Lindsay Brandon-Smith has recently joined the Ashland University staff as the Administrative Assistant for the departments of English, Foreign Languages, Philosophy, and Religion. We are so happy to have Lindsay on our team, and we know that our campus community will benefit from her work in this role. Get to know Lindsay Brandon-Smith in the brief interview below!
LB-S: My family recently moved to Ashland from Nappanee, Indiana, a town of about 6,000 in northeastern Indiana Amish country. I laugh when people ask how we are adjusting to small town life in Ashland because Ashland is so much bigger than where we came from! We lived and worked in Nappanee for about 18 years. I worked for 11 years as the Office Assistant and for 2 years as the Adult Programming Manager at the Nappanee Public Library.
HD: Could you talk about being originally from Ohio and your familiarity with the Ashland campus?
LB-S: Although we spent the last 18 years in Indiana, my husband and I were both born and raised in northwestern Ohio. We attended Malone University in Canton, Ohio, which is where we met. I grew up in the Brethren church and my grandfather attended Ashland Seminary, so I have fond memories stretching back to early elementary school of Ashland, the Seminary, and the AU campus. As a teen, I attended conferences at AU and as an adult I spent a week every summer here, chaperoning at the Brethren National Youth Conference, Engage. Though we are new Ashland residents, we are not unfamiliar with town or AU, so that's made it feel like home.
HD: Which aspects of your job are you most excited about so far?
LB-S: I'm really excited to be at AU. I'm looking forward to meeting all the new people I'll be working with and to the energy and life on campus once the students return in the Fall.
HD: Would you like to share anything about your family or personal interests?
LB-S: My husband, Ryan, and I have been married for almost 19 years. Ryan has an epic beard that is his pride and joy. He works across the street at the Brethren National Office, so you may see him around campus now and then. Ryan and I have one daughter, Liliana (Lily), who is 11 years old and will be starting middle school this Fall. She enjoys reading graphic novels and can't wait to get her library card. She loves to draw, dance, and sing, and though she won't admit it, she's a great writer. In my free time I enjoy being creative. It's rare that there is a craft project I cannot do, but my favorite creative outlet is sewing. I make a lot of my own clothing and some for my daughter as well. Even after purging a lot of it to prepare for our move, my fabric stash is embarrassingly large.
