Faculty & Staff Articles

Penn College hosted its final Dual Enrollment student visit for 2023-24 at the Schneebeli Earth Science Center, the first time the event has been held solely on that campus. Forty-four students and five chaperones traveled from Central Pennsylvania Institute of Science and Technology, Cumberland Perry Area Career and Technical Center, and Wellsboro Area High School.

Pennsylvania College of Technology’s Robert & Maureen Dunham Children’s Learning Center is among 22 recipients of gold-level recognition in Pennsylvania’s 2024 Equity in Early Childhood Education Champion Awards. Gold, silver or bronze recognition was awarded to 37 recipients based on their ability to enhance equitable practices within their program as part of providing quality services for children and families, promoting strong starts and the lifelong benefits of education for all children.

Pennsylvania College of Technology electrical students hit a collective home run this spring for Williamsport Area Little League. The 28 students enrolled in two sections of Construction Lab II-Commercial and their instructor, Darrin S. Morse, spent about five hours a week for nearly a month performing a range of electrical upgrades at the league’s baseball and softball complex in Old Lycoming Township.

A group of students and faculty who will soon take part in Global Experience courses in the Dominican Republic gathered recently in Le Jeune Chef Restaurant, where, while getting to know one another, they were treated to a Dominican menu and learned more about the Caribbean nation they soon will visit.

With Baja SAE Williamsport fast approaching, a dedicated crew from Penn College General Services has spent several hours working at the event’s location: the Heavy Construction Equipment Operations Site in Brady Township. College horticulturists have cut down potentially dangerous limbs and dead trees to protect participants and spectators at the competition, scheduled for May 16-19.

Representatives from Metzger McGuire, a leader in interior industrial concrete repair products, provided live concrete repair demonstrations to students in the Concrete Construction class. The company’s Pat Smith and Dan Kraff gave students hands-on practice using Metzger McGuire’s products to repair surface damage and damaged joints – and donated materials to the concrete science program.

The U.S. Department of Education has awarded Pennsylvania College of Technology a Title III Strengthening Institutions Program Grant to implement a redesign of its math curricula that is poised to become a national model for best practices. For the first year of the five-year project, Penn College has received $416,236. Over the course of the project period, extending through the 2027-28 academic year, the grant will award the college $2,140,307, which is 100% of the total cost of the initiative.

Pennsylvania College of Technology electronics and automation students are known for inventive senior projects. The arduous capstone requires students to develop, design, justify and build a tangible product to impress faculty and an industry advisory board. Among the commendable work for this year’s projects: a plastic modular prosthetic arm and an automated impact tester for polymer engineering.

Graduating seniors in the architecture and sustainable design major at Pennsylvania College of Technology will showcase their capstone projects at The Gallery at Penn College from May 10 to 13. A reception for “Architecture & Sustainable Design: Senior Capstone Projects” is set for 4 to 6 p.m. (with remarks at 4:30 p.m.) on Friday, May 10, in the gallery, on the third floor of The Madigan Library. The exhibit and reception are free and open to the public.

Blue skies were in the forecast for the eighth and final Employee Engagement Series session of the 2023-24 academic year, held recently at Penn College’s Lumley Aviation Center. With center staff and faculty serving as the “flight crew,” participating employees were engaged in a range of experiences for their professional development outing.