Mary Rudd
Mary Rudd
Goodrich Corporation engineer, Norwich alum and current graduate student, Mary Rudd.
Mary Rudd manages a staff of twenty engineers at the Goodrich Corporation plant in Vergennes, Vermont, and is pursuing her MBA from Norwich at the same time. Balancing the demands of being a supervisor while working on a graduate degree requires self-discipline, a skill she honed during her undergraduate years at Norwich. A member of the Corps of Cadets, Mary received her mechanical engineering degree in 1984 and has remained a close friend of the University.
The first thing I tell people about Norwich is that it’s the oldest private military college in the nation and the birthplace of ROTC as well as civil engineering. Then I tell them how Norwich has always been a leader in embracing cultural changes, such as welcoming women into the Corps, which we did before the service academies and most military schools. This is not a school that’s stuck in its ways.
At the same time, Norwich’s underlying values don’t change. The University’s Guiding Values have remained incredibly important to me, especially in the business world today with the scandals you see – the Enrons and WorldComs and such. I just don’t understand how anyone can behave that way. Coming out of a school like Norwich, where ethical behavior is so valued, I just can’t comprehend that behavior.
A major learning experience at Norwich is balancing the needs of your academics versus the needs of Corps activities. They both require a lot of time, and that means you have to develop time management skills. It’s sorting out your priorities and deciding what you need to tackle immediately and what can wait. Obviously, those are skills you use throughout your career.
The small class size and the hands-on experience we enjoyed in the engineering labs also set Norwich apart. In many schools, the engineering labs are demonstrations, whereas at Norwich you get to do real work. And you’re dealing with professors, not teaching assistants.
The other great thing about Norwich is the relationships -- not just my classmates, but all Norwich graduates. Several times, I’ve been traveling, and I have a Norwich t-shirt or hat on, and a complete stranger will come up and say, “Hey, what year were you?” It’s like you’re part of a large family. This huge network also is great for finding job opportunities.
