Board OKs trail easement, state budget parameters; elects officers

Pennsylvania College of Technology’s Board of Directors on Thursday approved an agreement for a trail easement for the Susquehanna River Walk extension, authorized parameters for the college’s 2025-26 state budget request and elected officers for 2024-25.

Patrick Marty, chief government and international relations officer, told the board that the trail easement is required for the next phase of the long-awaited Susquehanna River Walk extension, which will proceed from the current Maynard Street terminus along the southern edge of campus to Rose Street and Susquehanna State Park, ending at the Reach Road park-and-ride lot. The easement is an eligibility requirement of Lycoming County government to be able to secure state Department of Conservation & Natural Resources grant support for the River Walk extension.

Marty described the project as “a fantastic amenity for the college community and for the community at large.”

The state budget parameters approved by the board include a request for an operating appropriation of $39.27 million for 2024-25, a $5.3 million increase over 2024-25. Penn College’s appropriation request is submitted annually through Penn State.

The parameters are estimates and are subject to change, noted Suzanne T. Stopper, senior vice president for finance/CFO.

The board elected its slate of officers for 2024-25. They are: state Sen. Gene Yaw, chair; Abraham Harpster, vice chair; and Virginia A. Teachey, treasurer. Penn College President Michael J. Reed will serve as secretary. Serving as assistant treasurer will be Stopper. Lisa Mendler, coordinator of president’s office operations, will serve as assistant secretary. (Secretaries and assistants need not be actual members of the Board of Directors.)

“Thank you for the confidence in us. I really appreciate it,” Board Chair Sen. Gene Yaw said.

Presentations
Loni N. Kline, senior vice president for college relations, provided the board with an overview of College Relations, which encompasses Alumni Relations, Career Services, Corporate Relations, the Community Arts Center and the Penn College Foundation.

Alumni Relations coordinates Wildcat Weekend, academic program reunions, regional alumni events and career engagement, she noted. Career Services coordinates the Penn College Career Hub, Pop-up Tables for employers targeting specific labs and programs, Recruitment Days and twice-annual Career Fairs.

Corporate Relations officers are assigned to academic divisions, coordinating scholarship and sponsorship support and equipment and software donations, while working with the college’s Corporate Tomorrow Makers. Kline said 60% to 70% of the college’s annual contributions come from companies.

Dedications were held in the past year, she noted, for the Gene Haas Center for Innovative Manufacturing, the Architecture Suite renovation and the Jean McMahon Soars Center for Additive Manufacturing. Work on an electrical technologies center industrial lab expansion is in progress.

Initially, fundraising related to the Community Arts Center was under College Relations’ direction; that was expanded to include operational functions of the CAC. The Arts Center has forged a 10-year naming-partnership agreement with Journey Bank that takes effect in July 1, 2025, Kline said.

The Penn College Foundation has seen an increase in donor restricted scholarship awards from $917,000 in 2019 to more than $2.3 million in 2024, Kline said.

Kline told the board that plans for the future include creating a centralized grant management team, which has already begun, and additional planning for student scholarship campaigns.

Information Items
Joanna K. Flynn, vice president for academic affairs/provost, provided the board with information about new Penn College faculty. She said 22 new faculty joined the college for the Fall 2024 semester: nine in the School of Business, Arts & Sciences; three in the School of Nursing & Health Sciences; and 10 in the School of Engineering Technologies.

Half of the new faculty are alumni of Penn College or, in one case, its immediate predecessor, Williamsport Area Community College. Credentials earned include associate and bachelor’s degrees in areas such as automotive, machine tool technology, electromechanical maintenance technology, information assurance and cyber security, nursing, residential construction, building automation, applied technology studies, and HVAC.

Five of the new faculty members have experience at Penn College in other roles before becoming full-time faculty members. As a group, they have nearly 200 years of prior teaching experience, with six having at least 20 years’ experience. Included among the new faculty is a finalist for the Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year and Professor of the Year at a former institution.

The new faculty bring almost 150 years of industry experience related to their positions including licensed architect, project engineer, certified journeyman electrician, manufacturing engineer and mechanical designer, Flynn said.

Stopper told the board that an audit is required for WEDnetPA (the Workforce and Economic Development Network of Pennsylvania) for the period from July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2024. Penn College is the administrator for WEDnetPA, a job-training program sponsored by the state Department of Community & Economic Development. The engagement letter with Larson, Kellett & Associates, P.C., was provided to the board for informational purposes.

The board was also provided with an update of college investments managed by Wilmington Trust and FNB Wealth Management as of June 30, 2024. The investments contain donor restricted and unrestricted funds and are managed in accordance with the board-approved investment policy.

Comments from the President
In his updates to the board, Reed said enrollment drives all operations, and the college recorded a total enrollment of 4,575 for Fall 2024 – a 6.2% increase, which he said is “unheard of” in today’s higher-education climate. He noted that there was growth in each of the academic schools – a first during his tenure with the college, which began in 2014.

The president also highlighted Penn College’s impressive performance in U.S. News & World Report’s 2025 Best Colleges rankings: No. 1 for Most Innovative Schools and Best Colleges for Veterans, as well as No. 3 for Top Public Schools in Regional Colleges-North (and No. 5 when private colleges and universities are included).

“I’m not sure most people understand how many excellent colleges there are in the North Region,” he said. “Hitting a top-20 in one category is quite an accomplishment. … Hitting four top fives, and two number ones, from a national external reviewer is truly exceptional.”

Reed also noted the national spotlight shone on the college for its hosting of the Baja SAE Williamsport earlier this year and the recent winning performance registered by students competing with the college’s diesel drag truck in the Keystone Truckin’ Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway in Berks County.

“It’s great to see our students taking things to another level,” the president said.

Reed also referenced the recent groundbreaking event for a Greater Lycoming Habitat for Humanity/Penn College home building project. By the end of the Spring 2026 semester, the “Penn College Build” will incorporate classes from at least six Penn College majors and result in a sustainable, energy-efficient home for a low-income family.

Reed said Industry is dire need of more Penn College graduates, and the college is responding by expanding capacity in architecture, electrical, construction and clean energy, among other program areas.

In his comments to the board, Yaw again thanked the members for their confidence in him and the other officers and said it’s been a good year for the college. If that performance can be repeated the next few years, he said, “We would be in really good shape.”

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Penn College Board of Directors is Dec. 12.