Board Chairman Emeritus, Wife Establish Scholarship Fund

A key figure in the development of Pennsylvania College of Technology and his wife have established a scholarship fund at the college.

Former State Rep. Alvin C. Bush and his wife, Elizabeth, have established the Alvin Bush Family Scholarship at Penn College. The fund, which the Bushes will build to an endowment of at least $25,000, will generate scholarship awards for business administration students from Lycoming County.

Recipients of awards from the Alvin Bush Family Scholarship will be selected from applicants who are graduates of a high school located in Lycoming County and enrolled full time as juniors or seniors in one of four concentrations of Penn College's business administration bachelor-degree major: banking and finance, human resource management, management, or marketing. Successful applicants must have a minimum grade-point average of 3.0 and must have participated in community service and/or student government activities as a high school and/or college student.

"We are very proud of Penn College and the practical education it provides," said Elizabeth Bush. "We hope our scholarship will help some good students finish their college degrees, thereby equipping them to make a genuine difference in the future."

Alvin Bush serves as chairman emeritus of the Penn College Board of Directors. He joined the board in 1988 when it provided leadership to the college's immediate predecessor, Williamsport Area Community College. Bush chaired the community college's negotiating committee that developed the college's affiliation with The Pennsylvania State University.

He then sponsored legislation in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to create Penn College and saw it enacted after enlisting the essential support of then-Gov. Robert P. Casey. The legislation allowed the institution to join the Penn State system in 1989 as a special mission affiliate of the university. Bush served 10 years as the first chairman of the Penn College Board of Directors.

In announcing the scholarship, Alvin Bush said: "I've watched this school develop from the original Williamsport Technical Institute, to a fine community college and, finally, to our unique Penn College, and I've been privileged to help that growth along the way. Now, we want our scholarship to help some unusual students with their own growth, perhaps encouraging them to give back to the college at a future time."

Alvin Bush completed 44 years of public service in the state Capitol, including two stretches as a member of the state House of Representatives from 1961-70 and again from 1985-94; chief of state in the state Senate; director of the Legislative Reference Bureau (the bill-drafting agency for the House and Senate in Harrisburg); and four terms on the Independent Regulatory Review Commission, an agency he helped to create that reviews nearly all regulations from state agencies, boards and commissions before they go into effect.

"Al Bush was a driving force in the creation of Pennsylvania College of Technology," said Penn College President Davie Jane Gilmour, "and I'm honored to know that he and his wife have taken this additional step to support our students."

Penn College is a special mission affiliate of Penn State, committed to applied technology education. Nearly 6,300 students are enrolled in bachelor-degree, associate-degree and certificate majors relating to more than 100 career areas.

For more information about any of Penn College's majors, visit on the Web , call toll-free 800-367-9222 or email .

For more information about making a gift to support Penn College and its students, or for more information about establishing a scholarship fund at Penn College, visit online , call the Institutional Advancement Office toll-free at 866-GIVE-2-PC, or email .