What we hold, and why

This page covers the MS-MedTech program's own website and the internal tool used to run the program. It is written to describe what the software actually does rather than to reserve rights we don't use.

Visiting this website

The public pages set no analytics or advertising cookies and do not track you between visits. Our hosting provider records standard server logs, including IP address and browser type, for security and reliability.

We count page views, on this website and inside the program's tool, using Vercel Web Analytics. It sets no cookies and identifies no one: it records which page was viewed, the site that linked to it, the country, and the kind of device and browser. Before a page address is sent, we remove everything after the ? (except a campaign tag such as utm_source=bmes, which says which link or poster brought you here) and replace any id or access link in it with a placeholder, so no record or personal link is ever part of what is counted. Once somebody signs in to the program's tool on a browser, that browser's visits to these public pages are no longer counted at all, so the figures describe visitors rather than staff and students.

We also count a few actions on these pages as weekly totals: following an application-portal link, opening an FAQ answer, following a contact address, opening a video, and following a link to the open house. Each adds one to a count for that week. With each, we record only whether the approximate location your connection reports is in North Carolina, elsewhere in the US, or outside the US — not the state, the city or the address. Nothing that identifies you is stored with any count.

Inside the program's tool we count how often each feature is used — setting up a calendar link, updating a credentialing item, editing a course plan, asking a question — and which part of the tool is opened (the calendar, the directory, and so on), as weekly totals broken down only by role and cohort year (for example, “students in the class of 2027”). Who did it is not recorded, so these counts cannot show any one person's use of the tool.

Pages that embed video from YouTube, Vimeo or Mux load that player from the provider, which will see your request. We use YouTube's no-cookie player where video is embedded.

If you register for an open house

We keep your name, email address, and, if you give them, where you study and when you graduate, along with which sessions you registered for and whether you came. Registering adds you to the program's list of prospective students, so we know who we have met if you apply later. We email you a confirmation and one reminder the day before the session. Every email has a link to cancel your registration and a link to unsubscribe; unsubscribing stops open house reminders and any other program outreach to that address, and registering again yourself lifts it for that event. To be removed from the list entirely, reply to any of them.

If you are on that list, or have otherwise been in touch with the program about applying, we may email you an invitation to upcoming open houses — never more than one every two weeks, and never if you are already registered or have unsubscribed. Each has an unsubscribe link.

If you are a student, applicant or alum

The program keeps records to run the degree: your name and contact details, the university you are enrolled at and your student number there, your courses and progress toward the thirty credits, credentialing status for clinical placements, internship and team assignments, and — after you graduate — what you told us about where you went to work.

Applicants: we keep your application, the reviewers' notes, interview status and the decision. Records of people who were not admitted are kept so the program can understand its own admissions patterns over time.

Some of this is an education record under FERPA and is handled under the policies of UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State. Where those policies and this page differ, the universities' policies apply.

Credentialing

Clinical placements require immunization records, a drug screen and a background check. The program records only whether each item is complete, the date, and who verified it. The underlying medical and background documents are not stored in this system.

If you are a partner, guest lecturer or judge

We keep your name, organization, role and contact details, along with a record of how you have worked with the program — a lecture given, a showcase judged, an intern hosted — and notes from our conversations.

Who can see it

Access is by role. Program staff and faculty can see the roster; students and alumni can see their own record and nobody else's. The database enforces this rather than relying on the interface hiding things.

Survey answers are a deliberate exception in the other direction: when both people in a mentoring pair are asked how it is going, neither can read the other's replies.

Who else is involved

• Supabase — the database and sign-in, hosted in the United States.
• Vercel — website and application hosting, and the anonymous page-view counts described above.
• Resend — sending email on the program's behalf.
• Google — sign-in, if you use a Google account to log in. We receive your name, email address and profile picture, and nothing else.

We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for advertising.

How long

Student and alumni records are kept indefinitely: a graduate program is expected to know its own graduates, and alumni outcomes are reported years later. Application records are kept to inform future admissions cycles. Ask us if you would like your record removed and we will tell you what we can and cannot delete, and why.

Your record

You can ask what we hold about you, ask for a correction, or ask us to remove something. Alumni are periodically sent a link to update their own record directly. For anything else, contact the program office.

Changes

When this page changes, the date at the top changes with it.