FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Alaska Nanooks athletics department has announced the hiring of Dr. Nicole R. Bernsen, their new Assistant AD for Academic Services. Her official start date is Monday, Oct. 26, 2020.
 
Dr. Bernsen joins the University of Alaska Fairbanks and Alaska Nanooks after spending the last few months as an Education Director for the American Collegiate Rugby Association in Philadelphia, Penn. There she helped develop and implement educational professional development for a nation-wide intercollegiate athletics governing body. She was also a chair education committee member and would supervise player, coach and referee education coordinators as well as voting on the executive board. 
 
From January, 2017 to May, 2020, Bernsen was the head rugby coach for the University of Maine in Orono, Maine. As the head coach, she was in charge of recruitment, practice planning, film review, travel logistics and more. Under Dr. Bernsen, Maine qualified for the postseason each year. She also established the strength and conditioning program with on-campus NCAA trainers. She coached six Academic All-Americans while also coaching the Black Bears to a Division II Women's Collegiate Ranking of 9^th in fifteens and 3^rd in sevens rugby. 
 
Also at the University of Maine, from August, 2016 to December, 2019, Dr. Bernsen was a research assistant in the School of Forest Resources. In this position, she worked with the Rural Youth Futures, and Maine Workforce Assessment, analyzing educational, community and economic influences on rural youth education and residential aspirations. Prior to the University of Maine, she spent a year at the University of New Mexico working in the department of political science. 
 
Lastly, she spent four years as an academic counselor and teacher at Saint Paul Public High School, instructing secondary-level history and economics classes while advising the Class of 2015. 
 
Dr. Bernsen graduated from Ventura College with an Associate of Arts in Liberal Arts before graduating from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a Bachelor of Arts in Global Studies while spending time abroad at the American University of Paris, France. She later earned a Master of Arts in Political Science from the University of New Mexico before becoming a Doctor of Philosophy in Education Policy and Economics from the University of Maine. 
 
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