Excellence in a Discipline | 2021-22
Nadia Gonzalez
Excellence in a Discipline | Human Resources
What is your favorite Seidman memory?
My favorite Seidman memory, or memories, were in those classes where professors made the content creative and engaging. I saw this a lot in my ethics classes with Professor Lehnert and Professor Hillman, in my MGMT courses with Professor Lynch, and in my HR Capstone with Professor Wiljanen. They all had ways to put an engaging or creative twist on content that could not have been taught straight from a book. They made learning and discussion enjoyable.
Our building namesake – Bill Seidman – exhibited many desirable traits of a leader such as innovator, integrity, curiosity and future-minded. How did your experience at Seidman help you develop one or more of these traits?
I believe that my time here has made me incredibly curious and future-minded. Additionally, I would add open-mindedness to the list of desirable traits. My capstone courses and ethics courses always challenged me to seek out my own answers and solve my own problems. My ethics courses specifically challenged me to be open-minded. As a student from a poorer socioeconomic status, I often had very different ideas and solutions compared to my peers that were raised in wealthier families. It was interesting to see their points of view and have them influence my own, but those discussions also taught me to understand my own beliefs and the evidence behind them.
What would you like people in the community to know about Seidman graduates like you?
I would like the community to know that our batch of COVID graduates are probably some of the most creative and adaptive thinkers you can find. We had to learn how to learn in a pandemic, and then retrain ourselves to learn in person again. Having a younger, COVID experiencing graduate can be an incredibly powerful asset to a company, and I encourage employers to seek out those entry-level candidates and train them rather than requiring years of service for a role for these reasons. If you allow us to prove ourselves, we can be more valuable than what you assume, especially in an unemployment crisis.
What is your career aspiration?
I aspire to be a Professor in Human Resources and/or Corporate Ethics. I love being in the classroom and learning. I feel as if I could really make a change for young Hispanic women out there that want to shoot for higher degrees and/or higher education. To my knowledge, there are no Hispanic female professors in Seidman. I have never encountered one. If they are here, the numbers are slim. I would love to meet them and hear their stories.
How did your time at Seidman College prepare you to contribute to your community as a Laker for a Lifetime?
I hope to continue to learn and grow as an HR professional in order to assist my communities to continuously innovate and adapt in an ever-changing labor market. I hopefully plan to do research that can make impactful changes in the world of HR.
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