This story was originally published by the Manchester Journal on November 3, 2025.
RANDOLPH — Vermont State University (VTSU) marked another Manufacturing Month in October, acknowledging the importance of manufacturing to Vermont’s economy and the University’s unique role as a workforce development partner for businesses and industry across Vermont, according to a press release.
For decades, VTSU (and its predecessor Vermont Technical College), has been an essential partner in the manufacturing industry, providing degrees and credentials to students in preparation for high-paying, meaningful, and skilled career opportunities with Vermont’s employers. Additionally, the university’s Randolph campus is home to the Vermont Manufacturing Extension Center (VMEC) and The Manufacturing Collaborative (TMC). VTSU partners with both groups to further the manufacturing profession through apprenticeships, internships, employment, and skill development opportunities.
“Housing these partners is of incredible importance to the manufacturing field in Vermont and beyond and puts state-of-the-art training opportunities and resources at our student’s fingertips,” noted VTSU President David Bergh. “Coupled with our Associate and Bachelor’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering Technology, students concentrating in Manufacturing are able to achieve a degree and gain real-world experience simultaneously. We’re also able to offer workforce training to Vermont employers and to adults seeking skills training to advance their careers through the Center for Workforce and Professional Education. We’re very proud of the industry pipeline we’re building here in Randolph with our partners and look forward to a bright future together as we recognize them along with the faculty, staff, alumni, and students core to this program.”
Students in the Engineering program who are concentrating in Manufacturing, like Isabella DeCandio of Rutland, Gabe Hill of Greensboro Bend, and Fraser Pierpont of Salisbury, are also employees of TMC. They gain real-world industry experience manufacturing customer parts using state-of-the-art advanced manufacturing tools within the Advanced Manufacturing Center.
“The three of us specialize in very different, very specific things important to the manufacturing process,” DeCandio shared. “But working together, we can find a path and make a result happen.”
“I’ve made titanium parts that are currently in space,” Hill emphasized. “My experience working with TMC as an undergraduate has pushed my career forward by at least 2 years. There are so many companies here making really neat stuff. Coming to a program like VTSU’s is one of the best ways to get experience and get involved. Industry leaders are in this state, and they know the integrity of this program and its courseload.”
Pierpont agreed. “I get the practical application to everything we’re learning in our classes through my work at TMC. It’s given me huge opportunities and there is a culture of hard work here. I’ll have hands-on experience in the field when I graduate, and my work in metal additive is very specific, so that’s important.”
DeCandio came to VTSU’s engineering program with 18 months of experience in manufacturing. “Everyone I worked under had a degree from Randolph,” she noted. “They recommended VTSU to me and within two weeks of being here, I was using equipment myself and there’s been hands-on work in every part of the curriculum.”
That strong alumni connection runs through the program. John LaFreniere graduated from Vermont Technical College (now VTSU) in 1987 with an Associate’s degree in Electronics Engineering Technology and later earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. LaFreniere worked at GlobalFoundries for 37 years, the last seven of which were in talent acquisition for maintenance technicians and engineers.
“I went to college to play basketball and I got a great education out of it,” he says. “I went to work for GlobalFoundries as a technician and worked my way up the ranks, eventually into management and leadership roles.”
LaFreniere experienced firsthand how essential technicians were to the company, but quickly learned as a recruiter how hard it was to find people for the job. He and his team built an apprenticeship program in partnership with VTSU. With the help of Congressionally Directed Spending secured for the university by Senator Patrick Leahy, the apprenticeship program was able to grow, placing a recruiter in the nearby high schools and tech centers to build relationships and bring in more candidates.
The apprenticeship program, now recruiting for its eighth cohort, has forty-four apprentices enrolled and is both a strong recruitment tool for the company and a pathway to a good job and well-paying career for Vermonters. The program is a key part of VTSU’s manufacturing ecosystem and uses courses from the engineering curriculum that stack toward a university degree, school officials said.