What Is the Role of a Mentor?

Posted on by Tammy Spenziero

Engaging with a mentor can help increase a student’s confidence, align their expectations with the realities of life and work, and further their growth and development. Mentors help unlock the potential in their mentee’s personal, academic, and professional growth. They listen to their mentee’s needs, help clarify goals, and offer advice and wisdom based on hard-earned experience.

The Role of a Mentor in Your Professional Career

What Is a Mentor?

Mentors offer career guidance and advice, share perspectives and challenges, and offer potential connections. Being a mentor is a great opportunity to be a resource and give back. Mentors offer advice on everything from academics and financing your education to tips for career success. Mentors often act as life counselors, taking advantage of experiences in their own lives to share secrets for success and life tips. Those mentored often value the mentor’s expertise and find having a mentor useful as they look toward the future and building their professional careers. The role mentors play is simple and natural, yet important and memorable, as the mentee grows personally and professionally. The mentor and mentee find common ground and learn more about each other as the relationship progresses. As industry-specific issues come up, these developments make great topics for discussion.

What Does a Mentor Do?

Many people say the heart of mentoring and getting the most out of life isn’t about how much you keep for yourself, but how much you pour into others. In the academic setting, building relationships between students and alumni is every bit as valuable as any course taught. Mentoring is a great tool to assist students to learn networking skills early in their careers. Students who have mentors can gain insight into their career field and obtain advice about decisions for their future and choices they make. As a mentor, it is a rewarding feeling to assist a student and give back, knowing you made an impact. This helps build your own experience as a professional.

Ways a Mentor Can Help You

Mentoring programs enhance a student’s college experience. They give students and alumni or other professionals the opportunity to work together to reach a goal. It is through this kind of connection that alumni and students can create an engaged and rewarding culture. Also, these programs ensure that students receive the kind of support they need to excel as students now and professionals in the future. And, aside from making a student’s college life more purposeful, mentoring may also help students transition from being unemployed to becoming fully employed.

Roles of a Mentor in Your Life

Mentors help students build their network, connections, and credibility. Mentors assist students in developing socially as well as give them the experience of one-on-one meetings with professionals in the field. Mentors serve as role models and confidence boosters. They listen, give feedback, and answer questions. Through sharing ideas, knowledge, and experiences, they can share tools and resources that help a student to clarify their educational and professional goals. Students often gain valuable experiences and learn things from mentors that they do not find in a classroom setting.

Role of a Mentor in Education

No student should go without the critical support and connection to opportunities that a mentor provides. In fact, you may consider having multiple mentors. A mentor doesn’t have to have all the answers, they just must be willing to listen and share what they know. Engaging with a mentor helps unlock potential in a mentee’s personal, academic, and professional growth. Career goals are evolutionary, and good mentors assist students with their professional evolution. Research shows that students who experience good mentoring have a greater chance of securing career goals and potential advancement.

Students often go to college to earn a degree so that they may be well-equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in their chosen field. While hard work and determination are keys to success, getting the necessary help through human connections is equally beneficial. Are you, as the student, following the right career pathway? Do you want to increase your chances of meeting your professional goals? Do you have the right connections and access to a network for a successful job search? Finding a mentor in your field of interest can help.

At Excelsior University, we know that meaningful mentoring relationships develop organically over time. Career mentoring provides opportunities for further growth, development, collaboration, and connection. Key tips are to let relationships be on your terms, in your own time. It may be short-term, long-term, or as needed and agreed upon between you and your mentor. Mentors offer guidance, advice, and share perspectives. As a mentor, it’s a great chance to give back, share, and help identify opportunities for a mentee. Whether you can help one or many, our Excelsior mentees are eager to connect and learn from a mentor’s work and life experiences.

Role of a Mentor in the Workplace

Mentees explore the world of work by engaging and gaining knowledge and experience from a professional’s perspective and applying what they’ve learned to real-life situations. Throughout a mentorship, mentees become familiar with corporate protocol and add resources and tools to assist in identifying long-term development needs. Meaningful professional relationships develop organically over time. A mentor acts as someone to bounce questions and ideas off of who has experience in the field. They have the unique opportunity to encourage and advise by sharing their own experiences and knowledge.

Finding the Right Mentor for You

To find the right mentor, review commonalities, think about mutual interests, and ask the right questions. Consider how you find a date—it is similar, if not the same. It sounds silly but when you think about all the algorithms that match you to someone, it is the same concept.

At Excelsior, interested students and alumni answer key questions to develop a profile that a mentorship tool uses to form matches. Mentees and mentors are matched based on algorithms built on mutual areas of interest, including career and program areas, and other preferences sourced from their profiles. We offer students and alumni the platform, network, outline, and suggested guides. When they make a match, they make the mentoring relationship their own.

Holocaust Remembrance Day

Posted on by Pamela Jimenez

What is Holocaust Remembrance Day?

The United Nations General Assembly designated January 27, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, as the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the six million victims of the Holocaust under Nazi persecution and in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur.

Why we commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD)?

During this time, we seek to learn lessons of the past. Genocide began with discrimination, racism, and hatred that were left unchecked. “The Holocaust threatened the fabric of civilization, and genocide must still be resisted every day. Our world often feels fragile and vulnerable, and we cannot be complacent.”

Thousands of people come together on Holocaust Memorial Day each year to learn more about the past and take action to create a safer future. A goal of Holocaust Memorial Day is to bear witness for those who endured genocide and honor the survivors and all lives that were impacted.

Resources to Learn More about Holocaust Remembrance Day?

To learn more about Holocaust Memorial Day:

https://www.ushmm.org/remember/international-holocaust-remembrance-day
https://www.hmd.org.uk/what-is-holocaust-memorial-day/

Teaching a New Generation of Medical Assistants

Posted on by Jenna Kerwin

Thanks to Excelsior University’s partnership with the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA), Wendy Craven, of Winston Salem, North Carolina, earned a Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences, an accomplishment that enables her to continue her medical assisting career. With this degree, she is also able to give back to the next generation of medical assistants as they come through the doors of the community college where she works.

Craven’s original interest was in teaching, but she was dissuaded by the economy of the early 1980s from pursuing that career. A presentation on medical assisting soon gave her a new career to consider. “I knew that I did not want to work in a hospital setting…the presentation explained that career [medical assisting] as a physician office-based career, and administrative parts of it, as well as the clinical and laboratory, appealed to me,” she says. Craven earned an associate degree in medical assisting from Wingate College in the 1980s.

Craven has worked in medical assisting for several decades. The best thing about being a medical assistant, she says, is that you build a rapport with your patients in an office setting that you wouldn’t normally have in a hospital. “In the physician practice, you’re seeing somebody coming in for regular follow-ups over a number of years. If you work in pediatrics, you get the opportunity to watch that child grow. If you work in obstetrics and gynecology, you get to observe that pregnancy through from beginning until the end of term,” she says. The world of medical assisting also involves administrative work, including checking patients in and out from their visits, following up on insurance claims, and billing, among other tasks. Craven describes it as a “360-degree” career.

In 2015, Craven had the opportunity to incorporate her interest in teaching into her career. She became an adjunct instructor at Forsyth Technical Community College in Winston Salem, teaching future medical assistants. She was able to transition into a full-time position in 2019, and part of that agreement was to complete her bachelor’s degree. Luckily, she heard about Excelsior University (then College). Transferring credit and earning her bachelor’s from the school could not have been smoother. “The transition was so easy, not only accepting my very aged credits from Wingate, circa 1983, but also giving some credit for the credential that I have through AAMA—my CMA AAMA credential,” says Craven. “And then the adviser that I worked with helped me to pick out courses and kind of move the process along.” She earned her degree in November 2021.

Now Craven advises students as they enter the medical assisting program at Forsyth in a role called faculty mentoring. “I always feel like it’s my obligation and my privilege to help guide them to where they really want to be,” she says. She adds that it is her college’s model to give students the appropriate advice for where they need to be. Craven and others help move the students along a pathway that is right for them. She also recommends that students who don’t know where to begin try skills assessment tests to see what they might be best at and most capable of. It might not tell them exactly what to do, but it’s a good place to start, she says.

Craven has used many examples from her courses at Excelsior in her teachings at Forsyth. She shares her experiences at Excelsior and incorporates some lessons learned from health equity, cultural diversity, and health care courses into her teachings. The most important thing, she says, is she tries to instill the idea of lifelong learning. “I try to give students information…that your education does not have to end here with your diploma or your associate degree,” says Craven. “There are a lot of avenues.”

A Walk to Remember

Posted on by Jenna Kerwin

His plans were all set, but William “Bill” Klee, of Lusby, Maryland, almost didn’t walk the stage at Excelsior University’s 51st Annual Commencement in July 2022. He had earned a Bachelor of Professional Studies in Technology Management, and he had excelled in (and enjoyed) his courses—he even tripled up in several of his trimesters! The problem came in late June of 2022 when he received a horrifying call saying his daughter had been in a terrible motorcycle accident. Forget about attending Commencement, was she even alright?

Klee and his daughter had often ridden together as EMTs. She was a full-time EMT and he, too, has his certification, but mainly just drove the ambulance. It was a time he cherished. So, when he learned of her accident that occurred, he was devastated. Any thoughts he had about traveling out of state to attend Commencement took a back seat to supporting his daughter’s recovery.

As she overcame her injuries, she and Klee’s wife encouraged him to keep his plans to go to Commencement. It was to be his first time hearing his name called and walking across a stage to celebrate an educational milestone.

Klee had finished high school in the middle of the school year and when it was graduation time, he didn’t have a chance to walk the stage to get his diploma because he was in the middle of Boot Camp for the U.S. Navy. He became an electronic technician, working in calibration labs and special communications facilities. As an electronic technician, he used technical systems to assist with detection and tracking of subsurface threats and enable secure communications with U.S. Naval submarines to maintain fleet combat readiness. “You’re following your procedures, you’re testing equipment out, and then if it doesn’t pass, you have to figure out why it didn’t pass and fix what is wrong with the items and get it back to where it belongs,” stated Klee, explaining his job. He noted that the Navy’s electronic standards had to meet and trace back to the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) guidelines and standards.

Klee’s job future changed due to one single mistake. While checking an item that needed to be calibrated, Klee noticed a problem. He brought the discrepancy to his superior, who disregarded the issue. As a result, the situation ended up causing damage to the equipment and electronic standard for which Klee was blamed. “But because of that incident, I was given an opportunity that I probably never would have had,” he says. He was moved from the Calibration Lab to the Planning Group on the naval base in Groton, Connecticut. “I just absolutely fell in love with planning. I swore if I ever got the opportunity again to do planning like that, that I was going to take it.”

Klee got his wish. When he separated from the Navy after 12 years of service, he began working at Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in the Instrument and Controls Shop. When the opportunity arose in 2001 for him to move to Planning, he jumped at the chance. In 2010 he made the move into Projects. If it wasn’t for that one incident in the Navy, he feels he probably wouldn’t have gotten that opportunity. “I wouldn’t have had that taste and desire for working in Planning, which then led me to Projects, which ultimately led me to Corporate IT Projects. So yeah, it was definitely one of those happy mistakes…,” says Klee, “I try to tell people, ‘Don’t be afraid to make a mistake, because you never know where it’s going to take you.’”

Now Klee is an IT project manager, a position he obtained after earning his bachelor’s degree from Excelsior University (then Excelsior College). Michael Johnson, then the associate dean in the School of Undergraduate Studies and a retired Navy veteran, directed Klee to Excelsior, and Klee was able to apply credits from Richland Community College and his time in the Navy toward his degree. The educational partnership between Excelsior and his employer was beneficial, too, and the admissions process was easy. “It was a very simple process…I was able to take the background information [training and courses] that I had done between the Navy and my other classes and submit that for review. I was able to approach my training department at Calvert Cliffs and they were able to just send me a letter that verified what training I had already been through and submit that to Excelsior as part of our partnership.”

Klee worked hard to complete his studies, even going so far as to take a 15-week course and two 8-week courses in the same trimester for several trimesters. Thankfully, he had the support of his family to help him get through the process and he earned his bachelor’s degree in October 2020.

And the best part? On Commencement Day in July 2022, Klee’s wife and daughter were hundreds of miles away, just returning from one of his daughter’s many doctor’s appointments, when they began to watch the live-streamed ceremony on their phone while stopped at a red traffic light. It just so happened they were watching at the exact moment Klee crossed the stage. It was a moment the family will never forget.

More from William Klee

What makes a good leader?

“I try to work with my people a lot more. I don’t want to be a boss, I want to be somebody that they would look at as more of a mentor, a leader, rather than just somebody there to say, ‘No, you need to do this or that.’”

What’s one piece of advice you could give people?

“I would say, ‘Don’t be afraid to try because you never know where it will take you.’ The time that you will ultimately fail is when you don’t try….’ I’ve seen people on LinkedIn that were saying that they were just starting back to school, and I would try to encourage them. It took me over 30 years to complete my degree. I can tell you without a doubt, I’m glad I did. You have to take that first step; you have to start trying. Don’t give up. Keep going and then finally you can say, ‘I did it.’”

In His Own Words

Hear William share his story in his own words in this clip:

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Posted on by Pamela Jimenez

Who was Dr. King and why do we commemorate him?

Although it took many decades, in 1983, President Ronald Regan signed a bill that created a U.S. federal holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., which is observed on the third Monday of January.
Martin Luther King Day commemorates the civil rights activist and leader assassinated in 1968. Dr. Martin Luther King was a scholar and a minister who led the non-violent civil rights movement. Through activism and inspirational speeches, King played an instrumental role in ending the legal segregation of African American citizens in the United States, as well as creating the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

In 1964, he won the Nobel Peace Prize and his legacy lives forever as he continues to be remembered as one of the most influential and inspirational African American leaders in history. Dr. King delivered powerful messages of peace and equality. One of his more memorable speeches was given on August 28, 1963, in the historic march on Washington, D.C. which drew more than 200,000 people into the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial. It was here that Dr. King gave the “I have dream” speech emphasizing his belief that someday all men could be brothers.

On April 3, he gave his final speech in which he told supporters in Memphis, “I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the promised land.” The next day, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed by a sniper’s bullet while standing on a balcony outside his motel room. Dr. King’s life had a tremendous impact on race relations in the United States.

Other more notable quotes by Dr. King are:

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
“True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.”
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

Resources to learn more about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and legacy.

https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/martin-luther-king-jr
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1964/king/biographical/
Source: History.com

Excelsior University Welcomes New Chair and Members to Board of Trustees

Posted on by Erin Coufal

Matt LoebAlbany, New York—The Excelsior University board of trustees has named Matt Loeb as its chair. He has been a member of the board since 2017. Loeb has more than 30 years of global leadership experience and is a certified board director by the National Association of Corporate Directors. He is currently CEO and principal of Optimal Performance Seekers LLC, and non-executive chair of the Bubblr (OTC:BBLR) Board of Directors.

“Excelsior is a leading online university, and we are fortunate to benefit from the expertise of our board members who are leaders in industry, technology, finance, and higher education,” said David Schejbal, president of Excelsior University. “We look forward to working with Matt Loeb as the new chair of the board. His passion for our mission and focus on strategy is essential to growing Excelsior’s impact.”

Charlene DukesThe board also named Charlene Dukes, president emerita at Prince George’s Community College, vice chair of the board. Dukes was the first female president of the community college, which is the home of the National Cyberwatch Center, an advanced technology education site funded by the National Science Foundation.

Dr. Dan GreensteinNew trustees appointed to the board include Daniel Greenstein, chancellor of Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, and David Wilson, president of Morgan State University.

In 2018, Greenstein became chancellor of Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, the state’s system of public universities. The system serves more than 90,000 degree-seeking students. Greenstein is leading a system-wide redesign effort focused on increasing opportunities for students.

David Wilson, Board TrusteeWilson’s tenure as Morgan’s president, which began in 2010, has been characterized by great gains and an era of unprecedented transformation for the University. He has authored two books and more than 20 articles and was inducted into the Baltimore Sun’s Business Civic Hall of Fame in 2021.

In addition to Loeb and Dukes, other board officers are Kent Clark, treasurer, and Jeanne Meister, secretary. Greenstein and Wilson join David Baime, Jennifer Gentry, Karen Kocher, KH Maman, Karim Merchant, Rose Wang, and Alec Whitters on the board of trustees.

# # #

Media Contact Excelsior University:
Erin Coufal, ecoufal@excelsior.edu, 518-608-8498

ABOUT EXCELSIOR UNIVERSITY
Excelsior University is an accredited, not-for-profit online institution focused on helping adults complete their degrees and advance their careers. Excelsior contributes to the development of a diverse, educated, and career-ready society by valuing lifelong learning with an emphasis on serving individuals historically underrepresented in higher education. Founded in 1971, Excelsior meets students where they are—academically and geographically—removing obstacles to the educational goals of adults pursuing continuing education and degree completion. Our pillars include innovation, flexibility, academic excellence, and integrity.

Christmas

Posted on by Pamela Jimenez

Christmas is celebrated on December 25. Christmas is both a sacred religious holiday and a global cultural and commercial phenomenon. People around the world observe it with traditions and practices that are both religious and secular. For Christians, it is the celebration of the birth of Jesus, a spiritual leader whose teachings form the basis of Christianity. For Christians and non-Christians alike, popular customs include:

  • Gathering with the family.
  • Exchanging gifts.
  • Decorating Christmas trees.
  • Sharing meals with family and friends.
  • Waiting for Santa Claus to arrive on December 25.

    • The History of Christmas

    While today Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus during the Christmas holiday, the precise origin of assigning December 25 as the birth date of Jesus is unclear. The bible does not mention a date for Jesus’ birth until the fourth century. Pope Julius I chose December 25 to celebrate and adopted and absorbed the traditions of the traditional winter solstice festivals, which were celebrated worldwide.

    When is and how is Christmas celebrated?

    In the 19th century, Americans began to embrace Christmas. Around the same time, the English author Charles Dickens created A Christmas Carol, a story about the importance of charity and goodwill toward all humankind. At the same time, families became more sensitive to the emotional needs of their children and lavished them with attention and gifts during the holiday.

    A monk named St. Nicholas gave birth to the legend of Santa Claus. St. Nicholas, born in Turkey around 280 A.D., traveled the countryside helping the poor and sick and gave away all his inherited wealth, becoming known as the protector of children and sailors. Americans embraced St. Nicholas in the late 18th century when an Episcopal minister wrote a Christmas poem more popularly known by its first line, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. Subsequently, in 1881, political cartoonist Thomas Nast drew on the poem and immortalized the jolly man in red with a white beard and a sack of toys.

    More Resources to learn about Christmas

    History of Christmas – Origins, Traditions & Facts – HISTORY
    The History of Christmas (historycooperative.org)
    Christmas | Origin, Definition, Traditions, History, & Facts | Britannica

    Kwanzaa

    Posted on by Pamela Jimenez

    History of Kwanzaa

    In 1966, Dr. Maulana Karenga professor and chairman of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach created Kwanzaa. In an effort to bring African Americans together as a community, he combined aspects of several different harvest celebrations, such as those of the Ashanti and those of the Zulu to form the basis of the week-long holiday. Kwanzaa is derived from the phrase “matunda ya kwanza” which is Swahili for “first fruits.” Each family celebrates Kwanzaa in their own way. The holiday traditionally lasts seven days and on each of the seven nights, the family gathers, and a child lights one of the candles on the candleholder, also known as kinara, followed by a discussion of one of the seven principles.

    The seven principles called the Nguzo Saba in Swahili are values of African culture which contribute to building and reinforcing community among African Americans. In addition to the candle lighting ceremony, celebrations often include songs and dances, African drums, storytelling, poetry reading, and a large traditional meal.

    When and How is Kwanzaa Celebrated

    Even though Kwanzaa began as an alternative to Christmas, many families celebrate both holidays. According to Dr. Karenga, Kwanzaa is a cultural holiday with spiritual significance, not religious. Thus, African Americans of all faiths can and do celebrate Kwanzaa. In 2022, Kwanzaa begins on Monday, December 26, and ends on Sunday January 1,2023.

    Resources to learn more about Kwanzaa

    National Museum of African American History and Culture
    Official Kwanzaa Website
    African American Cultural Center

    Hanukkah

    Posted on by Pamela Jimenez

    Origins of Hanukkah

    Hanukkah is the eight-day celebration widely known as the festival of lights. This Jewish celebration commemorates the miracle of light that occurred when a vial of oil, just enough to light the temple’s menorah for one day, burned for eight days. The miracle became the foundation of the beloved holiday to celebrate the victory of light over darkness. The holiday is celebrated with the lighting of the menorah, traditional foods such as latkes and sufganiyot, dreidel games, and gifts.

    How Hanukkah is Celebrated

    The Hanukkah celebration includes the lighting of a nine-branched menorah, known in Hebrew as the hanukkiah. On each of the eight nights, another candle is added to the hanukkiah after sundown, with the ninth candle, called the shamash (helper), used to light the others. Jews typically sing blessings during this lighting of the candles and display the menorah prominently in a window as a reminder to others of the miracle that inspired the holiday. Traditional Hanukkah foods are fried in oil, like potato pancakes (latkes), and jam-filled donuts (sufganiyot) are particularly popular for many Jewish households. Other customs include playing with four-sided spinning tops called dreidels and exchanging gifts. This year Hanukkah begins the evening of December 18 and ends the evening of December 26, 2022.

    More Resources for Understanding Hanukkah

    History of Hanukkah https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/hanukkah

    Taking the Road Less Traveled: New White Sox Manager Reflects on Journey to Head Coaching Position

    Posted on by Erin Coufal

    Albany, New York – The Chicago White Sox have welcomed Pedro Grifol as the 42nd manager in franchise history. Grifol, a native of Miami, Fla., is also a former professional baseball player and an Excelsior University graduate.
    Pedro Grifol

    Grifol’s baseball and coaching career has been anything but ordinary. After being named the Florida high school baseball player of the year in 1988, Grifol attended Florida State University to continue his playing career. Following his All-American season in 1991, he was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 6th round of the 1991 MLB draft. When he became a professional baseball player, Grifol was unable to complete his college degree at Florida State University. Following his nearly 10-year playing career, Grifol came to Excelsior to help complete his academic journey.

    “Excelsior University afforded me a great opportunity to attain my degree after a 9 1/2-year professional career, both of which led to countless opportunities,” said Pedro Grifol, manager of the Chicago White Sox. “I strongly encourage all those contemplating making this sacrifice for their education to take this leap of faith. Excelsior University will make it worth your while.”

    The next step in Pedro Grifol’s journey includes trying to do something that hasn’t been done since 2005–bring the White Sox back to the World Series. For Grifol, the World Series is familiar territory, serving as the catching coach for the Kansas City Royals during their 2015 championship. From his time at Florida State to Excelsior University, Grifol has always accomplished what didn’t seem possible and will look to continue those ways with the Chicago White Sox.

    “It takes incredible dedication to complete a degree as an adult. You have to be determined and focused among competing priorities,” said David Schejbal, president of Excelsior University. “Pedro’s story showcases this dedication to education that is shared by many students and alumni in our Excelsior community, and his success shows us all what is possible.”

    Excelsior meets students where they are to work toward degree completion through generous credit transfer and flexible, online education with instructor-led, self-paced courses for the changing needs of adult learners.

    # # #

    Media Contact Excelsior University:
    Erin Coufal, ecoufal@excelsior.edu, 518-608-8498

    ABOUT EXCELSIOR UNIVERSITY
    Excelsior University is an accredited, not-for-profit online institution focused on helping adults complete their degrees and advance their careers. Excelsior contributes to the development of a diverse, educated, and career-ready society by valuing lifelong learning with an emphasis on serving individuals historically underrepresented in higher education. Founded in 1971, Excelsior meets students where they are—academically and geographically—removing obstacles to the educational goals of adults pursuing continuing education and degree completion. Our pillars include innovation, flexibility, academic excellence, and integrity.

    Q&A with Stephanie Yackel

    Posted on by Emily Miller

    About Stephanie Yackel

    Stephanie Yackel is a faculty program director with Excelsior University’s bachelor’s and master’s in nursing programs. She has been with Excelsior since September 2020.

    Yackel brings 10 years of experience in higher education to her role at Excelsior. She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing from Bethel University and her doctorate in educational leadership from American Sentinel University. Prior to working with Excelsior, she was a dean of nursing, overseeing LPN, associate degree, and bachelor’s degree programs, at Rasmussen University. Clinically, she specialized in oncology and worked in post-surgical nursing.

    We asked Yackel about her career, her work in curriculum development, and how she thinks students will benefit from Excelsior’s bachelor’s and master’s in nursing programs. Check out her answers below.

    Q&A with Stephanie Yackel

    Q: Can you tell us a little about your background?
    A: I started off in nursing by achieving my bachelor’s degree, and I started in a post-surgical unit at a hospital. Then the majority of my career was as a RN in oncology. Then I achieved my master’s degree, and after that, I was recruited to be a full-time faculty member at a university. I did that for about a year, and I was recruited at that university to then move into the dean of nursing position.

    Q: How did you come to Excelsior?
    A: I decided that I wanted a new area and to try something a little bit different. I had been in my position for almost 11 years, and I wanted to just see what other options were out there. I came across Excelsior, and I really liked the job description. As far as the faculty program director [position] is concerned, a lot of it overlapped with my dean of nursing position. However, it also was a different avenue. A lot of it focused on curriculum development, which I had done in the past. This [role] was much more into that versus overseeing the students and all the issues and concerns that they dealt with. So this role was focusing more on the curriculum development part and the faculty.

    Q: Can you tell us about your work in curriculum development?
    A: Curriculum development is a team. We work with subject matter experts in the area of the course that we’re developing. As the faculty program director, I oversee the subject matter expert, who we call SME, and then we also work with a design team to put all the thoughts and ideas into the course and make it look nice and interactive for our students. We really want to ensure that when we’re developing the courses, the students are achieving the student learning outcomes within that course. So, we will create assignments, discussion posts, scaffold assignments. As a faculty program director, I oversee that the vision is coming together to meet the needs of the students and to ensure they’re achieving those outcomes.

    Q: What do you want students to get out of the bachelor’s and master’s in nursing programs?
    A: The bachelor’s is elevating them, such as from an LPN. Many facilities, particularly hospitals, are requiring a bachelor’s degree. The bachelor’s is putting them on that springboard to get to where they need to be within their current job or potentially new job. Excelsior prepares that graduate to be a critical thinker on the floor and also in leadership. Students then have the ability to move on, if they choose to do so, with the master’s program. A master’s creates the framework for no matter what area that they’re looking at, whether it be informatics, education, or leadership, and it creates leaders in education, leaders in informatics, and leaders in management. So, it’s more focused on that leadership platform.

    Q: What does Excelsior receiving university status mean to you? What do you think it means for our students?
    A: University status does elevate the college. It does show that [elevation] through our accreditation, through our processes, through surveys, and through showing how students make it through the courses. We’re meeting the needs of the accrediting bodies and of the community. So that status does rise us above and does put us into the same sort of bucket as other universities. It also allows us to continue to potentially create new programs, such as maybe doctoral programs in the future or other programs along that line.

    Excelsior University Named Best for Adult Learners by Intelligent.com Ranking of Best Online Colleges in New York

    Posted on by Erin Coufal

    [Albany, New York] – Intelligent.com, a trusted resource for program rankings and higher education planning, has included Excelsior University to its list of the Best Online Colleges in New York in 2023 and named Excelsior Best for Adult Learners. The research identifies top schools in the state based on tuition costs, the number of credits required to graduate, and the online coursework delivery format.

    “Excelsior has long been an education home for adult learners in all stages of their professional and educational journey,” said David Schejbal, president of Excelsior University. “We are proud to receive this recognition with a Best for Adult Learners ranking for 2023. This award is a testament to the hard work of our faculty, staff, and administration.”

    Excelsior University was awarded Best for Adult Learners as part of the Best Online Colleges ranking. Intelligent.com implemented a unique methodology that ranks each institution on a scale from 0 to 100 across six categories. The scoring system compares each school according to tuition costs, admission, retention and graduation rates, faculty, and reputation, as well as the student resources provided for online students.

    Studies show that obtaining a degree increases income substantially, with graduates earning 84% more than those with only high school diplomas or those without a completed GED. The percentage difference in earnings continues to grow with higher learning degrees such as master’s, doctoral or professional degrees, with the unemployment rate decreasing to as much as 1.6% for those with a doctorate. To access the complete ranking, please visit https://www.intelligent.com/best-online-colleges/new-york/#excelsior_college

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    Media Contact Excelsior University:

    Erin Coufal, ecoufal@excelsior.edu, 518-608-8498

    ABOUT EXCELSIOR UNIVERSITY

    Excelsior University is an accredited, not-for-profit online institution focused on helping adults complete their degrees and advance their careers. Excelsior contributes to the development of a diverse, educated, and career-ready society by valuing lifelong learning with an emphasis on serving individuals historically underrepresented in higher education. Founded in 1971, Excelsior meets students where they are — academically and geographically — removing obstacles to the educational goals of adults pursuing continuing education and degree completion. Our pillars include innovation, flexibility, academic excellence, and integrity.