J. Elliott Strickland Jr., vice president for student affairs at Pennsylvania College of Technology, was selected to serve on the NCAA Division III Membership Committee.
Strickland’s four-year term on the 10-member committee runs through August 2023, and he is eligible for reappointment. He is representing the North Eastern Athletic Conference; 12 Penn College Wildcat Athletics teams compete in the NEAC.
A new-look athletic complex. Four new hall of fame members. A new coach coming in. Some new faces in the North Eastern Athletic Conference.
Those are among the changes in the wind for the 2019-20 athletic seasons at Pennsylvania College of Technology.
“Our kids reported on Wednesday and it totally changed how things are – the excitement and energy they come with is awesome,” said John Vandevere, director of athletics.
A bronze sculpture of a left fielder, the latest installation in the communitywide “Bases Loaded” project, was unveiled in a brief ceremony near Penn College’s main entrance Friday morning. Wearing No. 14, in commemoration of the institution’s 1914 founding, the player stands at the northeast corner of the turning circle outside the Student & Administrative Services Center. “Our connection to the Little League program is one we’re very proud of,” said President Davie Jane Gilmour, a member and former chair of the Little League International Board of Directors. Fresh from a college picnic for Little League Baseball World Series participants prior to Wednesday’s Grand Slam Parade, Gilmour noted that the eyes of the world are on Williamsport … and the statue “brings a little piece of that world to our campus.” Wildcat baseball and softball players joined in the unveiling, which was attended by a number of Wildcat student-athletes, coaches and administrators, as well as college employees. In addition to the president, speakers were Jason Fink, president and CEO of the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce; and Amy J. Brooks, of Susquehanna Trailways, who chairs the Chamber’s Visitors Bureau Operating Committee. Other statues – strategically placed to call attention to the area’s abundant attractions – are at Market Square, the Trade & Transit Centre II Plaza, the Original Little League complex, BB&T Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field, and the UPMC Susquehanna Williamsport Regional Medical Center campus. The project was launched in 2014 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Little League Baseball and will culminate in 2021 with the 75th anniversary of the Little League Baseball World Series.
With convenient proximity to the start of Wednesday’s Grand Slam Parade route, and historic community ties to Little League Baseball, Pennsylvania College of Technology warmly welcomed visitors to the 73rd annual Little League Baseball World Series (Aug. 15-25). For the 11th year, the college hosted a Wednesday picnic for players, coaches, team “uncles,” umpires and officials outside the Bush Campus Center; students and employees also participated in the evening’s parade through Williamsport, for which five-time Cy Young Award winner Randy Johnson served as grand marshal.
The Pennsylvania College of Technology Athletics Department has announced its 2019 Hall of Fame Class: Cody E. Buterbaugh, Zachary J. Buterbaugh, Christopher P. Brennan and Teresa S. Burrill.
The inductees will enter the Hall of Fame on Friday, Oct. 4, during a 5:30 p.m. ceremony in the Thompson Professional Development Center.
A Penn College-branded bus, one of two in the fleet of Susquehanna Trailways – a generous supporter of Wildcat Athletics – transported the South Williamsport Little League softball team to the Williamsport Regional Airport this past weekend for its flight to Portland, Oregon. The 12-year-olds meet Asia-Pacific there on Wednesday in the first game of the Little League Softball World Series.
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A total of 275 students have petitioned to graduate following Pennsylvania College of Technology’s summer sessions. A commencement ceremony is set for Saturday, Aug. 10, at the Community Arts Center.
The student speaker for the 11 a.m. event will be Dylan Gary Otis, of Wyalusing, who will be presented with Associate of Applied Science degrees in heavy construction equipment technology: technician emphasis and heavy construction equipment technology: operator emphasis.
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.
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.
Pennsylvania College of Technology is this year’s recipient of the North Eastern Athletic Conference Senior Woman Administrators’ Cup, which annually recognizes community service completed by conference institutions.
The selection, announced Monday, marks the first individual cup for the Wildcats since Penn College joined the NEAC in 2014.
“I am incredibly proud of how the Penn College student-athletes and athletic department have embraced what community service is, and how else we can leave our mark besides just in competition,” said Jackie Klahold, the college’s Senior Woman Administrator and chair of the NEAC SWAs. “Four years ago, we began establishing ideals of what it means to be a Penn College Wildcat, knowing community service and giving back was a major part of our culture. Our student-athletes have continuously strived to not only challenge each other, but also explore the many different opportunities to better the surrounding community.”
Pennsylvania College of Technology’s transportation partner for Wildcat Athletics, Susquehanna Trailways, is increasing its support, which will be commemorated on the new scoreboard at the college’s updated athletic complex.
As part of the company’s commitment, two Susquehanna Trailways tour buses will continue to sport Penn College promotional wraps for five years.
M&T Bank has pledged support for the construction of a new entrance gate – which will bear the name of the financial institution – at Pennsylvania College of Technology’s athletics complex.
Construction for the M&T Bank entrance gate is expected to begin soon and will be completed in time for the Fall 2019 athletic schedule.
Constructed of brick, stone and metal, the gate will be erected at the southwest corner of the complex, which is adjacent to the Penn College Field House.
A uniquely collaborative learning experience at Pennsylvania College of Technology, dubbed the “Soccer Ball Experiment,” helped civil engineering technology and surveying technology students and members of the Wildcat women’s soccer team acquire useful professional tools during the spring semester.
When weather finally allowed, the civil engineering technology and surveying technology students used a variety of instruments – including small unmanned aerial systems (drones), the Global Positioning System, total stations, a tape measure, an accelerometer and smartphones – to collect data while the student-athletes and their coach took turns striking a soccer ball on Penn College’s Madigan Library lawn.
The data was used to measure the accuracy of ball placement with respect to targets on the grass and to describe the dynamic properties (such as position, velocity and acceleration) of the launched ball. In addition to using technical skills to acquire that information, the students completed a reflection assignment that required them to assess how they employed their own collaboration, communication and critical thinking skills.
The email contained a stark message for the transfer student. After a year of subpar grades, Pennsylvania College of Technology had to place her on academic probation.
Jacqueline M. Westervelt repeatedly scanned the message, hoping that the words would change. They didn’t.
Her dream of earning an information technology degree – already delayed for two years – was in jeopardy. Self-doubt, fueled by past struggles in school, flooded her mind. Tears flowed as she thought that the people who told her she wasn’t college material were right.
Turns out, they were wrong.
In its fifth season as a member of the North Eastern Athletic Conference, and second as a full-fledged member of NCAA Division III, Pennsylvania College of Technology continued to show it belongs.