Congratulations to these graduates of the Department of Counseling and Higher Education!
Jacob Cushing, Ed.D. in Community College Leadership, ’20
Jacob Cushing is the director of Student Records and Global Engagement at College of Lake County (CLC). His dissertation research focused on the experiences of international students at a community college.
Under his leadership, CLC was one of only five U.S. universities and colleges to receive a 2022 Senator Paul Simon Award for Campus Internationalization from the National Association of International Educators. Cushing used his dissertation research in the application for the award, highlighting how the institution has acted upon the findings to improve international student outcomes such as enrollment, retention and average GPA.
Mark Pienkos, M.S.Ed. in School Counseling, ’74
Mark Pienkos is a double alum from NIU. It is his second degree that he earned from our department, his M.S.Ed. in Guidance and Counseling 1974. His NIU education prepared him for a long and successful career helping others find and follow their own educational and career journeys. Mark spent more than 45 years as a teacher, school counselor, assistant principal, principal, and school superintendent in Wisconsin. These years also included stints as an adjunct professor for Aurora University teaching educational leadership classes at the graduate level.
Mark shared his enthusiasm for his time here at NIU: “Great teachers, great fellow students, great program! I treasure my years as a school counselor. The skills learned greatly helped me in my administrative career, especially when resolving conflicts – when listening skills are so important.”
In addition to fond memories, the career preparation he received helped him achieve significant accomplishments in his career, including President of the Wisconsin School Counselor Association and later as Midwest Vice President for the American School Counselor Association. He’s proud that his career enabled him to help students, parents, staff members, school boards, and school communities where he served to be a success. He shared that his philosophy is rooted in the concept of Servant Leadership and his career certainly underscores his commitment to this belief.
Although he is now retired, Mark serves actively in a variety of leadership roles. He serves on the NIU Alumni Board and also serves as the elected National First Vice President of the Polish American Congress. One other accomplishment that is worthy of mention is Mark’s authorship of a book about his favorite baseball team, the Chicago White Sox. He shared that his entire family are super fans of the Sox and he’s paid homage to the team with his book, “1917-2017: One Hundred Years of White Sox Baseball.”
Rachel Stice, M.S.Ed. in Higher Education and Student Affairs, ’16
Rachel Stice is the Housing Behavioral Case Manager at San Jose State University.
As a case manager, she enjoys the opportunity work with a variety of individuals who make up the on-campus population at her institution. She takes great satisfaction in being able to provide non-clinical counseling, basic needs support and to serve on the campus Behavioral Intervention Team. In addition, she also provide oversight and support for COVID isolation protocols.
Rachel is also actively involved in multiple professional organizations and has served in a variety of leadership roles.
When asked her thoughts on how her degree program prepared her for her career, she shared, “The HESA program at NIU allowed me the opportunity to get hands on experience and get to have direct work experience that has helped me immensely in the field. I especially found the internship experiences and opportunities to be involved on the campus allowed me to gain the skills I have needed for my entire career in student affairs thus far. I also find myself regularly utilizing student development theory, project management, and community care skills that I gained while in the NIU HESA Program.”
K. Scott Viel, M.S.Ed. in Counseling, ’21
K. Scott Viel serves as the freshman and sophomore counselor for Roosevelt Community Education Center in Rockford, Ill., with a goal to help students overcome life’s obstacles so they can achieve their dreams. He brings a background of diverse experiences to his role as a school counselor that, with his education from NIU’s program, allows him to meet the vast array of needs of Roosevelt students.
As a counselor, Scott listens to his students and helps them by being and providing resources for them to deal with a variety of social emotional issues. His large network of community and business partners offers mentoring and provides job shadows, career exploration and even employment opportunities for students.
Scott’s expertise in data management and spreadsheets led to development and implementation of systems for tracking Roosevelt students’ progress in real time. This allows students, teachers and counselors to know at any given moment where a student is at in the curriculum and what is next in the road map to graduation. His experience paired with course work at NIU lead Scott to developing a comprehensive approach to career counseling that he is beta-testing with students in hopes of future implementation across Roosevelt and potently other schools.
Each of these areas and skills – counselor, networker, systems manager, and curriculum developer – work together to uniquely meet the holistic needs of students in our community, which in turn allows them to flourish in school and realize success.
If you’re a College of Education grad with news to share, please let us know – and send a photo! Our email address is ceduEdNews@niu.edu.
