In this episode, Dr. Jeni Hart, dean of the Graduate School and vice provost for graduate studies at the University of Missouri, reflects on what it really means to be a scholar. She discusses how early experiences in her career shaped her understanding of credibility in academic spaces and how assumptions about institutional prestige can influence whose work is taken seriously. Dr. Hart encourages a wider view of scholarship that recognizes collaboration, teaching, mentorship, professional practice, and lived experience alongside traditional research. She also shares practical ways faculty, student affairs professionals, and graduate students can acknowledge their own contributions and support others in doing the same.