Foundation’s Generosity Endows Scholarship, Creates Opportunity

A significant grant from the Tamaqua-based John E. Morgan Foundation will allow students from that area to enroll in Pennsylvania College of Technology’s distinctive “degrees that work.”

The nonprofit foundation’s $500,000 contribution establishes the John E. Morgan Scholarship, which will give first preference to graduates of Tamaqua Area High School who are pursuing “a degree that is not readily available from other institutions, at a comparable price, within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”



Examples of such programs at Penn College include (but are not limited to) culinary arts and systems, web and interactive media, building science and sustainable design, health information management, industrial design, plastics and polymer engineering technology, emergency management technology, and aviation maintenance technology.

“I’m extremely grateful to the John E. Morgan Foundation for this generous grant,” said Robb Dietrich, executive director of the Penn College Foundation. “The majors at Penn College will provide unique opportunities for graduates of Tamaqua Area High School to pursue an affordable degree that will give them the skills and abilities to have meaningful and successful careers.”

If the first preference does not produce a sufficient pool of eligible students, graduates from high schools in Schuylkill, Lehigh, Luzerne, Carbon and Berks counties will be considered.

The John E. Morgan Foundation honors the philanthropic life of the industrialist, who died in 2001 at the age of 89. He invented the waffle stitch used in long underwear and blankets in the late 1950s, sold his J.E. Morgan Knitting Mills in 1984, and continued his lifetime work as a philanthropist.

Students interested in applying for any of the more than 200 scholarships administered by the Penn College Foundation may complete the online scholarship application.

For more information about making a gift to the Penn College Scholarship Campaign or establishing a scholarship fund to support the college and its students, email or call the Institutional Advancement Office toll-free at 866-GIVE-2-PC (866-448-3272).

For more about Penn College, a national leader in applied technology education and workforce development, email the Admissions Office or call toll-free 800-367-9222.