Nakia Coleman, an assistant director with UAB Birmingham Promise, integrates the cutting-edge skills and techniques from her online master’s program into her daily work, driving innovation and excellence.
Photography: Jennifer Alsabrook-TurnerAfter two years at a local community college, Nakia Coleman transferred to the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she served in various leadership roles, including co-president of the Transfer Student Organization. In 2023, she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, but she was unsure which direction to go next.
She thought about several careers, including a high school counselor or applying to law school; but after she learned about UAB’s online master’s degree in higher education administration in the School of Education and Human Sciences, she knew this was the path for her.
“UAB was the only graduate program I applied to; so once I interviewed, got my acceptance letter and was awarded a graduate assistant position, I knew this was it,” Coleman said. “Once the semester started, I was immediately able to start applying what I was learning in class to my position.”
Two semesters into the program, one of Coleman’s mentors saw a job opening at UAB with Birmingham Promise and believed it would be a perfect fit and give Coleman the opportunity to excel. With six months left of her graduate program, Coleman was selected to serve as the new assistant director of Community Recruitment Partnerships and UAB Birmingham Promise.
The Birmingham Promise scholarship is available to students who are admitted to UAB as first-time, full-time freshmen in the academic year following high school graduation from a Birmingham City School, beginning with the graduating high school class of 2020 and continuing for subsequent graduating classes.
Looking to the future, Coleman hopes to create a UAB Birmingham Promise student organization that will allow the over 150 Birmingham Promise Blazers to network and create leadership opportunities for these students.
Photography: Jennifer Alsabrook-TurnerJust as in her GA position, Coleman found herself immediately using the techniques and skills she was taught in class, especially since she is on the academic advising track.
“In my new position, I get to act as a mentor, advisor and counselor to all UAB’s Birmingham Promise students, and in my classes, we did a lot of scenario-based modules on how to advise students from different backgrounds,” she said. “It was so helpful to not just read cases in a textbook but work through them in class, and then I could apply the theories the very next day at work.”
Looking to the future, Coleman hopes to create a UAB Birmingham Promise student organization that will allow the over 150 Birmingham Promise Blazers to network and create leadership opportunities for these students.
“I want to help students get engaged, especially our incoming freshmen, and be a support for them during their time as a Blazer,” she said. “I want to remind these students that no one’s path is the same. Even if it takes you longer to graduate than anyone else, as long as you graduate and get to the end goal, that’s all that matters. Follow your own path.”