Category: Education

Four public trustees have been appointed to the UVM Board of Trustees. The board also added a new student trustee. 

Three legislative trustees were elected to six year terms by the Vermont General Assembly. They include Kevin “Coach” Christie, representing Windsor district 4-2; Carole Ode, representing the Chittenden County sixth district, and Samuel Young, representing the Orleans-Caledonia district. They succeed Anne O’Brien, Donna Sweaney and Jeff Wilson.

A former coach, technical educator, director of the Hartford Technical Career Center and Vermont Technical Education Teacher of the Year, Christie serves on the House Committee on Judiciary; the Pre-Kindergarten-16 Council; the Higher Education Subcommittee; and the Advisory Council on Special Education.

Ode, a former school teacher, served on the Burlington School Board for more than ten years and was chair for seven consecutive years. She serves on the Natural Resources, Fish and Wildlife Committee in the House. She is a Phi Beta Kappa history major at UVM and has a law degree from Cornell.

Young is self-employed as a web developer and was formerly employed as a CAD (computer-aided design) designer and carpenter. He is serving his fifth term in office. He spent four years on the Commerce and Economic Development Committee and currently serves on the House Ways & Means Committee.

Carolyn Dwyer, a management consultant who has owned her own practice for 12 years, was re-appointed by Governor Phil Scott to another six-year term.

David Gringeri, a sophomore undergraduate student from West Haven, Vt., will serve a two-year term as the new student trustee. He is majoring in Business Administration and minoring in economics and computer science. He succeeds Caitlin McHugh.

The new trustees officially will attend their first regular full board meeting May 17-18.

Source: UVM News

Since the late 1990s, undocumented Mexican and Central American farm workers on Vermont’s dairy farms have been instrumental in helping bring milk, cheese, yogurt and other food products to market.

While the laborers play a vital role in feeding others, many face significant barriers in accessing food themselves, says a new book.

According to Life on the Other Border, Farmworkers and Food Justice in Vermont (University of California Press, April 2019), 18 percent of Vermont’s undocumented migrant farm workers are food insecure, defined as lacking reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food, compared to between 13 and 14 percent for Vermonters as a whole.

The book is the first to measure food insecurity in this population.

While that number is troubling, it’s likely much too low, given the unique circumstances of Vermont’s migrant farm workers, says the book’s author, Teresa M. Mares, an anthropology professor at the University of Vermont.

The standard method for determining food insecurity, which Mares used to arrive at the 18 percent figure – she administered a USDA survey to 100 migrant farm workers in the state – is income based. While Vermont’s migrant laborers often do face economic difficulties, the bigger challenge that most experience is accessing places to purchase food.

“Because of the large presence of Border Patrol agents, especially in Franklin County, migrants are often afraid to leave the farm to go to the supermarket,” Mares said.

Based on in-depth interviews she conducted with 30 migrant farm workers and 10 service providers, Mares says it’s likely that 50 percent or more of farmworker homes experience challenges accessing food, particularly at grocery stores and other food outlets.

Food insecurity has significant mental health effects, as well as physical ones, Mares said.

“Food insecurity is about getting enough food and the right kind of food, but it’s also about the emotional and mental health impacts of being isolated and constantly under stress and anxiety – being worried about food. That is a further troubling aspect of the migrant farm worker experience in Vermont.”

Trump Effect

Mares’ research was completed in the fall of the 2016, but after Donald Trump was elected President in November, she decided to conduct more interviews to see what impact the election might have had.

While a policy line could be drawn between the Obama and Trump administrations – under Obama, deportations increased significantly over previous administrations – the public discourse was vastly different.

“The public acceptability of anti-immigrant sentiment really changed – the openness about expressing hatred toward immigrants,” she said. “That led to increased fear, increased anxiety and growing uncertainty about their own families and livelihoods among migrant farm workers.”

A migrant worker from Middlebury whom she interviewed after the election, for instance, told Mares she began “facing questions about where she was from and whether she had ‘papers’ from people who proudly shared they had voted for Trump,” Mares said. “She had never before experienced that level of hatred from her own community.”

Progress in farm-worker organizing

While the book paints an unsettling picture of migrant farm workers in Vermont, it also applauds the progress that has been made in recent years by labor organizing groups like Migrant Justice.

“Despite all these problems and the vulnerability migrant farmworkers are experiencing, it’s been a really important time for farmworker organizing,” she said.

Migrant Justice’s Milk with Dignity campaign, for instance, not only institutes a code of conduct that guarantees workers are treated humanely and have fair housing, it also addresses economic justice in the supply chain by asking companies like Ben and Jerry’s to pay a premium to the farms where they source their milk.

“An important element is that they are seeking structural changes, whether it’s in policy or corporate purchasing,” Mares said. “Migrant farm workers face structural challenges that call for structural solutions.” 

Other states, same issues

While the book focuses on Vermont, its insights and conclusions are applicable to wide swath of the country’s northern border.

“You see the same experiences Vermont is having in many other states,” Mares said. “Wisconsin, New York State and Washington State have similar issues. Wherever you have large dairy operations, you have undocumented labor. If the farms are near the Canadian border, they’re experiencing many of the problems Vermont is seeing, including – and especially – around the issue of food  insecurity.”

Source: UVM News

In front of a packed audience, Tarana Burke — founder of the “me too” movement to end sexual violence and a 2017 “Time” Person of the Year — explained the origin of the simple, yet powerful, phrase: “I really want to give you a heroic story about how I bravely stood up one day and made a bold declaration, but really it came from my inability to say it,” she admitted.

Burke’s intimate remarks kicked off the University of Vermont’s 12th annual Blackboard Jungle, a two-day symposium designed to support UVM faculty, staff, and students in developing skills, knowledge and a deeper understanding of inclusivity and diversity, as the keynote address on March 21.

More than 20 years ago, on the day Burke faltered to say “me too” to a young girl who was looking for support and to share her story of sexual abuse with her, the lifelong activist decided she never wanted to disappoint a child or herself like that again. So, she made a deal with herself: “If I’m truly committed to the work that I’m saying I’m committed to, then I have to do something to shift this. I have to do something internally to shift this. And that’s when I started.”

Her path to illuminating the pervasiveness of sexual violence began by first allowing herself to heal from her own personal trauma, which she says is essential for all social justice activists who have experienced trauma. In her work, Burke fosters healing and inclusivity among organizers and staff by placing an emphasis on language and trigger sensitivity and interpersonal relationships, which affect everyone differently. Over the years, she’s been able to incorporate these standards of inclusivity into the fabric of her community.

Burke reminded the audience that college is the first community in which many young adults choose to actively engage. She then did something she does at every college campus she speaks to: reads the university’s mission statement back to its community. UVM’s mission statement is to create, evaluate, share and apply knowledge and to prepare students to be accountable leaders who will bring to their work dedication to the global community, a grasp of complexity, effective problem-solving and communication skills and an enduring commitment to learning and ethical conduct.

“To the administrators in the room, I challenge you to think about how your work to prevent sexual violence on this campus is reflective of that mission,” she said, after praising the mission statement. “And students, the solutions should be built around you…they should be built around your lived experiences on this campus.”

She concluded her keynote address by imploring the audience to be accountable for each other. Whether to change the status quo around sexual violence or any other social justice issue in a community, Burke suggested concerned community members start by revaluating policies, changing behaviors, talking to family members, speaking up for others actions—and doing these things with intentional urgency.

“This is our moment. This is our time. This is our movement, and if you are ready to do this work, ready to work together, ready to heal together, then I can only leave you with these two words: Me too,” she said to a standing ovation.

Source: UVM News

At eight years old, Sefakor Komabu-Pomeyie was diagnosed with polio after being administered an expired vaccination. Disabled by the virus and unable to walk on her own, she became part of a community of stigmatized “others” in her village in Ghana, where disabled children and individuals are marginalized. What’s worse: Komabu-Pomeyie was a girl.

However, her mother—a librarian—understood the power of education and was determined to see her daughter live a full life, and so she carried Komabu-Pomeyie to and from school every day on her back. “What she went through, it wasn’t easy. I saw it myself. Children like me were not exposed to the community. They were covered up,” says Komabu-Pomeyie.

Today, she is taking her education to new heights as she works toward a PhD in educational leadership and policy studies at the University of Vermont, and through the non-profit she founded—Enlightening and Empowering People with Disabilities in Africa—she is in the process of building an accessible and inclusive school in Ghana for students of all abilities. For her work as an education and disabilities advocate, Komabu-Pomeyie was recently honored with the prestigious International Service Award from the Association of University Centers on Disabilities at a ceremony in Washington, D.C.

“It’s a life-changing moment. It’s a huge award. It means the work I have been doing from my village has been recognized internationally. Every place that I step my feet, people recognize my work. That makes it so huge for me and it challenges me to have people looking up to me,” she says, adding her gratitude for UVM professor Maria Avila for nominating her for the award.

Komabu-Pomeyie recalls the day she became empowered to pursue her life’s work. In 2006, she suffered an accident on a staircase at her college, which was physically inaccessible for her to navigate safely. Bedridden for months, her school did nothing to assist her recovery or rectify the accessibility issues. “That was the wakeup call that this is enough.”

Since then, she has gained a media presence in Ghana speaking up about the issue and traveled the world developing and enforcing inclusive policies for women and marginalized persons with disabilities. Among a competitive pool of international changemakers, Komabu-Pomeyie was selected as a Ford International Education Fellow, which enabled her to come to Vermont in 2011 and earn a master’s degree in sustainable development, with a concentration in policy analysis and advocacy, from the School for International Training. At UVM, she teaches the Culture of Disability course offered by the Center on Disability and Community Inclusion, and serves on committees to improve the university’s inclusion and accessibility initiatives.

At the conclusion of her doctoral program, Komabu-Pomeyie plans to return to Ghana to continue her work and assist with the school. She may, perhaps, enter politics or the government one day with the goal of enacting real, meaningful change through laws. Though she acknowledges the odds back home are stacked against her, she believes her doctorate will be crucial in gaining access to a seat at the policy table.

“I’m very much aware of my status: I’m a person with disabilities and I am a woman—and being a woman alone is so huge. I’m making sure that I don’t leave any loophole behind so that nobody can question what I’m able to do.”

Source: UVM News

The University of Vermont will award honorary degrees at the May ceremony to commencement speaker Darren Walker, Suzanne Preston Blier, John Bramley, Jackson JW Clemmons, Michela Gallagher, and Marcelle Leahy.

Darren Walker presides over the Ford Foundation, one of the world’s most influential social justice philanthropies. After a promising career start in international law and capital markets, in 1995 Mr. Walker left the corporate world to volunteer at an elementary school in Harlem, a career reset that moved him into the nonprofit and philanthropy sectors. As chief operating officer of a community development organization, he advanced revitalization efforts in Harlem—building affordable housing, organizing to open the first supermarket in Harlem in 25 years, and developing the first public school in the city to be built by a community organization. In 2002, Mr. Walker joined the Rockefeller Foundation, where he managed a $25 million annual grant-making portfolio focused on anti-poverty strategies in the US. Promoted to vice president for foundation initiatives in 2006, he oversaw a wide range of Rockefeller Foundation programs in the US and overseas, including leading the Rebuild New Orleans initiative following Hurricane Katrina. In 2010 he joined the Ford Foundation as vice president for education, creativity and free expression, supervising more than 30 percent of the foundation’s grants and overseeing regional programming in Africa and the Middle East. The Ford Foundation named Mr. Walker president in 2013, the tenth in the foundation’s 77-year history. Mr. Walker’s personal journey deeply informs his commitment to philanthropy as a powerful force for social progress. An alumnus of the first Head Start class of 1965, Mr. Walker attended the University of Texas at Austin as a Pell-grant recipient. He graduated in 1982 with a bachelor of arts in government and a bachelor of science in speech communication, and in 1986 graduated from the University of Texas School of Law. His vocation in philanthropy and his many volunteer commitments underscore the depth of his civic commitment. Communities across America and around the world bear the imprints of Mr. Walker’s vision, his skillful coalition building, and his ability to lead and to listen as an active partner in advancing an equitable and hopeful future for all. He will be awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.

Suzanne Preston Blier ’73, the Allen Whitehill Clowes Professor of Fine Arts and Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, is a world-renowned investigator and interpreter of precolonial African art and material culture and a pioneer in the digital humanities. Since first encountering the early art of West Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer in Bénin, her life’s passion is looking deeply into the materials and methods as well as the societies and historical moments that shape African art. Regarded as one of the most honored historians of African art, she is also considered one of the field’s broadest thinkers. Her many celebrated books encompass issues of form and aesthetics, as well as African architecture, psychology, and philosophy; in 2018 she was honored with a Yoruba chieftaincy title in Nigeria, in recognition of her scholarship on ancient Ife art. An early adapter of using digital arts to inform and support humanities, in 1993 Professor Blier created the electronic media project Baobab: Sources and Studies in African Visual Culture, at the time one of the largest academic studies of African art. The Baobab project was the precursor to AfricaMap, a website created in 2007 to bring together the best cartographic data on the continent in an interactive GIS format. In 2011, the AfricaMap website, at Harvard’s Center for Geographic Research, expanded into WorldMap, a web platform for creating, displaying, analyzing, and searching spatial and other forms of data across multiple disciplines. Professor Blier’s visionary and pioneering work is a vibrant testimony to the cross-disciplinary inquiry and collaborative scholarship at the heart of humanities education, to which she is a rich contributor. She will be awarded a Doctor of Letters, honoris causa.

John Bramley’s prodigious efforts as an academic leader have grown the profile of the University of Vermont and built productive partnerships throughout the state. Professor Bramley graduated summa cum laude in microbiology from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1971 and completed his PhD at the University of Reading in 1975. Early in his career, as a research scientist at the U.K.’s National Institute for Research in Dairying, he became an internationally recognized authority on bovine mastitis, a serious mammary gland infection and the most common infectious disease in dairy cattle. Professor Bramley came to UVM in 1990 to chair the Department of Animal Sciences, where he and colleagues made history developing the world’s first mastitis-resistant cattle. In 2001, Professor Bramley was tapped to serve as UVM’s chief academic and chief operating officer. The university made considerable strides in academic stature and program expansion under Professor Bramley’s leadership: the Honors College, the Writing-in-the-Disciplines program, the Food Systems Initiative, and the expansion of service-learning opportunities were shaped during his tenure. In 2007, Professor Bramley left UVM to serve as president and CEO of the Windham Foundation, promoting Vermont’s rural communities. Returning to UVM as interim president in 2011, Professor Bramley challenged university leadership and faculty to advance transdisciplinary research, student success, and resource-allocation initiatives to secure a bright future for UVM. His contributions to Vermont’s flagship university have advanced UVM and created thriving partnerships across the state and beyond, and are helping to redefine the land-grant mission for the 21^st century. He will be awarded a Doctor of Science, honoris causa.

Jackson JW Clemmons is a pioneer and an innovative leader, both in his profession and his avocation. Born in Beloit, Wisconsin, he earned a bachelor of science, a master’s of science, and a doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. As the first African American student in the biochemistry department there, he paved the way for young African American scientists and premedical students to follow. He received his Doctor of Medicine in 1961 at Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and in 1962 was appointed assistant professor of pathology at the University of Vermont Medical School. Nationally recognized for his groundbreaking work in perinatal pathology and cytogenetics, Dr. Clemmons was known as a highly inventive and creative researcher, often designing and building his own research equipment at UVM. As the second African American on the UVM medical school faculty, he advocated for recruitment strategies to attract and retain more students and faculty of color. Upon his arrival in Vermont in 1962, Dr. Clemmons and his wife purchased a 148-acre farm, joining a small cadre of African American farm owners nationwide. The Clemmons Family Farm, currently in transition from a private holding to a nonprofit, features six historic buildings dating to the late 1700s and mid-1800s, all beautifully improved and hand-restored over five decades by Dr. Clemmons—whose grandfather taught him the skills of the carpentry trade—and a small team of local artisans. The nonprofit is a gathering place for all people to celebrate African American and African diaspora history, art, and culture—a fitting legacy for a family that has long put community values into action. Jackson and Lydia Clemmons served as co-presidents of the Charlotte Central School PTA, and Jackson Clemmons served as school director and as vice chair of the Champlain Valley Union High School board. Researcher, physician, educator, farmer, artisan, devoted community builder—Jackson Clemmons’ decades of pioneering work are an inspiring testimony to a life lived in service to the potentials inherent in our common humanity, and to honoring the gifts that define us. He will be awarded a Doctor of Science, honoris causa.

Michela Gallagher, University of Vermont Graduate College 1977, leads a diverse team of scientists researching the underlying brain changes that occur with memory loss. The Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation considers Professor Gallagher’s groundbreaking research, which has led to a late stage clinical trial, to be the most promising program in their portfolio of drug development. Professor Gallagher’s therapeutic approach is to treat a transitional condition from normal aging to a clinical diagnosis of early dementia, a high-risk phase referred to as “mild cognitive impairment” (MCI). The study, named HOPE4MCI—the most advanced of its kind—is designed to track progression in participants to determine whether treatment will prevent dementia. Professor Gallagher is the Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences and the Director of the Neurogenetics and Behavior Center at Johns Hopkins University. Her forty years of scientific work have made her a leader in the realm of brain studies: she specializes in understanding the neurobiology of learning, memory, and the aging brain. In 2008 she founded AgeneBio, a company that specializes in drug discovery and development, with the mission of providing novel therapeutics for unmet needs. She now serves as a scientific advisor and holds a position on the company’s board of directors. She is also widely recognized as a superior mentor training the next generation of scientists; she has mentored nearly 50 pre- and post-doctoral scientists who themselves are now influencing academia and industry. Professor Gallagher’s devotion to understanding the mechanisms of disease and healing in human neuroscience are bringing us closer to an intervention for Alzheimer’s disease, potentially affecting the well-being of millions around the world. She will be awarded a Doctor of Science, honoris causa.

Marcelle Leahy is the warm, egalitarian, behind-the-scenes support to the most senior member of the United States Senate, Vermont senator Patrick Leahy. Respected for her ability to bring people together to work toward common goals, Marcelle Leahy has served as the senator’s most trusted confidante as they have advocated for justice, economic and educational opportunity, health care access and equality, and other pressing concerns of our time. A licensed registered nurse, Mrs. Leahy has contributed her skills to medical organizations in Vermont and Virginia, serving on several boards, including the Vermont Visiting Nurse Association and the Vermont Nursing Initiatives Project. An active member of the UVM College of Nursing and Health Sciences Board of Advisors for nearly twenty years, Mrs. Leahy has been instrumental in advocating for a program of simulation activities for UVM students across the health disciplines and the Vermont National Guard, to best prepare health providers and first responders for hands-on work experiences in the field. As honorary chair of the Vermont National Guard Family Readiness and Support Program, she offers leadership and inspiration to a cadre of volunteers helping National Guard member families before, during, and following deployment. Transforming personal experience into public effort, Mrs. Leahy is also a strong supporter of cancer research and of services to children with cancer. She currently serves on the board of the Prevent Cancer Foundation and has been on the board of Tracy’s Kids—a nonprofit organization that provides art therapy to children with cancer and their siblings—since its inception in 1991. Health services advocate and educator, engaged supporter of the National Guard, and widely respected partner to Vermont’s Democratic senator—Marcelle Leahy lives the values the University of Vermont holds high for dedicated public service. She will be awarded a Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.

UVM’s main commencement ceremony will take place on the University Green on Sunday, May 19, 2019.

Source: UVM News

Peace Corps announced today that the University of Vermont ranked No. 6 among medium-size schools on the agency’s list of top volunteer-producing colleges and universities in 2019. There are 31 UVM alumni currently volunteering in countries around the world. Since the Peace Corps’ founding in 1961, more than 900 alumni from UVM have served abroad as volunteers.

UVM has ranked among the top 25 medium-size schools for over a decade. In 2018, UVM ranked No. 7. In addition, Vermont ranked No. 2 among Peace Corps’ top volunteer-producing states in 2018, while the Burlington-South Burlington metro area ranked No. 6 for the highest number of volunteers per capita.

“We have seen time and again that the colleges and universities that produce the most Peace Corps volunteers focus on cultivating global citizens in addition to promoting scholarship,” said Peace Corps Director Jody Olsen. “I am proud that so many graduates of these esteemed institutions leverage their educations to make the world a better place. They bring critical skills to communities around the world and gain hands-on, life-changing experience along the way.”

“This ranking confirms what we know about our students and alumni: they’re motivated, hard-working, and dedicated to making the world a better place,” said Tom Sullivan, UVM president. “We’re proud of their spirit, volunteerism, and accomplishments — and to, again, be among the Peace Corps’ top producing universities.” 

Molly Duff graduated from UVM in 2017 and is currently serving as an education volunteer in Benin, West Africa. “Even before starting at UVM I knew I wanted to eventually volunteer with the Peace Corps, however, I had no idea how to begin the process. The Peace Corps recruiter on campus and UVM alums helped direct me and now I find myself in a village in the wonderful country of Benin!” Duff said.

The Peace Corps ranks its top volunteer-producing colleges and universities annually according to the size of the student body. Below, find the top five schools in each category and the number of alumni currently serving as Peace Corps volunteers. View the complete 2019 rankings of the top 25 schools in each category here and find an interactive map that shows where alumni from each college and university are serving here.

Source: UVM News

When recent University of Vermont alum Alex Poniz heard there were five internship openings on the Digital Products team at Tesla, the Silicon Valley electric car maker where he worked, he knew just what to do – contact his alma mater and get as many Catamounts in the running as possible.  

Poniz, a quality assurance engineer at the company, is a major league fan of UVM, but even he was surprised at the outcome.

Resumes for the positions flowed into Tesla from around the county, including – thanks to Poniz – eight from UVM. When the dust had settled, more than half the positions – three of the five – had gone to UVM Computer Science majors.  

The UVM resumes were “all fantastic,” Poniz says. “My manager was really, really excited.”

What was it about the UVM candidates that Tesla brass found so compelling?

Poniz – who had no role in the hiring decisions – says a number of factors were at work.

First, UVM’s Computer Science curriculum had given the students a rock solid foundation. “They had the baseline of skills that we were looking for; facility in the programming languages, tools and technologies that are important to be able to hit the ground running at Tesla,” he says.

It was also a plus that the UVM candidates hadn’t confined their learning to the classroom. All had extensive prior internship experiences and had “personal projects that showed they were motivated, high achievers.”

UVM junior Luke Potasiewicz, one of the students hired, had built an electric bicycle between high school and college, for instance, which he used to commute to work and then to tool around campus.

“People thought that was pretty cool,” Poniz says.

And there was something else: the UVM applicants had a world view that meshed with the culture of Tesla – which manufactures and sells solar panels, as well as electric cars.

“UVM does a great job of attracting students who are environmentally conscious, like to be part of something greater than themselves and want to make a difference in the world,” Poniz says. “That’s fundamentally what Tesla is about.”

To be precise, the Tesla placements are co-ops, six-month work experiences that happen during the school year and pay comparably to an entry-level position. The growing co-op program in UVM’s College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, which Tesla is part of, complements the many internships UVM also offers, which are shorter and typically occur over the summer.

Secret sauce

Poniz, a mechanical engineering major at UVM who has worked at Tesla for two years, was eager to connect UVM students with Tesla because he knew the co-op would provide a rich learning experience.

“You not only get to apprentice under world-class software engineers,” says Poniz, “but you experience how an organization like Tesla works – which is revolutionary in a lot of ways – and see a little bit about what the secret sauce is.”

Getting an insider’s view of Tesla has been an eye-opener for junior Gordon McMaster, who’s writing code for the Tesla website and customer kiosks in dealerships.

“I was put on two projects that were just starting, so I’ve talked to a lot of different teams and been able to see all the different parts of what goes into getting a project off the ground,” he says. It’s both complex and impressive, he said.

Potasiewicz is writing software for the Tesla phone app, working alongside some of those world-class software engineers. They’ve taught him an unexpected lesson: that even software gurus with years of experience in Silicon Valley don’t have all the answers. “It’s interesting to see them be so good at something and then Google something else because they don’t know what it is,” an insight that’s given him the confidence to ask questions as he does his own work.  

Junior Sam Frederick, who writes post-purchase software that helps the company find just the car the customer ordered online and makes sure it’s delivered on time, expects the Tesla co-op will pay major dividends – academically as well as professionally. 

“I’ve definitely picked up some skills here that I’m excited to bring back to UVM, because they’re actual software development skills that are used in the workforce,” he says. That will be a boon for the team projects that are big part of the senior year curriculum in the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, he says.

As a resume-builder, the Tesla experience is hard to beat, says Potasiewicz.

“It’s a real foot in the door. And there’s the possibility of a job offer at the end, which is always a goal.”

Students in co-ops more often than not are offered jobs at the end of the experience, says Lauren Petrie, coordinator of the Career Readiness Program in UVM’s College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, one reason the school is expanding its commitment to co-ops. Within five years, she expects UVM to have co-op relationships like the one with Tesla with 20 to 30 employers.

For more information about the co-op program, contact Petrie here.

Source: UVM News