St. Mike’s engineering alum: 3+2 program with UVM was ‘best of both worlds’

Students who come to Saint Michael’s College to major in Engineering get both the technical skills needed for engineering-specific jobs as well as the soft skills – such as writing and communication – needed to thrive in any workplace.  

Those are the biggest benefits of the 3+2 Engineering partnership that St. Mike’s shares with the University of Vermont, according to professors in the program and alums who have completed their degrees.

Jason Charest ’07 is a Senior Transportation Planning Engineer & Project Manager at the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission in Vermont.

Through the partnership, students take three years of classes at Saint Michael’s and two years at UVM. By the end, they earn two bachelor’s degrees – a Bachelor of Arts in Engineering with a minor in Mathematics from St. Mike’s and a Bachelor of Science in a specific branch of engineering from UVM (civil, environmental, mechanical, management, electrical, or biomedical).  

Professor Barbara O’Donovan, the co-director of Saint Michael’s Engineering program, sees several benefits to the 3+2 approach. Smaller class sizes across the board – first in the foundational courses at Saint Michael’s and then in the upper-level classes at UVM – means more one-on-one time with professors, she said. Plus, Saint Michael’s liberal arts foundation required for all students helps them develop skills such as writing and oral communication, approaching collaborative work, understanding broad world views, and other soft skills.  

Jason Charest ’07, a 3+2 Engineering program alum, says his communications skills especially have served him well in his position as a Senior Transportation Planning Engineer & Project Manager at the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission in Vermont. He recently spoke at Saint Michael’s College at the annual Engineering Colloquium, describing the projects he is currently undertaking and how his St. Mike’s education helped get him to where he is today.  

Below is a Q&A with Charest, which has been lightly edited for style and clarity. 

Saint Michael’s College: Why did you choose to attend Saint Michael’s College? 

Jason Charest: I was looking to pursue an engineering degree from somewhere in New England where I would be able to snowboard in my free time. It came down to UVM and St. Mike’s, and after touring each campus, St. Mike’s was the clear winner. Its smaller size appealed to me, and everyone lived on campus. It felt like a small community, and I could see myself there.   

SMC: What was your specific major(s) and minor(s) as a student at Saint Michael’s? 

JC: BS in Civil Engineering from UVM and BA in Liberal Arts from St. Mike’s. 

SMC: What drew you to the 3+2 Engineering program? 

JC: Since UVM was a top contender, but I liked St. Mike’s smaller size and campus appeal, the 3+2 program seemed like the best of both worlds. That, and for an extra year, I’d end up with two degrees! 

Engineering program alumnus Jason Charest ’07, second from right, poses with Mathematics Professors Barbara O’Donovan, left, and George Ashline as well as Saint Michael’s College President Richard Plumb, right, following a talk by Charest in January 2025. (Photo courtesy Stephanie Snell)

SMC: What do you do now, and for how long have you been doing that job?   

JC: I’m a Senior Transportation Planning Engineer at the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission (CCRPC) and have been there for 17 years. I started in an entry-level position and worked my way up to where I am now. We help out all the municipalities within the county with whatever their transportation planning needs are. This ranges from urban to rural, so there’s a welcome amount of variety to the work. 

SMC: What other jobs in the Engineering industry have you held since graduation?  

JC: I’ve been with the CCRPC since I graduated, but prior to graduating, I interned with a local earth moving company where I spent the summer at the UVM Davis Center construction site and at a local engineering firm where I worked on revising CAD drawings. 

SMC: How do you use the skills you gained at St. Mike’s today? 

JC: A large part of my job entails presenting complex information to the general public or select boards/city councils. St. Mike’s provided me with a solid foundation of written and verbal skills that I think I would’ve missed out on had I gone to a traditional four-year engineering program. I’ve continued to build upon these skill sets on the job, and they’ve been invaluable to any successes I’ve had. 

SMC: As someone who completed the 3+2 Engineering program, what do you see as some of the benefits of the program? 

JC: In addition to the above, I think it gives you a bit of an advantage when you’re competing for jobs fresh out of college. 

Students from the 3+2 engineering program reverse-engineering discarded electronics from the Information Technology office. (Photo courtesy of engineering faculty)

SMC: What advice might you give to someone who is trying to choose between the 3+2 program at St. Mike’s and UVM versus another four-year engineering program elsewhere?  

JC: I’ve never once regretted the extra year of education and the additional degree that came with it. Was it daunting at times and hard to watch most of my classmates graduate a year “early”? Yes, absolutely. Life is a long game, though, and it’s more than paid itself off. 

SMC: You spoke on campus recently. What message are you hoping students took from your talk? 

JC: I hope to have spurred some interest in pursuing a career in transportation and that the 3+2 Engineering program is worth it. I didn’t get a chance to mention this in the talk, but I’d encourage them to seek out or form study groups with their engineering peers either at SMC or UVM. The concepts and homework assignments are challenging, and by working collaboratively as a group, you’ll grasp things much more quickly. I don’t think I would’ve made it without the help and support of my peers. 

More information about the 3+2 Engineering program at Saint Michael’s College can be found here.>>