News about Building Construction

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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The Witmer Group, a masonry contractor based in Mount Joy, is continuing remediation of the 22-year-old entrance fountains and repairs to the brick pillars surrounding Pennsylvania College of Technology’s main campus entrance – presenting an opportunity for well-wishers to honor the legacy of retiring President Davie Jane Gilmour.

The entrance and the capstoned pillars, linked by black fencing along Maynard Street and beyond, were dedicated in September 1999. That ceremony – a little more than a year after Gilmour assumed the college presidency – was the culmination of Penn College’s Diamond 10 anniversary, marking 85 years of education and a decade as a Penn State affiliate.

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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.”

For two years, Lauryn A. Stauffer has seen only male faces in her electronics classes at Pennsylvania College of Technology. This fall, she’ll at least see multiple women leaders within the School of Engineering Technologies.

The school devoted to careers rooted in science, technology, engineering and math boasts three female assistant deans.

Kathleen D. Chesmel and Ellyn A. Lester were hired in late spring to head the Materials Science and Engineering Technologies Division and the Construction and Architectural Technologies Division, respectively. They join longtime college employee Stacey C. Hampton, who is assistant dean of industrial and computer technologies.

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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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A full-service commercial construction company, founded in 1911 and based in Lancaster County, has endowed a scholarship to assist Pennsylvania College of Technology students in a variety of related majors.

The Warfel Construction Endowed Scholarship is focused on students pursuing degrees in building construction technology, concrete science technology, construction management and heavy construction equipment technology: operator emphasis.

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Penn College’s “My Tomorrow” program (June 21-24 and June 28-July 1) opened middle-schoolers’ minds to a variety of vocational possibilities through hands-on activities and faculty-led sessions. The initiative, sponsored by the Soars Family, exposed students to a number of prospective careers – such as engineering, business and hospitality, the arts, and health sciences – as well as giving them a jump on charting their paths to success and satisfaction.

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A Pennsylvania College of Technology student organization’s video about a viable do-it-yourself alternative to traditional concrete – with humor among its key ingredients – was a Top 20 finisher in a recent competition sponsored by an industry trade group.

Three members of the college’s ConCreate Design Club, a student chapter of the American Concrete Institute, produced and co-starred in the seven-minute video, which was entered in ACI’s Concrete Solutions Competition. Participating were Madison L. Kistler, of Kutztown, club president; vice president Harrison Wohlfarth, of Midlothian, Virginia; and Noah W. Shafer, of Towanda, a member of the club’s board of directors.

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Four members of the ConCreate Design Club joined instructor Harry W. Hintz Jr. at the Lycoming County Veterans Memorial Park this week, installing paving bricks engraved with the names of Penn College students and faculty who have worked on the project over the past three years. The group rendezvoused at the West Fourth Street/Wahoo Drive site with John O. Markley, of the Veterans Memorial Park Commission, who oversaw the latest enhancement to the ever-expanding memorial. As preparations continue for a Memorial Day dedication at the park, organizers generously wanted to permanently spell out the college’s collaboration. The pavers acknowledge Hintz and three other faculty members – Glenn R. Luse, Richard R. Motter Jr. and Franklin H. Reber Jr. – as well as more than 100 students engaged in the improvements to date, from site preparation to stone-wall construction.

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A Pennsylvania College of Technology graduate helped to lead a high-profile metro Washington construction project that recently received honors from Associated Builders and Contractors.

Jordan Way, ‘16, was the assistant project manager for Belfast Valley Contractors Inc. as the company completed concrete work on the seven-story Hyatt Place luxury hotel on the waterfront in National Harbor, Maryland. Way holds an associate degree in building construction technology: masonry emphasis, and a bachelor’s degree in applied management.

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Carhartts and coffee were among the blustery-day necessities as a group of Pennsylvania College of Technology construction students, accompanied by faculty and cheered by representatives of a Williamsport nonprofit, erected a pavilion for grateful residents of a personal care home.

Taking part in the off-campus outreach at West House Inc., 616 W. Edwin St., were students Jake B. Campbell, of Scranton; Dane T. Landes, of Ottsville; Stephen K. Lee, of Bethlehem; Will E. Marconi, of Chadds Ford; and Zach Spearly, of Bellefonte. Marconi is a building construction technology major; Lee is enrolled in residential construction technology and management; and Campbell, Landes and Spearly are in the residential construction technology and management: building construction technology concentration.

They were joined in the project by Levon A. Whitmyer, instructor of building construction technology, and D. Robert Cooley, associate professor of anthropology/environmental science – the initial liaison between West House and the college.

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