Nikki Harken

she, her, hers

Associate Professor of Instruction

Internship Director

Photo of Nikki Harken
Location

Lang Hall 323

Phone
319-273-3707

Directory Contact

Nikki Harken

she, her, hers

Associate Professor of Instruction

Internship Director

   UNI Communication Studies Internship
 

Dr. Harken serves as the Internship Director for the Department of Communication and Media and Associate Professor of Instruction. Her publications include: the Media Career Guide for Bedford St. Martin’s Press and Next Step for Macmillan Publishing, both which prepare students for careers and life beyond college.

Nikki teaches a range of courses for the department, including courses focused on speaking, writing, research, and leadership. She finds her students to be exciting, engaging, and entertaining and likes to be innovative and inventive in the classroom, creating mutually beneficial learning environments where her students can be creative, engaged, and produce high quality work. Her goal is to help students find their purpose and passion, to nurture those things, and help them realize 'it's not how smart you are, but how you are smart.'

Dr. Harken has received numerous awards including six “Apple Polisher” awards from UNI students, the United Faculty Above and Beyond award, NISG Above and Beyond Learning Award, UNI Textbook Equity Champion, State of Iowa OER Adaptation Award, and received a Panther First award for service excellence. She has served as an honorary sideline coach for men's basketball, women's basketball, volleyball, wrestling, and football and has been nominated for the Liberal Arts Core Excellence in Teaching MWOne Advising, and UNI Above and Beyond awards.
 
Nikki has a strong belief in serving her community, which she sees as her duty and delight to foster the creation of systems that encourage personal responsibility and success and disrupt systems of inequity. She is the recipient of a Veridian Community Engagement Fellowship (2016) and received the Honorable Mention-Engaged Campus Award for Emerging Innovation from the Seed Coalition. She also has certifications in Green Dot, Mental Healthy Allyship, and QPR.
 
She is a sought after keynote and conference speaker with topics ranging from bettering communication within organizations to the impact of generational differences.  Along with this, she hosts the Next Step podcast, a podcast dedicated to providing transitional information to college graduates.
 
Education
  • Ed.D., Higher Education: Student Affairs, University of Northern Iowa
  • M.A., Communication Education, University of Northern Iowa
  • B.A., Communication/Theatre Arts Education (7-12) & Elementary Education, University of Northern Iowa
 
Research Interests

Dr. Harken's research is rooted in university/college exit programming - essentially, what students experience (knowledge, emotional, social) as they leave the university and how to develop systems that better serve students during their last moments in higher education.

She has presented this research at a variety of conferences including NASPA (National Association of Student Personnel Administrators), AERA (American Educational Research Association), ICA (Iowa Communication Association), and NCA (National Communication Association).