STLCC’s new Chief Operating Officer looks ahead to the future
BY: MAX WILSON
Staff Writer
How does an administration keep up with all the day to day operations of a college, especially one with multiple campuses? In January 2022, a new role was designed: Chief Operations Officer (COO). Former STLCC Associate Vice Chancellor of the Workforce Solutions Group Hart Nelson was chosen for the role. The Montage talked to Nelson about what his job entails, his background, his concerns and hopes for the college, and about why St. Louis remains one of his favorite cities.
Nelson majored in mass communications and political science as an undergraduate student. He worked as a sports reporter for the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “Let’s just say that [sports] was not my strong suit. I wasn’t the most athletic person at the time,” Nelson said. He covered high school and college sports, going to games and getting to talk to the coaches, figuring out which student athlete to profile that week. “That’s what was really cool,” Nelson said.
However, Nelson soon learned that journalism “was not going to pay the bills.” So he got a job at IBM, and then worked with the US Foreign Service as a diplomat. His first assignment was in Prague.
“That will always have a special place for me,” he said. “It’s a beautiful city.”
Nelson can trace his interest in diplomacy back to his youth: he went to high school in Berlin, Germany, and he even saw the Berlin Wall come down. He describes the experiences as “very important in how I see the world. Seeing that diplomacy and soft power can actually change the world.. it was not the World War Three that we had all worried about. It was a peaceful transition of power… and now you have a united Germany that is doing very well,” said Nelson.
When Nelson was assigned to the Dominican Republic, his wife went back to St. Louis to visit with friends. She got a “serendipitous” job offer, and ended up moving back to St. Louis to start the job. Nelson moved to join her and his family after his assignment ended.
Nelson has lived abroad in a variety of countries and cities, including: London, England; Washington, D.C.; New York; California; Prague; Miami; the Dominican Republic–and he still lists St. Louis as one of his favorite cities.
St. Louis is “a great place for a family,” Nelson said. He noted that St. Louis is small enough that an average person can feel involved, but large enough that there’s many activities going on. “You can do the Muny, you can go to Forest Park,” he said.
Nelson says he doesn’t understand when St. Louis natives complain about the traffic. “I’ve lived in Los Angeles, I’ve lived in London. [Traffic in St. Louis] is not bad.”
As far as weather goes Nelson said he enjoys the fact that St. Louis experiences four distinct seasons. “Sometimes you get all [four seasons] in the same week,” he said.
Before he began his role as COO, Nelson worked as the associate vice chancellor of Workforce Solutions Group. There, he was the head of “economic and workforce development.” He also “managed continuing professional development and personal enrichment education,” including “initiatives that reflected the needs of local, regional and national employers.”
As part of his role as COO, Nelson said that a typical day can range from managing a broken water main at one campus, to hiring IT cybersecurity specialists.
Acknowledging that the role of COO is new to the college, Nelson says that some people might wonder what the need is for a COO.
“The reason I see is because of the massive effort that is going to be STLCC transformed. This is the first time in decades that the college is going to be able to build a lot of buildings all at once and really change what St. Louis Community College looks like,” Nelson said.
Colleges and universities all across the country are having to decide if they should have a more liberal arts education or more career focused. Nelson said that both are important. He brought up the new buildings at the Forest Park campus, where students are studying a variety of healthcare fields, as an example of how STLCC is emphasizing technical education.
However, Nelson isn’t ready to get rid of the liberal arts courses. “Just because you’re in a CTE program, you’re going to be taking these other courses.. it’s required. It’s part of getting a degree; it broadens your view.”
Nelson said that even if a student is studying to be a nurse, he hopes the student will get the opportunity to take a political science class. “Maybe it gets you politically active, maybe it [helps you] decide this is not for me,” he said.
Nelson said that even in workforce preparation, there will be opportunities for “people to become well rounded individuals and educated. That has to be something the college continues.”
One of the reasons students choose to go to community college is because it’s often more affordable than a traditional four year school. That is “incredibly important,” says Nelson. “It’s a great education, and, especially with CORE 42, you’re able to bring those credits at any state institution, and you’re going to be paying a fourth or a third of the price that you would elsewhere.”
One of Nelson’s goals is to connect students with local employers. He mentioned the Boeing pre employment program. According to the STLCC website, students can take the six or eight week course at no cost, and are then guaranteed an interview with Boeing. “It’s sheet metal work,” said Nelson. Students “are learning how to do aircraft assembly.”
Nelson notes that although students are not guaranteed a job after program completion, he says that many graduates get hired “because Boeing knows they can do the work. They know that they’ve got the skills and abilities.”
His work continues promoting and fostering these programs and the college’s growth as a whole. “I think the role [of COO] was designed for a heavy focus on the engineering and the design and the facilities and construction [and] also to look for opportunities for project management,” said Nelson.
