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11/12/2019
By Ed Brennen

Ten years ago, Diane Hewitt was too busy helping 28 plastics engineering majors craft their r茅sum茅s, practice their interview skills and find matches with local companies to really consider what the university鈥檚 new Professional Cooperative Education program would look like a decade later.

Standing in the middle of the Tsongas Center鈥檚 Talon Club on Homecoming Weekend, surrounded by close to 100 alumni who returned to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the co-op program, Hewitt got a good look at what she鈥檇 helped build.

鈥淚 had hoped that it would grow into something like this, but you can鈥檛 really envision that far ahead,鈥� says Hewitt, the co-op program鈥檚 founding director from 2009-14 who retired from her role as UML鈥檚 employer and career development specialist last year. 鈥淚t鈥檚 so exciting to see how much people have done and how their careers are evolving.鈥�

Since that initial cohort of plastics engineering majors in 2009, the program has grown to provide co-op work experiences at 566 companies around the country to 2,665 students from 16 majors and concentrations.

This year, 450 undergraduate students from the Francis College of Engineering, Manning School of Business and Kennedy College of Sciences are participating in the program. While the bulk of those co-ops are in engineering, there are business majors working at companies such as iRobot, TJX and Fidelity, as well as computer science majors at companies including Kronos, Putnam and Draper. In the spring, the co-op program will expand to all majors in the Kennedy College.

Besides getting their foot in the door at companies and applying what they鈥檝e learned in the classroom, co-op students are also earning money to help pay for their education. Since 2013-14, UML students have earned an estimated $36.7 million from co-op positions.

Image by Ed Brennen

鈥淚鈥檓 so proud of this program and how it鈥檚 grown,鈥� says Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Joseph Hartman, who recalled his enthusiasm when meeting with Hewitt and her eventual successor, Rae Perry, soon after becoming dean of the College of Engineering in 2013.

鈥淚 was excited about the program because I鈥檓 all about experiential learning,鈥� Hartman says. 鈥淕etting students to take what they鈥檝e learned in the classroom and apply it out in the real world makes for a better hire down the road.鈥�

And the data shows that career prospects are bright for students who take advantage of co-op experiences. According to a 2017 survey of graduates by Career Services, 95 percent of former co-op students were employed 鈥渦pon or soon after鈥� graduation. An additional 4 percent went on to graduate school.

All around the room at the 10th anniversary celebration were alumni who could vouch for the impact of the program.

Although the university didn鈥檛 have a formal co-op program when he arrived on campus in 2007, plastics engineering alum Dan Meunier 鈥�11, 鈥�12 鈥渉ad an inkling鈥� that one was in the works when former Northeastern University Provost Ahmed Abdelal became UML鈥檚 provost in 2008.

鈥淢y sister went to NU, so I knew about their co-op program,鈥� says Meunier, who was part of the first cohort at UML. He landed two summer internships at Evonik Cyro in his home state of Connecticut 鈥� the first in molding compounds in 2010 and the second in tech service in 2011.

Image by Ed Brennen

鈥淲ith the Plastics Department having such a good array of testing equipment on campus, I was well versed in testing equipment that a lot of people at the company didn鈥檛 even know,鈥� says Meunier, who now works as a senior materials engineer at Medtronic in Danvers.

In her role as innovation engineer at New Balance in Lawrence, mechanical engineering alum Marcelle Durrenberger 鈥�16 gets to interview students for co-op positions 鈥� including candidates from her alma mater.

鈥淚t鈥檚 funny being on the phone with them and saying, 鈥楬ey, I was in your shoes once upon a time,鈥欌�� says Durrenberger, a Hudson, Mass., native who had a supply chain technical co-op at GE Appliances in Louisville, Ky., and internships at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and Pratt & Whitney. 鈥淚t鈥檚 awesome to see the program thriving.鈥�

Greg Pigeon 鈥�12, 鈥�13, a plastics engineering alum from Attleboro, landed a materials engineering position at the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center (now the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center). Pigeon worked on a team developing packaging systems for military rations and received an Outstanding Co-op Achievement Award in 2012.

鈥淚t was really good to use what we were learning in a meaningful way,鈥� says Pigeon, who was recognized for develops engine sensors at Sensata Technologies in Attleboro.

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Plastics engineering alum Charlotte Ward 鈥�13 of Methuen managed to get a process engineering internship at Pfizer in Andover on her own as a freshman 鈥� before jumping at the chance to join the new Professional Co-op Program.

鈥淚t was excellent,鈥� says Ward, who worked as an engineering co-op at the manufacturing company ITW in Chicago the summer before her senior year. Thanks to that experience, Ward landed an engineering job at Signode, an ITW subsidiary in Chicago, after earning her degree. Ward is now project manager at Instrumentation Laboratory in Bedford.

Hewitt says Plastics Engineering faculty members Bob Malloy, Stephen Driscoll and Stephen Orroth were 鈥渄riving forces鈥� behind the pilot program.

鈥淲e鈥檙e so grateful that the university really embraced it,鈥� says Hewitt, who also credits Perry for bringing the program to the next level when she took the reins in 2014. 鈥淩ae has been magnificent. She鈥檚 had the harder job 鈥� to scale it up while maintaining the integrity of the program. The minute you compromise quality, it doesn鈥檛 work.鈥�

What will the co-op program look in another decade, when alumni return to celebrate its 20th anniversary?

鈥淭hey say a co-op program is still a baby for the first 10 years,鈥� Hewitt says. 鈥淪o we鈥檙e out of the baby stage. I鈥檇 say we鈥檙e in adolescence now. I look forward to seeing it continue to grow.鈥�