Weld Ed PA Postsecondary Welding Faculty Advisory committee meeting 

On January 8, 2009 Jeannette Carter, Director Outreach for K-12, chaired the first Weld-Ed PA Postsecondary Welding Faculty Advisory committee meeting at Pennsylvania College of Technology, Williamsport PA. Pennsylvania College of Technology, a special mission campus of The Pennsylvania State University, is an educational partner of the Weld-Ed Center. Faculty from five of the six public post secondary institutions at Pennsylvania attended the meeting. All five colleges offer associate or certificate programs on their campus.  Penn College also offers a bachelor’s degree major.

Jeannette Carter welcomed the participants and Donald Praster, Dean of Industrial and Engineering Technologies gave a brief introduction of the department. Each committee member described their program and their enrollment. Ramona Anand, Project Manager, Weld-Ed, gave an overview of Weld-Ed and its goals and objectives.

Jeannette Carter discussed the welding occupations and the industry needs in local areas. Faculty professional development needs were also emphasized and the institutions participating were encouraged to recruit their faculty for the Summer Professional Development workshop to be held at Penn College in July 2009.

David Cotner, Welding Department Head and Dean Donald Praster, toured the participants through the Penn College Welding Labs.  The well furnished will be undergoing renovations in 2009 with the facility reopening in fall 2010.  During renovations, the current lab that includes extensive equipment will be relocated to an off campus location. 

The afternoon discussions focused on the high school-to-college-to-work career pipeline in Pennsylvania with specific focus on improving the process of Welding course transfer amongst public postsecondary college programs in Pennsylvania.  Implications of Perkins (secondary and postsecondary) Welding program of study development and statewide articulation were discussed.

Jeannette Carter requested that the advisory committee help in forming the Welding Local Skills Panel for Pennsylvania to ensure that high quality industry partners participate in the panel discussions. 

The participants showed great interest and got actively involved all through the meeting, providing valuable input to Weld-Ed in Pennsylvania. A follow-up meeting is planned for mid-April that will include secondary and postsecondary faculty. 

The meeting successfully ended at 3:30 pm.

Ken Smith, PI / Director Weld-Ed center showed satisfaction on the successful completion of the event and is appreciative of Penn College’s effort in organizing a successful event.

For more information on this event, or for assistance in planning your own, please contact Weld-Ed staff at 866