Board Honors Lumley for Near-Quarter Century of Service

The Pennsylvania College of Technology Board of Directors today honored a retiring director and welcomed a new member.

The Board granted "board member emerita" status to retiring director Kathryn Wentzel Lumley for her 24 years of service, including 11 years on the board of Williamsport Area Community College, a predecessor institution of Penn College.

Lumley joined the W.A.C.C. Board of Trustees in 1978, serving as its chairman in 1985-86 and vice chairman in 1984-85. She served the College during such milestone events as the dissolution of the school-district sponsorship, the transfer to city sponsorship and the creation of Pennsylvania College of Technology as a special-mission affiliate of The Pennsylvania State University in 1989.

The Board passed a resolution describing Lumley as "a strong, tireless and visible supporter of Penn College and its continued development" who has also "contributed greatly to the operations of the Board."

Lumley, who was recommended for the honor by Board Chairman Dr. Robert E. Dunham and Penn College President Dr. Davie Jane Gilmour, will also be honored with a social event later this summer.

Joining the Board today for her first meeting was Ronna S. McMurtrie. A former administrator at W.A.C.C, McMurtrie has a distinguished record of service to the College and the local community.

After arriving in Williamsport in 1975, McMurtrie worked as a reading specialist in the Williamsport Area School District. She was owner/director of Educational Specialists, an educational service facility, and later became Act 101 assistant program director at W.A.C.C. She has also served as executive director of the Williamsport-Lycoming Arts Council.

McMurtrie, who earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Bloomsburg University, also was a certified reading specialist and completed course work for a doctoral degree at Penn State.

She was a member of the Williamsport-Lycoming Arts Council board and was appointed to the Local Government Panel of the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts for two years. She served on the steering committee of the Rural Pennsylvania Arts Network and on the local Arts Committee of the Pennsylvania Arts Alliance. She has served on the boards of the Community Arts Center, Preservation Williamsport and the Children's Discovery Workshop. She also was appointed to the Advisory Board of the Lycoming County Historical Society.

McMurtrie was appointed to the Williamsport Planning Commission and has served on the boards of the Williamsport YMCA, the Susquehanna Council of the Boy Scouts of America, the Advisory Board for Easter Seals, the Lycoming County American Cancer Society and the Association for Brain Tumor Research.

She has been a consistent supporter of Penn College, serving on the College's Corporate Advisory Board, the Act 101 Advisory Board and the Penn College Foundation Board of Directors.

McMurtrie and her late husband, John, have two daughters, Cindy and Elise; and two sons, John and Bennett.