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Full-time faculty among new employees

Among the latest additions to the Pennsylvania College of Technology community are new full-time faculty members for the Fall 2019 semester, as provided by the Human Resources Office (all effective Aug. 15).

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Alumni Events Faculty & Staff Students

Sun shines its spotlight on summer grads

A student expresses the sunny sentiment of the morning.

Pennsylvania College of Technology held its Summer Commencement at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Community Arts Center in downtown Williamsport. Dylan G. Otis, presented with associate degrees in heavy construction equipment technology: technician emphasis and heavy construction equipment technology: operator emphasis, was the student speaker. In addition to degrees conferred by college President Davie Jane Gilmour and state Sen. Gene Yaw, chair of the Penn College Board of Directors, the college presented an Alumni Mentorship Award to 2007 graduate Andrea (Niklaus) Reed, an administrator at UPMC Susquehanna Muncy, and an Excellence in Teaching Award to Terri A. Stone, assistant professor of nursing programs.

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Faculty & Staff Nursing Nursing & Health Sciences Physician Assistant Students Surgical Technology

Simulated medical cases guide students toward real-life care

Scott A. Geist (right) director of surgical technology, leads physician assistant students through a simulated surgery to repair an abdominal aortic aneurysm.
Scott A. Geist (right) director of surgical technology, leads physician assistant students through a simulated surgery to repair an abdominal aortic aneurysm.
Outside the surgical technology lab’s mock operating room, PA students fulfilling the roles of emergency room and hospital staff members observe the work of their classmates.
Outside the surgical technology lab’s mock operating room, PA students fulfilling the roles of emergency room and hospital staff members observe the work of their classmates.

Physician assistant students recently visited the surgical technology lab for the last of three simulated patient cases that allowed them to participate as care providers in the emergency room, as operating room assistants and as hospitalists. Students in the ER role encountered the patients, portrayed by nursing students. They diagnosed their patient’s malady and recommended treatment. In the surgical technology lab, Scott A. Geist, director of surgical technology, led OR students through a hands-on simulation of the recommended surgery. Students acting as hospitalists then provided follow-up care.

College Transitions Faculty & Staff General Information Industrial, Computing & Engineering Technologies Information Technology

NSF cybersecurity grant extended for Penn College

The National Science Foundation recently rewarded Pennsylvania College of Technology’s commitment to tomorrow’s cybersecurity workforce by extending a grant for an additional year.

The grant – “Improving the Pipeline: After-School Model for Preparing Cyber Defense and Information Assurance Professionals” – facilitates interaction between information technology faculty and high school students to introduce rewarding career possibilities in cybersecurity.

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Faculty & Staff Human Services & Restorative Justice Sciences, Humanities & Visual Communications Students

Sex trafficking survivor makes Penn College part of her journey

Lynaugh H. Bobst

For the Introduction to Human Services course, the content was standard. For Lynaugh H. Bobst, the class discussion on appropriate family dynamics was personal. For her, the topic generated more than copious notes and highlighted text in a book. It led to an awakening.

Bobst didn’t finish the course or any of her other classes that semester. Instead, she left school to begin a journey. Seven years later, that journey has returned Bobst to Pennsylvania College of Technology for a revised major that she hopes will amplify her new lease on life as an advocate to prevent child sex abuse.

“I remember sitting in that intro class thinking, ‘Wait a second. What I experienced wasn’t normal.’ It really took me back,” she said.

Back to the darkest of places.

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Alumni Events Faculty & Staff President Students

Heartfelt commemoration keeps alive a powerhouse legacy

"I will continue to brag that I am Veronica Muzic's daughter," Laycock proudly admits, adding a special wish for her mother: "I hope Part II of your 'new adventure' is the trip of a lifetime."

A “life celebration” of Veronica M. Muzic, an inspiration to students and colleagues throughout nearly five decades as a faculty member and administrator, was held Saturday in Penn College’s Student & Administrative Services Center. The three-and-a-half-hour gathering attracted a cross-section of those who benefited from Muzic’s no-nonsense counsel and dedicated leadership – family, faculty/staff, former students and community members – and who marked the day with remembrance, reverent and otherwise, sprinkling their anecdotes with laughter and honest tears. Among those offering remarks were Marcianne Muzic Laycock, one of the honoree’s two daughters; niece Lisa Halberstadt, who read “When Great Trees Fall” by Maya Angelou (a March 1987 visitor to Williamsport Area Community College as part of a Women’s Series initiated by Muzic); President Davie Jane Gilmour; and Lynn Hanson, now a professor at Francis Marion University and co-director of the Baruch Institute for South Carolina Studies. The event also included music from a Williamsport Symphony Orchestra quartet and informal tours of “Veronica’s Garden” on the building’s second floor. Muzic, who died June 18 at the age of 82, joined WACC as an English instructor in 1968 and was awarded its first “Master Teacher” award in 1982. She retired as vice president for academic affairs/provost, served part time service as a special assistant to the president and holds emeritus faculty status.

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Faculty & Staff Sports

Penn College esports coach elected to national board

Joshua D. Young

The head coach of Pennsylvania College of Technology’s nascent esports team will have a voice in shaping policy for the national association that champions varsity-level competition.

Members of the National Association of College Esports elected Joshua D. Young, a learning systems administrator at the college and founding coach of the school’s esports program, to its board of directors during the organization’s recent national conference in Harrisburg.

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Faculty & Staff Sports Students

Wildcats third in President’s Cup tally; highest finish to date

Penn College Wildcats

Pennsylvania College of Technology was third in this year’s North Eastern Athletic Conference Presidents’ Cup rankings, the Wildcats’ highest finish since joining the conference in 2014.

Lancaster Bible College won the cup for the third straight year, while Keuka College finished second.

This is the fifth year that the NEAC has determined its Presidents’ Cup winner by utilizing the core values of NCAA Division III. In addition to calculating athletics success, which was the only factor taken into consideration when awarding the conference’s Presidents’ Cup in the past, the NEAC now also takes into account academics, sportsmanship and community service.

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Collision Repair & Restoration Corporate Relations Faculty & Staff Students Transportation & Natural Resources Technologies

Nationwide lends damaged vehicles for students’ benefit

Marking Penn College's partnership with Nationwide are (from left) Jamie R. Miller, associate director of corporate relations; Loren R. Bruckhart, instructor of collision repair; Donald Ashby Jr., Nationwide claims director; John G. Fawcett, claims associate director; and Brian A. Moore, material damage claims manager.

A partnership with Nationwide Insurance Co. has resulted in the loan of six damaged vehicles to Pennsylvania College of Technology’s collision repair labs.

The seeds of the agreement were planted a year ago, when the college’s Collision Repair Advisory Committee discussed the shortage of late-model cars for students’ hands-on instruction. Committee member Brian A. Moore, a Nationwide claims manager, immediately recognized the need and strategized with colleagues on how to meet it.

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Alumni Events Faculty & Staff Students

‘Life Celebration’ for Veronica M. Muzic set for July 27

Veronica M. MuzicA public celebration of the life of Veronica M. Muzic – a life that included a half-century of devoted service to the college, its students and her co-workers – will be held from 3 to 6:30 p.m. Saturday, July 27, in Penn College’s Student & Administrative Services Center.

The first 90 minutes will allow guests an opportunity for informal gathering and to visit “Veronica’s Garden” on the second floor, where a Williamsport Symphony Orchestra quartet will perform. Remarks will begin at 4:30 p.m., followed by impromptu reminiscences from the floor. “Business casual” attire is suggested.

Muzic, who died June 18 at the age of 82, joined Williamsport Area Community College as an English instructor in 1968 and was awarded its first “Master Teacher” award in 1982. Her years of teaching and administrative leadership culminated in her retirement as vice president for academic affairs/provost, part-time service as a special assistant to the president and induction into the company of emeritus faculty members.