Welcome to a New School Year!
Welcome to our first-year students, welcome back to our second-year students (for many of you, your first on-campus and in residential halls), and welcome back to all others! I speak for everyone here at Vermont Tech that we are so happy to have you here.
We are excited to offer you a more normal year, with face to face instruction, regular labs, student activities and a chance to make lifelong friends!
I am optimistic that we are closing in on providing you a ‘normal’ year, but we all need to work together to get there.
First, students get your vaccine and be sure to report it to student affairs. There is more detail about that below. Be sure to read it if even if you don’t read anything else here. I’m sure you are current on the Delta variant news and know that vaccination and safe practices are paramount.
I’m confident that we will all be able to work together to keep each other safe, while still allowing the in-person learning, and college experience we all desire.
I look forward to seeing you all!
Emergency Alert Program – Be Safe
Your safety is our top priority.
Vermont Tech has partnered with Rave Mobile Safety to provide an emergency alert system so you can know, in real time, about emergencies and incidents at the college. This system can deliver messages to your vtc.edu and personal email addresses, as well as your land line and cell phone.
Your vtc.edu email address has already been added to the system. We encourage you to login to the Rave Mobile Safety site to add more contact information and choose your notification preferences for voice and/or text messages. You may also elect to add an email and/or phone number for a close family member, so they will also receive emergency notifications simultaneously. (Note that your cellular phone provider may charge a per-text message fee for the delivery of emergency notifications to your phone).
- To manage your account, please visit https://www.getrave.com/login/vtc
- Your username is your USERNAME@vsc.edu email address (example: abc01230@vsc.edu).
- Click on the ‘Forgot your password?” link, enter your email address, and follow the prompts to set a password.
If you have any concerns regarding this program, please contact IT at https://helpdesk.vsc.edu.
COVID-19 Policy Update
A significant portion of residential students still have not submitted COVID-19 vaccine information. If you are living on campus, commuting to or visiting any campus, you must comply with the college’s COVID-19 vaccination requirement. The due date for this was 8/23/21. If you have moved in and do not comply, you are at risk of being removed from housing and being charged for the full semester housing obligation, in addition to being unable to visit the campus. We do not want you to risk this situation. Please follow the instructions below which apply to all students who will be attending VTC in person, at any time.
To be in full compliance, students were required to have completed one of the following options before 8:00 am on August 23, 2021 or AS SOON AS POSSIBLE:
- Submit a copy of your completed COVID19 vaccination record. Please visit this webpage (https://www.vtc.edu/covid-19-entry-checklist/covid-vaccination/).
Or… - Submit a request for exemption (only documented medical conditions or specific religious beliefs qualify for exemptions)
OR… - Submit a copy of your vaccination record confirming the first COVID-19 vaccine was administered prior to August 23, 2021, indicate the scheduled date of the second shot (if applicable) and your agreement to complete the full vaccine protocol
OR… - Submit a signed written statement (include name and Vermont Technical College ID number) to studentaffairs@vtc.edu stating you will not come on to the physical campus for any reason during the 2021-2022 academic year because you will be taking classes exclusively online.
For more information on vaccine availability in Vermont, or in your home state, click the preceding links. Thank you to those who have already submitted your information.
Varsity Athletics are Back!!!
Varsity Athletics are finally back for 2021-22. All of our traditional sports will be playing: soccer, cross country, basketball and track & field.
We are also currently recruiting for our women’s volleyball program and expect to have a few scrimmages this fall and begin competing in formal intercollegiate contests in the fall of 2022.
All the coaches are anticipating great things from their teams.
Recruiting was better than expected for most sports, especially women’s soccer and men’s basketball. Both coaches are expecting to make the Conference Final Four in their respective seasons.
Cross country and track are also working for a repeat visit to National Championships, where the track team is trying to beat their 2nd (men) and 3rd (women) finishes from spring 2019, the last time we were able to compete in a track season.
Our student athletes and coaches are excited to participate fully, without major restrictions, in their athletic seasons.
And, on top of this, we expect to have over 10% of our student athletes make the academic All-American team as well!
The Advanced Manufacturing Center at Vermont Tech
You may have noticed construction around Morrill and wondered what is going on.
Our college is building an Advanced Manufacturing Center on campus including large-scale metal and polymer 3D printing, 5-axis CNC milling, heat-treatment, advanced metrology, and metallurgy.
The AM Center will be run by the Vermont Manufacturing Collaborative (VT-MC), with the mission to accelerate the adoption of advanced manufacturing in industry by building strong collaboration between education and companies in need of advanced manufacturing capabilities.
The AM Center will offer students hands-on experience with leading-edge technologies and be a non-biased resource to help companies understand which new technologies may be right for their businesses. The equipment will be integrated into classes over the next few semesters. If you are interested in learning more, please contact the VT-MC Executive Director, Barry Hulce.
Marketing Department Update
The director of Marketing position at Vermont Technical College is, and has been, critical to our daily operations and ongoing success. Recently Amanda Chaulk, who held that position, left the college to pursue another opportunity. We’ll miss Amanda, the great work she did, and her diverse skill set.
By the summer of 2022, the marketing function for Vermont’s three residential colleges – Castleton University, Northern Vermont University and Vermont Technical College – will be consolidated as a central service. In the interim, I have enlisted the help of a team of marketing specialists, to build on the excellent work our marketing team has done, to ensure that our marketing efforts are uninterrupted, and to continue to build strong awareness of Vermont Tech. All of these resources are proven, most have worked with the college before, and all of them are passionate about Vermont Tech, our mission, and the special place we occupy in Vermont’s educational ecosystem.
The current Vermont Tech marketing team of Carrie Clement and Jimmy Henault will be joined by Barbara Egan of Highland Consulting, Nilda Kerr of Kerr Advertising, and Ken Liatsos of People Making Good PR. Their responsibilities will be, respectively: marketing strategy and team management, marketing operations, and public relations. All three can be reached at marketing@vtc.edu.
Who’s New at Vermont Tech?
Please join me in welcoming our new employees to the Vermont Tech family!
- Meghan Sperry – Nursing Site Director, Central Vermont Region
- Patrick Connolly – Coordinator of Student Activities/Community Service/RD
- John Oakes – Lab Technician – Mechanical/Manufacturing Engineering
- Zachary Lang – Public Safety Officer, Part Time
- Charles Watson – Assistant Director of Secondary Education (VAST)
- Maura O’Riordan – Enrollment and Retention Research Coordinator, Part Time
- Kelly Boulan – is rejoining the Vermont Tech family as our Development & Alumni Relations Specialist, Part Time. She was our AmeriCorps VISTA Development and Events Coordinator a couple years ago.