I talked with Mark Somerville, founding president of the Greenway Institute, a new engineering college in Vermont opening in 2027. He was part of the team that started Olin College of Engineering, and he has helped launch new universities and programs from Vietnam to Brazil.
Greenway’s promise is simple: an engineering degree, a job, and no debt.
The model rests on one observation. When Mark asks graduates about the most important learning experience of their degree, they almost never mention a class. They talk about internships, co-ops and real work. So Greenway puts work at the center. Students spend two years on campus doing project-based learning, then two years in paid engineering jobs, coached by faculty several times a week.
One thing he said has stayed with me since. AI can be the ultimate tool for avoiding learning, or a turbocharger for it. It all depends on the learner. That’s why Mark sees the teacher’s role shifting toward sparking curiosity and motivation, rather than controlling what gets learned.
We also talked about why Greenway will have no dining hall or private gym, why that might actually be better for students, and why “depersonalized tutoring” worries him more than it excites him.
If any of this resonates, please watch our full conversation on YouTube or read the write-up on the blog.
Till the next time ✨
All my best,
Egle
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