Nick Fox

Faculty

Nick Fox took his first step into the world of higher education as a student at Bay College. Years after he graduated, he returned to the college as a mechatronics instructor.

Nick graduated from Kingsford High School in 2003 and went on to sign up for classes at Bay College. He then graduated from Bay in 2005 with an Associate Degree in Automation Technology—and the knowledge he would rely on for the rest of his career.

“My time at Bay was some of the most useful education I’ve received in my life. It gave me the ability to not just learn the material, but to understand how equipment functioned,” he said.

After getting his degree at Bay, Nick headed to Northern Michigan University to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering with an Electromechanical concentration and a Minor in Business. He earned that degree in 2008.

“2008 was when we went through the housing crisis, and it was difficult to find work right out of college. But I found a company in Gwinn called Argonics that was willing to hire me, so I started at the bottom there and worked my way up through various departments,” he said.

Nick was employed at Argonics for 13 years. During his time there, he worked in the company’s logistics, management, and engineering departments; by the time he left, he was employed as an electrical engineer.

Though he never planned on becoming an engineer, he said this position proved to be a natural fit for him.

“I’ve always been interested in technology and engineering. My father went to school for computer engineering in the early ‘70s, and he worked for [early computer company] Tandy Corporation,” Nick said.

While Nick appreciated his time at Argonics, he was ready for a change after spending more than a decade at the company. Since he had wanted to go into teaching for quite some time, he didn’t hesitate when he found an opportunity to enter this field.

“I had run into my old instructor Mark Highum, who’s now the Dean of Business and Technology. He said that if I was interested in the mechatronics instructor position, I should apply—which I did,” he said.

Nick officially left Argonics at the end of 2021 and started teaching at Bay in January 2022. So far, he has found a great deal to like about his new career.

“It’s a lot of work, but I’ve also gotten a lot out of it. It’s really invigorating to come back to Bay and help students go through the same program I did years ago,” he said.

Of course, Bay College’s mechatronics program has undergone significant changes over the years, ranging from a new name to curriculum updates reflecting ongoing technological advances. Still, these adjustments have not fundamentally changed what this program is all about.

“We’ve added robotics and other things to the program, but it’s still very similar at its core,” said Nick.

Nick also said he enjoys showing mechatronics students how to use the technology he used in his last job.

“I’m really looking forward to continuing to introduce equipment I learned about while working in the industry into the classroom and continuing to expand the program while helping as many students as possible,” he said.

Thanks to his experiences as a Bay College student and instructor, Nick feels very strongly about the college’s role in the community.

“It’s why I drive from Marquette to teach here—Bay is that important to me.”