HR Consultant Chosen for 2025-26 CUPA-HR Ignite Program Cohort

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (June 11, 2025) — North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University human resources consultant Anastasia L. Horton is among 12 professionals selected to participate in the 2025-26 College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) Ignite program, a 12-month leadership development experience designed for early-career higher education human resources professionals.

Participants are selected based on their HR strengths and areas for development identified on the program application as well as their interest in and commitment to the program.

Horton is a strategic, solutions-focused professional with experience across higher education, as well as the public and private sectors, who is skilled at supporting executive leadership, aligning human capital strategies with organizational goals and process improvement. She joined N.C. A&T in 2017 as an executive assistant and HR liaison in the Willie A. Deese College of Business and Economics before transitioning in 2022 to the university’s Division of Human Resources, where she serves as primary consultant for all matters associated with the recruitment and position management for all tenure- and non-tenure track faculty, part-time instructors and cooperative extension faculty.

Additionally, Horton has been an adjunct instructor in the Department of History and Political Science in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences since 2019 and has taught human resources courses at the community college level.

Horton holds a B.S. in health science from Florida International University, MPA from Nova Southeastern University and M.S. in human resources from Western Carolina University. Along with seven separate human resources certificates from the Society for Human Resource Management, she has received certification in Effective Teaching Practices by the Association of College and University Educators and Mental Health First Aid for Higher Education by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing.

CUPA-HR’s Ignite program (formerly known as Wildfire) is led by outstanding current and past CUPA-HR leaders and national office staff and made possible in part thanks to support from HigherEdJobs. Participants will have the opportunity to develop their professional skills through tailored learning experiences, including mentorship, learning events and courses, and the completion of a project showcasing the insights they gain throughout the year.

“We look forward to spending the next year with this outstanding group of early-career higher ed HR professionals. The future of higher education and higher ed HR is bright,” said CUPA-HR President and CEO Andy Brantley, Ed.D.