When Nikki Price earned a criminal justice degree at North Carolina Central University in 1997, she planned to pursue a career in law enforcement.
But Price said her mother didn’t want her to have a dangerous job and asked her to try another profession. Price took a temporary job in human resources at UNC-Chapel Hill only to appease her mother, she said, but something happened during that job: She liked it.
Price ended up never working a day in law enforcement. Her entire career has been as an HR professional at UNC or NC State University. She has served the state of North Carolina for 25 years, not including the year she spent as a temporary employee. Most of her career has been at NC State.
“You can’t tell my mama she doesn’t know what’s best for me, by the way,” said Price, the assistant dean for culture, talent and human resources in the College of Sciences.
Price celebrated her milestone career achievement at the Quarter Century Club breakfast held Oct. 23 at the chancellor’s residence. The university also invited 97 other employees to the breakfast to honor them for their 25 years of state service. Each honoree received a unique brick from the university with a plaque attached. The handmade bricks — referred to as “swirl bricks” — are some of the first laid bricks at the university and date back to the early 1900s.
“It’s amazing and a little unbelievable,” Price said of her career as a state employee. “It’s almost like, ‘Where did the time go?’ It seems to have happened so quickly because it’s been a joyous ride.”
Price came to work at NC State in 2000 as an HR generalist after working at UNC as both a temporary employee and a full-time employee. She said one of the proudest accomplishments of her career was when she worked as an HR director and led the effort to launch the Onboarding Center at NC State.
“It was challenging, but it was absolutely worth all the work that we put into it,” Price said. “It was rewarding to build something from scratch that I knew NC State would benefit from for many years to come.”
Mitch Woodward, one of the event’s honorees, said he was especially glad to have the opportunity to attend the breakfast because Chancellor Randy Woodson plans to retire next year.
“How nice is it to get to go out to the chancellor’s home and have breakfast?” asked Woodward, an area specialized agent who focuses on water quality and protection issues for NC State Extension. “He’s a very down-to-earth and a very engaged chancellor. I hate to see him retire because he has been really good for the university and Extension.”
Stephanie Davis, who helps organize the breakfast, said many of the attendees shared Woodward’s sentiment about Woodson.
“People were especially excited because they knew the breakfast was his last one,” said Davis, the assistant director of Organizational Learning and Development in University Human Resources. “Everyone wanted to take a picture with him.”
Woodward said he was grateful to receive an invitation to the breakfast and for his long career at NC State. He said one of the reasons he likes working for the university is its collegial atmosphere.
“I’ve really enjoyed meeting and working with all the different people I’ve interacted with over the years,” he said. “The second thing besides the collegial environment is we really are in the business of helping people in Extension and putting science to work out in the counties.”
The ability to help people is one of the reasons why Price has enjoyed her long career in HR.
“The main reason I wanted to be in law enforcement was to help people,” she said. “I wanted to be an advocate and serve my community. I realized that was also needed in the field of HR.”
Price said she plans to spend the rest of her career at NC State doing what she has been doing since she started working here — helping people.
“For the rest of my career, I want to mentor other HR professionals to support them in both their personal and professional goals.,” Price said.
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