Northern Essex Community College Names Carson as Dean of Business and Professional Studies

Jody Carson, left, and Jill Becker, received Course of Distinction Awards from Massachusetts Colleges Online in 2014. (Courtesy photograph.)

Jody Carson, dean of business and professional studies at Northern Essex Community College. (Courtesy photograph.)

Jody Carson is the new dean of business and professional studies at Northern Essex Community College.

The job brings Carson, who graduated from the college 20 years ago, full circle. She came back to Northern Essex 15 years ago to teach and has served as interim dean of business and professional studies since last fall.

“NECC has been a central part of my entire adult life. The college has given me many opportunities to grow personally and professionally,” she said.

A first-generation college student, Carson, of Hampton, N.H., went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Human Development from Lesley University and a Master’s of Education in Child Development from Southern New Hampshire University. In 2007 Carson became an adjunct faculty member at Northern Essex and immediately began examining ways to make courses more accessible to students.

In an email to staff, college Provost Paul Beaudin said Carson later began advising Early Childhood Education students and developed the program’s first online course. In 2010, she began managing a grant for Early Childhood Education involving four local colleges. Carson also began working in Northern Essex’s Center for Instructional Technology.

In 2013, Carson joined the Textbook Task Force to address students’ concerns over the cost of course materials. She and Sue Tashjian, coordinator of instructional technology, brought Open Educational Resources—free, openly licensed educational materials—to the college. Faculty may adopt these in place of commercially published textbooks.

Carson is beginning her doctoral studies at Northeastern University.

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