Office of Academic Affairs
Faculty Spotlight: Associate Professor Nicole Ernst
Associate Professor Nicole Ernst has been HACC’s faculty program anchor in Geospatial Technology since 2005. Nicole has an interdisciplinary background with a Bachelor’s degrees in political science and environmental studies along with a Master’s degree in geography. Nicole is passionate about teaching students how to geographic information system (GIS) software to gather data to inform decision-making in real-world situations. We have all seen the impact of GIS in the last several weeks as we’ve looked at maps and dashboards of coronavirus cases in the US and around the world.
Nicole’s project-based approach has resulted in student work that has ranged from exploring legislative districting and examples of gerrymandering, mapping blight in urban environments, and identifying potential marketing areas to increase HACC enrollment. Nicole is always happy to work with other faculty to develop interdisciplinary projects for students that integrate technology with social good.
Since 2017, Nicole has served as one of four associate directors/co-principal investigators of the National Science Foundation grant-funded National Geospatial Center of Excellence. In this role, she is responsible for annual summer regional workshops and is the co-lead on the annual national conference. Through the knowledge she has gained in this role, she is working to create a HACC GeoAcademy for high school students, educators, and current HACC students and plans to launch the high school GeoAcademy this summer.
Internships afford students the opportunity to further advance in their career
Internships are in integral part of the HACC student experience and have even afforded students the opportunity to further advance in their career. The School of Business, Technology and Industry is excited to share that our business internship class has accomplished this very idea. Thanks to faculty like Rachel Gifford, Lori Hockley, and Ryan Neff for working directly to support students in successfully meeting their program requirements and ultimately advancing their careers. Through some additional guidance and coaching, Ryan Neff mentored the following students in gaining promotions at their existing place of employment:
- Christie Bathurst (top photo) accepted a promotion to work as a human resources assistant at Conestoga Wood Specialties.
- Austin Mellinger accepted a promotion to work as an events coordinator at Masonic Village.