Lumley Retires From Penn College Board of Directors

Kathryn W. Lumley, a member of the Pennsylvania College of Technology Board of Directors since its inception in 1989 and a former chairman of the Board of Trustees of the College's predecessor institution, Williamsport Area Community College, has retired from her director's position.

Dr. Robert E. Dunham, chairman of the Board, announced the director's retirement at the Board's regular meeting Thursday.

"While we accept Kay's retirement from regular service to the Board, we anticipate that her close, personal involvement with Penn College will continue," Dunham said. "She is our longest-serving director. Her history and perspective, gained from more than 20 years of experience on the Board, contributes in an important way to our leadership of the institution today. We have learned a great deal from Kay and we expect she will remain a close confidant for directors in the future. I personally have treasured and benefited from her advice, experience and warm friendship."

Beginning her service to the College in 1978 as a director on the W.A.C.C. Board of Trustees, Lumley became vice chairman in 1984-85 and chairman in 1985-86. She continued serving the institution as a member of the Board of Directors when the College became a special mission affiliate of The Pennsylvania State University in 1989. The College's Kathryn Wentzel Lumley Aviation Center, located at the Williamsport Regional Airport, is named in her honor.

"It has been an honor for me to have worked with Kay since my early days on the College faculty," said Penn College President Dr. Davie Jane Gilmour. "She always has been one of the most enthusiastic, vocal and visible supporters of our faculty, staff and students. She has given a great deal of her time, talents and energy to the growth of this institution. Employees, who know her well, hold the deepest affection and admiration for her."

Before joining the Board, Lumley was a teacher, reading specialist, educational administrator, children's author and one of the founders of "Reading is Fundamental." With the late cartoonist Charles M. Schulz of "Peanuts" fame, Lumley collaborated on "Snoopy's Secret Code Book."

To fill Lumley's seat on the Board, the Corporation for Penn State has named Williamsport resident Ronna S. McMurtrie.

McMurtrie moved to Williamsport in 1975 and worked as a reading specialist in the Williamsport Area School District. She was owner/director of Educational Specialists, an educational service facility, and later became Act 101 assistant program director at W.A.C.C.

In 1990, McMurtrie became acting co-director, and later executive director, of the Williamsport-Lycoming Arts Council.

McMurtrie earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Bloomsburg University. In addition, she was a certified reading specialist and completed course work for a doctoral degree at Penn State.

McMurtrie was a member of the board of directors of the Williamsport-Lycoming Arts Council and was appointed to the Local Government Panel of the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts for two years. She served on the steering committee of the Rural Pennsylvania Arts Network, an organization formed to help rural artists and organizations, and the local Arts Committee of the Pennsylvania Arts Alliance.

She has served on the boards of the Community Arts Center, Preservation Williamsport and the Children's Discovery Workshop. In addition, she was appointed to the Advisory Board of the Lycoming County Historical Society. She has been a consistent supporter of Pennsylvania College of Technology, having served on the Corporate Advisory Board, the Act 101 Advisory Board and the Pennsylvania College of Technology Foundation Board of Directors.

McMurtrie was appointed to the Williamsport Planning Commission and served on the boards of the Williamsport YMCA, the Susquehanna Council of the Boy Scouts of America, the Advisory Board for Easter Seals, the Lycoming County American Cancer Society and the Association for Brain Tumor Research.

She served on the Williamsport-Lycoming Foundation Advisory Board and was a member of the Project Committee. She was honored by the Williamsport-Lycoming Arts Council for her contribution to the arts, and she received the Brotherhood Award in 1994 for her service to others.

McMurtrie and her late husband, John, have two daughters, Cindy and Elise; and two sons, John and Bennett.