A native of northeast Georgia, Dr. Dana Nichols is the product of an excellent community college that prepared her to pursue and complete a Ph.D. in English from Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia. Dana began her career in higher education by tutoring in a language lab and teaching English as a Second Language classes. Now she has more than sixteen years of experience in progressively advancing higher education leadership roles, and she has worked successfully in three different educational systems in two states. An avid reader and accomplished researcher, Dana has publications in library reference collections such as The Dictionary of Literary Biography, Companion to the World Novel, and numerous others. She has presented professional papers at numerous international conferences, and she periodically serves as a reviewer for SACSCOC reaffirmation teams so that she remains abreast of accreditation principles.

Currently, she lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee and serves as the Chief Academic Officer at Chattanooga State Community College, where she administers and leads all Academic Programs, libraries, distance education, Honors, professional development, and academic success and retention initiatives. A recent academic success and retention initiative took her to Wuhan and Beijing, China where she participated in a study tour that brought together higher education administrators from east and west to learn from each other and to discuss partnership and exchange programs of mutual benefit to Chinese and American students.