News about Building Construction

Spring projects are in full bloom for Pennsylvania College of Technology’s concrete science and building construction technology students, who recently completed several improvements at the Schneebeli Earth Science Center near Allenwood and the institution’s General Services building along Reach Road.

Spearheading the work were three faculty members in building construction technology: Garret L. Graff,  assistant professor; and instructors Barney A. Kahn IV and Franklin H. Reber Jr. – no strangers to advancing Penn College students’ skills through hands-on betterment of their surroundings.

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Seven students and two faculty members from Pennsylvania College of Technology recently attended World of Concrete 2022, the only annual international event dedicated to commercial concrete and masonry construction industries.

The 47th annual WOC, held in mid-January in and around the expansive Las Vegas Convention Center, featured more than 1,100 exhibitors and nearly 37,000 registered industry professionals engaged in several days of networking, education and competition.

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The business agent for Boilermakers Local 154, who earned a Williamsport Area Community College welding degree in 1987, came back Thursday for a visit arranged by state Sen. Gene Yaw. Shawn M. Steffee, greatly impressed by the changes at his alma mater during the intervening years, was greeted by a variety of college administrators before touring instructional labs in the School of Engineering Technologies. The Indiana County resident also met members of the Baja SAE team, delivered a boxful of giveaways to be distributed to students and was met by President Davie Jane Gilmour during lunch at Le Jeune Chef Restaurant.

Pennsylvania College of Technology presented Kevin L. Imes with a Distinguished Alumni Award at Fall 2021 Commencement.

Imes, of Palmyra, a construction project manager at Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, earned an associate degree in building construction technology and a bachelor’s degree in construction management from Penn College in 2003 and 2007, respectively.

The Distinguished Alumni Award is presented to those who have made significant contributions in their chosen fields, demonstrated the importance of their education at Penn College or its predecessors, participated in leadership roles within the community, and demonstrated a commitment to their alma mater.

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For Madison L. Kistler, being on the Penn College women’s soccer team is like having a second family. The camaraderie and chemistry she shares with her teammates is nothing short of special, and gave her the confidence to get involved on campus. She holds a leadership position with the ConCreate Design Club – “I love concrete!” the Kutztown resident readily admits in a Wildcat Spotlight video posted to the college’s YouTube channel – and enjoys the connection every bit as much as “that rush that you get when you step out onto the field.” Take a few minutes and get to know Madison. Her drive (she has one degree and is working on two more) is infectious, and her personality, in true athletics fashion, is a winning one.

Members of Pennsylvania College of Technology’s ConCreate Design Club recently completed cosmetic repairs to the base of the massive Global Conflicts for Peace and Freedom monument at the Lycoming County Veterans Memorial Park on the corner of Wahoo Drive and West Fourth Street in Williamsport.

The project was researched and the appropriate techniques were employed to complete the job, said Harry W. Hintz Jr., instructor of construction technology, who assisted club members at the site.

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Two members of the Penn College building construction technology faculty and a student attended the Vinyl Siding Institute’s recent three-day “Train the Trainer” course, returning to campus certified to share their skills with students and colleagues alike.

Garret L. Graff, assistant professor; Clifford J. Jones, instructor; and Daun Williamson, a building construction technology student from Linden, were among more than a dozen participants (representing nearly 400 years of combined industry experience) who traveled to Sidney, Ohio, for intensive in-person training from Nov. 2-4.

The session is a continuation of the college’s partnership with the national trade association, which blossomed with certification of 29 students as VSI-recognized installers – Williamson included – during a September event on campus.
Photo provided by Rob Balfanz, VSI’s director of workforce development (front row, far right)

Building construction technology instructor Franklin H. Reber Jr. and students were on the job again Monday, furthering their skills in yet another concrete improvement project. With no shortage of on-campus work (and some hospitably cooperative autumn days on which to do it), Reber’s class is completing an exposed aggregate sidewalk expansion on the west side of the Student & Administrative Services Center. “The expansion will allow our sidewalk equipment to fit on the walk,” said Andrea L. Dildine, General Services’ horticulturist/grounds and motorpool manager, “and the aggregate will aid with winter traction.” Reber and students will be back in the neighborhood on Wednesday, finishing the nearby north sidewalk at a recently cleared property along West Second Street.

The president of the National Association of Women in Construction visited Penn College this past week, engaging faculty/staff and students with the organization’s promise of “Leading builders. Building leaders.” Doreen Bartoldus, water/wastewater construction management leader at Jacobs Engineering, provided an overview of the educational and networking opportunities available to NAWIC chapters. The visit was facilitated by Ellyn A. Lester, assistant dean of construction and architectural technologies, a longtime friend and colleague of the presenter. Bartoldus has more than 45 years of professional experience as a civil/environmental engineer and construction manager, participating in billion-dollar construction projects including water distribution and treatment facilities, tunnels, community park and recreation facilities, and highways. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil and Environmental engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of New York University (now Tandem School Of Engineering) and a Master of Business Administration in Sustainable Business from Green Mountain College. Bartoldus is a registered professional engineer in New York, a certified construction manager, a LEED Green Associate and an Envision Sustainability Professional. In addition to Friday’s luncheon in the Thompson Professional Development Center, she presented “Build It/They Will Come” to a College Avenue Labs audience the night before.

Concrete science students – led by Franklin H. Reber Jr., instructor of building construction technology – continue to leave hands-on traces at Penn College, project after project after project. Just in the past few weeks, classes have poured standard concrete in two sections of the mall area that were in disrepair, used a “keystone stencil pattern” for decorative flair near the wine bottle flower display outside Le Jeune Chef Restaurant, and removed and replaced deteriorating sidewalk near a razed residence at Second Street and College Avenue.
First four photos provided by Andrea L. Dildine, horticulturist/grounds and motorpool manager

U.S. Rep. Fred Keller (R-12) returned to Penn College’s main campus on Wednesday, touring a number of instructional areas and moderating a roundtable discussion of workforce development. The congressman was accompanied by state Rep. Clinton D. Owlett (R-68), among others, for a tour of the impressively equipped Carl Building Technologies, Electrical Technologies, Lycoming Engines Metal Trades and Larry A. Ward Machining Technologies centers – all facilities that help prepare today’s college students for tomorrow’s careers.

As they have done so often over the years, Penn College construction students applied their lab instruction to a real-world campus project on Wednesday. Building construction technology instructor Franklin H. Reber Jr. and students in his Concrete Construction class repaired walkways on the west side of the mall, undoing damage done when underground utilities were accessed. Reber was the driving force behind the college’s two-year degree in concrete science technology, initiated in Fall 2018 as the only such program on the East Coast.

Students in two sections of Rob A. Wozniak’s “Sustainability: Building and Living Green” course were visited this week by Keystone Wood Products Association representatives, who talked about the benefits of wood as a renewable construction material.

The classes – comprising students in architecture and sustainable design, architectural technology and other construction-related majors – heard Monday afternoon from Ken Nuttle, KWPA education specialist; and the following morning from Stephanie Phillips-Taggart, marketing coordinator for the association’s 11-county membership area.

“Wood plays an incredible role in our lives on a regular basis,” Tuesday’s guest said, reinforcing her message with videos profiling regional hardwood businesses and the importance of healthy forest management.

PPL Electric Utilities recently offered a Live Line Electrical Safety Exhibit and demonstration for students and first responders at Pennsylvania College of Technology.

PPL, a Corporate Tomorrow Maker partner of the college, takes its mobile electrical safety exhibit across its service territory to teach first responders, contractors, businesses, school students and the public about the dangers of live wires and how to stay safe around them.

The exhibit is a scaled-down 7,200-volt electrical distribution system that features live electrical wires, utility poles and transformers. It was designed in 2016 by representatives from across PPL Electric Utilities’ operations who met in PPL’s Innovation Lab to brainstorm ways to present the information. PPL provides 100 such demonstrations to more than 10,000 people annually.

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Twenty-nine construction students at Pennsylvania College of Technology have earned Certified Installer status from the Vinyl Siding Institute, the first to receive the value-added credential under the institution’s fledgling partnership with the trade association.

“This will be another tool in your toolbox,” Rob Balfanz, VSI’s director of workforce development, told the inaugural class at a Sept. 2 ceremony in the Student & Administrative Services Center. “You’re not only building your portfolio, you’re also building your future.”

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