After two nights in Ohio Hall, a residence hall at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, participants in this year's edition of the Road Scholars Tour packed their things and boarded a bus headed back toward central Pennsylvania on May 11. The three-day Road Scholars Tour is an annual event designed to introduce new and newly tenured Penn State faculty members to the University's Commonwealth Campuses and to the breadth and depth of Penn State's impact across Pennsylvania.
The final day of the tour began with a visit to the Drake Well Museum. The museum has a replica of Edwin Drake's 1859 engine house, where oil from the famous well flows into a barrel. Faculty learned how pioneer oil workers used one engine to pump many wells.
The next stop was lunch and then a tour of the Penn State DuBois campus, located in Clearfield County. The campus was founded in 1935 as the DuBois Undergraduate Center of the Pennsylvania State College. Originally located in four rooms of the old Hubert Street Grade School, the school had 42 students enrolled that first semester. Today, Penn State DuBois is home to more than 900 students taught by 47 full-time faculty members.
From there, the group traveled to its final destination, GKN Sinter Metals. Prior to a tour of the plant, John Piccalo, director of Continuing Education at Penn State DuBois, spoke to the group about the history of the powder metal industry in Pennsylvania and the importance of the industry to the local economy. He also spoke of the relationship Penn State DuBois has with GKN Sinter Metals. Right now, 100 Penn State alumni are employed by the British-owned metal factory.
The trip also allowed participants to talk directly with University President Graham Spanier about serious and not-so-serious topics, and to meet colleagues from other Penn Sate campuses.
To see photos from Wednesday's leg of the tour, visit http://live.psu.edu/flickrset/72157626576087715 online.
To see photos from Tuesday, visit http://live.psu.edu/flickrset/72157626694188338 and for photos from Monday, visit http://live.psu.edu/flickrset/72157626686921196.