Automotive Department Still Accepting Vehicles for Student Work
Sept. 8, 2009 - 3:54 p.m.
The Automotive Department offers limited, low-cost automotive maintenance, diagnosis and repair services to Penn College faculty/staff and students as part of its courses. You are responsible for the cost of the parts needed, plus a $10 shop fee. Be prepared to present college ID when dropping off your vehicle.
College Honored as Generous Host of '08 Automotive Conference
July 30, 2009 - 5:54 p.m.
Penn College was recognized at the recent North American Council of Automotive Teachers conference for successfully (and magnanimously) hosting the organization’s 35th annual event last year. The commemorative trophy was presented at this year’s conference – held July 19-24 at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, N.C. – to Dale E. Jaenke, assistant professor of automotive technology at Penn College. Jaenke was host for the 2008 conference, which was coordinated by Steve H. Wallace, assistant dean of transportation technology.
Berks County Team Wins Automotive Competition
May 22, 2009 - 8:36 a.m.
A team of automotive technology students from Berks Career and Technology Center, Leesport, won the Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills Competition recently held on the Penn College campus.
Penn College Among Stops in 21st Century Automotive Challenge
April 18, 2009 - 12:01 p.m.
Three alternative-fuel vehicles made a road trip from University Park to Penn College on Saturday morning as part of the 21st Century Automotive Challenge hosted by Penn State's Hybrid and Hydrogen Vehicle Research Laboratory. Two Mercedes-Benz automobiles, converted to run on biodiesel, and a Toyota Prius pace car traveled to the College Avenue Labs parking lot, where their "crews" displayed and discussed the vehicles. Among those taking part were Steven H. Wallace, assistant dean of transportation technology; automotive faculty members Ronald A. Garner and Charles F. Probst; and Charles G. Frey, director of automotive specialties for AAA North Penn. “It is a unique opportunity for our students to be exposed to futuristic cars," said Colin W. Williamson, the college's dean of transportation technology, "especially in light of today’s emphasis on cleaner and more efficient transportation.” The visit was part of a three-day 21st Century Automotive Challenge, part of which included technical inspections of vehicles by Penn College students who traveled to Centre County on Friday.
Penn College Alumnus’ Gratitude Fuels Generous Vehicle Donation
April 7, 2009 - 3:13 p.m.
Recognizing his alma mater’s need for late-model vehicles from a variety of manufacturers, a grateful graduate of Penn College recently brokered the donation of two automobiles to the college’s School of Transportation Technology. Anthony J. Piccari, of Philadelphia, who received a bachelor’s degree in automotive technology management in 2008, personally delivered the first of the vehicles in late March – a fully loaded 2006 Infiniti Q45 with fewer than 2,000 miles – to Penn College’s Advanced Automotive Technology Center in Williamsport’s western end. A 2001 companion vehicle, which also was donated in conjunction with Nissan North America, soon will be added to the instructional fleet at the Parkes Automotive Technology Center on main campus.
Incoming Freshman Advances to National Automotive Competition
March 9, 2009 - 2:30 p.m.
A Penn College enrollee shared top honors with his Jersey Shore Area High School teammate in the recent Pennsylvania Automotive Association Foundation-sponsored competition in Harrisburg. Bryan Schaefer, who will start classes as an automotive technology major at Penn College in the fall, and Johnathan Nyman advance to the 2009 National Automotive Technology Competition, to be held April 10-19 in New York. They will be joined by their instructor, Robert Vlachich, at the industry’s largest school-to-work initiative, which pits the nation’s best high school automotive students against one another for the title of “America’s Top Technician.”
Research Vehicles Spark Attention at NACAT Conference
July 22, 2008 - 2:04 p.m.
The automobile industry's future, of keen interest to the automotive teachers mentoring tomorrow's vehicle technicians, is today's reality at Penn College. The North American Council of Automotive Instructors, holding its 35th annual conference on campus, heard presentations Tuesday on vehicles that use technology to reduce petroleum dependency and greenhouse-gas emissions. Toyota brought along a prototype fuel-cell vehicle, which attracted considerable attention (and some willing test-drivers) from attendees and the media alike. Also on hand was The Pennsylvania State University's EcoCAR research vehicle, which gives engineering students the opportunity to design and build cars that demonstrate leading-edge technologies, with the goal of minimizing the environmental impact of personal transportation. Among the visitors was WNEP's Norm Jones, whose report on the Toyota vehicle aired at 5:30 Tuesday evening. Additional coverage, including his interviews with conference organizers and attendees, tentatively was to broadcast later in the day. The Williamsport Sun-Gazette also published an article about the car on the front page of Wednesday's editions.
Keynoter Kicks Off Automotive Conference
July 21, 2008 - 11:41 p.m.
Technology and straight-from-the-headlines topicality combine with socializing and sightseeing at this week's
35th annual conference of the North American Council of Automotive Teachers being hosted at Penn College. More than 200 instructors registered for the event, which began Monday morning with elections and a keynote address in the college's Klump Academic Center. David Ganss, a technology adviser specializing in advanced vehicle propulsion technologies in the Transportation and Climate Division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality, offered the opening speech, "The Future Is Here: Trends in Transportation Technology, Energy and the Environment." Outlining the push for research spurred by $4-a-gallon gasoline and efficiency standards, Ganss detailed a three-pronged solution of technology, alternative fuels and changes in motorists' habits: "In short," he said, "better cars, better fuels and better drivers." The presentation was attended by Williamsport Sun-Gazette reporter Heather Gach and photographer Craig McKibben, whose front-page coverage appeared in Tuesday's editions. WBRE-TV's Jeremy Deebel also visited campus in conjunction with the NACAT conference; his report aired Monday evening.
Penn College to Host International Event for Automotive Teachers
July 3, 2008 - 12:17 p.m.
A group of North American automotive instructors will gather this month at Penn College, home to the industry’s oldest continually operating, postsecondary program in the United States.
Ending three years of preparation that began with the institution’s approval as the event venue, the college and its School of Transportation Technology will host the 35th annual conference of the North American Council of Automotive Teachers from July 21-25. It will be the first such campus get-together since the college was the site of NACAT’s silver-anniversary conference in July 1998.
'Fuel Cell Challenge' Grows in Popularity
May 20, 2008 - 11:29 a.m.
Students from 12 high schools – triple the number on hand for last year's inaugural event – gathered on campus Tuesday for the second annual Fuel Cell Challenge, piloting vehicles powered by the separation of water into hydrogen and oxygen. Students took a written exam, then put their fuel-cell-powered vehicles through a battery of seven performance tests in the college’s Field House: engineering design, artistic design, fastest car, hill climb, load pull, fuel management and longest distance. A crosscurricular assortment of faculty judged the various competitions, which attracted students from Easton Area, Hamburg Area, Liberty, Middletown, New Oxford, Northern Lebanon, Plum, Pottsville Area, Wallenpaupack Area and Williamson high schools, as well as the Warren County Career Center and the Jefferson County-DuBois Area Vocational-Technical School.
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