News about Alumni

Despite a year of continuing challenges, donors to Pennsylvania College of Technology were honored Monday evening for unwavering support that ignited a record-setting year for institutional fundraising.

The combined contributions of steadfast alumni, corporate partners, friends, retirees and colleagues – a milestone $8.3 million during fiscal 2021 – were recognized during an annual ceremony alongside the Penn College Donor Wall, which pays permanent tribute to those whose contributions of gifts, pledges, donations and entrustments of equipment and technology, and estate commitments significantly empower students.

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The Society of Plastics Engineers Foundation has honored three Pennsylvania College of Technology students and one recent graduate with scholarships.

Morgan T. Bartholomew, of Etters, and Andrew B. Folk, of Bernville, each received $1,500 general scholarships, and Trent D. Longenberger, of Bloomsburg, was awarded the $3,000 Blow Molding Carrie Fox Solin Scholarship. The three students are seeking bachelor’s degrees in plastics and polymer engineering technology.

Olivia C. Ferki, of Richboro, earned that degree in May and is pursuing a master’s in plastics engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. She received $3,000 in scholarships for her graduate studies.

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The first of September’s 13 Employer Recruitment Days organized by Career Services was held on the campus mall Tuesday, featuring phenomenal weather and 10 businesses drawn by varied majors within the School of Engineering Technologies. A similar event scheduled for Thursday will also focus on automated manufacturing and machining, plastics and polymer engineering technology, and welding and metal fabrication; 11 more will complete the month’s calendar. (Watch PCToday for more dates in the series – some at the Schneebeli Earth Science Center and Lumley Aviation Center, and several indoors involving a smaller number of employers.)

Pennsylvania College of Technology baking and pastry arts faculty member Chef Charles R. Niedermyer II recently presented an education session for Retail Confectioners International’s 2021 Annual Convention & Industry Expo.

RCI bills the sessions as “thought-provoking education led by experts in their fields and crafted to meet the unique needs of the retail confectioner.”

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The final destination was always clear for Christian Peters, but the journey to get there was paved in Williamsport.

Peters is the team administrator for Real Monarchs of the United Soccer League, the minor league for Major League Soccer, and he credits his experience as a student-athlete and the hands-on learning he practiced at Pennsylvania College of Technology as the reasons he was able to secure his dream job of working in professional soccer.

“If I didn’t play college soccer, I wouldn’t have been as prepared to handle the hectic schedule that we have in pro soccer,” said Peters, who graduated from Penn College in December 2020. “And having the hands-on assignments in classes really prepared me for the logistical part of my internship, which led to this job.”

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Natalie J. Rhoades is thankful that Pennsylvania College of Technology allowed her to branch out and become what she was meant to be. Her employer is also grateful.

The 2020 graduate from Weedville designed the SensorScan DHT-400 ultrasonic transducer, recently brought to market by Sensor Networks Inc. for the oil and gas and power generation industries. Rhoades is an applications engineer for State College-based SNI, which specializes in ultrasonic and remote visual technologies for monitoring and testing of vital components. Ultrasonic transducers are one of its chief products.

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Campuswide ingenuity and the generosity of a longtime supporter have produced the Fish Real Estate Leadership Challenge Course at Penn College. Architecture and concrete science students; General Services personnel; and Rob Cooley, associate professor of anthropology/environmental science, played vital roles in developing and building the course. Brent and Daria Fish funded the project in honor of Brent’s father, William H. Fish, a respected businessman, community leader and friend of the college. A wide variety of student and industry groups will use the course to enhance problem-solving, leadership, teamwork and communication skills. “The purpose of a challenge course is to create structured, physical outdoor activities that draw people together,” Cooley explains in a video on the college’s YouTube channel. “It’s not me up at the whiteboard or me at the computer telling them what to do. It’s me presenting a challenge and stepping back. The collective effort is what solves the problem and creates the learning experience.”

When told that he would be moving from Vietnam to the United States, Long H. Nguyen embraced the adventure as a second chance at life. More than 13 years later, it’s obvious the Pennsylvania College of Technology graduate has taken full advantage of that precious opportunity.

Nguyen recently earned his second Penn College degree and received a promotion at his employer of five years – the Andritz Group, an international technology company. The honors graduate is a design engineer at Andritz’s global foundry and manufacturing facility for Durametal refiner plates in Muncy.

“Why try to follow the path that everyone else follows? You’ve got to make your path,” Nguyen said.

His path was 8,700 miles away in the United States.

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Members of the Penn College family are invited to participate in a survey about the ongoing national search for the successor to President Davie Jane Gilmour, who announced her retirement plans in May. The brief survey will solicit confidential input from students, faculty/staff, alumni, parents, administrators, board members and the community to aid the search committee’s mission.

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Pennsylvania College of Technology has named Wendie L. Snyder, an alumna with 25 years’ experience in a variety of roles in the health care profession, director of College Health Services.

Snyder, who began her duties Aug. 11, comes to Penn College from Geisinger Health System, where she had been an operations manager for outpatient surgery clinics including dental medicine; oral maxillofacial surgery; vascular surgery; and plastic, reconstructive and cosmetic surgery. She also has served as clinic nurse supervisor for the plastic surgery outpatient clinic at Geisinger and registered nurse manager for the general surgery outpatient clinic at Evangelical Community Hospital, Lewisburg.

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A new institutional Land Acknowledgement Statement recognizes that Indigenous peoples were the original stewards of the land on which Pennsylvania College of Technology sits.

“We acknowledge that the land on which we live, work and learn is the ancestral home of the Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee, Iroquoian-speaking Susquehannocks and the Lenni Lenape (Delaware). We, too, recognize their Woodland Period ancestors,” the acknowledgement reads. “We are grateful for their stewardship and management of this land over thousands of years and promote this recognition in honor and respect of that caretaking.”

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The Fish Real Estate Leadership Challenge Course, the creation of which involved the same collaborative spirit that it will nurture in those who use it, was dedicated Aug. 11 on the wooded southcentral side of Pennsylvania College of Technology.

The Challenge Course – a remarkable project funded by Brent and Daria Fish in memory of Brent’s father, William H. Fish – “will foster leadership and team-building skills for generations of students, faculty, alumni and industry partners,” said Loni N. Kline, vice president for college relations. Brent is president of Fish Real Estate, and Daria is head of corporate communications for OxiWear.

An interdisciplinary focus was reflected throughout the development and construction process, which involved the college’s General Services Department, architectural technology and concrete science classes, a helping of off-campus inspiration, and a picnic table donated by the Sigma Pi philanthropic fraternity.

The intricate design includes a bridge that honors the Fish family’s appreciation for the outdoors: stainless steel railings resembling fly-fishing rods, with hooks dangling from lines that drop to a dry creek bed below.

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Pennsylvania College of Technology held its Summer Commencement at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Community Arts Center in downtown Williamsport, a ceremony that marked the sacrifices – and ultimate triumph – by classmates whose final year was anything but typical. Larcynina De Guzman Bitner, of Mill Hall, who earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physician assistant, was the student speaker. President Davie Jane Gilmour conferred degrees and presented an Alumni Mentorship Award to 2016 human services graduate LaQuinn N. Thompson; and a number of award recipients were announced among the newest alumni.

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LaQuinn N. Thompson, a 2016 alumnus of Pennsylvania College of Technology, was honored with an Alumni Achievement Award at the college’s Summer 2021 Commencement ceremony at the Community Arts Center.

The Alumni Achievement Award is presented to a graduate of the past 10 years in recognition of noteworthy career accomplishments that demonstrate the importance of a Penn College education. Thompson, who was born and raised in York, earned a bachelor’s degree in applied human services from Penn College.

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Pennsylvania College of Technology has presented student achievement awards to its Summer 2021 graduates.

A commencement ceremony was held Saturday, Aug. 7, at the Community Arts Center, Williamsport. Penn College is a special mission affiliate of The Pennsylvania State University.

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