The university is pleased to announce the arrival of Dr. Heather Nickel, our new director of accreditation, compliance and assessment for the university. Dr. Nickel joins us on Monday, August 28, will be based on the Winona campus, and will be on the Minneapolis campus regularly, as well. The university extends its gratitude to Tracy Lehnertz, Assistant Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness, who served as Interim Director of Accreditation and Compliance for the past 10 months.
Dr. Nickel comes to us from Keiser University, Florida, where she was dean of academic affairs since 2021. Prior to that, she held various academic leadership roles at Pinnacle Career Institute and Concorde Career College, both in Missouri, and Rasmussen University in Kansas. She has significant experience working with faculty, program directors and department chairs on program assessment, and with accreditation at the university and program levels. Dr. Nickel has an Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership/Higher Education from Grand Canyon University, a M.A. in Education in Curriculum and Technology from the University of Phoenix, and a B.S. in Exceptional Education from the University of Central Florida.
Dr. Nickel’s interests away from work are hiking, reading, and gardening. She has hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back and is looking forward to hiking in the Shenandoah Mountains in the future.
Please welcome Dr. Nickel to our university community.
