By Stefan Yablonski
Jennifer Nichols is Cayuga Community College’s new dean for academic services and is the primary administrator at the Fulton campus.
“It’s a new position at the college. The college kind of realigned leadership,” she explained. “I was a professor of nursing, but I was also a division chair of college studies, which used to be at the Fulton campus. And then the division chair of our math science technology. Now I have taken on a new role.”
Right now, she said, she is going through the early stages of adjusting to her new position.
“Since it is a new role at the college, it’s a new job. I am trying to figure out what is working the best for Cayuga College and how I fit into the new role,” she explained.
She oversees the following departments and offices: Applied Learning and Articulation; Distance Learning; Fulton Campus operations; Learning Commons-Academic Support; Learning Commons-Library; and Registrar’s Office. She also chairs the Committee for Advancing Teaching and Learning.
She moved to Oswego when she was 4. She went to the Oswego city schools and SUNY Oswego.
“I graduated in ’96 from SUNY Oswego with a BA degree in English. And then I thought maybe I’d go on for a master’s degree. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. So, I started working as an administrative assistant and was exposed to nursing,” she said. She was the director of nursing and interim administrator at a New York state skilled nursing facility.
That exposure led her to Cayuga Community College for nursing courses where she earned an Associate in Applied Science in nursing in 2001 and she received her Master of Science in nursing/nurse practitioner from SUNY Upstate in 2008.
“I went on to SUNY Upstate and received my master’s degree,” she added. “I served our community as both a nurse and as a nurse practitioner.”
She came back into Cayuga to teach nursing. She was first employed at Cayuga as an adjunct instructor of nursing.
“I started at the college in 2008. I taught nursing students. There were some administrative opportunities. So, one of those opportunities was to oversee the faculty at the Fulton campus. My position was based at the Fulton campus,” she said.
There were some changes and then she ended up overseeing the faculty for math and science.
“And then this particular dean position opened up,” she said.
“I moved here very young and was educated in this area. I have stayed in this community to work in different roles — in health care and also in education and now this role. It is important to me that we have education possibilities available for all our students of all ages. I have always taken advantage of any educational opportunity. It may not be relevant to what I was currently doing, but some things as I have changed my roles have come back around. So, I think my original degree at SUNY Oswego helped me with my nursing studies. And, certainly, my nursing studies helped me with my role as a leader. For me everything, even though they are varying interests and paths right now, they have all come right back and really have helped me in my current role. It’s all people-oriented. They all are, yes, especially in health care but also with education.”
She decided to stay in this area for a reason.
“I understand — because I live here, I work here, I own a home here — I understand the needs of our community. That helps when you have someone who has lived here, gone through schools here, they understand the community better,” she said. “I don’t know everything, but I do have an understanding. I do think that is helpful to be in a leadership position at this campus in this community.
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• Jennifer L. Ross: Interim dean was once told that she couldn’t do advanced math because she was a girl
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