Insights from the NCDA Technology Committee with Erik Hines and Angie Thompson

This episode features a conversation with Dr. Erik Hines and Angie Thompson, co-chairs of the NCDA Technology Committee. They discuss their roles, experiences, and the committee's key focus areas, including the integration of technology and artificial intelligence (AI) in career development. Angie recounts her journey to joining the committee and emphasizes the importance of community and mentorship. Erik highlights the significance of using technology ethically and efficiently in educational and counseling settings. The conversation also delves into the committee's vision of staying ahead of technological advancements and fostering a supportive environment for members interested in tech innovations. Listeners are encouraged to get involved and utilize the resources, demonstrations, and network opportunities offered by the committee.

Erik M. Hines, Ph.D., is a Professor of Counseling in the Department of Counseling, Leadership, and Educational Sciences within the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University. Dr. Hines research agenda focuses on the postsecondary readiness and career development of Black men and boys across various contexts (P-12, community college, 4- year college/university) and critically examines how high impact programming shape their educational and career outcomes and experiences. Additionally, Dr. Hines studies the career exploration of educationally vulnerable students in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). He has secured over $12.5 million dollars in research and program funding. 

Angie Thompson has worked in higher education for over two decades and currently serves as the Assistant Director of AI Education and Student Engagement at the University of Montana. A certified federal application specialist and career coach, she teaches career courses and is nationally recognized for her expertise in AI, career readiness, and federal hiring processes. She currently serves as the Co-Chair of the NCDA Technology Committee and is actively involved in the University of Montana’s AI Future Project and AI Community of Practice, where she helps shape campus-wide AI guidelines, initiatives and ethical frameworks. Angie has recently written an article on AI and, this year, will also serve on the NCDA AI Task Force and the NACE AI Content Special Interest Group. 

Resources

• Learn about the activities of all of NCDA's Committees
• NCDA's AI Resources

Transcript

Career Practitioner Conversations Podcast

National Career Development Association

Insights from NCDA’s Technology Committee with Dr. Erik Hines and Angie Thomson.

December 9, 2025

Welcome to the podcast. I'm Melissa Venable, NC DA's, director of Professional Development, and this episode is brought to you by the NCDA Technology Committee. I'm here with Dr. Eric Hines and Angie Thompson, and they're the current committee co-chairs. Thank you both for your commitment and service to the association.

I have had the pleasure to work with each of you on different kinds of projects, and I am excited to hear about what the technology committee is doing. So I'm gonna go ahead and turn it over to you. . Thank you Melissa. , Well my name is Angie Thompson and I am the Assistant Director of AI Education and student Engagement at the University of Montana.

And I'm also a career coach, and I teach some federal courses here, and I've been with the tech committee since 2023.

Hello, hello everyone. Good afternoon. Good morning, good evening. My name is Eric Hines and I am the co-chair of the technology committee.  Since, , April, 2025. I actually joined in spring 2024.  And I am a professor at George Mason University. , I teach career development courses and my research looks at the career.

 Development and  educational outcomes of black men and boys. And I also have a school counseling background. So, with that being said  I wanna start us off with a conversation and ask Angie why did she decide to get into the tech committee?  You know, honestly, I kind of stumbled upon it. I came to NCJA's conference for the first time in 2023.

It was in Chicago. I didn't know a soul.  And so I get there and I, I actually ran into somebody from the committee. It was Kathy Beatty Freeman. She was just super kind, super welcoming.  And I was just kind of checking out groups. Uh, so she asked for my email. And she sent me a link when we came back.

So I joined it to kind of figure out what the tech committee was about and um, I thought I was trialing it, but I found out I was a member that day. So it was great because I was kind of like, oh, is this gonna be a big commitment? What am I gonna do? I ended up meeting. So many fun and interesting people.

, Connecting with Dr. Janet Wall and we decided to co-present the next year. So we worked together remotely across the nation.  And that was awesome 'cause we finally met in person  when in CDA was in San Diego in 2024. So, um. It was at that point that I went to another tech committee meeting and  Janet actually kind of volunteered me to be one of the, uh, the co-chair of the committee and  and that's kind of how that evolved.

   But before we get further into the committee, I was just wondering what sparked your interest in technology and career development in general? Well,  as I said earlier  I teach, uh, the career development courses here at  George Mason, where we, train our pre-service counselors and for me, training them on how to use technology ethically and appropriately, as well as, you know, using technology and that counseling skillset, particularly when we talk about artificial intelligence.

I know we'll talk about that a little later on.  One of the things that Al has always interested me about career development, and this was even when I was in, , community college, is really how do we help, , young people and for me, help students, , find their purpose or their call, and then that's through work, through a career, through the use of their gifts and talent.

So now that we, , use more technology, part of what I wanted to do. How do I contribute back to NCDA? And I thought being on a technology committee would be helpful. So the funny part about this is when I came to the first meeting, I was at another conference, uh, the American Educational Research Association Conference, so.

This is how bad I wanted to join the meeting. When I reached out to you all I was sitting in my hotel and logged on right before I had to go to another presentation. So, uh, that was in April, 2024. And then fast forward a year later  uh, in spring, well, April, 2025  I get this email from Angie, like, Eric, have you ever considered being a co-chair?

You, you've been to the meetings for a year? I was like. I don't think I've been here long enough, enough to help facilitate  our, our great, uh, committee. Oh, that's fine. So Angie and I, we had a great conversation. A lot of the things we're interested in, we were aligned, especially  we call her affectionately.

The, uh, AI guru in career development. And so we talked about those things and I talked about emerging technologies and kind of how I wanted to incorporate that, not only with our students, but you know, with, uh, black kids and my research. And we just hit it all from there. So  that's how I just decided to really want to be involved and get immersed into the technology committee.

And there's so many great things that are coming out. I mean, you know, technology is always changing. So every time I turn around, Angie, Eric, look, I, I look at this, look at that. So she keeps me on my toes with that. And then  the other activities we do. So speaking of ai, Angie, I know that's something we've been focusing on here in the technology committee.

Can you talk a little bit about it in the impacts on career development and how do we get in front of it rather than being afraid of it? Absolutely. And I do remember you joining from the hotel room, so that's actually,

yes. So yes. You know, AI is seriously, it's everywhere. So I think getting ahead of it, learning about it. Mm-hmm. Researching it and not being afraid of it. It's just the more we use it as a tool, the more creative we become, the more we realize. We can help it, help others. So I feel like, you know, make yourself known and essential in this field.

Mm-hmm. So that you're, that you're getting in, you're diving in, you're not shying away from it. We don't wanna view something as being maybe evil or too scary. We wanna make ourselves relevant. And aware of these tools and making the most of them. So, um, creating custom GPTs, making sure that we're  reaching niche, I don't know, majors or different populations or meeting with the experts and they can fill in all the blanks and fill these things in so that we can use these tools so that we're really tailoring them to every person that we're meeting with.

Mm-hmm. I can use these. AI resources responsibly and  we can help people be successful.  Cause they still need guided direction. Um, they, they have access to these tools, but they don't know how to use them ethically or responsibly a lot of times. Mm-hmm. Uh, so we're serving as kind of that foundation.

Mm-hmm. And we just need to know how to keep that balance of that human centered, human focused and still being able to know, you know, how to use these tools most effectively. And with that being said, I tell me  tell us rather, what do you think makes this committee unique compared to others in NCDA?

You talked a little bit about ai, but what are some of the other things that make that stand out as a technology committee? I really feel like this committee kind of feels like family. Even just like , when I first met you, it, it felt like we, we went way back. And I feel that way about a lot of the members.

Like it's just like this connection of we connect, we mentor each other, we reach across time zones, you know, we reach across the world really and we collaborate. Mm-hmm. So it's, so, it's not just awesome to hear about these different platforms and different perspectives, but we're helping each other. None of us really know how to like.

Navigate what's happening. Mm-hmm. Because it's happening so quickly. So I feel like, mm-hmm this provides a safe place and I think we really believe in each other. I think we really want people to be successful.  It goes beyond tech  you know. Um, and then with that rapid evolution of ai, I think we're also at a loss sometimes.

So this kind of helps serve as a support group  that we're able to lean on each other as we navigate this territory together. So it's a lot of different ideas, a lot of different people and creativity and innovation working together. As a group to kind of better understand this new world that we're in, this new technology, how to best utilize it, um, how to relate to it, and then how to figure out how to implement it, , effectively, ethically, and just be there for one another.

So I feel like that makes us really unique in that  we're really encouraging one another, lifting each other up, and it goes beyond the mission of just tech.  It becomes kind of like this Yeah. Support family or something. Mm-hmm. The one thing I definitely appreciate.  With our committee too, is that  we create a space where everybody can talk about what they're doing at their institution or where they work, what type of technology are you using.

And then the other piece, which I love, which I definitely appreciate you doing, you know, providing the demonstrations. Like you could walk through, Hey, you could use it like this, or this is an example of how it could be applied in your setting. And I, I think  our committee is more interactive and more engaging in that way because everybody has a voice and everybody  has something valuable to bring to the table, which I think definitely makes our technology committee unique as opposed to just having a, a meeting and just going through an agenda and saying, alright, any questions and then a journey.

It's really very interactive and you, you have to participate on some levels. Yeah. I mean, and that's, that's a great thing. It's resourceful like you're leaving walls. And so, you know, I do think it's not just a waste of time, it's not just a space filler. I think we're, honestly, we're getting in there and we're really hoping to leave with something tangible and hopefully we do time.

So  yeah, I think  it's great committee because we're there for each other. It's also a great resource because we are learning mm-hmm. Taking those things and able to kind of like streamline our workflow with it.  Yeah, I think it's awesome  and you're doing such a great job.

You're bringing in all these guest speakers, you're doing all these great things, and so, mm-hmm. You know, every time you have an idea, it just like comes through fruition. And I've just admired that so much, this whole journey.

No, we, we, we all leveled up. So, speaking of leveling up here, I know you took the lead on us, , recently publishing an article on AI in the NCDA Career Developments Magazine. Can you talk a little bit about how do you see AI shaping career services in the next couple of years? I mean, I wish I had a crystal ball.

I know that a lot of people are really afraid because they're like, oh, it's gonna take our job, or it's gonna, and again, I feel like we have to move from fear to fluency to agency, really making sure to keep ourselves relevant, understanding that we still have that intuition and we have facts, and we can utilize this better than others if we stay on top of it.

 So pressing in. Stressing the importance of, that human-centered advising, but honestly being successful. So finding areas where there's gaps and utilizing these resources to fill those areas. So  , the example in the article for me was creating custom GPTs to serve military veteran populations.

And I mean, that keeps evolving across campus. So I've been leading  you know, workshops across campus. Teaching faculty and staff, and they've been developing faculty facing  custom GPTs. It's just  exploded in ways that it's connecting people, , faculty and staff and people that are like  from the president  to,  I mean, it's just been really  on campus something that I feel like,  has been helpful so that we are able to reach a lot of different communities that we couldn't before. Mm-hmm. We're able to  connect them with the resources that are gonna best help them. And so I just think, , it's helping to streamline our workflow. It's helping to promote equity, it's helping to advocate for others.

Um mm-hmm. It's, the direction I think we have to take is using these tools and not thinking of them as weapons, maybe for evil, but thinking of like. What's a, that's what's a new way we can incorporate this into our practices and mm-hmm. Um, and then how can we reach people and, and then how can we also establish guardrails with it and, , education and develop    ethical applications.

'cause we wanna be part of the process to help shape the future of this technology and not just let it dictate our path or our profession.  Yeah. So thank you for asking that.  Speaking of technology, I feel like a lot of times tech can be pretty intimidating.  And it's rapidly evolving.

So, , if I'm somebody who's listening to this right now and I feel intimidated because it's called the NCDA Tech Committee  why would I wanna join this committee?  Well, a few things. I think number one, you spoke to her early.  It is a community space where  we're all learning about technology together , and I can use my personal experience, you know, so I've, in the past, one of the other things that interests me in technology is I was able to create a fully online school counseling program at my previous institution and.

Doing that got me interested in, okay, well if we're gonna use online platforms to train pre-service counselors, , what other technology do I need to use to continue to engage them so that they could get the quality of work, ethically and professionally as if they would  being in an in-person counseling program.

So here we talk about the same exact things. How do we, in this case, how do we make sure we use artificial intelligence? , In an ethical manner, as you said earlier, but also professionally, and then using it to help us do our jobs more effectively and efficiently. So  when I came in, artificial intelligence was very new to me.

Yes. Have I heard of it? Yes. And then even here at George Mason, our President, president Gregory Washington, he is. On the forefront of how we could use artificial intelligence, not only in our local community here in the, uh, Washington DC area, but how do we use it in industry education? How do we use it in healthcare?

 In fact  he  appointed  an inaugural vice president and chief AI officer  for our campus who is in charge of that. So. With that being said here, we're doing some of the same exact things. How do we use it in the different spaces that we hear? And, and it's okay. And that's part of the demonstrations, right?

So if you don't know how to use it or you just, you're just finding out about it, you can see an on the spot app  application, or on the spot demonstration here. And, , one of the things I do like about it too, that , we do give homework, , I, I gotta give a shout out  to Janet Wall here. She'll come out, Hey, we got these committee, we've got this committee here, the AI Task Force.

Uh, take a look at that, the information that will help you, , use AI in a way that will guide you to be, , successful in the use of it. So, uh, and 1 word, join our committee, community learning.  Get gaining experience. And then when we go to Minneapolis this year for the NCBA conference, I wanna plug that I make sure you attend.

, We will have an in-person meeting where we are still talking about the technology and then even talking about how some of the  how the conversations will going at the conference in a different presentation. So,  it's just a chance to get together and make sure that we can advance. Our, , way and use of technology to make career development better.

How do we, , make career development one of those frontiers that will continue to  think forward? We'll continue to, , move the envelope in the, in our profession so that we will still be around for years to come. Yeah, that's awesome.  Hey, what are some of the ways. That members can get involved, whether big or small.

And Angie, , you could talk about this from , an  historical perspective, honestly, getting involved. The first step is just coming to the meetings.  Because that's where you're gonna meet people. That's where you're gonna find out what your niche is, what you like, what you think you might wanna get involved in.

, We always have the opportunity to present so you, you know, yeah, you could go to Minneapolis. Be on a panel discussion so you don't have to present by yourself. You could present individually, but I also think there's smaller things you can do that have to do with connecting with others. It's so awesome to be in contact with Eric, who's all the way, right outside of DC and I'm all the way in Missoula, Montana, figuring out kind of what problems is he facing or that area facing.

Learning more about that. Learning more about  the nation, the world, people across the world, what they're dealing with.  Really allows us to be able to see, do I wanna work with that person? Maybe I wanna be mentored under that person, or maybe I want to mentor someone. So, mm-hmm. That's kind of what happened.

I felt like with me when Janet reached out, it was like all of a sudden I had this partner that was willing to work with me, that had  all this wealth of knowledge  was able to like, kind of. Share so much information. I didn't know anything about the committee, , and it was like, it was just eye-opening because for me, I feel kind of isolated.

I'm sure other people might feel isolated or maybe inundated just in their area. And, um, and it. It's great to get out and get to see people, get to meet them, get to know you're contributing. So you can give demos during our tech committees. , You could just talk about what you're using. You could, like I said, mentor someone or be mentored by someone.

You could get guest speakers to come and speak for  for the committee. You could just come to the meeting. So if you don't have a whole lot of time, but you really wanna, you know, just bounce off ideas and learn from others or give a brief testimonial, we encourage all of that. There's no like  sign this document that you're gonna, , pledge hours and hours to us.

So we appreciate any sort of involvement and um, you know, you can get involved in so many ways. So definitely come and check us out    I honestly am excited about everything that's taking place. I feel like it's, historically this has been much more exciting this year, and honestly, again, that's because of Eric, so I'm so excited.

So Eric, where do you see the tech committee going within the next year, and what's the big vision?  Well, I think for us, and we talked about it earlier  part of it was how do we have more engagement, right?  That is more of our big, how do we. CDA members wanna be involved in the technology committee, whether, whether is in a committee meeting or even on a, Hey, I just wanna send you some emails.

These are some ideas that we thinking about, oh, this is new technology that is emerging. Can you all talk about it? Or can you, can we think about policy and guidelines that will continue to guide us ethically? The other piece, and I thought about this too, is. Continue to bring in more speakers outside of NCBA who, or in other, , fields who can actually give us more insight on to what is happening with technology, say, in healthcare  in education.

Uh, we can even say construction.  We talked about, AI and automobiles the, uh, other day. And so I think that helped informs us as a technology committee. How do we best utilize this for  career development and ultimately for our members and NCDA so that they could be as informed as possible around, , technology and the career space.

   That, that's what I see in the bigger vision. Outside of, , us, we were talking about creating our own little notebooks and podcasts, making sure that, our members continue to walk away with tangibles you're, you know, the way that you're explaining and the way that you're bringing this together is this is like the tech committee could become this kind of hub, where members across the world are coming together for that. The support tutorials, experimentations, yes. Brought together those hands-on demos, those prac practical resource.

, It's a place where people are feeling safe to ask questions, to try new tech. Yes. And learn from experts. But also  it's  because it's so vast, there's people that are concerned about environmental issues, you know? Yes. Other issues like wanting to learn about the cars, wanting to learn about different industries.

And so yes, like this wide array where I just feel like  it's such a good team where we're just learning every time we walk away. Like, whoa, okay. That was awesome. So, yes. Yes.   And although we said, okay, we'll bring in experts, but we, again, we learn from each other. Yeah. I mean, there, there are things that I even walk away with.

Okay, wow, I can, I could use this in my class. I can train our pre-service clinical counselors and our school counselors that, Hey, this is something that you might wanna use in your community setting or your, or your school setting. So  it's really about a think, pair, share approach when it comes to.

Technology because at, at the end of the day  it is rapidly changing and    if we don't stay on top of it, we could get left behind in terms of the field. So Angie, question. So if somebody's on the fence about getting involved, like, uh, I don't know about this technology stuff, or are they gonna.

How would you encourage them to get involved anyway? Well, man, if you're interested in just learning from other people, if you just wanna meet new people, I would say get involved and check it out and see what it's about. We have people joining from all over the world, so it's not just like, oh, these are three people.

They've known each other their whole lives. No, like some of it, I mean, I've never met Eric in person, , and it feels like I have, but it's like  that's crazy. So these are real connections that we're making.  , it's a real supportive group. It's gonna broaden your circle, it's gonna broaden your connections and your knowledge.

You're gonna learn about what's going on across the world. And this is something, this technology is not something that's avoidable. So this is something that's infiltrating in every aspect of our life. You do not have to be a tech expert  to want to understand things, to want to learn more. Mm-hmm. So I would just encourage you to check it out and join because it might surprise you.

 You know, I think that if our listeners could, , take away just one thing about this committee. What, Eric, what would you want that to be? If you could take anything from this committee? Is that   you will walk away with a resource, you'll walk away with more knowledge  skills. You will be able to use them in your professional setting.

I also think too, just, and I, and I share the same sentiment as Angie, you'll walk away with colleagues and friends that you have a similar interests with, as Angie said earlier, and that's the beauty of technology, pun intended, right? , That we are able to talk , and expand our social networks, uh, around technology.

And we talk about things as if we live next door to each other in, in the workspace. So coming here, you said it eloquently earlier, it, yes, it is about the profession, but the profession has also created a community for us. And the community is revolving around how do we best use technology in a world that is rapidly and continually changing daily.

It's a space where curiosity matters more than expertise, so. Mm-hmm. I'm curious, come right to share. We're just excited to know you as we are, find out what you're interested in and to learn about tech together.  So appreciate it. And if you want more information, feel free to reach out to us.

I'll give you my Eric Hines, hans5@gmu.edu.  Angie will give you her email. We're always open to questions and if you want to join, I know, I know Angie has a quick finger, she'll add you to that list. The next thing you know you'll be at the meeting.

Oh, thank you so much, Eric. It's so awesome to work with you. Thank you. Be on this tech committee with you and share these experiences. So thank you for making this happen. Yes. And and to our listeners, please reach out to us. Angie, if you would, give us your email because we, we would love to hear from you.

And again, we wanna promote the technology committee, so come and join us. And it's Angie doThompson@mso.do edu. A little hard to remember, but I think on the website there should be some follow up information as well. Yes. Um, and, and I think we're both on the website too,

yes, we look forward to hearing from you. So again, reach out to us and please have a wonderful day. Appreciate you.

Thanks again. Eric Andante from NC DA's Technology Committee. You can find out more about them and their contact information in our episode show notes, and we'll also have a link there for you to find out more about all of NC DA's committees and how you can get involved. So thanks again. And we'll see you soon.

Thank you. Thank you.