In 2018, a record number of employers indicated that finding qualified employees is the single most important issue affecting their companies. Addressing skills gaps is in Penn College’s DNA. “The workforce needs Penn College,” says President Davie Jane Gilmour. “And we deliver.” Learn how Penn College and its partners are preparing tomorrow’s workforce leaders – and fostering economic growth and innovation – in the 2018-19 Impact Report.
A Pennsylvania College of Technology student recently wrapped up an internship that helped to inform the community about a hardworking nonprofit organization and to raise funds for its work.
Stevie A. Petrison, a business administration: sport and event management student from Landenberg, helped the Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation to organize the group’s fourth annual Farmapalooza, a music festival in Oxford.
The foundation honors the life of McDonough, who battled leukemia, septic shock and other complications for nearly six months before he died on July 14, 2007, at the age of 14. His B+ blood type became a motto for his family and friends: always be positive. The organization, headed by his father, Joe, provides financial and emotional support nationwide to families of children with cancer, and it funds childhood-cancer research.
The Northeast PA Manufacturers & Employers Council and Pennsylvania College of Technology have announced a partnership and a scholarship opportunity for YES (Your Employability Skills) Northeast Program graduates.
YES, which is administered by the council, is a 120-hour, one-credit, year-round elective course that addresses the shortfall of basic skills that employers say are lacking in many job applicants. The course covers 38 modules in all, including communication, team building, interview/resume/cover letter writing, completing a job application, personal finance, conflict resolution, and time management.
Standing 6-foot-5 and dressed in a dark blue lab coat accessorized by purple latex gloves and safety glasses, the Pennsylvania College of Technology graduate resembles a bookish superhero rather than a federal contractor.
Daniel J. Ravizza’s appearance is appropriate for his domain. All sorts of aircraft representing various eras of aviation extend from the ceiling of the hangar-like facility. An old Eastern Airlines plane is stationed behind him. A short walk from his lab counter reveals the Space Shuttle Discovery in all its glory.
His duties reflect the unique environment. One day, Ravizza moves Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit. The next, he examines clothing belonging to famed aviator Charles Lindbergh. Later, he handles unopened cans of space food, once belonging to cosmonauts.
Pennsylvania College of Technology students provided dental care to more than 2,000 patients in the college’s Dental Hygiene Clinic during the 2018-19 academic year.
The college’s state-of-the-art Dental Hygiene Clinic is open to the public and provides low-cost services that include cleanings, exams, X-rays and sealants.
Since many patients require more than one visit, the students provided a total of 4,138 patient appointments.
Students in instructor Shaun D. Hack’s Introduction to Non-Structural Collision Repair Applications class got a hands-on visit Thursday from Daniel L. Maloney Jr., national sales manager for Dent Fix Equipment. The industry guest showed freshman collision repair/automobile restoration majors how to use the Aluspot Deluxe DF-900DX aluminum dent-repair station donated last year and a new EZ Nitrogen Plastic Welder DF-EZN1 under consideration for College Avenue Labs.
Photos by alumna Vanessa Mathurin, toolroom attendant for collision repair
Pennsylvania College of Technology’s expanded welding instructional facility will include new equipment, thanks to a continuing partnership with Fronius USA.
Fronius USA LLC is entrusting 12 of its TPS/i 300 machines, units that facilitate multiple welding processes. Fronius is a leading manufacturer of high-quality technology with three business units: Perfect Welding, Solar Energy and Perfect Charging. The company previously entrusted equipment to the college in 2016.
State Rep. Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster), the second-highest ranking member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, visited Penn College on Thursday. Cutler, serving his first term as majority leader, was accompanied on the tour – which took in a number of instructional areas of main campus – by Jacob G. Smeltz, his chief of staff, as well as two members of the college’s board of directors: Sen. Gene Yaw, chair, and Rep. Garth Everett. President Davie Jane Gilmour and other members of the college administration (including Michael J. Reed, vice president for academic affairs and provost, and Patrick Marty, chief of staff) welcomed the guests, and various deans and faculty members led Cutler through The Victorian House, welding and metal fabrication, advanced manufacturing, automotive restoration, culinary arts and hospitality, plastics and polymer engineering, and several majors in the School of Nursing & Health Sciences. Cutler started his career in radiography, earning a certificate from Lancaster General School of Radiology. He worked as an X-ray technologist before earning a health care management degree from Lebanon Valley College and working as an administrator in his local hospital’s radiology department. He later earned a law degree, focused on health care law, from Widener Law School and has served in the Legislature since 2007. The day’s itinerary also included lunch at Le Jeune Chef Restaurant and a chance to see the Gold Rush Excavator on a nearby parking lot.
The corporate generosity that provides Pennsylvania College of Technology students with up-to-date tools befitting a campuswide pool of “tomorrow makers” lives on in an equipment loan from Volvo Construction Equipment, facilitated by Highway Equipment & Supply Co.
A Volvo EC220 excavator has been made available through the end of the Fall 2019 semester, and already has seen considerable use by students in the summer operations classes.
From the Fall 2020 Penn College Magazine: Joey Morrin knew he’d someday find his way to his homeland. He was surprised that it found him through a study abroad opportunity at Penn College. Read “Self-Study.”
Every August 2019 graduate of Pennsylvania College of Technology’s surgical technology major has conquered yet another educational milestone: passing the Certified Surgical Technologist examination on the first attempt.
Surgical technologists are an integral part of the operating room team. They prepare operating rooms and equipment, ensure a sterile environment and patient safety, and assist doctors during surgeries. The work demands attention to detail and knowledge of surgical procedures.
The expertise offered by Pennsylvania College of Technology and its acclaimed Plastics Innovation & Resource Center attracted an array of plastics professionals to campus for the recent Extrusion Seminar and Hands-On Workshop.
Individuals representing 22 companies from 10 states, Canada and Italy attended the 21st annual event that featured extrusion experts Chris Rauwendaal, president of Rauwendaal Extrusion Engineering Inc., and Kirk M. Cantor, professor of plastics and polymer technology.
Penn College students lent a practiced hand to the preservation of the “Tin Goose,” a 1947 precursor to the historically significant Tucker automobile, which was named “Best Post-War Vehicle” at this past weekend’s Concours d’Elegance in Hershey. The car is owned by the William E. Swigart Jr. Automobile Museum in Huntingdon and was entrusted to automotive restoration technology students by Pat Swigart – a gracious and grateful supporter of their work since soon after the major debuted in 2012. “Penn College is so happy to be able to work with her collection and thank her for her dedication to us,” the Classic Cruisers club said in a social media post. “The students who restored her car worked very hard … with this amazing historical vehicle. Thank you again to Ms. Swigart for her dedication and support of us.” Joined by faculty members Roy H. Klinger and Robert K. Vlacich, the group also assisted in vehicle repairs for several drivers in the Grand Ascent hill climb for vintage automobiles.
Photos provided
Nearly two dozen registrants from eight companies in Illinois, New York and Pennsylvania attended the recent Plastics Materials, Processing and Testing workshop hosted by Pennsylvania College of Technology’s world-renowned Plastics Innovation & Resource Center.
The May 20-22 workshop, one of many that attract industry professionals to campus each summer, provided participants with a fundamental knowledge of polymers and how they are processed, tested and characterized.
Anne Reiner of the On the Pulse local news site visited campus recently to interview Ryan M. Witmer, a mechatronics technology student from Lancaster County. Reiner watched Witmer employ various diagnostic tools to monitor the performance of Penn College’s roll-fed thermoformer and discussed with him the unique major, which combines electrical, mechanical and computer engineering into one field. Reiner also explored mechatronics with one of Witmer’s teachers: Howard W. Troup, instructor of automated manufacturing and machining. “Everything that I learned in high school was, ‘I needed to fix it,'” says Witmer, who graduated with high honors on May 17. “Here, I can build it … I can fix it … I can, you know, prevent it from being broken in the first place.” The new alumnus is employed as an assembly technician for Astro Machine Works in Ephrata.