Adam Johnson
I chose Norwich because of the ability to take classes at my own pace while maintaining a full-time job.
Q: “Tell us about yourself.”
A: “I enjoy traveling, boating, fishing. I have a marine engineering degree from Massachusetts Maritime Academy. Professionally, I spent eight years of deep sea shipping experience as an engineer, 15 years of nuclear operations experience as a Senior Reactor Operator at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, and 4 years of electric operations experience as substation operations and maintenance manager in Boston, MA. I pursued my degree due to a career change in 2020 because of the closing of Pilgrim Station.”
Q: “What are your future professional plans?”
A: “My future professional plans are undecided. However, there may be numerous opportunities in the power generation industry that is shifting towards renewable and variable technologies.”
Q: “Why did you choose Norwich?”
A: “I chose Norwich because of the ability to take classes at my own pace while maintaining a full-time job. I had no idea what the workload would be like after being away from school for 20+ years. In-person was not practical with a full-time job. The MBA energy management program is unique and very applicable to the changes taking place in the energy industry.”
Q: “How do you plan to use your degree in your career?”
A: “I plan to use my degree to progress with my current role and have the knowledge to be a valuable asset to my company and with other opportunities if they arise externally.”
Q: “What has been your biggest personal or professional success since starting your coursework?”
A: “My biggest success is being able to handle the coursework while maintaining a full-time job. I had no idea how I was going to make it, but I did. My degree helped me understand the future of my company as it transforms to support the needs of its customers with the electrification of the Metro Boston region.”
Q: “What aspects of your Norwich experience will you carry most strongly with you?”
A: “Believing in myself when I have multiple responsibilities to manage.”
Q: “What advice would you give future students enrolling in one of Norwich's online programs?”
A: “Make plenty of time available for research and collaboration with other students, which consumes over 50% of the course work. Ask a million questions because the courses don’t have defined parameters. You get out of the program what you put in. There really are no wrong or right answers.”
