Degrees at Work: Bad Break Leads to Increased Skills

Posted on by Dana Yanulavich

Working on a college degree can be backbreaking work. But for Kerry McCormick, that description carries a double meaning. And that鈥檚 because, in 2012, McCormick had the unfortunate experience of literally breaking her back. While convalescing from surgery in 2013, the Valley Stream, New York resident decided to put her recovery time to good use and enrolled in Excelsior College鈥檚 Bachelor of Science in Business program.

McCormick began her college studies at Queensborough Community College right after high school but discovered that she wasn鈥檛 ready to buckle down. More than 15 years later, she reconsidered a return to college and was exploring different programs. On Christmas day she was gifted with a ringing endorsement from her boyfriend鈥檚 son, a student in Excelsior鈥檚 nursing program. She explains, 鈥淗e spoke so highly of the programs, of the teachers, the advisors, and how accessible it was [being an online institution] that I had to run with it.鈥� When she checked the College鈥檚 website and saw her desired course of study, she enrolled the next day.

鈥淲hen I was in kindergarten, and the teacher asked what everyone wanted to be when they grew up, I said I wanted to be a waitress,鈥� McCormick explains. And at 18, she started working as a hostess in a restaurant. This self-described extrovert loves the hospitality industry, noting that no two days are the same. She says, 鈥淚 like making people happy and making them smile. 鈥� She feels that everyone should work in the hospitality industry at some point in their lives because it teaches communication and people skills.

McCormick currently serves as manager of the Bayside, Queen鈥檚 location of Uncle Jack鈥檚 Steakhouse. A mid-sized hospitality group, Uncle Jack鈥檚 has three New York area locations, a Georgia restaurant, and two additional steakhouses opening soon. She describes her job as 鈥渕aking sure guests have the steakhouse experience that they鈥檙e craving.鈥�

Among her challenges are dealing with staff, customers, and vendors. Typically, hospitality workers are very transient, and retaining employees has been one of her biggest challenges. However, for the first time in her career, she鈥檚 been pleasantly surprised at the low turnover at Uncle Jack鈥檚, an attribute she credits to the owner鈥檚 ease of accessibility and commitment to his brand and his employees.聽 鈥淵our most valuable asset in your company is your human capital,鈥� McCormick emphasizes. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not only important to pay your people what they鈥檙e worth, but also to provide that feeling of 鈥榦neness with the company. It makes going to work every day more of a pleasure and less of a chore.鈥�

Although many people can make a comfortable living in the hospitality industry without the benefit of a degree, McCormick notes the advantages of formal education. 鈥淵ou take notice of people with degrees. We鈥檙e an elite club,鈥� she explains. 鈥淧eople who don鈥檛 know me, but who know I have an advanced degree, treat me with more respect and seek my opinion on things. That piece of paper [the college degree] that I worked for really does help! I鈥檝e always been a relatively confident person but having the degrees has given me the confidence where I can truly go into any room and own it.鈥�

Excelsior鈥檚 coursework helped bolster and expand McCormick鈥檚 already prodigious hospitality skills.聽 She cites BUS517 Employee Staffing and Development as being influential and relied on the textbook鈥檚 breakdown of salary levels and how to present them when working as an industry recruiter. She also enjoyed BUS364 Legal Environment of the Hospitality Industry and kept the textbook because she feels it will be a lifelong resource. Classes in human resources, she notes, gave her a solid foundation to help her navigate any situation. 鈥淭he lesson plans and course material were all very relatable,鈥� she notes.

McCormick completed her bachelor鈥檚 degree in 2016 and then enrolled in Excelsior鈥檚 Master of Business Administration program, which she completed in 2020. She鈥檚 now exploring a second master鈥檚 degree in hospitality management, hoping to strengthen her financial skills in particular. She says, 鈥淚鈥檓 sure I should and could learn it while doing it [on the job], but I would just love to have that classroom experience as well. There鈥檚 so much more to learn.鈥� Another way Excelsior prepares its graduates to run a business is through the Bachelor of Professional Studies in Business and Management.

MORE FROM KERRY McCORMICK

Crucial to her success at Excelsior

I knew it was going to be hard to start鈥攎e relearning how to learn again. But I had the support of my friends and family. I also used support services at the College such as Smarthinking, especially for every math class, and Grammarly for my papers. And my boyfriend Billy, a retired printer, helped proofread.

How to succeed in the hospitality industry

Everything you learned in kindergarten applies to the hospitality industry鈥攂e on time, clean up after yourself, and be courteous.

The Excelsior College experience

I cannot sing the praises of Excelsior College enough. I became close with Michele Paludi, senior faulty program director for human resources and leadership, and we did a lot of work with SHRM [Society for Human Resource Management] together鈥攖hat was an amazing experience. This online institution that is a lot of miles away from Bayside, Queens, still afforded me an opportunity to belong to a group outside of school to connect with other people who were pursuing the same endeavors as me. It really made the experience a full college experience while letting me do it on my own time.

The best advice she鈥檚 received on the job鈥攕o far

Consistency and communication. If you鈥檙e putting a product out make sure it鈥檚 consistent. That鈥檚 how to build and maintain your base. If your product is constantly changing or your quality is constantly changing, you鈥檙e not going to retain your customers. Whatever product you鈥檙e putting out, make sure it鈥檚 the best, and make sure you鈥檙e proud of it!

Networking tips

Talk to everyone, get ideas from everyone, have a business card, get as much information as you can, and utilize LinkedIn for everything it鈥檚 worth.

 

The Road Less Taken

Posted on by Jenna Kerwin

Christopher Johnson鈥檚 diverse job history leads to his dream career

 

Christopher Johnson鈥檚 pathway to becoming the director of the Cybersecurity Operations Center at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) was not straight or fast. Johnson took some classes here and there to pursue his education and also landed a few different jobs鈥攐ne with the U.S. Navy鈥攂efore finally earning two degrees with and settling down at the NGA in Virginia.

After high school, Johnson, of Manassas, Virginia, planned to enter Southern Illinois University of Carbondale鈥檚 microbiology program with the intention of becoming a virologist. He wanted to study the 鈥渨orst of the worst,鈥� when it comes to viruses, he says, from Ebola to hemorrhagic fevers. Before beginning at Southern Illinois University, however, he enlisted into the Illinois Army National Guard and went to boot camp.

When Johnson returned from boot camp, a visit to see friends at Western Illinois University for about a week changed his trajectory. 鈥淚 realized that maybe college life wasn鈥檛 the right decision for me at that moment in time,鈥� he says and explains that the way his friends spent their time having parties and not studying didn鈥檛 sit well with him. Instead, Johnson reached out to a friend in the Army National Guard who worked on building cellphone towers, asking for a job. 鈥淭he money was amazing for an 18-year-old with no college degree. It was hard work. We traveled all the time. I was on the road three weeks out of a month, traveling all over the country, everywhere from Texas to the northern reaches of Minnesota. I got to see this country. It was fantastic,鈥� says Johnson.

But Johnson knew he couldn鈥檛 build cellphone towers for the rest of his life. After about three years, he reached out to the man his mother was dating, who was in the Navy, and told him he was ready for a change. With his help, Johnson spoke with a Navy recruiter and enlisted. Johnson took some college courses, but he was not yet serious about earning a degree. He says that one of his biggest regrets is that while in the Navy, he didn鈥檛 take advantage of the free tuition assistance and pursue a degree.

Johnson was a fire controlman on the USS Yorktown, but when he was coming back from deployment in 2004, he learned that the ship was going to be decommissioned. So, he started to look for another assignment. He began to cross-train in the information technology field, which he was already interested in鈥攈is interest in PC gaming had led him to start building his own computers. He had the opportunity to study information technology at the U.S. Navy鈥檚 Center for Information Dominance and says he fell in love with the field. 鈥淭he idea of playing cat and mouse, like a detective with adversaries, really appealed to me,鈥� he says. By 2005, Johnson was ready to take his education further and enrolled in Excelsior. He earned an Associate in Applied Science in Technology in 2007 and a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology in 2019.

As the director of the Cybersecurity Operations Center (or 鈥淐-SOC鈥�) at the NGA, he is responsible for NGA鈥檚 24-7 cybersecurity network defense. He oversees a cyber threat intelligence team whose job it is to monitor networks for adversarial activity and insider threats. If anything comes up, an incident response team responds to the issue by containing and eradicating the threat. Johnson is also chief of the Cybersecurity Operations Division and is usually involved in making real-time decisions critical to the security of the NGA.

Johnson loves his job because he has his hands in many different situations and enjoys working against adversaries who are always changing their technique. 鈥淭hey change and come back, we do something to stop that, they change and come back. I really just enjoy that. That sort of challenge always keeps you on your toes and you can鈥檛 let your guard down. You can鈥檛 take a breather even for a moment,鈥� he says.

It might have taken Johnson a little longer to land his dream position as director of cybersecurity operations, but sometimes that is how it happens. His varied experiences and technology degrees from Excelsior set him up for success in his role. He is proof that it doesn鈥檛 matter how long it takes to get to where you want to go; what matters is the dedication to getting there. Learn more about Excelsior College’s BS in Cybersecurity program.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Being a Good Partner: How to Work with Employers in a Pandemic

Posted on by Scott Dolan

Dolan, S. (Guest) with Jeffe, S. (Host). (2020, November 19). Being a Good Partner: How to Work with Employers in a Pandemic. Ruffalo Noel Levitz podcast.

In challenging times, like a pandemic, it can make working together difficult. This podcast offers advice about how to proceed with corporate outreach today, what kind of structure you need to be successful, and what role institutions can and should play in the ever more pressing upskilling and reskilling that our workforce (and prospective student base) needs in order to be successful.

Training Leaders for the 21st Century Through an Immersive Graduate Interdisciplinary Curriculum

Posted on by Anna Zendell

Zendell, A., Ward, C., Schmidt, G., Paludi, M., Oliver, M., Estwick, A, and Dolan, S. (2020, November). Training Leaders for the 21st Century Through an Immersive Graduate Interdisciplinary Curriculum. Presentation online at Online Learning Consortium Accelerate conference.

The presentation explored the growing importance of interdisciplinary studies to tackle today鈥檚 complex organizational and societal problems. We can share the story of how Excelsior School of Graduate Studies developed a robust, highly engaging interdisciplinary leadership core curriculum and supports attendees in developing plans for their own interdisciplinary courses.

Epistemic Trust in the Online Classroom: How instructors build relationships with adult learners to enhance student learning

Posted on by Anna Zendell

Rapple, L. and Zendell, A. (2020, November). Epistemic Trust in the Online Classroom: How instructors build relationships with adult learners to enhance student learning. Presentation online at Online Learning Consortium Accelerate conference.

We reviewed the results of a research study that examined the importance and way that online instructors build a trusting relationship with adult learners. This includes the implications for how instructors manage their online classrooms and interact with students. It also includes the application of study results for higher education administrators, instructors, and course designers.

Teaching strategies during COVID-19

Posted on by Anna Zendell

Zendell, A. (Guest) with Donato, D. (Host). (2020, August 27). Teaching strategies during COVID-19. In Upstate Issues Podcast.

 

For those institutions and individuals who are not already accustomed to distance learning, COVID-19 presented huge challenges.聽 In this podcast, Zendell shared information about planning for new approaches to reach students, teacher workloads, and about the discomfort some may be feeling as on-line learning often reveals their personal space.

Building Community: A Holistic Approach to the Online Student-Alumni Cycle

Posted on by David Schejbal

Lesht, F., Schejbal, D., Shiel, R., and Kendall-Taylor, L. (2020). Building Community: A Holistic Approach to the Online Student-Alumni Cycle. Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, 20(6), 132-140.

Academic and support needs of online students are often neglected by the colleges and universities of which they are a part. Institutions often don鈥檛 know how to contact alumni of their online programs. Yet, this group of students and alumni can donate generously to the institution. Alumni of online programs are an important donor group and should be cultivated in ways that recognize their unique academic experiences. This paper raises awareness of the multi-faceted process of the online student-alumni cycle and includes examples of ways to increase the bond between online student-alumni and institution from which they graduate.

 

Ways to Improve Interaction among Students in Online Courses

Posted on by David Schejbal

Lesht, F. and Schejbal, D. (2020, October). Ways to Improve Interaction among Students in Online Courses. The Teaching Professor.

Have you ever wondered what your students’ perceptions are of required student-to-student interactions in online classes? They’ve answered and are eager to share their perspectives. Their answers are analyzed, and tips given on how to best engage students in an online classroom setting.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Online Graduate Management Curricular and Co-Curricular Programs

Posted on by Michele Paludi

Paludi, M., Abdulai, K., & Shis, L. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Online Graduate Management Curricular and Co-Curricular Programs.聽 Submitted to the 2021 UPCEA Conference.

A discussion of ways to integrate the scholarship on diversity, equity and inclusion into graduate management courses through content, discussion questions and assignments.

From Hill and Tailhook to Hollywood and Silicon Valley: Workplace Sexual Harassment Prevention and Investigations

Posted on by Michele Paludi

Paludi, M., McCandless, B., deOliveira, C., & Cox, J. (2018, March).聽 From Hill and Tailhook to Hollywood and Silicon Valley: Workplace Sexual Harassment Prevention and Investigations. Presentation at the Capital Region Human Resources Association Conference, Albany, NY.

We presented an overview of workplace sexual harassment from several perspectives including legal, risk management, human resource management, 聽聽 and cultural.聽 A major focus was on training and investigations of complaints.