Just after commencement, Rosheene Miller ‘23 will trade her graduation cap for a hard hat.
The public health major accepted a job as an environmental health & safety coordinator at EJCO in Syracuse, NY, one of two jobs she was offered after completing Hartwick’s Occupational Health and Safety program.
She saw a poster for the on-campus OSHA internship and signed up, then spent the summer checking the Johnstone eye-wash stations and fume hoods, making sure chemicals were disposed of properly, and plenty more across campus.
“I really fell in love with OSHA,” she said. “People don’t think of it as part of public health, but if someone is in a confined space and they don’t have, for example, proper ventilation or respiratory protection, they can’t do their job safely.”
Taught by Osamede Evbuomwan, Hartwick’s occupational health & safety manager and chemical hygiene officer, adjunct faculty member and a certified OSHA trainer, the program was started just four years ago.
A four-course certification program, students are guided through 50 hours of instruction related to general and construction industry safety.
“The job market projections are very strong,” he said. “You can find work in any industry – manufacturing, construction, hospitals, just to name a few.”
As part of the program, students take field trips to the Oneonta Wastewater Treatment Plant, Mold-O-Matic and the Oneonta Fire Department, as well as with Joe Mack, Executive Facilities Director.
And graduates do find work.
“My first student, Grant Harman, was a biology student, but he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do,” said Evbuomwan. “But we worked together, and he did his senior thesis on noise monitoring in the Commons.”
Like Miller, Harman ‘20 got a job offer before graduation as a Workplace Health and Safety Specialist at Amazon in Fort Lauderdale, FL.
“This program opened so many doors for me, and I would have never done this without Osa,” said Miller. “I really look up to him.”
An art major with a computer science minor, he came to Hartwick to play soccer as a left-back.
Hartwick first-year student athlete shares her experience.