The Penn Stater Magazine

A Trip to Worthington Scranton

September 30, 2009 at 10:41 am Tina Hay Leave a comment

About a dozen Alumni Association staff took a van to Dunmore, Pa., yesterday to visit Penn State Worthington Scranton—it was the latest in a series of visits to get to know the non-University Park campuses a little better.

We had overcast weather, so we didn’t get to see the campus at its photogenic best, but you can see that it’s on a hill and it has a great view of the adjacent valley and the mountain ridge beyond it. (The campus locals weren’t 100% clear on the name of the ridge, but from looking at an atlas, I’m thinking it’s Moosic Mountain?)

We met with the chancellor, Mary-Beth Krogh-Jespersen, as well as the alumni person (Deb Johnson), communications person (Amy Gruzesky ’90), and development person (Maria Russoniello). We learned about stuff like the history of the campus (it dates to 1923) … how it got its name (Worthington Scranton was actually the name of a guy—an industrialist and philanthropist in the area) … the various two-year and four-year majors that the campus offers … and what the campus’ challenges are.

The photo at the left, by the way, is of the “View Cafe,” which is kind of a combination cafeteria and lounge—and, as you can see, it does offer a great view. This is just one little piece of a very long wall of windows looking out onto the valley and ridge.

I always find it interesting to hear who makes up the student body at Penn State’s non-University Park campuses. At Worthington Scranton, it’s all commuter students—there are no residence halls—and it’s a lot of returning-adult students. One out of every eight full-time students at the campus also holds a full-time job. And in this economy, they can’t afford to give up those jobs, so the campus has to offer the classes when the students can take them, which means offering evening and even Saturday classes.

Our executive director, Roger Williams ’73, ’75g, ’88g, pointed out that that’s why it’s useful for us to visit these campuses: “We live in a bubble at University Park,” he said, referring to the fact that Centre County’s economy is the healthiest—and its unemployment rate the lowest—in the state. The campuses away from University Park, he said, “are on the front lines of the state’s economic challenges.”

We also got a tour of the campus, led by Deb Johnson, Amy Gruzesky, and a student by the name of James Murphy, who is president of the Blue & White Society at the campus. (The photo above shows Johnson, Murphy, and Roger Williams.) We saw the new Business Building, which was just dedicated earlier this month, as well as the James P. Gallagher Conference Center, and several other buildings.

I was especially intrigued by a weird but interesting sculpture (see photo at left), a family of four rendered in I’m not sure what—bronze, maybe?—with a verdigris finish. I couldn’t find the name of the work or the name of the sculpture, and the campus locals weren’t sure about its story either. If anyone could fill me in, I’d love to know.

We finished up by spending some time in the area that houses the nursing program; Worthington Scranton offers both a bachelor’s and associate degree in nursing, and it’s one of their most popular majors. And they have some pretty high-tech equipment: sophisticated, computerized mannequins that can simulate a variety of medical conditions that the students need to be able to respond to.

We did a story in the magazine on these simulators about 10 years ago when Penn State’s College of Medicine first got them; they were very novel at the time. They’re still pretty fancy—and not cheap—so I was impressed to see that Worthington Scranton has four of them, including a pregnant woman and a “SimBaby.”

While we were checking out the nursing suite (which is just five years old), one of the instructors, Milt Evans, poked his head in the door and offered to give us the details of how the simulators work. That’s Milt in the red shirt in the photo at right.

You can see a quick slide show of 15 photos from our visit to Worthington Scranton here.

Tina Hay, editor

Entry filed under: Alumni Association, Penn State Worthington Scranton. Tags: Amy Gruzesky, commuter schools, Deb Johnson, James Murphy, James P. Gallagher, Maria Russoniello, Mary-Beth Krogh-Jespersen, Milt Evans, Moosic Mountain, returning-adult students, Roger Williams, Worthington Scranton.