Pennsylvania College of Technology’s Board of Directors has approved faculty emeritus status for Robert M. Vaughn, who taught welding at the institution for nearly four decades.
Vaughn retired in August after 39 years of service to Penn College and its immediate predecessor, Williamsport Area Community College.
Vaughn’s nominating documentation noted the many roles he played in addition to serving with distinction on faculty, including “advisor and mentor to the students, as well as other faculty members, in and out of the classroom.”
The group intently listens to President Gilmour in the college’s welding addition. From left are Reed; Turzai; Borowicz; Owlett’s wife, Lauren; and Owlett.David R. Cotner (second from right), dean of industrial, computing and engineering technologies, takes the group by the expanded facility’s impressive new plasma equipment.John M. Good III, instructor of automation and computer integrated manufacturing, leads a tour in College Avenue Labs.The group pauses in front of a ProtoTrak lathe, among equipment purchased with a National Science Foundation grant to combat the skills gap in advanced manufacturing. From left are Owlett, Wheeland, Turzai, Yaw and Borowicz.Shannon M. Munro (in light blue), vice president for workforce development, discusses production activities in the Shell Polymers Rotational Molding Center of Excellence.
The speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives was among state legislators who visited Penn College on Thursday afternoon, touring several academic laboratories in the School of Industrial, Computing & Engineering Technologies. Comprising the group were Speaker Michael C. Turzai (R-McCandless), Rep. Stephanie Borowicz (R-Lock Haven), Rep. Clinton D. Owlett (R-Wellsboro), Rep. Jeff C. Wheeland (R-Williamsport) and Neil R. Lesher, Rep. Turzai’s chief of staff. During the lawmakers’ 90-minute stay, school administration and faculty – along with Workforce Development personnel – introduced them to welding and metal fabrication technologies, advanced manufacturing, and plastics and polymer engineering technologies. Facilitating the visit were President Davie Jane Gilmour; Michael J. Reed, vice president for academic affairs/provost; Patrick Marty, chief of staff and assistant to the president for college relations; and state Sen. Gene Yaw, chair of the college’s board of directors. Others on the tour included Lycoming County Commissioner-elect Scott L. Metzger and Fisher Mining Co.’s John A. Blaschak, one of the college’s corporate partners and a member of its Visionary Society.
Penn College’s second annual PA Build My Future event, an interactive academic and industry showcase on Thursday, provided more than 900 high-school students with an opportunity to experience the full range of possibilities in the construction and design field. Scores of current students in the School of Construction & Design Technologies joined faculty and administrators, along with many of the college’s commercial benefactors, in guiding visitors toward their potential careers.
WNEP’s Chris Keating visited campus for Thursday’s PA Build My Future, filing a report on the second annual introduction of secondary students to the wide-open world of construction and design careers. Keating visited indoor and outdoor exhibits facilitated by industry sponsors, Penn College faculty and current students (who gave up a day of Fall Break to excitedly represent their respective majors). Included in the broadcast were Carol A. Lugg, dean of construction and design technologies; building construction technology instructor Levon A. Whitmyer; Christine A. Limbert, of Curwensville, enrolled in architectural technology; and Lucas Vandergrift, a sophomore at Wellsboro High School who was among the day’s 929 students from nearly 30 high schools and career and technical centers.
(“PA Build My Future photo gallery)
Melissa Turlip, program manager with Commonwealth Charitable Management, invites attendees to explore the six Mobile Oilfield Learning Unit stations (at right), offering 24 hands-on activities on energy and the technologies and sciences involved with the oil and gas industry. The traveling exhibit, from the Oilfield Energy Center, is available for secondary school visits.Visitors move from their luncheon site into other areas of the welding addition, as well as to the current instructional space.A long line of secondary educators and counselors make their way down the campus mall on a beautiful autumn day, led by Bradley M. Webb (far left), assistant dean of industrial, computing and engineering technologies.The college’s modern nursing labs, complete with high-tech “patients” of varying ages, are shown off by Valerie A. Myers, assistant dean of nursing.Webb shares the industry-sized equipment and processes housed in the plastics and polymer engineering technology labs.
School counselors, along with career and technical educators, included Penn College on a Monday tour of the area’s industrial assets. The guests began their afternoon with lunch in the new welding addition before exploring new and existing welding labs in the Lycoming Engines Metal Trades Center, then moved to the Breuder Advanced Technology & Health Sciences Center for stopovers in nursing and plastics. The groups visited several businesses in the region prior to arriving on main campus, including Lycoming Engines, Halliburton and Savoy Contract Furniture. Eyewitness News’ Morgan Parrish was along for the tours, which were facilitated by the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce.
Three students who have performed together as a CRU worship team will provide musical entertainment during this week’s First Friday in downtown Williamsport. The trio – Graham E. Burnett (percussion), industrial design, Pompton Lakes, New Jersey; Nathaniel H. Lyon (saxophone/percussion), welding and fabrication engineering technology, Fredericksburg; and Elias D. Ritter (keyboard), graphic design, Willow Grove – will play on the BB&T stage (between the Community Arts Center and Williamsport Sun-Gazette building) from 5-7 p.m.
Soitaab, a leader in the metal cutting industry, is partnering with Pennsylvania College of Technology to place a Plasma NOVA multiprocess fabrication machine in the college’s expanded welding lab facility.
The unit can complete complex operations for plasma and oxyfuel cutting, drilling, tapping, bevel cutting, pipe cutting, marking, and automatic material handling and is designed to cut ferrous, stainless steel and aluminum materials in medium to high thicknesses.
Libellula is donating 25 permanent software licenses to accompany the Plasma NOVA.Both companies will be recognized on the Metal Wall of Honor in the expanded lab, located in the Lycoming Engines Metal Trades Center at Penn College.
Pennsylvania College of Technology’s expanded welding instructional facility will include new equipment, thanks to a continuing partnership with Fronius USA.
Fronius USA LLC is entrusting 12 of its TPS/i 300 machines, units that facilitate multiple welding processes. Fronius is a leading manufacturer of high-quality technology with three business units: Perfect Welding, Solar Energy and Perfect Charging. The company previously entrusted equipment to the college in 2016.
Stopping for a photo op at the Gold Rush Excavator are (from left) Everett, Gilmour, Cutler, Smeltz and Yaw.During his travels, Cutler enjoyed interactions with students who reside in or near his legislative district, including baking and pastry arts students Rebecca High (left), of Willow Street, and Alana L. LaPenta, of Lemoyne.In the manufacturing lab, Cutler learns about the mechanics of BAJA team racing from students including John D. Kleinfelter (center in red shirt), a manufacturing engineering student from Lebanon.The tour winds its way through the new welding expansion. Cutler’s late father was a welder, so he held a keen interest in the facility and the skill.Back to his roots, Cutler visits the radiography lab to hear about advances in technologies from Christine L. Eckenrod, the college’s new director of radiography.
State Rep. Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster), the second-highest ranking member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, visited Penn College on Thursday. Cutler, serving his first term as majority leader, was accompanied on the tour – which took in a number of instructional areas of main campus – by Jacob G. Smeltz, his chief of staff, as well as two members of the college’s board of directors: Sen. Gene Yaw, chair, and Rep. Garth Everett. President Davie Jane Gilmour and other members of the college administration (including Michael J. Reed, vice president for academic affairs and provost, and Patrick Marty, chief of staff) welcomed the guests, and various deans and faculty members led Cutler through The Victorian House, welding and metal fabrication, advanced manufacturing, automotive restoration, culinary arts and hospitality, plastics and polymer engineering, and several majors in the School of Nursing & Health Sciences. Cutler started his career in radiography, earning a certificate from Lancaster General School of Radiology. He worked as an X-ray technologist before earning a health care management degree from Lebanon Valley College and working as an administrator in his local hospital’s radiology department. He later earned a law degree, focused on health care law, from Widener Law School and has served in the Legislature since 2007. The day’s itinerary also included lunch at Le Jeune Chef Restaurant and a chance to see the Gold Rush Excavator on a nearby parking lot.
Biddle leads visitors through the Thermoforming Center of Excellence.
Site selectors for business and industry, who arrived in Williamsport late last week for a four-day assessment of the region’s educational, health care and recreational attributes, visited Penn College on Monday. Led by a contingent of campus leaders, the guests toured plastics, automated manufacturing, welding, collision repair and automotive restoration labs, and enjoyed lunch at Le Jeune Chef Restaurant. Eyewitness News’ Morgan Parrish was among those accompanying the group, and – in a piece that led the evening’s 5:30 newscasts on WBRE/WYOU – interviewed Michael Quint, managing director at Newmark Knight Frank; Jared Grissinger, project manager for the Governor’s Action Team; and Jason Fink, president/CEO of the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce, for their perspective. Also included in the broadcast was footage of Elizabeth A. Biddle, director of corporate relations; David R. Cotner, dean of industrial, computing and engineering technologies; Shannon M. Munro, vice president for workforce development; and Spencer L. Cotner, of Muncy, a plastics and polymer engineering technology major and research assistant at the college’s Plastics Innovation & Resource Center. The visit, which began at the Little League Baseball World Series over the weekend, concludes with Tuesday stops at UPMC Susquehanna and Lycoming College.
Pennsylvania College of Technology’s expanded welding instructional facility is home to new equipment from CLOOS Robotic Welding Inc.
The company – known for its pre-engineered and custom-engineered robots and welding equipment – is entrusting one of its QRC 320 upright robots with V9 controller to the college. The unit is an enhanced version of the robotic welder CLOOS provided to the college in 2014.
Follow along as Pennsylvania College of Technology welding student Erin Beaver crafts an amazing entry for the 2019 SkillsUSA welding sculpture competition. From her tentative first steps in October to June’s award ceremony, Beaver’s journey is chronicled in a new video on the college’s YouTube channel. No matter the results of the competition, she proves that she is a tomorrow maker. “If you can imagine it, you can do it,” Beaver says. With that philosophy and her remarkable talent, what a tomorrow it will be for her!
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).
Pennsylvania College of Technology’s expanded welding instructional facility will include laser welding, thanks in part to a partnership with Laserline Inc.
The manufacturer of high-power industrial diode lasers for metals processing and other applications is entrusting a 2 kilowatt laser power source to the college, which will facilitate an operational laser cell for students.
“We are grateful for the Laserline partnership, which is instrumental in the college’s effort to add laser welding to the curriculum,” said David R. Cotner, dean of Penn College’s School of Industrial, Computing & Engineering Technologies. “Laser welding is growing, so we want to provide hands-on experience with the technology for our students. We have a long history of adapting to the needs of industry, and this is the latest example.”
A foundation promoting manufacturing careers awarded one-third of its recent scholarships to Pennsylvania College of Technology students.
A dozen Penn College students were among 36 nationwide who received manufacturing scholarships from Nuts, Bolts & Thingamajigs. The scholarships, valued between $1,500 and $2,500, are for Fall 2019.
“I couldn’t be prouder,” said David R. Cotner, dean of Penn College’s School of Industrial, Computing & Engineering Technologies, which is home to the recipients’ majors. “To have the college dominate a national scholarship list speaks volumes about the quality of our students and our various academic programs.”
