Meet the new interim dean of the College of Business and Public Policy: Dr. Terry Nelson

Disclaimer: A version of this story was revised using ChatGPT and submitted as a class assignment. No AI was used in the writing or editing of this version.

When I came back to UAA in 2022 to study journalism, one of the first classes I took was called Business Foundations. It was taught by the associate dean of the College of Business and Public Policy, Dr. Terry Nelson.

She was an extraordinary professor. How often do you see students line up on the last day of class to shake a professor's hand?

Nelson has received numerous teaching and service awards. Recently, she was recognized for her leadership and community service in the 2023 YWCA Women of Achievement award.

Dreidra Goins was in the same class as me and spoke with me about her experience.

“I think that was one of the most engaged classes I’ve taken,” said Goins, “I heard every student’s voice.”

“I am … one who is prone to talking a lot and having a lot to say, and she allowed me to have a lot to say and still made sure to make room for other students to have a lot to say and didn’t make me feel bad about it … or them feel bad about it.”

Goins is an Army veteran and was struck by Dr. Nelson’s leadership ability.

“Dr. Nelson demonstrates leadership in a way that makes it look easy.”

Goins noted Nelson’s ability to get buy-in from students, highlighting how Nelson had the class weigh in on decisions about grades and projects to demonstrate the tough real-world decisions leaders have to make.

Sondrea Manor, another student in the class, talked with me about how important Nelson’s real-world experience was to her. She admired the fact that Nelson made her way in the corporate world before becoming a professor.

Manor also found inspiration in the fact that Nelson is an accomplished Black woman who is approachable and easy to talk to.

“I’m a person of color and a woman, and so is she,” Manor said.

“To me she never felt like a professor, she never felt like the dean, I was never nervous to talk. It always felt very comfortable, like a mentor.”

Manor said that she liked the lessons Nelson gave on personal ethics and morals in a business world, recalling real-life personal dilemmas Nelson shared with the class.

Manor also said that she admired the energy Nelson brought to the classroom every day.  

“She never let us see her look bad … She always showed up ready to be there, ready to present.”

I sat down with Nelson in an interview to talk about her background and path to becoming a professor. I also asked her about her experiences being a Black woman in the professional world and how she navigated those challenges.

Originally from Little Rock, Arkansas, she said that she grew up “very poor.”

While neither of her parents went to college, her mom encouraged her to pursue higher education.

Nelson said that she took a long time to finish school. She was more interested in trying to pay her way through college, and she was making good money working at a Kroger grocery store.

She said that one day she was struck by the realization that she needed to do something more with her life. She said that there was nothing wrong with the work she was doing, but it just wasn’t the right thing for her.

The realization pushed her to finish her undergraduate degree.

She gave this advice to other first generation students: “I can’t say this enough … if you don’t have someone in your immediate family  to help you navigate, connect with some type of organization within the university [like TRIO or the the Multicultural Student Center.]”

She said that having people to socialize with and help understand the system is important, and that without that support, it’s easy to miss important steps in college, such as checking in with advisors on a regular basis.

She said that after college she was promoted at Kroger into management and then later went to work at Coca-Cola Enterprise.

She said that her skin color played a role in her hiring at Coca-Cola.

“They selected me because I was a Black female with a bachelor’s degree. They told me that.”

She said that she believes she was being told so that she could be aware of the circumstances around her hiring and the situation she was entering.

Still, it caused her to think over the offer.

She recalled a conversation with her mom, who said to her, “If you don’t take it, who will do it? Somebody’s gotta do it.”

She decided to take the job and it turned out to be one of her favorites. She said that it was fun and easy to sell Coca-Cola in the South.

Unfortunately, it was also a job where she experienced prejudice.

She said that at one point she became frustrated over opposition she faced in the company because of her race. Her boss became aware of the problem and stepped in to remedy the situation.

Nelson said that if her boss hadn’t supported her, she would have probably left that job.

She said that if you can’t find that support in your place of employment, then the best thing to do is move on.

After her time with Coca-Cola, she began work at Tennessee First Bank, eventually becoming the senior vice president of consumer lending processes.

Following Tennessee First Bank, she went to get her Ph.D. in organizational behavior from the University of Memphis.

Nelson ended up coming to UAA in 2013 to teach. She said the reason she wanted to come to UAA was because she believed it was likely that they would support her research.

She said that while she has not experienced the problems of racism at UAA, she said that she has had problems related to her gender.

She said that after she was hired, she was teased by one of her male colleagues that the reason she was hired was because of her Corvette.

The comment bothered her, and he persisted in making it, she said.

She said that she recognizes that it was probably not meant to be a diminishment of her achievements, but she still found it unprofessional, especially as a woman who worked hard to get where she was in life.

She highlighted the experience both as the gulf that can exist between people’s understanding of what is appropriate and how we should approach such situations.

Nelson does workshops on what she calls “Oopsism,” a different term for microaggressions.

The idea is that we all bring our unconscious biases to everyday conversations and we need to be aware how that might affect people.

An example would be asking someone of Asian descent what country they are from, with the implication being that they were not born in the U.S.

Regarding the comments about her car, she said that there was no way that her male colleagues could understand why she, as a woman, took umbrage with the comments. She said that the best thing to do is to acknowledge the gulf and acknowledge that the comments are, at the very least, bothering someone.

Nelson said that she loves teaching, but the Business Foundations class that I took with her was the last class she taught after stepping into her role as associate dean of the College of Business and Public Policy.

She said that she has found other outlets to continue educating, such as through UAA’s Tom Case Leadership Fellows.

Soren Orley is a professor at UAA and has worked with Nelson since she arrived at UAA. He said that he has admired her ability to lead the department, making decisions that don’t feel forced.

He also underlined her commitment to ethics, saying that he knew she would be fair.

One of the most visible achievements by Nelson during her time as associate dean is the College of Business and Public Policy Showcase, a yearly event that brings together stakeholders and community partners in the college.

Dean John Nofsinger spoke with me in an interview and said that the whole project was her baby and that it has been wildly successful — pointing out that other colleges at UAA have “borrowed” the concept, running their own showcases.

Recently, it was announced that Nelson would be stepping into the role of interim dean of the College of Business and Public Policy in the middle of this summer.

The college will be going through accreditation next year and Nofsinger said that Nelson has been closely involved with the details of preparing for that, so it makes sense to have her step in as interim dean.

“She is the main heavy lifter in the accreditation, that’s one of her primary jobs, accreditation, as associate dean,” he said.

“I think the choice of [Nelson] being interim dean is a really good choice.”