News about Marcellus Shale

Workforce Development & Continuing Education at Pennsylvania College of Technology is offering training to people seeking employment in the natural gas and energy industry. In addition to learning industry employability skills and gaining three industry-recognized certifications, students will be connected to employers who have immediate hiring needs. 

Scholarships are available to those who qualify on a first-come, first-served basis. The training is delivered by Penn College as a result of its award-winning ShaleNET partnership.

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With a new gift of more than $150,000, Chevron Appalachia funding for Pennsylvania College of Technology scholarships and outreach in energy and manufacturing has surpassed $550,000.

Through its Workforce Development & Continuing Education office, Penn College recently was awarded funding of $150,302 from Chevron; the college has now received a total of $550,987 from Chevron’s Appalachia Partnership Initiative.

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Ten young men in the latest natural gas roustabout class successfully completed training this month through ShaleNET’s Eastern Hub at Pennsylvania College of Technology.

“The group was composed of college students who completed our short-term training to gain industry credentials as well as practical experience,” said Diane H. Bubb, a career counselor with Workforce Development & Continuing Education at Penn College. “The training was scheduled to allow the students to enroll following the completion of their spring semesters. We are very proud of those who completed this class.”

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Through its Workforce Development & Continuing Education office, Pennsylvania College of Technology has received $416,685 from Chevron U.S.A. to support scholarships, curriculum development and ongoing outreach in energy and manufacturing.

Penn College will continue the promising practices first started through ShaleNET, a U.S. Department of Labor grant aimed at providing training and education in these important industry sectors.

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Openings remain for a 15-day Ready-to-Work Field Service Worker and Roustabout Training program offered through Workforce Development & Continuing Education at Pennsylvania College of Technology.

The short-term, full-time training – which runs from Nov. 14 to Dec. 6 – prepares participants to work in the following industry sectors: energy, construction, warehousing/logistics and manufacturing. Students experience classroom and hands-on learning by instructors with real-world work experience.

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Six students in the ShaleNET training program – including two brothers and three alumni of Penn College or its immediate predecessor – received their Ready to Work Field Service Worker & Roustabout certificates at a Tuesday ceremony near Allenwood. Graduating during afternoon proceedings at the Energy Technology and Education Center were Jessica A. Baer, Antes Fort; brothers Dakota W. Berquist and Lathan Meredith III, Williamsport; Richard Hilfiger, Mansfield; Dennis M. Johns, Wellsboro; and Brock H. Landi, Williamsport. The brothers were introduced to ShaleNET by their father, who underwent natural gas training through the college’s Workforce Development & Continuing Education department. Johns earned an associate degree in civil engineering from Williamsport Area Community College, while Landi (2004, electronics engineering technology: communications/fiber optics emphasis) and Baer (2001, building construction technology: masonry emphasis) are Penn College alums. Each of the graduates spoke during the event in the ETEC classroom; also participating were Diane H. Bubb, ShaleNET U.S. case manager; and Daniel R. Mendell and Rex E. Moore, ShaleNET U.S. consultant/instructors.

Openings remain for a 15-day Ready-to-Work Field Service Worker and Roustabout Training program offered through Workforce Development & Continuing Education at Pennsylvania College of Technology.

The short-term, full-time training – which runs from Oct. 3-21 – prepares participants to work in the following industry sectors: energy, construction, warehousing/logistics and manufacturing. Students experience classroom and hands-on learning by instructors with real-world work experience.

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Regulators from 17 states and four Canadian provinces toured the region Wednesday, stopping by the Center for Business & Workforce Development on Penn College’s main campus and the Energy Technology Education Center to its south. The visit was arranged by James R. Ladlee, interim assistant director of energy, entrepreneurship and community development programs for Penn State Cooperative Extension.  Following a stop at the wellfield training lab, facilitated by Daniel R. Mendell, ShaleNET U.S. consultant/instructor, the group was treated to a variety of demonstrations at ETEC (a collaborative training site for current and prospective gas-industry employees, as well as emergency response crews). New Pig Energy, among the generous corporate partners in the center’s operation, showcased its spill-containment liner before the guests traveled to lunch and other industry-related locations.

Openings remain for a 15-day Ready-to-Work Field Service Worker and Roustabout Training program offered through Workforce Development & Continuing Education at Pennsylvania College of Technology.

The short-term, full-time training – which runs Sept. 7-27 – prepares participants to work in the following industry sectors: energy, construction, warehousing/logistics and manufacturing. Students experience classroom and hands-on learning from instructors with real-world work experience.

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A contributor to The Daily Caller has filed his story and supporting video, “After the Boom: How the Marcellus Shale Changed Life in Pennsylvania,” from reportage that included a winter visit to Penn College. Joseph Hammond spent a complete late-February day at the college, where he got a look at Workforce Development & Continuing Education natural gas training efforts; and toured the mechatronics laboratory, wellsite trainer lab, welding and machining lab, the Schneebeli Earth Science Center and the Energy Technology Education Center.

Parties interested in the international export of natural gas included Penn College in a fact-finding visit to the region this week. Meeting with ShaleNET personnel in the college’s Thompson Professional Development Center were representatives of LNG Allies Inc., a nonprofit research and advocacy group; the American Petroleum Institute; Anadarko Petroleum; the embassies of Croatia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia; and the European Parliament Liaison Office. While on campus, the working group heard presentations from Robert Montgomery, Anadarko’s production engineering manager for the Appalachian Basin; John F. Strittmatter, director of the ShaleNET U.S. Regional Hub; Diane H. Bubb, ShaleNET U.S. case manager; and David Yoxtheimer, an extension associate with the Penn State Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research. The coalition’s two-day stay also featured a breakfast meeting with the Williamsport-Lycoming Chamber of Commerce, as well as tours of the Panda Patriot power plant in Clinton Township and the Energy Transfer Partners compressor station along Route 87.

Openings remain for a 15-day Ready-to-Work Field Service Worker and Roustabout Training program offered through Workforce Development & Continuing Education at Pennsylvania College of Technology.

The short-term, full-time training – which runs from July 6-26 – prepares participants to work in the following industry sectors: energy, construction, warehousing/logistics and manufacturing. Students experience classroom and hands-on learning by instructors with real-world work experience.

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Openings remain for a 15-day Ready-to-Work Field Service Worker and Roustabout Training program offered through Workforce Development & Continuing Education at Pennsylvania College of Technology.

The short-term, full-time training – which runs from May 23 to June 14 – prepares participants to work in the following industry sectors: energy, construction, warehousing/logistics and manufacturing. Students undergo classroom and hands-on learning from instructors with real-world work experience.

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A delegation from China visited Penn College on Wednesday, beginning with a presentation about the programs – credit and noncredit – that help feed the natural gas industry. Representing the Petrochina Huabei Oilfield Co., Huangding Energy Services and Henen Polytech University, the 12-member group toured the wellsite training facility and mechatronics lab in the Center for Business & Workforce Development, and the machining and welding labs in the School of Industrial & Engineering Technologies. The contingent also met for several hours with Thomas B. Murphy, extension educator and co-director of the Penn State Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research. Following lunch at Lycoming College, the group explored instructional space at the Schneebeli Earth Science Center and the wellfield simulation at the Energy Technology Education Center.
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A group of Canadian commissioners and panel members from New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador visited Penn College and regional gas-related sites on Monday and Tuesday to meet with key stakeholders on the workforce, economic, legislative and regulatory impacts of shale development.  The delegation met with Penn State, Penn College Workforce Development & Continuing Education, county and state representatives on Monday, followed by regional tours to see shale gas operations.