Alumni News Articles

Prompted by a Penn College News story posted earlier in the week, WNEP's Chris Keating virtually interviewed two alumni dealing with the aftermath of the devastating wildfires on Maui: Kristen (Fortney) Patterson, who earned degrees in business administration: management concentration (2009) and legal assistant-paralegal (2014); and Matthew S. Francis, a 1998 accounting graduate.

The deadliest wildfire in the U.S. since 1918 torched Hawaii’s Maui island last month and touched the lives of two Pennsylvania College of Technology alumni. Both continue to cope with the tragedy that destroyed their hometown of Lahaina, killed numerous neighbors and harshly transformed their ideal definition of paradise.

A corporate takeover of the friendliest kind was waged Friday at the Schneebeli Earth Science Center, where Caterpillar dealers – whose benevolent interest in Penn College's Tomorrow Makers is as noticeable as the company's yellow and black color scheme – brought equipment, recruitment and nourishment to the diesel, heavy equipment and power generation programs.

Pennsylvania College of Technology’s physician assistant program hosted an open house on Sept. 15 to showcase recently completed renovations that promise to provide a true-to-life setting for hands-on education. Throughout the Physician Assistant Center, updates provide equipment and spaces that mirror the scenarios students will encounter in the clinical rotations they complete during their final year of study. New spaces include a Family Medicine Lab, a Women’s Health Lab and an Emergency Medicine Lab.

Pennsylvania College of Technology recently presented a DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Students to Nayla M. Winder, of Williamsport, who received an associate degree in practical nursing from the college on Aug. 5.

Pennsylvania College of Technology earned multiple high rankings – including two No. 1 positions – in U.S. News & World Report’s 2024 Best Colleges rankings. In the annual compilation, which evaluates 13 key measures of academic quality, Penn College ranked No. 1 both in Most Innovative Schools – Regional Colleges North and Undergraduate Teaching – Regional Colleges North (tied with three other institutions).

Students are finishing the fifth week of classes already, and Career Services has marked each of those weeks on a calendar overflowing with networking opportunities for students and alumni. Activities from Sept. 10-14 included a daylong Human Services & Restorative Justice Expo on Tuesday and several more Recruitment Days, including an architecture-related one on Thursday.

There was no shortage of networking opportunities during the holiday-curtailed week, as Career Services kicked off its September lineup of Recruitment Days. Among programs in the spotlight were automated manufacturing & machining, welding & metal fabrication, and nursing.

Penn College culinary arts & systems and baking & pastry arts grad Dylan Therrien ’18 has found a culinary playground at Brush Creek Ranch, where he is executive sous chef in the luxury resort’s fine-dining restaurant. His work at the 30,000-acre Wyoming destination is featured in the August-September issue of Covey Rise, “a distinctive magazine devoted to the upland sporting lifestyle.” The article is titled “Passion to Plate in the Great American West.”

Pennsylvania College of Technology’s association with the Little League Challenger Division dates back to the early 2000s, when a faculty member – with two kids playing in the first two exhibition games – turned parenthood and passion into a volunteer gig. Decades later, Steven J. Moff, professor of business administration/management and marketing, is still on board.