News about Business & Hospitality Management

A group of Penn College students, visiting three distinct regions of Italy to study their hospitality culture, were the subject of a May 24 article in Italian online news publication Estense.com. “Estense” is the Italian term for people from Ferrara, in northern Italy. The publication featured the students’ visit to a farmers market in the city. Local representatives talked with students about the market; how it facilitates the use of fresh, in-season foods and a short supply chain; and typical products of the region, including rice, pasta, sugar, garlic, wine, cold cuts, Ferrara peanuts and rice biscuits. The students are enrolled in a study abroad course titled Global Food & Hospitality: Cuisine, Culture and Perspectives, taught by Chef Mary G. Trometter, assistant professor of hospitality management/culinary arts. Watch PCToday for more about the trip (and other college-sanctioned Global Experiences).

Professional Coffee & Conversation, a networking event for students in business and hospitality majors to connect with employers, was held April 14, thanks to a semester of planning and execution by their peers in the Event Management & Coordination class.

The students responsible for the event – Corey J. Blackwell, of Hammonton, N.J.; Andrew M. Snyder, of Whitehall; Jacob R. Wagner, of Palmyra; and Alicia M. Wyland, of Williamsport – are juniors in business administration: sport and event management.

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From the Spring 2022 edition of Penn College Magazine: Through his work for Habitat for Humanity, Todd J. Fox, ’98, business management, helps affiliates across the country to increase access to decent, affordable housing. Read the story.

On the 52nd annual Earth Day, Pennsylvania College of Technology hailed a phenomenon only slightly younger: the Schneebeli Earth Science Center, home to memories, marvels and the makers of a million tomorrows. Observing the milestone golden anniversary of the Allenwood area campus on a beautiful spring afternoon, attendees reveled in “this special place” known as the ESC.

“It is more than a place or a building, though,” said alumnus Justin W. Beishline, assistant dean of diesel technology and natural resources. “This is a place where you were possibly introduced to your career passion. This is a place where you met mentors who fostered your talent and helped you to become a professional. This is a place where, after you left high school, you met people with similar career aspirations and built lifelong friendships. If you came here right from high school, you left a home of 18 years to forge a new life, and the people at the ESC became your new family for two years.”

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Twenty-six Penn College business and hospitality students trekked to Hershey on April 8 to tour facilities and learn more about working for the world-famous Pennsylvania chocolate company’s related tourist attractions. Six students are interning for the company in summer 2022, and the company welcomed the group with an eye for recruiting more employees. The field trip was arranged by Chef Victoria Kostecki, who earned Penn College degrees in baking and pastry arts in 2014 and applied management in 2016. It included a tour of Hersheypark Stadium, where the group was led by food and beverage warehouse manager Brandon Snook; three food stands within Hersheypark; lunch at Coaster Café, where Rob Gordon, director of food and beverage, spoke briefly about season-to-season menu changes at the park and at the company’s Giant Center; and tours of Chocolatier, Milton’s and Sweeterie, where Chef Ben King ’14 (culinary arts and systems) spoke to students about menu planning, including how he worked with supervisors and other managers. King and Kostecki are sous chefs with the company. Coaster Café is run by Hailey Brunk, who earned degrees in hospitality management in 2008 and technology management in 2014.
Photo by Brian D. Walton, assistant dean of business and hospitality

Five members of the Penn College Business Club this week traveled to StartUp Danville, a brand-new business incubator run by that municipality’s Small Business Development Center. The group connected with Denny Hummer, assistant director of the nearby Bucknell SBDC, to make Tuesday’s trip possible for the students. “We spent time getting to talk with Denny and his colleagues about what exactly business incubators do and how we can use them to reach our entrepreneurial goals,” said club President McKenna Nicole Myers, scheduled to graduate May 14 in the marketing and management concentrations of the college’s business administration major. “As a club full of entrepreneurial spirits, we got to see the incubator, hear about its possibilities and get inspired. This trip gave us insights into what goes into being an entrepreneur and how to get the help needed for beginning any type of startup business. The day was full of networking and sharing our business aspirations with the professionals!”
Photo provided

The latest edition of Penn College Magazine – on its way to mailboxes and available at magazine.pct.edu – takes a look at the hands-on presidency of Davie Jane Gilmour and celebrates the work of alumni who are pursuing their passions in Major League Soccer (Christian Peters ’20, assistant team administrator for Real Salt Lake), nonprofits (Todd Fox ’98, organizational development consultant for Habitat for Humanity International) and high-end restaurants (Dean Yasharian ’03, chef/owner of Perle Restaurant).

Chef Shawn L. Hanlin has been named executive chef of Le Jeune Chef Restaurant at Pennsylvania College of Technology.

Hanlin, who began his duties Jan. 4, comes to Penn College with 40 years of experience in the culinary field – 12 of them in culinary education. He will oversee both students and professional staff in the kitchens of Le Jeune Chef, a casual fine-dining restaurant operated by the college’s School of Business, Arts & Sciences as a training site for students in culinary arts and baking and pastry arts majors.

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When Laney E. Heller graduated from Pennsylvania College of Technology on Dec. 18, the 20-year-old added baking and pastry arts graduate to a growing list of achievements that already includes 10-year cancer survivor and tireless fundraiser for children with cancer through the Delaney Heller Foundation.

The foundation was established in 2011 by family and friends when Heller, of Cogan Station, was diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, an aggressive brain tumor that is difficult to treat.

“The purpose was to help me and my family with food, travel expenses and hospital costs until we got our finances figured out and what medical assistance we needed,” Heller explained.

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An 80-year-old Navy veteran, who withdrew from Pennsylvania College of Technology’s earliest incarnation just shy of graduation to ease his family’s financial difficulties, fulfilled one of his few remaining life goals on Tuesday: returning to campus to visit his Williamsport Technical Institute alma mater.

“They said it’s all different, and it is,” David A. Clark said. “For the better!”

As Clark exited the Student & Administrative Services Center for the 2½-hour solo drive back to his Gettysburg area home, he carried more than grateful memories of the campus that he recalls and the gleaming jewel that it has become.

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Student-athlete Dean R. Fulton, a business administration: marketing concentration major from Palmyra, is no stranger to hard work. In the classroom and on the cross-country course, he’s committed to giving his all. “What I love about cross-country is I think it’s really a mental game,” he says in a Wildcat Spotlight video posted to the college’s YouTube channel. “I think it really pushes the boundaries of yourself as a person, how you behave in other aspects of life. It teaches you a lot of good life lessons.” In this 3½-minute profile (that also features coach Nicholas R. Patton), you’ll meet our very own trailblazer, learn what fuels his passion for perfection and hear why it’s so easy to call Penn College home.

A dual-majoring Pennsylvania College of Technology student has received a $1,700 scholarship from the American Floral Endowment, one of 21 students nationwide sharing $54,500 in total awards.

Penn College honoree Rebecca Cornish, of Lewisburg, is pursuing an associate degree in landscape/horticulture technology: plant production emphasis and a bachelor’s degree in business administration: management concentration. Despite full-time employment, and a work-study position in the horticulture lab at the college’s Schneebeli Earth Science Center, she has consistently been on the dean’s list.

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How better for students studying global cuisines to learn about cooking with truffles, the “black pearl” of the food world, than from an Italian chef who serves as an ambassador for the product?

Italy is one of the world’s top exporters of truffles. It is also the destination for a new global experience course at Pennsylvania College of Technology.

On Sept. 16, with the help of Audio/Visual Services, students in the Global Cuisine and Connections course connected with Chef Fabrizio Facchini, a brand ambassador for Urbani Truffles. Facchini, executive chef of several properties in New York City, has earned acclaim in both the U.S. and Italy, where his Antico Borgo was recognized in the Michelin Italy Guide.

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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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Jerry C. Hammaker, part-time instructor of beverage and restaurant management at Penn College, authored an article for the June issue of PR%F (Proof) the Magazine, published by the brand that produces the PR%F Awards in partnership with Food & Beverage Magazine. The PR%F Awards is an international competition for spirits, wines and beverages. Hammaker, a certified specialist of wine, owns Certain Aged Ventures, which provides wine consulting and sommelier services.