Kelsey Parks Smith ‘17 was named the Assistant Athletic Director for Equity, Inclusion, and Student-Athlete Well-Being in July of 2023, where she provides strategic direction for the department's DEI efforts focused on student-athlete, coaches and staff inclusion and belonging. Parks Smith creates programming and serves as a resource for student-athletes, coaches, administrators, and graduate assistants on aspects of equity and inclusion, allyship, team cohesion, difficult conversations, health and wellness, leadership, psychology, and mental health. She also acts as the liaison to several other offices that complement the student-athlete experience, including the Schacht Center for Health and Wellness, the Office of Equity and Inclusion, Office of Disability Services, Mwangi Cultural Center, Wurtele Center for Leadership and the Dean's Office. She also assists in general department events management and club sport oversight, and serves on the Smith College Inclusion Council, led by Smith’s Vice President of Equity and Inclusion.
Parks Smith previously served as the Project Coach Coordinator & Student-Athlete Wellness Coordinator, where she worked with a team to create curriculum for Project Coach to help lead high school coaches through Youth Participatory Action Research. She also served as a resource for student-athletes, coaches, administrators, and graduate assistants on aspects of athlete wellness, including equity and inclusion, overall health and well-being, leadership, psychology, and mental skills.
Parks Smith began her career at Smith in 2019 as Smith’s Coordinator of Student Athlete Development and Enhancement as part of the NCAA Ethnic Minorities and Women’s Internship Grant. In this role, she facilitated programming for the student athletes in the areas of diversity and inclusion, mental health and student athlete well-being, and student leadership. She also served as a support for student-athletes and department staff. In 2020, Parks Smith was the recipient of the Women Leaders in College Sport Rising Star Award.
Parks Smith is currently a Lead for the Women Leaders in College Sports LGBTQIA+ Member Circle. She has attended the NCAA Convention, NCAA Inclusion Forum, Women Leaders in College Sports Convention, North American Society for Sport Sociology Conference, and the Social Justice for Sport and Exercise Psychology Conference, and is a 2023 graduate of the Women Leaders in College Sports Institute of Advancement
Parks Smith was a varsity equestrian student-athlete at Smith College, earning her bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in exercise and sport studies. She went on to earn a Master of Science in sport and exercise psychology from Loughborough University, where she completed a thesis titled, Understanding Challenges to Effective Rehabilitation Behaviours in Team Sport Athletes.
Publications:
Erica Tibbetts & Kelsey Parks Smith (2023) Beyond “a good fit”: Examining effective mentorship for BIPOC practitioners in a predominantly white profession, Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 35:1, 46-62, DOI:
10.1080/10413200.2022.2055221
Conference Presentations:
A “Level” Playing Field: A Conversation About the Inherent Oppression Within the New (and Former) NCAA Trans Guidelines, and What to do About it
Social Justice in Sport and Exercise Psychology
March 2022
But What Can We Do: A Collaborative Learning Approach to Addressing Questions of Gender, Intersectionality, and Early Specialization in Sport
Social Justice in Sport and Exercise Psychology
March 2022
Beyond “A Good Fit”: Examining Effective Mentorship for BIPOC Practitioners in a Predominantly White Profession
Association for Applied Sport Psychology's Diversity in Sport Conference
April 2021
Identities, Representation, and Experience: The Effects of Solo Status in the NCAA
North American Society for Sport Sociology Conference
November 2017
