Salem, Ore. – The Oregon Senate confirmed two new trustees for the governing board of the Oregon Institute of Technology (Oregon Tech): Tim Hasty, a current student at Oregon Tech’s Klamath Falls campus; and Michele Vitali, Oregon Tech’s administrative lead at the Oregon Manufacturing Innovation Center Research & Development (OMIC) in Scappoose.
There are 11 at-large positions on the Board, three positions filled by faculty, staff and student members, and an ex-officio position held by Oregon Tech’s President, for a total of 15 members. Trustee Hasty is filling the student position, which was left vacant by Dana Londen, a bachelor’s degree student who graduated in June. Trustee Vitali is filling the staff position left vacant by the term expiration of Grace Rusth.
Trustee Hasty studies Mechanical Engineering at Oregon Tech's Klamath Falls campus and is on course to graduate in June 2022. Since joining the U.S. Army in 2007, Hasty graduated from Western Oregon University with a degree in Political Science and completed a tour in Afghanistan in 2012. Leaving the Army in 2014, he worked as an outreach program manager for Central Oregon Veterans Outreach, and later for the State of Oregon as regional outreach coordinator, working on the Oregon Health Plan. After leaving the State of Oregon, Tim and his wife took 18 months off and drove to the bottom of South America in their camper van to travel and think about what type of career would challenge him. “What I realized is that I love being challenged mechanically and wanted to transition into a STEM field as I knew this was the future of the world,” shared Hasty. “So, using the GI Bill®, we moved to Klamath Falls and I enrolled at Oregon Institute of Technology.” Hasty is also a student worker at Oregon Tech in the Outdoor Program, serving as director.
Prior to joining Oregon Tech’s OMIC R&D facility as part of the original start-up team, Trustee Vitali served at the university’s Portland‐Metro campus as executive assistant to the vice president beginning in May 2017. She has served as a public employee of the state since 2002, most of that time staffing STEM programs and public/private partnerships while at the former Chancellor’s Office. In her prior career, she was a registered representative for a $6 billion stable value investment management firm. She has also focused much of her personal time on community service through her children, from coaching a Lego robotics team to serving as vice president on the Parent Support Organization board. Vitali’s current position at OMIC is operations & policy advisor. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Florida Atlantic University.
Trustee Hasty and Trustee Vitali were both confirmed by the Oregon Senate on Sept. 25. During her confirmation, Trustee Vitali shared, “I am a passionate supporter of Oregon’s higher education system and if appointed would especially look forward to being part of the renewed focus on equity, inclusion, and access in our state's higher education system.”
Both terms begin immediately and last through the academic year, ending on June 30, 2021.
For more information on Oregon Tech Board members, go to www.oit.edu/trustees.
