News about Business & Hospitality

Pennsylvania College of Technology recently named the winners in its annual Food Show, during which students showcased final projects for the fall semester for judges and visitors from seven secondary schools.

Taking home the Chef Eugene Mattucci Best of Show Award was a three-student team that produced a “Fiesta!” cold platter and charcuterie board display. The piece was their final project for the Advanced Garde Manger course and included a chopped fiesta quinoa salad; haymarket pate en croute with ground pork, pork belly, veal shoulder, and Mexican herbs and spices; apricot and green chile chutney; Monterey Jack cheese; and smoked duck ham.

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A business administration alumnus leading a successful career in government relations received the Distinguished Alumni Award at Pennsylvania College of Technology’s Fall 2019 commencement ceremonies, held Dec. 21 at the Community Arts Center, Williamsport.

Clinton M. Cullison, a 2004 magna cum laude graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration: marketing concentration, is a senior associate with Greenlee Partners, a Harrisburg-based lobbying and government affairs firm.

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A New Year’s tradition – Pennsylvania College of Technology’s eye-opening participation in the nation’s largest indoor agricultural attraction – is about to be renewed.

Knowledgeable students and employees will busily represent the college at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center, 2300 N. Cameron St., Harrisburg, and personify the event’s 2019 theme of “Imagine the Opportunities.”

“We always look forward to showcasing the excitement of our academic programs. This is a great opportunity to introduce Farm Show visitors to the opportunities a Penn College degree provides,” said Carolyn R. Strickland, vice president for enrollment management/associate provost. “With so many visitors from across the commonwealth, we also enjoy connecting with our alumni attending the event.”

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Over 500 students and more than 500 ceramic tiles in the making, another stunning example of Penn College art is complete and ready for rave reviews and views. Adorning a wall in the north stairwell of the Bush Campus Center, the ceramics sensation was started in Fall 2013 by David A. Stabley, instructor of ceramics and wood sculpture, after he received permission from administration. “It was my idea to have students make something to leave behind as part of a permanent art piece,” Stabley said. “It’s an interesting idea of working on a group project over such a long period of time. And it’s nice to decorate a plain stairwell area to give it some life!” With the help of two Ceramics III students – Amber Kreitzer, of Port Trevorton, and Natascha G. Santaella, of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico – Stabley recently placed the finishing touches on the CC stairwell project: ceramic triangles topping the tile wall. Kreitzer and Santaella earned associate degrees in baking and pastry arts in 2018 and will graduate this month with Bachelor of Science degrees in applied management. Stabley and smaller groups of students have installed the Centennial Mosaic on a wall of the Physician Assistant Center and mosaics in Capitol Eatery. The artist has also crafted solo mosaics in the atrium of the Breuder Advanced Technology & Health Sciences Center and on an exterior wall of the Hager Lifelong Education Center. Stabley’s inspiring artwork can also be found in downtown Williamsport.

Students in the Regional American Cuisine course, taught by Chef Michael J. Ditchfield, instructor of hospitality management/culinary arts, produced authentic German Oktoberfest food for the Millheim Oktoberfest, a community event that benefits the Millheim Fire Co. In the course, students study cuisines, preparations and influential culinary leaders from various regions. They prepare regional recipes using traditional and modern kitchen techniques.
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Christine L. Faherty, who received Penn College degrees in culinary arts technology (2005), dietary manager technology (2005) and culinary arts and systems (2008) returned to campus on Nov. 6 to talk with students in Chef Mary Trometter’s Hospitality Beverage Management Service and Controls class about her work as a professional craft bartender and about the role of a beverage program in a restaurant’s operations and revenue.

Faherty is the assistant to the beverage manager at 2941, a fine-dining restaurant in Falls Church, Virginia.

“I use all of the tools that I learned in school,” she said. “We all build menus; I do that, but for a liquid menu.”

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Fifteen Pennsylvania College of Technology business students learned about marketing efforts behind televised athletics events when they were hired by a marketing firm to help distribute noisemakers at the third MLB Little League Classic, played at historic Bowman Field at BB&T Ballpark, just a few blocks from campus.

Under the direction of California-based firm USA Marketing and Major League Baseball, the students – joined by eight students from nearby Lycoming College – moved throughout the stands at the Aug. 18 game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs.

“Our task was to hand out noisemakers – thundersticks and mini drums,” said John J. Shadle, of Williamsport, who is enrolled in business administration: marketing concentration. “Our target audience was the youth in the crowd. The goal was to enhance the experience for the youth and the players. We brought the excitement in a noisy fashion.”

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A Pennsylvania College of Technology faculty member recently presented research at the 23rd International Conference on Theory and Practice of Digital Libraries.

Spyke M. Krepshaw, assistant professor of web and interactive media, presented “Gatekeeper: Quantifying the Impacts of Service to the Scientific Community,” at Oslo Metropolitan University in Norway on Sept. 10.

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Career Day brought hundreds of ninth-12th graders to campus on Thursday to explore more than 30 activities offered by employees and students to help high-schoolers learn about the wide variety of career options available to them. The event is coordinated by the College Transitions and First Year Initiatives Office.

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A Pennsylvania College of Technology student recently wrapped up an internship that helped to inform the community about a hardworking nonprofit organization and to raise funds for its work.

Stevie A. Petrison, a business administration: sport and event management student from Landenberg, helped the Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation to organize the group’s fourth annual Farmapalooza, a music festival in Oxford.

The foundation honors the life of McDonough, who battled leukemia, septic shock and other complications for nearly six months before he died on July 14, 2007, at the age of 14. His B+ blood type became a motto for his family and friends: always be positive. The organization, headed by his father, Joe, provides financial and emotional support nationwide to families of children with cancer, and it funds childhood-cancer research.

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The Penn College Business Club recently made and sold 100 apple dumplings to benefit survivors of Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas.

The hurricane struck the island nation on Sept. 1, leaving 70,000 people in need of immediate humanitarian relief after high winds and waves combined to destroy homes and infrastructure.

The idea for the fundraiser came from conversations with the club’s advisers about the devastation experienced by Bahamas residents. The advisers suggested the club raise funds. The club’s members quickly agreed.

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The 580,000 restaurant and food service jobs in Pennsylvania represent 10% of the state’s total employment. To serve that industry, Pennsylvania College of Technology is launching a bachelor’s degree in business administration: restaurant and hospitality operations.

The new degree, available in Fall 2020, answers the hospitality industry’s demand for front-of-the-house managers who have strong knowledge and skill in business applications. Feedback from the college’s industry partners further indicates that a bachelor’s degree is required for entry-level management positions in most restaurant companies.

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Four Penn College sport and event management students spent the day getting to know the industry firsthand on Sept. 10. The group traveled to Citizens Bank Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies, to network with team executives.

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State Rep. Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster), the second-highest ranking member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, visited Penn College on Thursday. Cutler, serving his first term as majority leader, was accompanied on the tour – which took in a number of instructional areas of main campus – by Jacob G. Smeltz, his chief of staff, as well as two members of the college’s board of directors: Sen. Gene Yaw, chair, and Rep. Garth Everett. President Davie Jane Gilmour and other members of the college administration (including Michael J. Reed, vice president for academic affairs and provost, and Patrick Marty, chief of staff) welcomed the guests, and various deans and faculty members led Cutler through The Victorian House, welding and metal fabrication, advanced manufacturing, automotive restoration, culinary arts and hospitality, plastics and polymer engineering, and several majors in the School of Nursing & Health Sciences. Cutler started his career in radiography, earning a certificate from Lancaster General School of Radiology. He worked as an X-ray technologist before earning a health care management degree from Lebanon Valley College and working as an administrator in his local hospital’s radiology department. He later earned a law degree, focused on health care law, from Widener Law School and has served in the Legislature since 2007. The day’s itinerary also included lunch at Le Jeune Chef Restaurant and a chance to see the Gold Rush Excavator on a nearby parking lot.

An instructor of baking and pastry arts and culinary arts at Pennsylvania College of Technology was invited to teach one of this year’s two-day regional workshops for the Bread Bakers Guild of America.

Chef Charles R. Niedermyer II, a faculty member at the college since 2005, taught “A Modern Approach to Classic Viennoiserie” to 14 guild members Aug. 8-9 in the college’s baking and pastry arts laboratory.

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