It’s hard to believe that we are already into early June. Summer classes have started, and the weather is beautiful. The student experience teams are making great progress in their design work, and some have already moved into the development phase of transformation.
Now that the new Vermont State University brand launch is behind us, you may be seeing different promotional ads online, on television, and even on the backs of a few buses! Excitement is growing for our new brand and the admissions and marketing teams are busy working on digital and printed materials for the upcoming recruitment season. Vermont is well known for its many outdoor events throughout the summer and Vermont State University will have a presence at many of them. The current brands of CU, NVU, and Vermont Tech are well recognized in Vermont so it will be important to help people understand how coming together as Vermont State University is good for our state and local communities. Some of the events we will be present for include the Vermont Festival of Fools in Burlington, the Do Good Fest in Montpelier, and the Killington Summer Concert Series.
As we design and develop the student experience for Vermont State University, we must consider the many populations of students we serve to ensure that we are providing a high quality and equitable experience for them across all learning modalities and campus locations. International students are and will continue to be a very important population in our communities. Just recently, we convened a team of admissions and student affairs staff to do some discovery around recruitment and support services for international students at our current locations. The team will evaluate current practices and make recommendations for the future. Just in the short time since the new Vermont State University landing page was launched, there have been several inquiries from international students. Looking at the application numbers for this fall, we could be looking at another class of record-breaking or near record-breaking enrollment of international students s and we need to be ready to welcome and support them in our communities.