Second state House Education Committee chair tours college

Published 08.22.2024

Photos by Rob Hinkal, social media specialist

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    State Rep. Jesse Topper (at right) is led through the welding lab at Pennsylvania College of Technology by Bradley M. Webb (front left), dean of Engineering Technologies, and President Michael J. Reed (behind Webb at left), during a comprehensive college tour. Topper serves as the Republican chairman of the Pennsylvania House Education Committee.

    For the second time this week, a chairman of the Pennsylvania House Education Committee visited Pennsylvania College of Technology to learn more about the impressive developments occurring at the institution’s main campus, Lumley Aviation Center and Schneebeli Earth Science Center. 

    State Rep. Jesse Topper (R-Bedford), who serves as the committee’s Republican chair, received a tour of several instructional areas, including advanced manufacturing & machining technologies, automotive restoration & collision repair, aviation maintenance & aviation technology, dental hygiene, diesel & power generation, polymer engineering technology, and welding & metal fabrication technologies. He saw the Center for Career Design and the Dr. Welch Workshop: A Makerspace at Penn College. He also enjoyed the opportunity to visit the Little League Baseball World Series complex, where he learned about the meals being prepared for the 20 competing teams by the college's Le Jeune Chef Restaurant staff and student employees.

    Topper was guided on his Penn College visit by President Michael J. Reed; Loni N. Kline, senior vice president for college relations; Patrick Marty, chief government and international relations officer; and Anthony J. Pace, associate vice president for enrollment and academic operations. He was also greeted upon arrival by Joanna K. Flynn, vice president for academic affairs and provost, and state Rep. Jamie Flick (R-South Williamsport), a college alumnus.

    In the academic labs, Bradley M. Webb, dean of Engineering Technologies, and Master Teacher Mark E. Sones, instructor of diesel equipment technology, provided additional details, and Kat A. Valentine, manager of makerspace operations, offered insights into the collaborative workshop.

    Earlier in the week, state Rep. Peter G. Schweyer (D-Allentown), majority chair of the House Education Committee, toured the college.

    In the automotive restoration lab, Webb and Topper discuss the attention being given to a Rolls Royce. Behind them is a stretched Chevrolet station wagon owned by the Milton Hershey School.
    Topper learns about the Bihler 4 Slide-NC, a high-tech metal stamping and forming center, in the Gene Haas Center for Innovative Manufacturing, as Marty (at left), Pace (center) and Kline look on.
    In the Center for Career Design, Kline details the myriad ways students are supported in their career development and how the center also engages industry partners and alumni.
    Reed and Topper find ample opportunities to share ideas on education and workforce needs.
    The tour makes its way through the college's expansive dental hygiene lab.
    Topper stops by the Baja Room to hear about the impressive Baja SAE Williamsport endurance race hosted by the college in May. At left is Penn College Baja team member Casey B. Campbell, of Kennerdell, a senior in engineering design technology.
    As students work in the Larry A. Ward Machining Technologies Center, the special guest learns about the array of equipment igniting exploration and innovation.
    Webb describes the capabilities of the industry-grade equipment in the Shell Polymers Rotational Molding Center of Excellence.
    At the college's Lumley Aviation Center at the Williamsport Regional Airport, Webb explains how students tear apart reciprocating engines and repaint them, choosing whatever colors they want.
    In the Aviation Center's hangar, Topper gains a sense of the students' assignments, as they are tasked with making repairs to the college's fleet of aircraft.

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