Nursing Articles

Kelly T. Bidlespacher has been named director of nursing, bachelor’s and graduate degrees, at Pennsylvania College of Technology. Bidlespacher, a registered nurse, began her Penn College experience as an adjunct faculty member in 2019 and served as the clinical director of nursing at the college from 2020-22.

Valerie A. Myers has been appointed dean of nursing and health sciences at Pennsylvania College of Technology. Myers, who has served as assistant dean of nursing at Penn College since 2018, has worked as a nurse educator and administrator in higher education for 14 years. She begins her new duties on July 1, succeeding Sandra L.

Pennsylvania College of Technology awarded its first DAISY Awards in May to nursing student Britney S. Kattau, of Ephrata, and faculty member Karen L. Martin, associate professor of psychiatric nursing. Award winners can be nominated by peers, colleagues, patients, families or alumni. Winners are selected by a committee in Penn College’s nursing program.

A group of Pennsylvania College of Technology students took second-place honors for their research poster during the first Geisinger Nursing Student Scholarship Conference. The conference was initiated by faculty to help nursing students share their research. Students Jenay Brown, of Williamsport; Connor J. Burke, of St. Clair; Emily L. Durbin, of Danville; Sydney E.

Students in the Community Health Nursing course recently provided a round of one-hour wellness courses for Pennsylvania College of Technology employees.

Pennsylvania College of Technology has granted faculty emeritus status to Dorothy M. “Dottie” Mathers, a professor of nursing who retired in December after 27 years of full-time teaching and 30 years of service overall to the college. Mathers began teaching nursing full time at Penn College in 1994.

For the second consecutive year, 100% of Pennsylvania College of Technology associate degree graduates who took the national board examination for registered nurses passed on their first attempt, while those in the college’s bachelor’s degree nursing and practical nursing majors also exceeded state and national pass rates on their licensing exams.

Students and faculty in Pennsylvania College of Technology’s nursing program will soon be honored with The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Students and The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nursing Faculty.

For nursing student and women’s basketball player Allison M. "Allie" Troup, no stranger to juggling on-the-court dynamism with in-the-lab rigor, Penn College represents the "perfect match." "There's many challenges that go along with it," the Huntingdon resident says in a two-minute Wildcat Spotlight video.

Pennsylvania College of Technology has expanded enrollment to increase its capacity to educate licensed practical nurses seeking advancement to a registered nursing license, consequently meeting the increasing need for RNs in the workforce. The college will begin offering students acceptance into its LPN-to-RN major twice each year – in December and June.