A wide variety of rewarding career options await graduates of Penn College’s emergency management program, the focus of a new video on the college’s YouTube channel. The bachelor’s degree prepares students for management positions in government, public health, health care agencies, and a broad spectrum of industries in which planning for potential emergencies is paramount. “A lot of people, when they come into emergency management, know and think of county-level emergency management, state-level emergency management; they think of FEMA or Homeland Security,” says David E. Bjorkman, an emergency management/social science instructor in the college’s School of Sciences, Humanities & Visual Communications. “Emergency management and disasters touch every aspect of community life. Every organization. No one is immune to any disasters.” The piece was crafted by Tristan D. Scott, a student videographer/editor, under direction of Christopher J. Leigh, video production coordinator.
News about Sciences, Humanities & Visual Communications
‘Working Class: Helping & Healing’ premieres March 21
The latest episode of a locally produced, award-winning public television series emphasizes the importance of caring individuals who provide for the health and well-being of the community.
“Working Class: Helping & Healing,” produced by Pennsylvania College of Technology and WVIA Public Media, premieres on WVIA-TV at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 21 (with rebroadcasts at 1 p.m. Friday, March 22, and 11 a.m. Sunday, March 24). It highlights the importance of science, math, communication and hands-on experience in preparing students for success in health and human service careers.
The film features Penn College faculty, administrators and students who serve the community in helping and healing roles. Among them is Thomas A. Zimmerman, associate professor of psychology, who counseled area residents after the TWA Flight 800 crash in July 1996. He discusses the importance of people coming together to help one another and to heal in the wake of tragedy.
Jan. 19 service set for ‘Master Teacher’ Ned S. Coates
A memorial service will be Jan. 19 for Ned S. Coates, 1996 recipient of the Master Teacher Award and a retired professor of English at Williamsport Area Community College and Penn College. Coates, a faculty member from September 1967 through the 2003-04 academic year, died Sunday, Jan. 6. The service is scheduled for 2 p.m. at St. Luke Lutheran Church, 1400 Market St. Complete details (“Anyone who knew Ned will not be surprised to learn that he wrote this obituary himself,” his family notes) are in Friday’s editions of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette.
Farm Show offers ‘inspiring’ look at college’s varied majors
Throngs of visitors will soon converge on Harrisburg to celebrate the commonwealth’s agricultural prominence, and Pennsylvania College of Technology students and employees will be there to help honor the event’s 2019 theme of “Inspiring Pennsylvania’s Story.”
Papers to be published in Journal of Business Leadership
Two papers presented by Pennsylvania College of Technology employees at the annual conference of the Applied Business and Entrepreneurship Association International were selected “Best Session Paper” and will be invited to be published in the Journal of Business Leadership.
Students’ Africa-influenced art featured at CAC
Inspired by African tribal masks, artwork by students in wood sculpture classes taught by Penn College art faculty David A. Stabley and Brian A. Flynn is on display at the Community Arts Center through Dec. 22. Each student delivered a presentation and made sketches, then created a small-scale model in clay or Plasticine. They then hand-carved their masks out of pine blocks with mallets, gouges and rasps, encouraged by faculty to incorporate the principles of form, texture, color and pattern into their abstract designs.
Early Educators Club shares holiday warmth with YWCA residents
Students from Penn College’s Early Educators Club made the holidays brighter for residents of the YWCA Northcentral Pennsylvania, delivering more than 20 laundry baskets brimming with donations. Members filled each basket with a blanket, various hygiene items, gloves and children’s toys.
Photos provided
After a splash of winter, an overdue celebration of fall
Two weeks after it was postponed by snow, an autumn festival recently filled the Dunham Children’s Learning Center with sunshine and smiles. Parents helped their children make turkey “Thank you” cards, and children fashioned their own masks to wear into a photo booth that was added for the occasion. Early childhood education students Ophelia G. Arnold, of New Oxford, and Rachel L. Hafer, of Boyertown, assisted with the crafts.
Photos by Rachel A. Eirmann, student photographer
Emergency management instructor honored for advocacy
David E. Bjorkman, instructor of emergency management/social science at Pennsylvania College of Technology, was honored by the Keystone Emergency Management Association at its inaugural Emergency Preparedness Conference, held recently at the Blair County Convention Center in Altoona.
Bjorkman received the Spirit of KEMA Award. The award was established by the KEMA Board of Directors to recognize KEMA members who have worked tirelessly to advance the association, promote its mission, advocate on its behalf and forge partnerships that seek to elevate the emergency management profession.
Students bring societal crisis down to personal level
Human services students at Penn College collaborated on a successful opioid awareness event Saturday night in Penn’s Inn, invoking positivity and compassion in helping the community understand dependency’s insidious impact. PCT HOPE, organized by the Service Learning in Sociology class in cooperation with the West Branch Drug & Alcohol Abuse Commission, aimed to “Help Open People’s Eyes” through accessibility and lack of judgment. “I feel we succeeded at spreading awareness, hope and empathy in a unique way that I don’t think has been attempted here in Williamsport before,” applied human services major Jernae A. Drummond said. DJ Choices (Bryon Carey, a board-certified recovery specialist) donated his time to the effort; Lycoming College alumna Kaitlin Lunger screened “No Limits, No Boundaries,” her documentary about three local individuals – a recovering addict, an addict’s daughter and a Williamsport Bureau of Police officer – dealing with opioid abuse; and the class presented an interactive exhibit that put a human face on addiction and its scope. “I thought the students did a fantastic job,” said D. Robert Cooley, associate professor of anthropology/environmental science. “The event was polished, flowed well, and did a great job of engaging visitors with resources, information and personal stories on the part of the presenters.”
Photos by Rachel A. Eirmann, student photographer
Silenced voices echo through survivor’s search for ‘normal’
An emergency management technology major who is a survivor of last year’s Las Vegas shooting shared her story with fellow Pennsylvania College of Technology students and faculty Monday night in the Student & Administrative Services Center’s Presentation Room.
Emergency management, human services, nursing and emergency medical services/paramedic students were among those who listened intently and respectfully to Robyn N. Wolfe’s harrowing story. Her husband, William “Bill” Wolfe Jr., was the sole Pennsylvania fatality in the horrific mass shooting that claimed 58 lives and injured more than 800 people.
Human services students see firsthand example of civic impact
Human services students and faculty engaged in an enlightening educational outing on Friday with a visit to the Hazleton One Community Center, which was launched by Hazleton native and beloved Chicago Cubs Manager Joe Maddon.
Future-seekers meet their match at Fall Open House
Fall Open House visitors had unfettered access to Penn College’s vibrant campuses Sunday, as today’s faculty/staff, alumni and students provided them with a tantalizing view of a very real and credible tomorrow. All six academic schools put out the welcome mat through information sessions, tours and laboratory demonstrations, and guests were encouraged to explore the institution’s myriad complementary services and activities.
Human services students host ‘HOPE’ opioid awareness event
Human services students at Pennsylvania College of Technology are inviting the campus community and the public to attend “PCT HOPE,” a unique opioid awareness event to be held Saturday, Nov. 10, from 7 to 9:30 p.m. in Penn’s Inn on the second floor of the Bush Campus Center.
Standing for “Help Open People’s Eyes,” the PCT HOPE gathering aims to “humanize the local opioid epidemic.” The event is an outreach effort by students in the college’s Service Learning in Sociology class and is being organized in cooperation with the West Branch Drug & Alcohol Abuse Commission.
PCT HOPE will feature an interactive mural, speakers, information booths and giveaways. A “reaction tree,” where guests can post stories and their responses to the event, will also be a key feature – and one symbolizing growth.
Book chat probes personal impact of global conflict
A book club intimately convened Monday night in Madigan Library’s second-floor reading loft, where Tom Zimmerman, associate professor of psychology, led a review of Sebastian Barry’s “A Long Long Way.” Community members and college employees (active and retired) attended the collaborative exploration of the World War I novel, which heralds the next event in Penn College’s Technology and Society Colloquia Series. Summing up the evening, Zimmerman said: “We spent a full two hours discussing a range of topics both within and contextually related to Barry’s novel, including character development, poetic prose, the introduction of barbed wire and mustard gas in warfare (and the horrors both produced), conscription versus persuasive recruitment messaging, contributing economic and religious dynamics in Western Europe during the era, a reluctant W. B. Yeats who resisted composing a WWI poem in 1915 but penned a masterpiece in 1916 immortalizing the leaders of the Irish Rising, and, most importantly, the journey of the main character Willie Dunne as he and Ireland lose their innocence.” Several groups of students – including John F. Chappo’s Technology & Society (HIS262) and American History (HIS136) classes – were assigned the book this semester.