Morgan Larson, Writer
Iowa Lakes Community College (ILCC) certainly seems to have the best, well-grounded and passionate professors that enjoy what they do and thrive on student success in their programs/classes. It’s interesting to dive into the personalities of each professor and their pathway that has placed them here at ILCC. One Business Department professor goes into more detail on where and how she stands where she does as one of the departments professors.
Johnny Hurley, a native from Curlew, Iowa came to Iowa Lakes Community College as a student. From her time here taking classes and being apart of the Laker family, Hurley knew teaching was what she was meant to do. “Iowa Lakes is an excellent college and provided me with a great education!” says Hurley. Here is where it all began for Hurley. To become a professor at ILCC.
Before Johnny leapt toward her goal, Hurley was employed with a farm business company “I worked for the Government at USDA, FmHA, Farmers Home Administration… I wanted a career that I could be on the same schedule as my children.” says Hurley. It’s during this time that Johnny decided to pursue her goal of teaching. “I decided that I wanted to teach others, so I returned to college and continued to work for a farm management company.”
After graduating from ILCC, Hurley went on to Buena Vista University and Emporia State. Once Hurley obtained her bachelor’s degree from Buena Vista University, that furthered her to teach secondary education, she went the distance. “I wanted to continue and get my master’s degree so that I could teach at the college level.” With that task in mind, Hurley enrolled at Emporia State to achieve her masters towards Business.
Johnny Hurley stared working at Iowa Lakes Community College in August of 2005 with an A.A., Iowa Lakes Community College, a B.A., Buena Vista University, and a M.S., Emporia State University. Each of Hurley’s professional affiliations are as follows: Iowa Business Education Association, Iowa State Education Association, and National Education Association.
With all of Hurley’s educational business achievements, she goes on to say, “To teach here at ILCC in my position, one must have a master’s degree and have 18 graduate credits in the area that they are teaching in.” Even though all of this may sound technical, Hurley reassures that she can apply some real-life experiences to her business students to help them better understand or utilize themselves in a more comprehensive way.
Today, Johnny Hurley is one of the professor’s within the Business Department at ILCC. If you were to walk by the Business Department at the college, you will find darkness. Hurley mentioned that the department is currently undergoing the Fall Semester online. She is optimistic that the department will return to face to face classes for Spring term of 2021. Hurley has endured a lot of education to obtain her goal of meeting her families schedule, pursuing her passion of teaching and watching student’s success in the real world from her program’s curriculum. Hurley is another ILCC example of why each student should be Laker Proud.
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