Wentworth News Archive

Much changed across the world in 2020 with job opportunities and career options among the first things to impact people. To continue helping students and alumni in an uncertain climate, Wentworth Institute of Technology’s CO-OPS + CAREERS office pivoted fast. These are the ways they did it.

The Department of Facilities was among those at Wentworth Institute of Technology who went the extra mile in Fall 2020. Sanitation, de-densification and distribution were all a part of what helped Wentworth complete a full semester.

In addition to work related to COVID-19, nine Facilities upgrades/renovation projects—between summer and fall—were managed by Sharon Gaffney and the Planning and Construction team.

Janine Murphy, director of project administration, shares some of the numbers from the fall months.  

As the winter of 2019 began to fade, momentum was building across campus around a new shared vision for the future of Wentworth Institute of Technology.  President Mark A. Thompson was focused on moving the university forward with a collaborative, progressive and bold strategic plan. Admissions goals were being exceeded. The mood across the institution was optimistic.

Then the COVID-19 heath crisis materialized, as if from thin air—a rogue wave pounding the economy and interrupting life as we know it everywhere.

More than 8,000 participations took place this fall within Wentworth Institute of Technology’s Fitness and Recreation (FitRec) programs and facilities. And, according to FitRec Director Michael Williams, zero cases of COVID-19 were connected to the spaces during the Fall 2020 semester.

A semester’s worth of labs in 2020 with no COVID-19 transmissions sounds like a holiday miracle, but data indicates that’s exactly what happened this fall with lab technicians and a team of Wentworth Institute of Technology co-op students at the helm.

An early-20^th century artist who taught visual design at Wentworth Institute of Technology and later became a part of the anti-Nazi resistance is the subject of an exhibit currently on display in the Center for Engineering, Innovation and Sciences.

As more women continue to enter the fields of science, technology, engineering, management and design, they are increasingly attending schools like Wentworth Institute of Technology to help prepare them for those careers.

After years of a mostly male student body, though, Wentworth leadership and newly formed groups like the Women’s Council are working hard to make sure that the university is catching up, being more inclusive and accommodating to all genders.

A standout lacrosse player currently on co-op in Israel, Randy Ryan, Computer Science ’21, has been named the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Person of the Week.

Wentworth Professor Mark Pasnik (Architecture) has been honored as part of Out Magazine’s 26th annual Out 100 list, a collection of LGBTQ+ trailblazers, artists, leaders and creators who have used their talent and voices to influence change and visibility in the past year.

Members of the Construction Management Club at Wentworth Institute of Technology earned something we can all be thankful for this holiday season: A first place showing at the Associated Schools of Construction’s annual

Crate Herbert, a pathbreaking fundraiser for health care programs and academia, has been named vice president of Institutional Advancement at Wentworth Institute of Technology.

“Crate is a mission-driven leader with more than two decades of development experience,” said Wentworth President Mark A. Thompson. “She has distinguished herself throughout her career by establishing highly effective collaborations in large and small organizations.”

A block away from Wentworth Institute of Technology sits one of the more storied and revered art collections in the country. Wentworth student Luana Vala decided to pay tribute to it and the building’s namesake, Isabella Stewart Gardner.

Vala and her “Boston History” classmates were asked by Associate Professor Ella Howard to propose a monument to a significant figure in Boston's history. Vala chose Gardner, the famed philanthropist and art collector, for her inspiration.

Robbin Beauchamp joined Wentworth Institute of Technology as director of Cooperative Education and Career Development in September 2014.  With more than 25 years of college career services and human resources experience, she is an expert in the job-searching and career-launching arenas. The Department of Marketing and Communications spoke to her amid the economic upheaval caused by the pandemic.

From an attitude standpoint for job seekers and career builders during the pandemic, what is your advice for staying upbeat and maintaining momentum?

Veterans Day 2020 falls on November 11. Wentworth Institute of Technology has planned a virtual tribute to our servicemen and servicewomen beginning at 11:11 a.m. In anticipation of the event, the Department of Marketing and Communications spoke to Michael Siegel, Ed.D., SFC, U.S. Army (Ret.), the first director of Military-Connected Services at Wentworth. Siegel joined the university on June 15, 2020.

In Part I of our discussion on civic engagement, we spoke about reasons for getting involved and what our panel has seen from students in 2020. In this edition, we dive into what you can do beyond the presidential election, as well as why there’s reason to be hopeful about the future of democracy.

Confusing deadlines. Mail-in vs. absentee ballot debates. Last-minute Supreme Court decisions. Voting during a pandemic. If civic engagement in 2020 has felt overwhelming to you, you’re not alone.

To help sort through some of the noise, we spoke with faculty and staff about ways to get involved and stay involved, why voting is so important and how optimism ultimately wins the day.

Using innovative learning technology, increasing student engagement and focusing on well-being, Wentworth’s faculty and staff have been successfully charting a new course for students this semester as the university entered week eight of a 15-week schedule.

These educators recently shared some of their best and promising practices and strategies to lead the way in a time marked by a heightened social awareness and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wentworth Institute of Technology is one of the nation's most environmentally responsible colleges, according to The Princeton Review.

The education services company features Wentworth in The Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges: 2021 Edition.

Wentworth’s Erica Castro, head softball coach, recently took part in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Coaches Panel to talk about influences, the path she took to become a coach and advice they would have for current student-athletes.

In the summer of 2020, The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) approved Wentworth’s IPAL proposal, or Integrated Path to Architecture Licensure, giving architecture students the ability to earn their licenses in less time by incorporating experience and examination into their education.