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Online tributes recognize 2021 class of ‘Awesome Women’

Wednesday’s “Awesome Woman Exemplar” ceremony, the 16th annual tribute (and the second to be held virtually due to COVID safety protocols), honored 23 Penn College students for notable service to their campus, classmates and community.

The 2021 inductees were applauded by a college administrator and celebrated in slideshow comments from their nominators in a video. Sammie L. Davis, coordinator of diversity and student engagement, welcomed online viewers and introduced the event’s keynoter: Carolyn R. Strickland, vice president for enrollment management and associate provost.

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March 24, 2021
Business, Arts & Sciences Faculty & Staff Human Services & Restorative Justice Individualized Programs of Study

Faculty alum tapped for captivating PSU podcast

Jennifer R. WahlLion Legacy PodcastA podcast sharing the compelling professional and personal journeys of Penn State alumni has engaged Jennifer R. Wahl, a Pennsylvania College of Technology social sciences instructor, in a wide-ranging conversation highlighting her teaching experiences and philosophies.

Wahl, who earned her Master of Education in educational leadership from Penn State in 2012, is featured on a recent 40-minute episode of the Lion Legacy Podcast. Found on all major platforms and at LionLegacyPodcast.com, the series is hosted by 2004 Penn State graduates Jared Melzer and Ross Weisbrot.

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March 24, 2021
Automated Manufacturing & Machining College Relations Engineering Technologies Faculty & Staff Students

All-in-one game changer added to CAL’s machining lineup

Allison Crane & Rigging brought a fleet of heavy-duty equipment to facilitate offloading of the equipment ...
Allison Crane & Rigging brought a fleet of heavy-duty equipment to facilitate offloading of the equipment …
... and its forklift delivery to the laboratory floor.
… and its forklift delivery to the laboratory floor.
Students inspect the newly arrived Haas equipment in the automated manufacturing lab.
Students inspect the newly arrived Haas equipment in the automated manufacturing lab.
The center features a side-mounted tool changer.
The center features a side-mounted tool changer.
The equipment awaits final hookup, faculty training – and students in the CIM228 course starting this fall.
The equipment awaits final hookup, faculty training – and students in the CIM228 course starting this fall.

A Haas 5-axis Universal Machining Center (Model 500), poised to take Penn College’s machining curriculum to a new level, was delivered to College Avenue Labs on Tuesday morning. Purchased at an educational discount through a partnership with Phillips Corp. in Bensalem, the equipment adds the versatility of a rotational axis that allows for easier shaping of harder-to-machine parts – picture a jet engine turbine blade, for instance. The equipment will be the focus of the new course, Advanced CNC Multi-Axis Programming and Machining, in which students will be able to insert a piece of metal and produce a finished product with specialized and complicated machining details. Such equipment in industry reduces setup time and increases accuracy for multisided and complex parts, said Richard K. Hendricks Jr., instructor of machine tool technology/automated manufacturing, and greatly boosts students’ marketability. “For students to learn on this technology, it will further enhance their ability to be productive and effective employees the moment they enter the manufacturing floor for their internship or full-time career,” he said. “We can’t thank Phillips Corp. enough for their partnership to help make this possible.”

March 23, 2021
Art & Graphic Design Business, Arts & Sciences Faculty & Staff Library Students

College librarian writes chapter for technical services book

Jessica Urick Oberlin

The librarian for information technology initiatives at Pennsylvania College of Technology has written one of 13 accepted chapters in the American Library Association’s “Technical Services in the 21st Century,” spotlighting the substantial behind-the-scenes work that allows students to seamlessly access scholarly digital material.

Jessica Urick Oberlin wrote “Data of e-Resources: Moving Forward with Assessment” for the 42nd volume of Emerald Publishing’s “Advances in Library Administration and Organization” series.

“In college and university libraries, students sit down to finally start their research paper. After a failed Google search, they reach the library’s website hoping to see results that match their expectations,” her 20-page chapter begins. “Will this be a pleasant experience for them? Or will they turn elsewhere for the answers they seek?”

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March 22, 2021
Alumni Aviation Engineering Technologies Faculty & Staff Nursing & Health Sciences Occupational Therapy Assistant

Award-winning aviation graduate, faculty member dies at age 90

Robert L. Norton

Robert L. Norton – an alumnus, retired faculty member and father of a program director in the School of Nursing & Health Sciences – died Friday, March 19, 2021, at the age of 90. He received a certificate from the former Williamsport Technical Institute and an associate degree from Williamsport Area Community College, and was an aviation instructor at WACC and Penn College for 24 years.

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March 21, 2021
Business, Arts & Sciences Emergency Management & Homeland Security Faculty & Staff Students

Amid challenging vaccine rollout, emergency manager makes time for tomorrow makers

On the one-year anniversary of the coordinated emergency response to COVID-19, Pennsylvania College of Technology students had the opportunity to hear from the director of the Snohomish County (Washington) Department of Emergency Management, whose jurisdiction includes the country’s first confirmed case of the coronavirus.

Jason M. Biermann spoke with Penn College students on March 2, part of a series of presentations arranged by David E. Bjorkman, instructor of emergency management/social science at the college.

Biermann told his audience that he got involved in emergency management “by accident … literally” when he lost his wallet after getting a flu shot through the local health department. Returning to reclaim it, he noticed a job posting – “hiring for a public health response coordinator” – and pursued it.

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March 21, 2021
Alumni Civil Engineering & Surveying Engineering Technologies Faculty & Staff Students

Take a virtual tour of civil engineering/surveying

Drew R. Potts, assistant professor and head of Penn College’s civil engineering/surveying technology department, headlines a virtual tour of a dynamic career field. Alongside a handful of impressive alumni and students about to graduate from the program, Potts opens viewers’ eyes to the expansive opportunities available to graduates, making their mark – and making a difference – in the places where we work and play. “I recommend this major solely because of the professors. They’re amazing!” says Sarah E. Booher, of Orangeville, one of two current civil engineering technology students helping to guide the video tour. “They have real-world experience within the field before they become a professor, and they’re great at answering any questions that you have – from material questions to internships to postcollege life. Anything that you really have, they’re really good at answering and being honest with you.” Interested in designing bridges, routing highways or otherwise shaping the world in which we live? Take the tour and weigh your options!

March 18, 2021
Dining Services Faculty & Staff Sports Students

COVID meals served to nearly 500 students in 2020-21 to date

A total of 3,546 meals were provided to 484 Penn College students in COVID-related isolation or quarantine so far this academic year, according to Dining Services statistics shared Thursday with the administration.

Figures through February break down into: dinner, 1,258; lunch, 877; breakfast, 817; and brunch, 243. In addition, 351 bagged items (muffins, noodle bowls, sandwiches, snacks, etc.) were given to students who began the testing/isolation process after Dining Services made its deliveries for the day.

The highest number of total meals was 915 in September; November was second with 800. Wildcat Athletics coaches helped make some of the meal dropoffs, it was noted, indicative of the institution’s collaborative approach to serving students affected by the pandemic.

March 18, 2021
Business, Arts & Sciences Emergency Management & Homeland Security Engineering Technologies Faculty & Staff Information Technology Students

Leader in crisis mediation shares valuable expertise with students

An Emergency Management Leadership Series, featuring topic experts recruited by a Pennsylvania College of Technology faculty member to provide his students with topical and credible perspectives from their chosen career fields, recently kicked off with a presentation by Amazon’s global business continuity and supply chain risk leader.

Andrew Owlett, among the corporate professionals who generously answered a LinkedIn solicitation from David E. Bjorkman, instructor of emergency management/social science, visited with Penn College emergency management and information assurance and cyber security students over Zoom.

While he has only been with Amazon for less than a year, Owlett brings to his position an eye-opening breadth of knowledge accrued since his teenage days – the time he realized that his goal was, quite simply, to help people.

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March 13, 2021
Civil Engineering & Surveying Engineering Technologies Faculty & Staff Students

Speaking from experience

Using square-foot floor tiles to maintain the space between them, students from the college's School of Engineering Technologies listen to Potts' on-the-job memories from construction of their immediate surroundings.
Using square-foot floor tiles to maintain the space between them, students from the college’s School of Engineering Technologies listen to Potts’ on-the-job memories from construction of their immediate surroundings.
Potts points out the three-dimensional structural details ...
Potts points out the three-dimensional structural details …
... while marking their location on building plans for simultaneous viewing on students' devices.
… while marking their location on building plans for simultaneous viewing on students’ devices.
Framed by two of the columns depicted on the drawings in his hand, civil engineering technology major Brandon J. Sensenich, of Lancaster, follows along via a Microsoft Teams hookup.
Framed by two of the columns depicted on the drawings in his hand, civil engineering technology major Brandon J. Sensenich, of Lancaster, follows along via a Microsoft Teams hookup.

Students in Drew R. Potts’ Structural Steel Design class got a unique look at one of the academically advantageous areas in which Penn College has major bragging rights: the real-world credibility of its faculty members. Among his positions before joining the college family in 2008, Potts worked as an engineering manager and as a design engineer for a steel fabrication facility … and among the projects on which he worked was the college’s Student & Administrative Services Center, constructed in 2002 and dedicated the following February. The class convened Friday morning in the SASC lobby, where – distanced by necessity and connected by technology – they reviewed original architectural drawings and conveniently compared them to the full-size structure that rose from those blueprints. Among the life lessons imparted by Potts, an assistant professor and department head for civil engineering and surveying technology, is the need for communication given the frequent and substantial changes that occur between groundbreaking and ribbon-cutting.

March 12, 2021
Alumni Faculty & Staff Students

Campus family urged to be the ‘I’ in ‘kind’

Keara M. Hess, assistant group leader at the CLC (and a 2020 alumna of the college's early childhood education major) espouses civility and consideration.
Keara M. Hess, assistant group leader at the CLC (and a 2020 alumna of the college’s early childhood education major) espouses civility and consideration.
Also getting into the act are this member of the Birds' class, literally stepping up for the cause ...
Also getting into the act are this member of the Birds’ class, literally stepping up for the cause …
... and Alex J. Lockcuff, of Williamsport, a Penn College NOW student who was in the building to have his ID photo taken before starting classes as an accounting major this fall.
… and Alex J. Lockcuff, of Williamsport, a Penn College NOW student who was in the building to have his ID photo taken before starting classes as an accounting major this fall.

As part of its support for positive behavior, as well as teaching children to be kind, safe and respectful, the Dunham Children’s Learning Center has launched a mini-trend well worth promoting. “We have placed the word ‘kind’ – minus the ‘I’ in ‘kind’ – in the hallway outside our center, encouraging our kiddos and students, faculty, etc., to join in the fun,” noted Linda A. Reichert, the center’s director, who said students have paused to snap photos to share on their social media accounts with the hashtag #PCTBEKIND. Optimistic for a groundswell, we offer this inspiring representation from across the Penn College community. After all, it’s our “kind” of story!
Photos provided

March 12, 2021
Architecture & Sustainable Design Engineering Technologies Faculty & Staff Students

‘One of the most creative, satisfying jobs you can ever have’

Think you have what it takes to design the future? Meet Dorothy J. Gerring, associate professor of architectural technology and 31-year member of the Penn College faculty, who discusses the program and leads a virtual tour of the hands-on studio spaces on the second floor of the Carl Building Technologies Center. Outlining how the college’s two architectural degrees prepare graduates for immedite employment, Gerring says “We have a really good blend of our classes between not only some of the theoretical things – ’cause you have to be able to imagine and understand how concepts fit into things over time and across different disciplines – but also very, very solid foundational items so that, as soon as you’re graduating, you can actually walk in an office and you know what a set of working drawings are, and you can be able to be good on the job from the first day that you’re there.”

March 11, 2021
Events Faculty & Staff Students

T-shirts, teamwork spread uplifting message

Student-athletes Alexander S. Cassada (soccer) and Hannah Burnett (volleyball) were on hand outside the Keystone Dining Room on Wednesday, collecting messages of hope at a "Crafternoon" table. Burnett, of Middlebury Center, is a physician assistant studies major; Cassada, of Chambersburg, is enrolled in network administration and engineering technology.

Organized by Student Affairs and championed through social media, the Penn College community raised its collective voice this week in the annual “Yellow It Out” observance. Students, faculty and staff were asked to wear yellow and share their photos using the #pcthope hashtag. Events throughout the week reinforced the message, and resource tables provided worthwhile information on suicide prevention and awareness.

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