Learning how to work and learning how to fail is important.

I've had some great examples in my career of how to do things the right way.

I've pitched too many innings and pitched too many years - one game doesn't make or break my career.

I've kind of looked at my whole career as a spring training invite.

Born Virginia Marshall but nicknamed Gig, my mother was a home economics teacher who had come all the way across the whole state of Virginia, from her home on the Eastern Shore to our little Appalachian coal town to marry my daddy, Ernest Smith, whose family had lived in these mountains for generations.

I want to support the whole idea of the humanities and teaching the humanities as being something that - even if it can't be quantitatively measured as other subjects - it's as fundamental to all education.

Ensuring quality higher education is one of the most important things we can do for future generations.

Years ago nobody was elected on the economic ticket. It was either the education platform, or it was health or it was other issues. It is only recently that economic values have superceded every other human value.