Business, Arts & Sciences Articles

Gerri F. Luke has been named dean of business and hospitality at Pennsylvania College of Technology. Luke had served as interim dean since July. Previously, she was a professor of business administration/management and marketing and received the Veronica M. Muzic Master Teacher Award, the highest level of recognition for a Penn College faculty member, in 2013. She joined the faculty in 2004.

Friends and family of John J. Messer, a Pennsylvania College of Technology faculty member who fought a courageous battle against brain cancer, have established a scholarship fund in his memory. Messer, who taught in Penn College’s web and interactive media major, died Jan. 5 – barely two weeks before his 50th birthday.

John J. Messer (center), assistant professor of Web and interactive media, with students The Jan. 5 death of John J. Messer, an assistant professor of web and interactive media and a Penn College faculty member since January 2002, has been announced by the School of Sciences, Humanities & Visual Communications.

Two alumni of Pennsylvania College of Technology’s immediate predecessor institution have established a scholarship honoring Daniel J. Doyle, professor emeritus of history and a former administrator at the college. Darryl and Dawn (Wahler) Kehrer, both 1972 liberal arts graduates of Williamsport Area Community College, have endowed a scholarship in honor of Doyle.

And then there were three. Chef Charles R. Niedermyer II, an instructor of baking and pastry arts/culinary arts at Penn College, will compete in Providence, Rhode Island, in March for a spot on the American team at the 2016 Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie.

Students enrolled in a Community and Organizational Change class at Pennsylvania College of Technology raised more than $3,000 for a worldwide fair-trade organization and donated a portion of their sales to a veterans group based in Berks County.

Two Austrian students spending a semester exchange at Pennsylvania College of Technology will return with valuable perspectives from their months in the Keystone State. “Our experience here showed us that it is important to be open to other cultures, other points of view and other opinions,” said Katharina M. Sutter.

A member of the baking and pastry arts faculty at Pennsylvania College of Technology will compete this month to become a member of the team that will represent the United States at the Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie – sometimes called the World Cup of Baking – in France in 2016. “Everybody tells me it’s an enormous amount of work and energy,” said Chef Charles R.

The Centennial Legacy Celebration, recognizing the donors who help further Penn College's mission – and showcasing the talented students in the School of Business & Hospitality – was held Saturday evening in the Hager Lifelong Education Center. Invited guests enjoyed dinner in Le Jeune Chef Restaurant, bookended by appetizers and a Grand Pastry Buffet in the Keystone Dining Room.

High school students gather around to watch baking and pastry arts students form roses from rolled chocolate. Students from the college’s Cakes and Decorations course displayed their Penn College Centennial-themed cakes. This honorable mention cake was decorated by Marissa R. Dimoff, of Mount Union.