Niland moves from classroom and lab to administration

By Chuck Gordon

It seems like Erika Niland '04 was destined to go into academia, but she resisted as long as she could. It wasn't until her Ph.D. days that Niland embraced her fate, but even as an undergraduate she was being told how great she'd be in the classroom.

The late Dr. Pat Plant, a longtime Wingate biology professor, was one of her biggest encouragers.

"I remember telling Dr. Plant I did not want to teach, and she took offense to it," Niland says. "But then she was one of the folks who hired me, so it was full circle."

From becoming the fifth full-time member of the biology faculty in 2010 to chairing a department of 16 full-time professors and nearly as many adjuncts for the past six years, Niland has seen some changes at Wingate.

Now she gets the chance to help shape the University as a whole. Last week, Niland took over as vice president for academic systems, tasked with helping strengthen faculty governance, academic policy, infrastructure, and faculty communication. Reporting to Niland will be the registrar (Maria Taylor) and the leaders of the teaching and learning center.

"Erika will be a key member of our university leadership team, and she is already working collaboratively and decisively with leaders across campus to promote student success and faculty engagement," says Dr. Heather Miller, newly promoted to executive vice president and chief operating officer.

Niland's and Miller's promotions are two of a number of administrative changes made in the wake of the departure of former provost Dr. Laura Hunt. As outlined by President Rhett Brown in a recent letter to the campus community, the changes are designed to better support the goal of improving students' lives. The responsibilities of the former provost position will be spread among Niland and other vice presidents. In addition, deans will be given more responsibility, and student-facing services will be more closely aligned.

Niland brings a wealth of experience to her new role. She has mentored many students during her 16 years in the classroom, gone on research sabbatical under a Spivey Instructorship, served several years on Faculty Senate (including as vice chair and chair), and, of course, spent those six years leading the biology department.

"Whether as Faculty Senate chair or department leader, Erika has consistently stepped up to help move Wingate forward," says Dr. Rhett Brown, Wingate University president. "Her unique strengths complement our academic leadership team, and her love for this University, paired with her talent, initiative and commitment to continuous improvement, made her a natural choice for this role."

Offering research opportunities to students (such as Carly Lewallen Bowles, above) has been a highlight of Niland's teaching career.

It won't be easy for Niland to leave the classroom and the lab. She realized she was born for academia while getting a Ph.D. in plant pathology at the University of Georgia, where she had been preparing for a career in industrial research. As a TA, she realized she got a buzz from helping students understand scientific concepts.

"I just found a passion for explaining it to them in a way they understood," she says.

As Niland was finishing her dissertation at the tail end of the Great Recession, Wingate was one of the few universities that was hiring. The success of the University's School of Pharmacy had created a need for more science instructors, and Niland was equal parts eager to return to her alma mater and a little bit intimidated to become a colleague of her former professors.

But as she knew from her time as an undergrad, she was entering an institution full of nurturing mentors, who helped her quickly find her feet. Niland has spent the past decade and a half introducing students to research and guiding them toward careers in science.

"It definitely fills your cup when you see students go on to grad school and get terminal degrees, and they were first-generation college students and had no idea what they wanted to do and are making big splashes all across government entities and industries and academia," she says. "That's my legacy, and it's really cool."

Wingate, she says, has been a great place to teach, because she gets to know her students and can conduct research on her own terms.

"You get a little bit of research to be creative but don't have the pressure to get big grants and publish," she says. "You also have the ability to mentor and teach students. It's really neat."

The students have been the beneficiaries, Niland says.

"When I was at the University of Georgia, we had undergrads working in our labs, but they were mainly just washing dishes," she says. "Here we have undergrads publishing papers with us. They are actively contributing to science in our disciplines. We'll probably never publish in Nature or Science, but I'm OK with that. They're still contributing; we're contributing. You make a little dent in science, but you make a bigger dent in their mentorship and their lives."

Now Niland is transferring that research spirit to administration. She knows that much of her job will be solving problems, much like she does in the lab.

"At the heart of it, that's what science is: It's just a giant experiment," she says. "That's kind of how I look at all of these priorities. There are a lot of good people around me. We'll figure out the way forward and make it a better institution."

June 9, 2026