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Automotive Service Sales & Marketing

School of Transportation Technology
Parkes Automotive Technology Center, Room 133 · (570) 327-4516
Certified by NATEF

Pennsylvania College of Technology's Automotive Service Sales and Marketing (AK) degree prepares students for a career in the following automotive service fields:

Students in this program spend their first year at Penn College learning the basics of either automotive technology or collision repair. The second year of the program is devoted primarily to marketing, business, and management courses. Second-year students also get a chance to put the management skills they are learning into practice during their internships in the live work labs in the automotive or collision repair programs.

This program was designed to allow students to move from the technician-oriented CR, AU, or AM programs into the management-oriented AK program (or vise versa) up until the end of their first year, with virtually all of their courses carrying into the new program. Occasionally, students in automotive technology or collision repair find that while they enjoy working in the field of automotive service, the "hands-on" repair work doesn’t have the appeal they thought it would. The AK program offers these individuals the opportunity to work in the field of automotive service in a management, marketing, sales, or customer relations position.

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Automotive Service Sales & Marketing News

Automotive Department Accepting Limited Summer Work

May 2009

The Automotive Department is performing the following services for the next four weeks only on vehicles 10 years old or newer: brakes, steering, suspension and alignment. (The automotive shop currently is located in College Avenue Labs.) Please call ext. 7933 from noon-4 p.m. Monday and Wednesday or from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday. There is a nominal $10 fee, plus the cost of any necessary parts. This service is only available to Penn College faculty, staff and students.

Berks County Team Wins Automotive Competition

May 2009

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.

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Penn College Among Stops in 21st Century Automotive Challenge

April 2009

Biodiesel-fueled cars arrive at College Avenues Labs Jerry Clever, of Chambersburg, passionately explains his vegetable oil-fueled vehicle Steven H. Wallace, assistant dean of transportation technology, right, shows the Parkes Automotive Technology Center to the father-son team of Edward and James Kreibeck, of Warminster Ronald A. Garner, automotive professor, right, talks with J. Scott Pflumm, a Penn State research engineer 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 2009

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A grateful grad delivers
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.

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Incoming Freshman Advances to National Automotive Competition

March 2009

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Bryan Schaefer
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.”

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