Board of Directors approves Strategic Plan, takes other actions

Pennsylvania College of Technology’s Board of Directors on Thursday approved the college’s 2026-30 Strategic Plan, authorized the appointment of the firm to conduct the college’s audit for 2025-26, and approved revisions to a pair of policies. The board also heard a presentation on curriculum updates for Fall 2026.

Andrea M. Campbell, assistant dean of curriculum and instruction, and Jennifer McLean, dean of students/chief retention officer, presented the college’s 2026-30 Strategic Plan objectives. Since the board’s approval of the college’s updated Mission, Vision and Values in December, the Strategic Planning Committee has worked to developing a Strategic Plan to carry out the mission. The process included examining data and collecting feedback from across the institution. 

The plan retains the goals of the 2022-26 Strategic Plan: Growth Through Access, Continuous Improvement Through Innovation and Excellence Through Distinction, and is composed of strategic objectives and initiatives designed to meet the goals.

Before coming to the Board of Directors, the objectives were reviewed by President’s Cabinet, College Council and the Student Government Association. Next, departments will be tasked with developing annual action plans to meet the objectives and initiatives and to set key performance indicators to measure their progress.

President Michael J. Reed thanked Campbell, McLean and the Strategic Planning Committee for their diligence, noting that the process involved about 1,000 people.

In other business, the board authorized the appointment of Baker Tilly to perform auditing services for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2026.

The board approved an update to Policy 2.01, removing the selection of architects as a board action item, which can delay progress on building projects. The board will continue to approve budgets and final building plans.

The group also approved an updated to Policy and Procedure 3.04.03, adding a process for nominating staff to emeritus status. The most recent staff retirees to receive the emeritus designation were Davie Jane Gilmour, former president, and William Martin, former senior vice president, both in 2022.

Joanna K. Flynn, vice president for academic affairs/provost, shared curriculum updates, which include the addition of seven new minors, one new major and a new certificate, plus revisions to 19 majors and six minors. In addition, 24 new courses have been approved and 150 courses were revised. Six majors are sunsetting, with teach-out plans in place.

Flynn highlighted the college’s new minors in project management, artificial intelligence in industry & society, artificial intelligence foundations & applications, and healthcare management.

She also showcased the online bachelor’s degree in heating, ventilation & air conditioning engineering technology, which will welcome its first students in Fall 2026. While the college already offers an in-person version of the degree, the online option provides a “technician-to-engineer” pathway by enabling those who already hold and associate degree in heating, ventilation & air conditioning technology from Penn College, or a similar associate degree from another college, to complete their bachelor’s from anywhere. The online completion degree aligns with the college’s partnership with the Environmentally Applied Refrigerant Technology Hub, a National Science Foundation-funded engineering research center at the University of Kansas.

While discussing accreditations, Flynn noted that the college’s HVAC associate and bachelor’s degrees were recently accredited by the American Council for Construction Education, making them the first HVAC programs accredited by ACCE since it assumed the Partnership for Air Conditioning, Heating, Refrigeration Accreditation program in 2023.

“Jason Killinger (department head and associate professor of HVAC technology) has done a tremendous amount of work to pave the way for other HVAC programs to become accredited,” Flynn said.

Flynn also shared information regarding the college’s certificates in polymer processing, designed for students to complete while in high school, and business essentials, and noted programs in the approval process, including a bachelor’s online completion degree in transportation management and a certificate in engineering technology.

The certificates in business essentials and engineering technology are meant to provide related coursework and valuable credentials for those waiting to begin in-major coursework for a waitlisted program.

Flynn announced promotion in academic rank for 11 employees, who will move either from instructor to assistant professor or from assistant professor to associate professor.

The president shared that the college’s placement rate remains at 98% and reported that student applications for Fall 2026 are up 250 over last year’s record-setting number, with deposits up 2%. More than 500 new students attended Accepted Students Day on Sunday, and approximately 800 prospective students are registered to attend the college’s April 26 Open House.

Reed also highlighted a recent donation by 1966 alumnus Larry A. Ward, who established three new scholarship funds and is contributing to a “pilot plant” for engineering design students, and informed the board that construction projects to overhaul the college’s building construction labs and build a new building performance training home are underway. The projects are funded in part by a U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration grant.

Students will also benefit from a Parent Pathways grant, which Reed said is important in helping students who also have parental responsibilities.

He shared that business and hospitality students are set to again help serve guests at the Kentucky Derby; emergency management & homeland security students recently hosted their fourth Rotorfest, bringing multiple helicopters and hundreds of high school students to campus; welding students are working to repair the Montgomery Emergency Management Agency’s rescue boat; and that a group of HVAC students were recognized for going above and beyond, voluntarily helping a community member who was stuck on Maynard Street with a flat tire, ensuring her tire was changed properly and getting her safely back on the road.