Like the United States’ women sweeping three medals in 100-meter hurdles at the Rio Olympic games, Penn State New Kensington’s engineering technology students swept three scholarships at the Penn State New Kensington Alumni Society academic competition. With the alumni society’s world-record total of $6,000 in scholarships at stake, Nathan Piluso, of Kittanning; Jack DelloStritto, of Monroeville; and Justin Dumm, of Penn Hills, tied for the gold medal, and each earned $2,000 awards. The scholarship total eclipsed the $5,500 given to campus students a year ago.
The spring semester at Penn State New Kensington brings two new faculty members to campus -- Joie Marhefka, senior instructor and coordinator of the biomedical engineering technology (BET) program, and Karl Harris, instructor and coordinator of the electro-mechanical engineering technology (EMET) program.
Designing robots and testing equipment that monitors patients’ vital signs will be hands-on projects in the fall for Penn State New Kensington students in the engineering technology programs. Karl Harris, instructor and coordinator of the Electro-Mechanical Engineering Technology (EMET) program, and Joie Marhefka, senior instructor and coordinator of the Biomedical Engineering Technology (BET) program, recently received program enhancement grants from Penn State to upgrade and modernize their respective labs. The purpose of the grants is to fund initiatives that provide new learning environments for students.
Students who are new to Penn State and all students living in University housing are reminded that they must submit their immunization records using myUHS through a new three-step process. As part of this process, students who do not submit their immunization records prior to Sept. 15 will be unable to register for spring 2017 classes.
Like a bride’s wedding dress, the composition of new faculty at Penn State New Kensington features “something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue (and white).” Nick Petrucci fits the “old” persona as he departed from the campus in 2011 as a full-time instructor in the Mechanical Engineering Technology program and returns in 2016 as a full-time instructor in the Electro-Mechanical Engineering Technology program. Penelope Morrison covers the “new” aspect as the first assistant professor of biobehavioral health, in the new Biobehavioral Health (BBH) program that debuts for the fall semester. Joseph Coohill takes on the “borrowed” character as he fills in for Craig Hammond, associate professor of history, who is on a semester sabbatical.
The Penn State New Kensington Alumni Society invites Penn State fans to the annual televised football game party and food drive on Saturday, Sept. 24, at the Elks Lodge on Sixth Street in Tarentum. Game time has not been determined. The Nittany Lions take on the Michigan Wolverines in a Big Ten battle in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the pregame reception begins an hour before kickoff.
Kick off your Sunday shoes and summon your inner Kevin Bacon as auditions for roles in Penn State New Kensington’s “Footloose: The Musical” begin Sept. 2 in the newly renovated Forum Theatre. Director James Baker has put out a call to the campus and community to form the cast of the fall stage production set for Nov. 4-6.
About three quarters of Penn State Beaver students are from the area and commute to campus. Weeklong study abroad trips are a way to encourage travel, challenge world views and broaden perspectives while minimizing time and cost.
Penn State has been selected to receive funding from the U.S. Department of Education that will allow the University to expand its Talent Search Programs, providing staff who work directly with disadvantaged middle and high school students to help them complete high school and attend college.
As they step on campus for the first time as Penn Staters, incoming students are often out of their comfort zones and in unfamiliar surroundings. Penn State New Kensington’s three-day New Student Orientation is designed to assuage that angst.
