A new creation of a system-wide task force was announced today by the Vermont State Colleges System Interim Chancellor Sophie Zdatny. VSCS Forward is a new group comprised of 15 diverse and highly skilled individuals who will serve as representatives of VSCS faculty, staff, student, and trustees.
This task force will be charged with developing the plans that will advise the Chancellor’s Office and Board of Trustees. This task force will specifically organize these two entities to ensure that programs for Vermont students are accessible and financially viable. The goal will be to build a sustainable future by thinking critically about the next steps of ensuring rural Vermont quality education is provided and delivered.
“This is no small lift and we know change is very hard. We also know that we have to change to be relevant and successful for decades to come,” said Zdatny. She says this is an opportunity to be inclusive and form a thoughtful process to consider as the transformation of the economy of the future unfolds. “VSCS will be critical,” Zdatny remarked, “in our work to move beyond the challenges of the past and toward a future where our system is thriving, our faculty and staff are supported in new and exciting ways, and our students receive the high quality education they deserve.”
The main goal will ultimately be to move forward. Alex Huff, NVU-Lyndon Broadcast & Journalism student as well as Editor-in-Chief of The Critic, is one of the 15 members serving on the new VSCS Forward Task Force. It is Huff’s hope that this new committee will ensure the academic, social, and financial success of the Vermont State Colleges System. Huff adds, “whether this be through a proposed plan or series of plans, I hope that the VSCS community has faith that they were represented, heard, and taken into serious consideration.”
The new VSC Forward Task Force members are:
- Dylan Giambatista (Legislative Trustee)
- Yasmine Ziesler (Chief Academic Officer – Chancellor’s Office)
- Heather Weinstein (Dean of Strategic Initiatives and Student Affairs – CCV)
- Tiffany Keune (Associate Dean of Workforce Education – CCV)
- Lit Tyler (Dean of Administration – VTC)
- Sarah Billings-Berg (Associate Dean of Nursing – VTC)
- Kim Hannon-Brobst (Coordinator of Remote Access Services – VTC)
- Rich Clark (Professor, Political Science Program Coordinator – Castleton)
- Maurice Ouimet (Dean of Enrollment – Castleton)
- Bethany Sprague (Office Manager for Center for Schools – Castleton)
- Nolan Atkins (Provost – NVU)
- Elaine Harvey (Director of Student Engagement and Persistence – NVU)
- Alex Huff (Student and Editor-in-Chief of The Critic – NVU)
- Greg Petrics (Associate Professor of Mathematics – NVU)
- Interim Chancellor (non-voting member)
The VSCS Forward Task Force will begin first by providing a preliminary report of ideas and potential recommendations to the Interim Chancellor. These proposed considerations and presentations will be delivered to the Board of Trustees no later than August 14th of this year, which the Board of Trustees will then direct the Task Force with further measurements.
Note from The Critic staff: Due to the personal involvement of The Critic’s Editor-in-Chief in this story, EIC Alexandra Huff had no hand in editing the above article.