News Release

Engineering education has a global reach

June 9, 2009

Engineering education at Penn State Harrisburg has a global reach in meeting the needs of adult students.

And for one program, Penn State Harrisburg is the sole provider in the world.

For two weeks in May, as they have for 16 years, the college’s Continuing Education unit and its School of Science, Engineering, and Technology partner to host a two-week Resident Engineering Laboratory for students from throughout the U.S. and the world in a program unique to academia.

Enrolled in a non-Penn State affiliated correspondence college associate degree program, the civil, electrical, and mechanical students come to the Harrisburg campus for required hands-on laboratory experience and instruction prior to earning their degrees.

Taught by resident faculty from the School of Science, Engineering, and Technology, the 15 students this year came from Ghana, Zambia, Kenya, Qatar, Trinidad and Tobago, and Saudi Arabia and the states of Pennsylvania, Florida, Maine, Ohio, Missouri, New Jersey, Wisconsin, and Texas.

Senior Continuing Education Project Associate Brenda Firestone, the program’s organizer and lab administrator, says that under the supervision of the engineering faculty, students conduct lab experiments in their field of study with faculty lectures supporting the learning.