Professor Nicholas Creel began his journey as an aspiring banker, but is now a business law professor at GCSU who is known for his reputability and political neutrality in the classroom.
As a law professor and the adviser for GCSU’s Turning Point USA chapter, Professor Creel actively separates his political opinions from what he is involved in.
“It’s really an intentional thing that is built less on expressing my opinions and more on helping students develop their own opinions based on what we’re discussing,” Professor Creel said.
He emphasizes the inevitability of speaking about politics in his law classes and has provided students with neutral information by assigning readings that sit on both ends of the political spectrum. This method leaves a lasting effect on students, as they are able to build off of their own opinions in an educated fashion, instead of just adopting his opinions completely.
Despite his heavy concentration on law today, Professor Creel initially pursued banking. He earned an economics degree from Baylor University and chose to go to law school so he would have a foot in the door for banking positions. He graduated in 2008, a year that Professor Creel describes as “The worst time possible to ever enter into banking.”
His academia journey began after he took a step back and reflected on what he truly wanted to do. He shared a story from law school where his professor had to leave for surgery and asked him to teach the class.
“I was a student in the class and then everyone looked at me like, ‘What do we do?’ and the professor turned to me and said to run the class for the next three weeks,” Professor Creel said. “I looked back at this and realized that I enjoyed it.”
His newfound discovery landed him with four additional degrees, those being an LL.M in International and Comparative Law, an M.A. in International Relations, an M.A. in Political Science and a Ph.D in Political Science.
Then, he was hired by GCSU, where he now teaches Business Ethics, The Legal Environment of Business and Mass Media Law and Ethics.
After initially reviewing the textbooks for his Business Ethics course, he decided to build the class up himself. He pulled content from multiple subjects and combined it into a singular course with the intention of having his students answer one question: “How do you in a professional setting meet the expectations of society?”
His combination of economics, political science, sociology and so on, into one singular course is what he deems necessary for his students to get the most out of Business Ethics.
Though, the time spent in his other courses has not gone unnoticed. Professor Creel was not originally a professor of Mass Media Law and Ethics or any of his past GC2Y courses. GCSU was in need of a professor to teach these courses and he picked them up without a second thought.
“I never turn down an overload. As soon as A&S [GCSU’s Arts and Sciences school] came in, I said I would teach this Media Law course. I was happy to do it. I’ve taught the GC2Y courses when those needed overloads. I’ve never said no to that stuff when it came up and I think that tells me where my priorities have always been,” said Professor Creel.
Professor Creel has dedicated countless hours to his students and has created an environment for them to make the most out of their education at GCSU. Next semester, he plans to pour his time into a singular section of Business Ethics, his self-crafted class that prepares students to be successful in society.