Oakland Community College - Highland Lakes Campus — Local services in Waterford Township

Let me begin by stating that my overall experience with the nursing faculty has been overwhelmingly positive. The majority of instructors I’ve encountered have been knowledgeable, supportive, and genuinely invested in student success. Unfortunately, I cannot extend that same sentiment to Dr. Mariah Lanier.

While I recognize and respect Dr. Lanier’s accomplishments within her nursing career, it has become increasingly evident that teaching is not among her strengths. Her instructional approach lacks clarity, depth, and basic pedagogical effectiveness. She frequently mispronounces critical medical terminology, often avoiding proper pronunciation altogether by either skipping over the word or stating that she does not feel like saying it. This lack of professionalism sets a poor standard in an academic environment and undermines the seriousness of the material.

More concerning is that Dr. Lanier does not appear to engage with or even fully understand the content she is supposed to be teaching. She relies entirely on pre-made slides, which she reads verbatim with minimal, if any, elaboration or contextual explanation. This reduces the value of in-class instruction to something that could be easily replicated by reading the slides independently, which hardly justifies the time, effort, and tuition we are investing in this program.

When students ask questions for clarification, her typical response is to either re-read what is already on the slide or say she will get back to you, yet follow up rarely, if ever, occurs. This pattern gives the impression that she is not equipped with the foundational knowledge necessary to answer questions or facilitate meaningful discussion.

It may be worth considering that Dr. Lanier’s strengths lie more in clinical practice than in a traditional academic setting. Her skills and expertise might be better utilized in a hands-on, clinical teaching environment rather than in a classroom-based role.

I want to emphasize that this is not a personal attack, but a proactive attempt to uphold the standards of OCC's nursing program before more serious academic or professional consequences arise. Given that the margin for passing in nursing is extremely narrow, even small breakdowns in instruction can result in qualified, hard working students failing, not because they are incapable, but because they were not properly taught. In a field where lives are at stake, both in the classroom and in future clinical settings, we must ensure that all faculty are held to the highest standards of...

OCC has gone downhill so much in the past few years. My experience here started out okay, and as the semesters came and went, it just has always been something. No one wants to help you unless you have money. The “support” staff is anything but supportive. I will repeatedly get transferred from person to person because no one can figure things out themselves, or they literally know nothing. Payment plans are a joke and so unaccommodating. Their online classes are still just professor’s recordings from covid, they don’t upload anything new… don’t even teach! There’s so many glitches in the online system as well, it’s frustrating to deal with. They advertise they have tutoring and SI’s, but limit your tutoring and the available hours aren’t really workable for people who work 9-5pm. Their SI’s aren’t helpful, unprepared, and literally “wing” their study sessions. Whole math department needs to be rebuilt from the ground up… So many RUDE professors who clearly shouldn’t be teaching nor know how to talk to people, especially women. They have been dumping money into their campuses but clearly not into their staff. The cost just isn’t worth the experience and lack of care everyone has now. They don’t treat you like a...

My experience is only with this campus specifically. I've been trying to sign up for classes at OCC for almost 2 years now. The first year I had some personal issues which is not their fault. However since then I've been trying and every time i call the counseling department the staff is extremely rude. Once a lady asked me several times over the phone if i was a new student. I said yes and told her i had already taken the steps leading up to this and my next step was to meet with a councilor. she completely dismissed what i had said and told me to apply. I again told her I had already done so. She then proceeded to tell me that i would have to utilize walk in appointments because they were completely booked up. Which is okay but she made me feel stupid for even trying to make an appointment. its hard to convey how rude she sounded over the phone. it was super unprofessional. I've also been hung up on before by the counseling office. Other than the counseling office, placement testing and applying was easy and the facilities...