Becoming the Hunter
April 22, 2021
Remembering Lani Lowrie Kretschmar ’77
October 22, 2021
AIC Campus Update
Photo credit: Leon Nguyen '16
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Undergraduate Cannabis Certificate Now available Online
AIC’S MICRO EMERGING MARKETS: CANNABIS CERTIFICATE will now be offered in a fully-virtual format beginning with the fall 2021 semester. The program, open to non-matriculated students and requiring no prerequisites other than a high school diploma or GED equivalency, offers a rotation of three courses: Cannabis Entrepreneurship, Cannabis Business Operations, and Law and Ethics of Cannabis.
The certificate program’s switch to a virtual format follows the successful rollout of AIC’s master of science in cannabis science and commerce program, which has been offered online since the fall of 2020.
“American International College is excited to offer both a graduate-level program that offers courses focused on developing business acumen in a field that is experiencing a meteoric rise and a certificate program that is a business-based offering that provides courses in a developing field,” says School of Business, Arts and Sciences Dean Susanne Swanker. “AIC is positioning itself to be an educational leader in this rapidly emerging market that offers entrepreneurial and employment opportunities for the future.”
AIC Student Nurse Association Pays Tribute to Fallen Soldiers
THE AIC STUDENT NURSE ASSOCIATION (SNA) honored the thirteen soldiers killed in a terrorist attack at the airport in Kabul with a moving tribute at twilight on Wednesday, September 22, 2021. Members of the SNA shared brief personal stories about each fallen service member while a candle was lit and a rose placed next to an American flag representing each of the thirteen brave men and women who died in service to their country and the people of Afghanistan.
For SNA co-presidents Alyssa Bellefeuille, a Holyoke native, and Sarah Newsome, of Agawam, this event was personal. Bellefeuille’s boyfriend, also from Holyoke, a specialist in the Army, was less than five miles away from the Kabul airport in Afghanistan at the time of the bombing. He is currently awaiting deployment to Iraq. Newsome’s boyfriend, is a United States Marine Corps reservist, Lance Corporal Brandon Franklin.
Hennepin County Sheriff Speaks to Criminal Justice Major on Lessons From George Floyd Killing
SHERIFF DAVID HUTCHINSON OF HENNEPIN COUNTY, which includes Minneapolis, Minnesota, presented to the AIC Criminal Justice program on September 16, 2021, as a guest of Hampden Country Sheriff Nick Cocchi. Sheriff Cocchi joined AIC as an adjunct professor in Criminal Justice this fall semester. The event took place in the Schwartz Campus Center Auditorium.
Sheriff Hutchinson unseated an incumbent sheriff and took office in January 2019, following a fifteen-year career in law enforcement. In the wake of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis by police officer Derek Chauvin, Sheriff Hutchinson’s department took the lead on securing the city center in the aftermath of the riots which ensued, and helped bring the community back together.
Sheriff Cocchi, who is teaching a class at AIC this semester, brought Sheriff Hutchinson to the area following a trip to Minneapolis earlier this year as he sought to learn more about what precipitated and followed the murder of George Floyd, an unarmed forty-six-year-old black man, by Chauvin, a white police officer.
Prior to the presentation, Sheriff Cocchi said, “Sheriff Hutchinson’s presentation will bring more real-life perspective on policing to the students in the AIC Criminal Justice program. When I traveled to Minneapolis, Sheriff Hutchinson truly helped me understand the dynamics that lead to the killing of Mr. Floyd, and what has followed in the months since that horrible incident. That was a watershed moment for not just law enforcement, but for the nation, as we try to evolve and build a more equitable future for everybody, and build better relations between police and sheriff’s departments and the citizens we serve.”
The take-away message from Sheriff Hutchinson’s presentation was that community members need to trust and believe that members of law enforcement are people, just like they are, and that they want to help build solid relationships within their communities. That is done by meeting people where they are and being present for them.
AIC Campus Fully Reopens For The Fall 2021 Semester
Resident students began moving on to campus on August 27, 2021, ahead of the fall semester. Students and employees were required to give proof of vaccination before returning to campus in any capacity, and masks were required indoors regardless of vaccination status.
Dean of Students Matthew Scott told Western Mass News in August that the goal was for between 80 and 90 percent of those on campus to be fully vaccinated, including those with an approved medical or religious exemption. Those with an approved exemption must undergo regular surveillance testing and anyone symptomatic, regardless of vaccination status, must be tested.
“The development of safe, effective, and accessible COVID-19 vaccines has made it possible to begin a transition back to a more normal campus environment for all,” wrote President Vince Maniaci in a June letter to students. “Having a fully vaccinated population also lowers each person’s risk of getting the virus and creates a safer community. A fully vaccinated campus means the ability to have students back in the classroom, allow students to visit each other in the residence halls, and enables the resumption of largescale/ high-capacity programming on campus.”
The semester began on August 30, 2021, with all classes normally taught in-person returning to that mode of instructional delivery for the first time in more than year. Resident students are now allowed AIC- and non-AIC-affiliated guests in resident halls, with overnight guests requiring full vaccination. Also for the first time since the onset of the pandemic, fans are allowed to attend AIC athletic home competitions provided they follow the College’s policies on masking and social distancing.
