[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 4905-4906]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     INAUGURATION OF JOE BERTOLINO

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont is a 
special place. In a State that abounds in natural beauty, the Kingdom, 
as many Vermonters affectionately call the State's northeast corner, is 
heralded for its rural splendor. While the rural character and 
unspoiled landscape is what defines the Kingdom to many, it is also 
home to an academic institution that has educated Vermonters for more 
than 100 years.

[[Page 4906]]

  Since its founding in 1911, Lyndon State College has served as an 
economic engine for the region, educating students in a diverse range 
of academic pursuits. Lyndon has distinguished itself by developing 
academic programs that mirror the emerging economic needs of the 
community, such as its first-of-its-kind Mountain Recreation Management 
program. At the same time, Lyndon remains committed to a liberal arts 
education and educating students to be well-rounded professionals.
  On Friday, April 19, Lyndon State will inaugurate its fifteenth 
president, Joe Bertolino. Joe comes to Vermont from Hunter College in 
New York, where he served as vice president for enrollment management 
and academic affairs. Joe's passion for working with students is 
evident in his easygoing manner and in how he has engaged students 
since arriving on campus last summer. At a college of only 1,400 
students, Joe's personal touch sets the clear tone that under his 
leadership Lyndon will be a student-centered institution. Joe has 
undertaken a number of creative initiatives to build community spirit 
among Lyndon students and alumni, including an informal policy called 
``Go Green, Go Gold,'' that encourages the Lyndon State community to 
wear the school colors on Wednesdays.
  Beyond this personal approach, Joe has laid out an ambitious plan for 
the college's future. I have had the opportunity to meet Joe during a 
recent visit to Washington and am encouraged to welcome his energy and 
creative thinking to Vermont. Lyndon State College is a vital part of 
Vermont's higher education community, and I wish Joe the best as he is 
officially inaugurated as the college's next president.
  I request unanimous consent that an article from Lyndon State about 
President Bertolino be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

           [From the Lyndon State College Twin Tower Topics]

                             Loving Lyndon

                           (By Leon Thompson)

       To the director of YMCA Camp Ockanickon, Joe Bertolino--an 
     accordion-playing member of his high school debate team in 
     New Jersey--didn't seem so suited for counseling other geeks. 
     Not at first.
       ``Do you hike?'' the director asked. ``No,'' Joe said. 
     ``Swim?'' ``No.'' ``Boat?'' ``No.'' ``Arts and crafts?'' 
     ``Maybe.''
       The director wondered, ``Is there anything you do?'' ``I 
     get along with people,'' Joe said. ``That's when my life 
     began,'' Dr. Joseph Bertolino said this fall, a week after 
     delivering Lyndon State College's State of the College 
     Address, as the fifteenth president. ``To me, the meaning of 
     life is relationships, and leadership is all about 
     relationships.''
       Joe, 49, officially succeeded Interim President Steve Gold 
     on July 1; LSC offered Joe the position in February. For 
     months, Joe traveled between Queens College, in New York 
     City, where he was vice president for enrollment management 
     and student affairs, and LSC, as part of his transition. Joe 
     began his LSC tenure with a 100-day listening tour that 
     involved the College and Northeast Kingdom communities. He 
     has represented LSC twice in the nation's capital, and during 
     his October 4 State of the College Address--preceded by a 
     short, Chaplin-esque silent film about him--he rode into 
     Academic & Student Activity Center, room 100 on his bike, 
     donning a suit, and conveyed a clear message to 200 students, 
     faculty, and staff.
       ``At Lyndon State College, students come first.'' Joe 
     called the state of the college ``excellent.'' Enrollment is 
     up, the budget is balanced--with a surplus--and LSC has five 
     new faculty and 15 new staff members and administrators this 
     year.
       ``Every student has said to me, without fail, `Joe, I love 
     it here,''' he told his audience. Joe aims to bolster 
     internal and external communications at LSC. His lengthy to-
     do list contains a new public relations campaign, with a 
     focus on social media, and he wants to erase the off-campus 
     community's perception of LSC as ``Harvard on the hill'' by 
     continuing to build strong partnerships in the Northeast 
     Kingdom.
       He said LSC is a key stakeholder in Jay Peak Resort's plans 
     to invest $500 million in the region over the next decade--a 
     plan that could mean more internships for LSC students and 
     jobs for graduates.
       ``Lyndon State College is the college of the Northeast 
     Kingdom,'' Joe said. Joe has also started an electronic 
     suggestion box--``Joe Wants to Know''--where anyone can post 
     anonymous concerns and comments. During his one-hour speech, 
     Joe posed challenges to alums: $1 million for an all-weather 
     athletic field, and $1 million for a new version of the old 
     Vail towers. ``The response from our alumni has been great,'' 
     he said.
       Joe also asked faculty and staff to increase their in-house 
     contributions, and he imposed a lighthearted, non-mandatory 
     policy called ``Go Green, Go Gold,'' where he asks the campus 
     community to wear LSC colors each Wednesday. ``If you haven't 
     figured it out by now,'' he said, after dismounting his bike, 
     before his speech, ``I like to have fun. Life is too short, 
     and the world is complicated enough.''
       ``I believe I am where I'm supposed to be, and I believe 
     I'll be where I'm supposed to be,'' he said. ``It's been a 
     long time since I've been in a place where I felt I haven't 
     belonged.''
       Days later, while in his office--``a beautiful corner of 
     the world,'' he said--Joe called himself a motivated, goal 
     oriented Type A personality that leads by surrounding himself 
     with the talent to implement his vision. He is a foodie, a 
     Lion King fan, and textbook introvert who usually recharges 
     alone.
       ``As soon as I hit the front of a group, or a stage, I'm 
     on,'' he said. ``I am representing and selling LSC. That's 
     what I am doing. But I'm perfectly comfortable being by 
     myself in the house at the end of a long day.''
       Joe's social circle was small during 16 years of Catholic 
     School in Glendora, N.J. His Italian father, also a Joe, 
     worked for AT&T. His Irish mother, Eileen, was a nurse. He 
     played accordion competitively for 10 years (and still plays 
     a little). When Joe entered the University of Scranton, Pa., 
     in 1982, ``There was a group for everyone,'' he said. ``In 
     high school, there are popular groups. In college, there 
     aren't popular groups. There are different groups.''
       While earning his bachelor's degree in psychology/sociology 
     in Scranton, Joe spent some time in seminary school and his 
     summers at Camp Ockanickon, where he surprisingly became 
     ``the go-to guy.'' He worked there for eight years, went on 
     to become a board member and president, and will celebrate 
     his 30-year relationship with Camp Ockanickon in the summer 
     of 2013.
       ``Somehow, I became this listener, this counselor,'' he 
     said of camp. ``It just happened.'' That inherent and well-
     honed skill helped Joe build an impressive, 10-page 
     curriculum vitae filled with publications, workshops, 
     consulting, honors, awards, and practically every facet of 
     education, from teaching to administration. He earned his 
     doctorate from Columbia University's Teachers College in 
     2003.
       After eight years at Queens College, Joe left this year 
     with responsibility for 22 departments and more than 200 
     employees. He also created veterans' services and a wellness 
     center on campus. ``Joe stands out as a president who will 
     attempt to engage, in an extremely supportive way, every 
     single student we have,'' said Jonathan Davis, LSC Class of 
     '97 and dean of students. ``I've already witnessed that in 
     the form of students walking into his office to ask a 
     question or simply to chat.''
       Student recruitment and retention is also part of Joe's 
     mission at LSC. He has charged Davis with co-chairing a team 
     that would use data and strategies to increase the College's 
     retention rates. Davis was an LSC student when Peggy Williams 
     was president, in the 1990s. Williams was already one of 
     Joe's mentors when he learned about the president's vacancy 
     at LSC last December.
       Joe was considering other job offers for higher salaries at 
     larger schools, ``but I just kept coming back to Lyndon,'' he 
     said. Enamored after his first trip to campus, and he went 
     with no expectations, he called his partner, Bil, in New 
     Jersey and said, ``The good news is I think I interviewed 
     well, and I liked it. The bad news is I think I interviewed 
     well, and I liked it.''
       He elaborated further in his office more recently: 
     ``Initially, I underestimated Lyndon in so many ways. Then, 
     when I got here, it was nothing like I thought it would be. 
     The people are passionate. The College is in great shape. I 
     fell in love.'' Bil is in New Jersey for now, working at 
     Rutgers University and living in the house he and Joe shared 
     before Joe moved to Lyndonville. Joe converted the lower 
     level of the LSC president's house--``our house,'' he calls 
     it--to all-purpose meeting space. He lives upstairs.
       ``I believe I am where I'm supposed to be, and I believe 
     I'll be where I'm supposed to be,'' he said. ``It's been a 
     long time since I've been in a place where I felt I haven't 
     belonged.''

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