Alumna McKenzie Cassens continues her Northern Arizona University journey with a new job as a marketing instructor for The W. A. Franke School of Business.
McKenzie Cassens brings an irrepressible joie de vivre to everything she does—and she does a lot. Right now, she works as a client services manager in the University Marketing department, plays on four sports teams, serves on multiple committees, and is an avid traveler. She also teaches classes and last year served as president of the NAU Staff Advisory Council. But a big change is coming: when the new semester begins, she will be a faculty member in The W. A. Franke College of Business.
“It is quite a pivot; it is choosing a different path altogether,” she says. “I am very much looking forward to it.”
Her affinity for teaching led her to apply for the opening in Franke.
“I have been teaching adjunct since 2019, and I love it; that is always my favorite day of the week,” she says. “So I’ve always [had] in the back of my head that it’d be cool if I could figure out a way to make this happen more regularly.”
Her depth of marketing experience, teaching experience, and master’s degree in global development were a perfect fit for the job.
A new job and a new name
The job isn’t the only big change she’s making right now. If you don’t recognize the name, perhaps you’ve known her as McKenzie McLoughlin. As part of embracing this season of metamorphosis, she legally changed her last name to Cassens to match her husband and fellow NAU alum, Conner, whom she married in 2022.
Amidst all the change, NAU has long been a constant in her life. Growing up in Tucson, Cassens came from a loving and diverse family, raised by her two moms. This early exposure to different perspectives shaped her worldview and fueled her passion for inclusivity and education. As a legacy student following in her mother’s footsteps, Cassens chose NAU for its perfect blend of familiarity and novelty, offering a welcoming environment far enough from home yet rich with opportunities.
“NAU ended up being the perfect place for me,” she says.
Graduating in 2017 with majors in Strategic Communication and Spanish, she leveraged her student employment experience to build a robust professional network, which played a pivotal role in her career development. Her work in the admissions office evolved into significant roles, including student manager and transfer admissions recruiter. These roles honed her skills in communication, management, and social media.
In the admissions office, she began to deploy her Spanish language skills, taking and making enrollment calls to Spanish speakers. Realizing there was a need for more recruitment and support materials in Spanish, she began to advocate for and work toward their development. When NAU’s Flagstaff campus was recognized as a Hispanic-Serving Institution, she spearheaded University Marketing’s work to build NAU en Español, a Spanish-language website for NAU.
She’s proud to be part of NAU’s efforts to expand access to higher education.
“I really appreciate where our university is focused right now on being the most accessible university in the state,” she says. “Hispanic people make up a little over 50 percent of Arizona; that means a lot of bilingual households. We’re making sure that the ever-confusing college process can be understood so that the student who’s enrolling doesn’t need to be both a translator and a customer.”
In recognition of her service to the university, she was awarded a President’s Achievement Award in 2023.
Leading up to the fall semester, she’s focused on building a teaching plan to integrate rigorous scholarship with community building.
“I have the ability to influence the 25 students who sit with me in each class to engage. That is a lot of responsibility, and I don’t want to squander it. I want to be sure that students come out knowing how to do an audience analysis, which is important, but also how to connect with people.”
Making connections and building community
And connecting with people is what Cassens does best, both on campus and around the world. Several years ago, the 29-year-old set herself the goal of visiting 30 countries by the time she turned 30. As usual, she knocked that goal out of the park, logging her 30th (El Salvador) and 31st (Albania) countries this year.
She has no plans to slow her rate of travel…or slow anything, for that matter. In fact, another idiom, “perpetual motion,” comes to mind when talking with Cassens.
As she plans for the coming semester (she’ll be teaching Marketing and Communications Strategy and Professional Selling); dons her cleats for women’s soccer, co-ed soccer, volleyball, and softball; waits for the delivery of her new passport; looks forward to the ski season; plans an international birthday trip with her moms; schedules committee meetings; and cleans her gear after a hiking trip to Havasupai; she professes a desire to “try to take it easy this year.” A few minutes later, after discussing her changing schedule, she admits with a laugh, “I’m already looking for my summer jobs.”
As she steps into her new role at NAU, she brings a wealth of experience, a passion for education, and a genuine commitment to making a difference. Aiming to bridge gaps, foster connections, and inspire the next generation of marketing professionals with her unique blend of expertise and enthusiasm, Cassens is not just a teacher. She is a mentor, a connector, and a beacon of positivity and progress at NAU.
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