Rensselaer at Work is the

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" ...

division of

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

, operating administratively from facilities in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...

, since 1955. Until 1997, it was known as the Hartford Graduate Center. The primary focus of the division is to offer graduate-level professional education to learners across the country via its digital delivery.

History

The Hartford Graduate Center was established in 1955 by Rensselaer and the United Aircraft Corp (a predecessor to

Raytheon Technologies Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitaliza ...

) to address a shortage of scientists and engineers in southern New England. United Aircraft bought and equipped the first building and provided annual financing so that its employees could earn graduate degrees at no individual cost. These programs are also made open to professionals employed at other area organizations. The Graduate Center began with 220 students and seven faculty members who relocated from Rensselaer's main campus in Troy, NY to Connecticut, along with adjunct professors from local industry. An additional campus was founded in Groton, Connecticut, to respond to the educational demands of

Electric Boat An electric boat is a powered watercraft driven by electric motors, which are powered by either on-board battery packs, solar panels or generators. While a significant majority of water vessels are powered by diesel engines, with sail power ...

, a subsidiary of

General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded, aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales, and 5th largest in the Uni ...

. By the late 1990s, with students from more than 100 corporations, attendance grew to nearly 2,000 students. In December 1996, trustees of both Rensselaer and the Hartford Graduate Center voted to transfer Hartford's assets and have it more directly controlled by RPI. Under the new arrangement, Hartford had its own board of trustees, named by the Rensselaer president. In 1997, the Hartford Graduate Center was renamed Rensselaer at Hartford, and after a new digital transformation, it has become Rensselaer at Work.

Campus

The Hartford center has a landscaped campus readily accessible from both Interstates 84 and 91. The center of the campus contains the main building, the "Tower Building" which contains about 30 classrooms, each seating 10–50 persons. Adjacent to the Tower Building is "Seminar Hall", with additional classrooms and a small auditorium, which can be rented for conferences and special events. Since moving to an entirely digital format of instruction for working professionals, the Institute has closed the Groton facility, and operates administratively from the Hartford campus.

Academics

Rensselaer at Work offers professional master's degree programs in Mechanical Engineering, Systems Engineering and Technology Management, and Engineering Science. Credit-bearing graduate certificates in Managing Technical Organizations, Leading Change and Innovation, Business Intelligence, Production Analytics, Machine Learning & AI, Supply Chain and Logistics, Systems Engineering, and Lean Quality in Production can be taken on their own, or applied towards the completion of a master's degree program. Curricula for these programs were developed through feedback from industry, centered around a project-based approach, with students receiving individualized mentorship through their work with RPI Faculty Practitioners – faculty bearing industry experience and expertise. Customized, and cohort programs are also offered in the areas of Leadership and Executive Development.

Notable alumni

* Erroll M. Brown, USCG rear admiral, 13th District Commander (Ret.) * Thomas J. Haas, American academic *

Jon Hall (programmer) Jon "maddog" Hall (born 7 August 1950) is the board chair for the Linux Professional Institute. Career The nickname "maddog" was given to him by his students at Hartford State Technical College, where he was the Department Head of Computer S ...

, board chair,

Linux Professional Institute The Linux Professional Institute (LPI) is a Canadian non-profit organisation and oriented towards certifications for Linux, BSD and open-source software-based technologies. It was founded in October 1999. Linux Professional Institute Certific ...

Richard Mastracchio Richard Alan "Rick" Mastracchio (born February 11, 1960) is an American engineer and former NASA astronaut. He has flown on three NASA Space Shuttle missions as a mission specialist in addition to serving as a Flight Engineer on the Soyuz TMA-1 ...

, engineer and NASA astronaut * Steven H. Ratti, USCG rear admiral, Joint Interagency Task Force West Commander (Ret.) * Jack Swigert, engineer, politician, Apollo 13 Astronaut * John S. Thackrah, Assistant Secretary of the Navy (former) *

Dennis Tito Dennis Anthony Tito (born August 8, 1940) is an American engineer and entrepreneur. In mid-2001, he became the first space tourist to fund his own trip into space, when he spent nearly eight days in orbit as a crew member of ISS EP-1, a visitin ...

, engineer, entrepreneur, world's first space tourist

References

External links