Industry Partnerships Articles

A $1 million grant from the Gene Haas Foundation sparked extensive renovations to Pennsylvania College of Technology’s automated manufacturing lab while expanding scholarship offerings and enabling the college to promote manufacturing careers more broadly to K-12 students. The Gene Haas Center for Innovative Manufacturing was formally dedicated on Nov. 6.

Interested in exploring an apprenticeship? In this five-minute video, you’ll hear from companies and apprentices who’ve experienced firsthand benefits. From facilitating talent development and life-enhancing employee growth to promoting productivity and efficiency, you’ll learn how the apprenticeship model at Penn College has become a proven solution for addressing the skills gap.

As the automotive industry moves away from the internal combustion engine and toward the era of electric vehicles, Pennsylvania College of Technology has adapted its already-visionary curriculum and empowered faculty members to deliver that instruction.

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Pennsylvania College of Technology manufacturing students will benefit from a new machine provided at a discounted rate by a worldwide leader in tool measuring, inspection and management technology. Approximately 100 students per year seeking two- and four-year manufacturing-related degrees will use the ZOLLER smile Pilot 4.0 presetter, provided by ZOLLER Inc. Valued at $44,482.50, the company sold the equipment – including a software upgrade and full options package – to the college for $15,850.

The U.S.-based electrical products business of global industrial manufacturing company Siemens has recognized Pennsylvania College of Technology by donating equipment for student use. Siemens Smart Infrastructure provided 21 125-amperes load centers containing a variety of circuit breakers. The donation benefits students seeking an associate degree in electrical construction or electrical technology.

A PPG Industries Inc. training instructor, renowned for his custom paint artistry, shared decades' worth of expertise this week with Penn College students, faculty and career and technical education instructors. Paul Stoll – who last visited campus during the Air Affair East showcase in May 2007 – began Wednesday with a basic airbrush class.

A diesel instructor at Pennsylvania College of Technology has received Caterpillar Inc.'s Pathfinder to Excellence Faculty Award in just his first year of teaching. A plaque was presented to Andy S. King, a member of the diesel equipment technology faculty at the Schneebeli Earth Science Center, during an advisory committee meeting of Caterpillar dealer representatives at the college’s Thompson Professional Development Center.

Students from four area schools visited Penn College on Friday to explore their vocational future in a PPL-sponsored Pathways to Energy Management Careers program. The utility granted the college $5,000 last winter to introduce high schoolers to opportunities in building automation and the electrical industries.

Motor Truck Thermo King, a Corporate Tomorrow Maker at Pennsylvania College of Technology, has donated a new Precedent S-750i trailer refrigeration unit that greatly enhances career-building students’ exposure to the latest equipment. “The S-750i refrigeration unit has been available less than one year, and our students will now be able to be better prepared to enter the industry with confidence,” said Brad R. Conklin, instructor of diesel equipment technology.