Haunani Smith

Haunani Taylor, our eLearning Specialist for the past 12 years, is an excellent living, breathing example of what we can expect CSN students to achieve while they are here. Starting her life anew as a single mother and going through custody battles, she attended her first class on a Wednesday at CSN 18 years ago, just after having given birth to her last child the Monday before.

Understanding that she needed to provide for her little family while she attended school, she took on work study as the Assistant Site Manager at CSN in Logandale. There she managed the office with cashiering, enrollment, student support, customer service, tutor scheduling, and proctor test scheduling. She earned her Associate of Elementary Education, taking as many online courses at CSN as she could, and went on to finish her Bachelors of Elementary Education from Nevada State College while still working for CSN. She was offered two teaching jobs, and at the same time was offered the job of the eLearning Specialist here at CSN in 2004. By then she had become a huge proponent for student support and success for higher education, especially for CSN online and is one of our best advocates for the students. She understands the need to have a robust online education program and has become an influencer for the good. She helped her own daughter to take advantage of the CSN high school college track and she just graduated with her Associates Degree at 18 years of age.

With the Administrative Faculty Assembly she served as secretary, and a representative from Academic Affairs. She is currently serving as a Faculty Senator.

Haunani has had approximately 30 years of experience in teaching formally and informally. She has served in Girl Scouts, helping youth in her community. She is also an advocate for humanitarian efforts: has donated her time with Shade Tree, United Blood Service, and homeless shelters, and serves regularly with Three Square, Salvation Army food drives, and sponsoring refugee families. When she isn’t working she loves to spend time with her loved ones camping and taking road trips to interesting places where she can see the country, interact with other cultures, and spend time with the locals.