July 19, 2023
When Nicole Kenney ‘14, was 15 years old, she stood in front of Beard Hall, home to the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, dreaming of the day she would go to pharmacy school. Little did she know that it would be human resources that captured her heart during her undergraduate years at Carolina, but her time in Beard Hall would come.
Growing up in Cary, being a Tar Heel was always the plan, and after graduating with a double major in management and society and sociology, she was ready to start her career in HR. “I’ve always been interested in business—more of the people side. In college I had an internship that was focused on HR. That’s where I was exposed to the profession,” said Nicole.
She started out working for the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW) before moving closer to home and working for William Peace University in Raleigh. She then tested the waters in corporate HR before quickly realizing she preferred higher education and the strong mission and values it comes with. That’s when she found the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy.
Nicole joined the School in 2018 as a human resources consultant. In 2020, she started an MBA program through UNCW that she completed in May 2022. Today, she’s been promoted to senior director of human resources and engagement.
The HR team works to support faculty and staff in various ways, and Nicole enjoys how each day is different and comes with new opportunities and challenges to problem solve. HR serves as a consultant to School faculty and staff on HR policies, procedures and systems including appointment, promotion and tenure (APT), classification and compensation, performance management, employee relations, organizational design, as well as many other areas so that employees can focus on what they are truly passionate about.
“Nicole and the HR team have elevated the impact performance and engagement can have on an organization’s ability to pursue its mission. The next few years will depend on our ability to maintain an engaged team while supporting their overall career development across our faculty and staff,” said Scott Savage ‘98, ‘02, Pharm.D., executive vice dean and chief operating officer at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and chief financial officer for the Eshelman Institute for Innovation.
Nicole shared that over the next year she is working on the development of an onboarding process for new staff and faculty and a more robust data-driven compensation policy and guidelines. “I also really want to take engagement and HR services to the next level. I want people to see the HR team as a go-to resource with reliable information—really taking the service element and transforming it into a partnership,” she said.
Employee engagement is a huge part of her role and is the first priority in the School’s strategic plan. She describes engagement as the level of enthusiasm and connection employees have with their organization. It’s more than employees feeling happy at work—it measures how motivated people are to put in extra effort and a sign of how committed they are to staying.
It’s been a full-circle experience since Nicole first stood in front of Beard Hall. To remind herself of how far she’s come, she has that photo sitting on her desk. “This is a special place full of really great people,” Nicole said.
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