this award feels like I’m a swirly colorful marble that’s been plucked out of a bag of other amazing swirly colorful marbles. There’s a part of me that says, “what about them?!?!?”.
I want to take this time to shine a light on some of them. I dare not try all of them, but want folks to know some of them because it’s from all of them that I carry pieces of me to today.
But before I do, I want to acknowledge one part about the award that for me felt quite important. I do believe the work that I do is a kind of leadership work and I see it as important work. Despite my reservations about being the recipient, what I am excited and appreciative about is that the committee chose someone whose leadership is not as traditional. When I look at the recipients for much of the history of this award, most are in institutional leadership positions and that makes sense. I am not. I’m not part of the C-suite and my place in my own institution is quite distanced from it. Still, my collective work (like so many others) sits in the space of leadership.
That is what I am most grateful about in receiving this. The committee chose a form of leadership that isn’t traditional and to which, I hope others can see that this type of work is important and seen. Maybe it’s a small thing and I certainly know it’s not that clean cut. Yet, choosing someone with out “Vice” or “C” in their title (not even full “Director” or “Executive Director”) does mean something for many of us.
And now, I would like to to say a few more words of thanks to the people who I wish could join me up on this stage:
Family
Paula Eaton: For showing me how care, dedication, and determining my own path.
Tod Eaton: For helping me to see my life in lines that can intersect, for fostering curiosity and exploration, and for the trips to the library.
Christine Eaton: You deserve a post unto yourself. But let’s try. Thank you for sharing your life with me, for opening my mind and helping me to be more thoughtful in what I take on (and what I say no to). Thank you also for challenging my views in ways that help me see bigger and different pictures. Thank you for finding ways for us to do cool things and work together.
Trevor & Allison: For supporting your quirky, eccentric, and nerdy brother/brother-in-law, even when he was too busy in his books to hang out.
Gail, Steve, & Mike: For supporting and celebrating the many changes and updates while also bring a good dose of humor and fun.
My Dearest Friends
Kara: For being a friend through my professional, personal, and intellectual development for more than 15 years.
Rhoan: For the space to be in deep community, even when there’s 700+ miles between us.
Deborah: For bringing enthusiasm, care, and goofiness and keeping me from sending dumb emails.
Angela: For being there since the beginning, and staying through the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Liz: For keeping things fun and getting me outside my head, house, take your pick.
Mandy: For celebrating the milestones through both our lives and, well, peanut butter pie.
Friends and colleagues
AJ: For continuing to be someone I learn with about the world.
Alex: For working together and finding an opportunity to do it again.
Anna: For being a fellow traveler and explorer of AI over these last few years.
Antonia: For doing a bit of “yes and” as we find our way through our projects.
Autumm: For starting down the AI path together with care and thoughtfulness.
Aubrey: For helping me see the ways one can envision their work.
Becca: For following up on an idea that we’ve gotten to talk about for years now.
Carol: For office conversations and sustained friendships across continents.
Danae: For being a force of good and curiosity in the world.
Danielle: For so many Wednesdays of sharing, community, and creation.
Debbie: For parking lot conversations (in the cold) and warm thoughts throughout the years.
Gail: For looking for the fun and thinking aloud to see where it leads us.
Hanna: For showing what it means to ask hard questions of us.
Hannah: For sharing your insights and growth with the only POD Connects group that I’ve been in that actually developed and sustained itself.
Joy: For being a collaborative force-multiplier when we were new to the work and the world felt upside down.
Klaudja: For centering the periphery and flipping the script on how we look at “problems”.
JT: For joy and creativity in our engagement with AI.
Julia: For doing the hard work that not enough appreciate but carrying the knowledge that it is important.
Lauren: For keeping it (and me), grounded in the remarkably mediocre.
Maha: For being a person who bring care, joy, and criticality to every conversation in ways that teach myself and others without feeling like we’re being taught.
Mike: For showing what it looks like to turn the mirror on one’s self and gain deeper wisdom.
Michael: For collaboration and trust in figuring out work in the gray spaces.
Peter: For creating, maintaining, and sustaining many communities in this work over the years.
Rachel S: For being the kind of human who seeks to have her thinking challenged and is open to thinking differently.
Rachel T: Obviously for nominating, but also for being a cheerleader in the truest sense of the word: celebrating and encouraging others to be their best selves.
Woden: For sharing enthusiasm, poetry, and the things we navigate when our lives are nontraditional
yusef: For speaking encouragement when others saw problems and for showing what differently lived lives can be.
Folks I have the honor to mentor
Ashley, Blair, & Loren: For co-creating a space for all of us to learn, share, and figure out what is “the work.”
Jaz: For jumping into and being willing to explore and map the terrain that we, ourselves, are only starting to understand.
Josh: For your endless curiosity in the work and as importantly, in the world around you.
Nikos: For joining me in Denver after 5 years of early morning (for me) meetings that always produced new questions and ideas from where and how you have directed your work.
Norah: For finding your way through interesting times and sharing that growth with me.
Oressa: For knowing how to make the work better and pushing my own work.
Xiaorui: For being a fellow early-bird who I have the honor to walk with and reflect with about how we navigate our work, our connections, and sense make about our own growth.
Mentors
Mr. Metropolis: For given a punk kid numerous changes until he found his way to being less of a punk.
Pat: For hearing me ramble and seeing potential for doing interesting things with my life.
Avi: For being patient with someone still making sense of privilege, power, and complicity long enough that they start to understand it.
Rod: For encouragement and curiosity about where my education could go.
Larry: For guidance in undergrad, support when I first started teaching, and colleagueship when we started working together—all with a kindness and levity that made it welcoming and fun.
Andrea: For taking a chance and guiding me with patience into a field of work that has been truly amazing.
Jay: For guiding and encouraging my progress and also for being a critical thinker that breaks down ideas in ways that make sense.
Gerlese: For introducing me to a way of seeing the world that is beyond just methodology but as an individual who does things wonderfully differently.
Communities
EDUCAUSE: A vibrant, near-boundless, and rich community that has provided me with opportunities to know only meet so many fantastic people across the world trying to do this work of teaching, learning, and technology, but also an amazing staff of kind, caring, and delightful human beings.
New England Faculty Development Consortium (NEFDC): An amazing organization that serves a great many folks in New England through different opportunities and programming.
Northeast Popular Culture Association (NEPCA): The longest community I’ve been a part of; I’m grateful for it being the kind of community that took in a fresh-out-grad-school person and supported his journey for nearly 20 years.
NorthEast Regional Computing Program (NERCOMP): NERCOMP has become such a place of community and connect over the last 15 years; it was the first place I began to make professional friends in instructional design and continues to be a place I turn to for learning, community, and exploration.
POD Network: An organization that has made me ask new questions about my work, found other possibilities for growth, and has introduced me to so many wonderful colleagues.
And, of course, the challenge of this is that I could probably name another 100 people with another 100 reasons. There have been and continue to be a lot of people to whom my gratitude is endless for how they have helped me do this kind of work. So even if you aren’t here, just know that if we’re in community together, you still matter to the work that I do.
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I could not say congratulations loudly enough to express it Lance, so well deserved, and I am in awe of the honoring way you share it with all the people who matter. The best part is seeing the photo of you with your Mom! Take your Mom to EDUCAUSE should be a new thing. Bask in the glow, bask warmly.
ReplyDeleteThat is so very kind of you Alan....it's greatly appreciated and yes, celebrating with my mom was the high point :)
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