Penn College hosted a roundtable meeting of the state House Appropriations Committee on Thursday, providing a forum for local business leaders to informally talk about Gov. Tom Wolf's proposed budget proposal, workforce development, Marcellus Shale and other topics of mutual interest. Welcoming the group to campus, Carolyn R. Strickland, vice president for enrollment management and associate provost, shared the need for more support on the per-student appropriation from Harrisburg. She backed up that request by citing the institution's positive impact on Pennsylvania's economy, sending a consistently high rate of broadly skilled graduates into the commonwealth's employment ranks with "degrees that work" in more than 100 career fields. The legislative contingent, which included the respective chairs from both parties – William F. Adolph Jr., R-Springfield, and Rep. Joseph F. Markosek, D-Monroeville – held its afternoon session on the second floor of The Madigan Library after a public hearing at Williamsport Regional Medical Center. The visit was facilitated by Rep. Garth D. Everett, R-Muncy, a member of the college's board of directors, who was joined by Lycoming County colleague Rep. Jeff C. Wheeland, R-Williamsport. As the group adjourned with gratitude for the college's hospitality, Markosek said he was pleased to visit a facility that pays tribute to Roger A. Madigan, a former member of both the state House and Senate. Markosek, for whom a library is named in Allegheny County's Plum Borough, said he and Madigan once joked that such an honor is the true measure of a legislator's success.