Civic Contribution Among Board Actions

The Pennsylvania College of Technology Board of Directors approved a voluntary contribution of $100,000 to the City of Williamsport during the 2005-06 fiscal year, along with $15,000 in tuition credits to city employees, in lieu of a prior written agreement with the city.

The purchase of a 20-acre property at 6706 Route 15, Montgomery, across from the entrance to the Schneebeli Earth Science Center, also was approved by the board. The property's location offers the immediate potential for use as a parking lot to serve the students and faculty at the Earth Science Center. Its Route 15 frontage offers long-term potential for future construction, at a price far lower than the per-acre cost of land adjacent to the main campus.

The board endorsed parameters for institutional size, as presented by the administration. In April 2004, the board approved the Strategic Vision for 2004-09; one of the goals identified in the Strategic Vision was to determine just how much the college could grow and still allow quality, mission and vision to flourish.

Considerable discussion, evaluation and review among the college's leadership team focused on how much enrollment growth could be managed while maintaining a culture, environment and quality of education that are consistent with the college mission.

The team cited a number of conditions under which ideal growth would take place, including maintaining an emphasis on hands-on instruction with industry-standard equipment and technology, striving to keep graduate placement rates at 95 percent or higher, and sustaining a large contingent of full-time faculty, with instruction by adjunct faculty not to exceed 25 percent of courses offered in an academic year.

As a result, the leadership team determined that, over the next 10 years, approximately 150 additional students per year could be served − reaching a maximum enrollment of 8,000 students in a decade − without eroding a commitment to institutional culture.

"Establishing the cultural and organizational framework was thought to be the key to establishing growth parameters," said Davie Jane Gilmour, college president."This determination of size gives us an idea of how much growth we can sustain given our unwavering commitment to mission, vision and quality."

The parameters have been endorsed by the Corporate Advisory Board and reviewed by the college's Internal Governance system.

Budget adjustments for the unrestricted current and plant funds, to reflect additional revenues and expenditures related to May term enrollment, which exceeded budget projections, were approved. Also approved was the execution of an agreement granting PG Energy a permanent easement and right-of-way for gas lines to serve the Roger and Peggy Madigan Library.

The boardalso re-elected its current slate of officers for 2005-06 and approved the following members and alternates for the Community Arts Center Board of Directors, effective June 2005: members Davie Jane Gilmour, William J. Martin, Robert M. Fisher, Veronica M. Muzic and Barry R. Stiger, and alternates James C. McMahon, Robert G. Bowers and Ann Marie Phillips.