Forum to Address Using e-Commerce in Trying Economic Times

"Using the Web to Surf Through Difficult Times" will be the topic of a Nov. 1 forum being offered by the "Women in Technology" student organization at Pennsylvania College of Technology.

In the program, which will take place from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in Penn's Inn at the Bush Campus Center, four speakers will discuss the ways that e-commerce can be utilized in trying economic times. The event is free and open to the public.

Three of the presenters are from the Penn College faculty; the fourth is president of a Web-design firm.

Edward Joella is president and chief executive officer of MarginPoint, a Williamsport company that handles Web-site design, development, marketing and traffic-building, as well as e-commerce, flash animation and Intranet/Extranet functions. The firm serves businesses statewide.

The Penn College faculty members who will speak are Dr. Gerald D. "Chip" Baumgardner, associate professor of business administration; Anthony L. Nieli, assistant professor of computer science; and Dr. Dennis R. Williams, associate professor of business administration.

Baumgardner offered the first Internet-based and e-commerce courses at the College and has written two books and various papers for national conferences on Internet-based education. For his doctoral program, he conducted a comprehensive analysis on how business schools within a 100-mile radius of Washington, D.C., utilize the Internet.

For the past two years, Nieli has taught computer technology full time at Penn College. He developed the Business Programming II and Business Transaction Systems courses and helped develop the new Management Information Systems curriculum. Previously, he spent 23 years with IBM, most recently as a Senior Systems Engineer specializing in CICS, the most widely used business-transaction system in the world. He also performs consulting work during the summer months.

Williams has written the two-year degree in Business Management, developed the current international courses used in the Business Administration bachelor-degree major and collaborated with the other five members of the Management Information Systems committee to develop the MIS curriculum. He has served as a corporate board director for the 275,000-member Phi Beta Lambda, a nationwide business-leadership organization. He also owns and operates a food-concession business, a consulting firm for business-plan development and a real-estate development company.

The Women in Technology organization at Penn College provides support and education for women enrolled in male-dominated technology career fields.