Title: Photography Instructor
Department: Professional Photography
Office: Black Hawk Hall 157B
Phone: 319-296-2320 ext. 1764
Address
Hawkeye Community College
Black Hawk Hall 157B
1501 East Orange Rd
PO Box 8015
Waterloo, IA 50704-8015
Dan Nierling first started at Hawkeye as an adjunct instructor and then began full-time duties in August of 2005. In the Professional Photography program, Nierling’s primary duties included teaching, Photojournalism, and basic digital photography courses. Along the way he has also taught classes in Adobe Photoshop, Visual Communication, Photo Design, and Visual Communication.
In 2011 Nierling began working on building a new academic program at Hawkeye in Digital Mass Media. The program combines a number of media related disciplines centering around video production and audio engineering as well as still photography, desktop publishing, media writing, and mass communications law. The program was launched Fall Semester 2013 and has graduated its first class in spring of 2015. The Digital Mass Media program has grown in size to equal both Professional Photography and Graphic Communications in just three years!
Prior to teaching at Hawkeye, Nierling spent 21 years as a professional photojournalist and newspaper photography editor. A graduate of The University of Iowa with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and English, Nierling began his career at The Daily Iowan in Iowa City before moving on to The Ottumwa Courier and then spending the last 18 years of his career at The Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier.
Nierling also possesses a Master of Education degree in post-Secondary Educational Leadership, Community College emphasis from Iowa State University. Nierling began his educational career at The University of Northern Iowa. He has served on a number of committees at Hawkeye including the Retention Committee, the Curriculum Committee and the Assessment Committee. Nierling was the 2014 recipient of the John and Suanne Roueche Excellence Award from the League for Innovation in Community Colleges for his efforts building the Digital Mass Media program.