Jennifer Nelson Receives Northeastern’s Innovation Across the Network Award
Jennifer Nelson, Associate Director of Academic Operations for the College of Engineering, has been named a recipient of Northeastern University’s 2026 Innovation Across the Network Award, part of the university’s Staff Excellence Awards recognizing staff whose work has significantly advanced the Northeastern community.
Nelson was recognized for her leadership in building the Global Engineering Campus, where she has helped launch more than a dozen new academic programs across the network, including undergraduate majors, graduate certificates, and master’s degrees. The initiatives required coordination across faculty, advising, registrar, regulatory affairs, marketing, enrollment, and student services teams, and involved navigating varying regulatory requirements across regional and international locations.
Nelson also developed operational infrastructure — including reporting tools and dashboards — to support data-informed decisions on enrollment, staffing, student support, and compliance. Her framework for the Summer in Seattle: Aerospace program later became the basis for Northeastern’s Experiential Mobility Initiative.
One nominator described her contributions as “visionary, actionable, and institutionally transformative.”