Pennsylvania’s teacher shortage crisis is amping up interest in teaching careers. In response to the growing demand for teacher certification programs, Wilson College has expanded its former Teacher Intern Program (TIP), now offering an online-only certification program and a program for foreign language teachers, as well as the traditional program.
Now under the umbrella of the Teacher Certification Pathways (TCP) program, the certifications are aimed at those who already hold bachelor’s degrees in virtually any major but lack the requirements to become certified to teach in the Commonwealth. All three offerings are eliciting a lot of interest, according to TCP Director Beth Byers. “The (teacher) shortage is upon us,” said Byers. “Students are coming now because they’re seeing the articles, they’re seeing the statistics.”
A recent flurry of news reports about Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s plan to pump $2 million into grants to develop education residency programs at eight universities cited statistics such as a 71 percent drop in the number of new teaching certificates issued in the state between 2009 and 2016-17, down from 14,247 to just 4,412. In addition, the number of students majoring in education at Pennsylvania colleges and universities has plummeted 55 percent since 1996, state officials said.
Interest in teaching careers began to wane in the Great Recession of 2007-09 – and continued for several years after the recession ended – when Pennsylvania and other states were forced to slash education money from their budgets and cut back on public school hiring and teacher pay. “It is really cyclical and it is really market-driven,” Byers said of enrollment in Wilson’s teacher certification program.
Despite a minor name change, Wilson’s Teacher Intern Pathway (TIP) remains the same as the former teacher intern certification program, which is geared to people who live within an 80-mile radius of Chambersburg, according to Byers. Courses are offered in the evenings.
She said the Foreign Language Intern Pathway (FLIP), which was launched in 2017, is for those who are already teaching a foreign language and have passed required tests, but are not yet certified to teach in Pennsylvania.
And the Teacher Online Pathway (TOP) is designed for those who live outside an 80-mile radius of the college. For now, the online option is limited to all secondary (7-12) certifications, as well as the Spanish and business certifications. “We’re testing the waters,” said Byers.
She said Wilson’s online program has a number of big advantages that other higher education institutions don’t offer, including the lower cost and a compressed schedule in which courses are completed in eight weeks instead of 15. Other significant selling points include the ability for Wilson students to request the location of their student teaching assignment, as well as the ability to transfer credits for five of their courses to the college’s Master of Education program – putting them halfway toward their M.Ed.
How far away a student lives is not an issue, since the TOP classes are all offered online. However, teaching candidates must perform their student teaching in Pennsylvania, Byers said.
TOP, which was just rolled out this summer, has already enrolled about 20 students – a few of whom switched from the TIP program because they were commuting a great distance – but as word spreads, Byers expects it to keep growing. “We have inquiries from far away – places like Pottsville, West Chester and Philipsburg,” she said.
For information about Wilson’s TCP programs, visit www.wilson.edu/teacher-certification-pathways.
Pennsylvania Executive Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Michael Smith visited Wilson College Friday, Sept. 7, and toured Fulton Farm as part of the agriculture department's ongoing Planting the Seed initiative. Smith met with President Barbara K. Mistick before touring the farm with Fulton Center for Sustainability Studies Director Chris Mayer.
“The Fulton Farm is an excellent resource, not just for Wilson College, but for the surrounding community,” said Smith. “Its commitment to stewardship, sustainability, education and outreach provides students and their neighbors the chance to pursue and explore all of the opportunities available in agriculture.”
Dedicated to environmental stewardship, the seven-acre organic farm's goals include using a minimal amount of non-renewable resources; minimizing pollution of the soil, water, and air on the farm and “downstream”; promoting biodiversity; ensuring farm worker safety and health; and providing healthy, locally produced food for the campus and community. The farm is part of a Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, providing produce to more than 125 community members. The farm is part of the Fulton Center for Sustainability Studies, which teaches students how to promote sustainability in food production, energy, transportation and land stewardship. “We are so pleased to have Deputy Secretary Smith visit Wilson College and Fulton Farm,” Mayer said. “Our farm has been a model for community-supported agriculture at since 1996 and as Wilson’s hands-on home for environmental education, we continue to educate students of all ages for humane stewardship of our communities and our world.” Pennsylvania agriculture is a $135 billion industry with a lot of opportunity, but is also one that is facing several challenges, including an aging workforce, according to the agriculture department. It said attrition and advancing technologies will result in a workforce deficit of nearly 75,000 over the next decade. The Planting the Seed Tour aims to engage and educate the next generation about the many education and career opportunities available in Pennsylvania agriculture.
A farm-to-table, barbecue-style dinner celebrating Wilson’s College’s Fulton Farm, and local farming in general, will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, in Wilson’s Laird Hall. Tickets for the 4th annual “People, Place, Plates” dinner, which will raise money for the Fulton Center for Sustainability Studies, are $48 per person or $85 per couple.
The dinner will feature organically grown food from the farm and other local partners. After dinner, guests can dance to live music from the Don’t Look Down Band. Those attending will learn about Fulton Farm, its role at Wilson College and its contributions to the community, according to Chris Mayer, FCSS director. She said the dinner will also feature products from local family farms and food artisans, as well as a screening of a student-made short film about Fulton Farm through the seasons.
Proceeds from the event will support program development at the farm, including intern education, Mayer said.
Tickets for the fundraiser must be purchased by Sept. 20 and can be bought online at www.wilson.edu/ppp18. Supporters can buy tickets or sponsorships, or donate door prizes – all by visiting the link.
“People, Place, Plates” sponsors include cultivating partner Noelker and Hull Associates and Sunnyhill Properties, Snavely’s Garden Corner and The Inn at Ragged Edge.
For more information, contact Chris Mayer at 717-264-4420 or christine.mayer@wilson.edu.
H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest, husband of Wilson alumna Marguerite Brooks Lenfest ’55, passed away August 5 at the age of 88.
Following a successful career that brought them great financial wealth, he and Marguerite began a new career – sharing their fortune in support of charities and organizations. Since selling their cable television company, Lenfest Communications, to Comcast Corp. in 2000, the Lenfests have devoted their time and energy to various philanthropic efforts. Individually and through the Lenfest Foundation, the couple has contributed millions to scores of causes, including their alma maters - Marguerite’s being Wilson College and Gerry’s including Mercersburg Academy, Washington and Lee University and Columbia University.
Personally and through the Lenfest Foundation, the couple has made gifts of more than $1.3 billion to over 1,100 organizations, supporting causes ranging from the arts to environmental programs to independent journalism. But their highest priority has always been to build self-sufficiency through education, according to the foundation website.
During Wilson’s “Leading with Confidence” capital campaign, the Huntingdon Valley, Pa., couple pledged a total of $20 million toward the college’s endowment, and over the years, the Lenfests have supported Wilson’s annual fund and unrestricted endowment, student scholarships, faculty development, Single Parent Scholars Program and facilities renovations — including a 2013 gift of $3.6 million to the Reimagining the John Stewart Memorial Library (JSML) renovation project that created Lenfest Learning Commons, a student gathering and study space.
“We had a wonderful campus visit with Gerry and Marguerite during the campaign to reimagine the JSML,” Wilson President Barbara K. Mistick said. “We sat and chatted up on the second floor of the library which gave a great view over our academic quad and toward the Harry R. Brooks Science Complex, named in honor of Marguerite's father. It was special. Their vision for and generosity to Wilson over many decades has been truly extraordinary and their legacy will always be apparent.”
The couple’s philanthropy has also included funding the Lenfest College Scholars program for central Pennsylvania high school students. In 2017, the Lenfests were recipients of the Carnegie Meal of Philanthropy in recognition of their outstanding and innovative leadership in philanthropy.
Services will be private, and a public celebration of his life is being planned for the fall at the Academy of Music.
Two free art exhibitions will open Wednesday, Sept. 12, at Wilson College−one in Lortz Hall’s Bogigian Gallery featuring the work of members of The Foundry, and one in the John Stewart Memorial Library’s Cooley Gallery featuring artwork by Chambersburg artist Anne Finucane.
Receptions to mark the openings will be held from 4:30 to 6 p.m. that day in both venues.
The Foundry at Wilson exhibition is a selection of member artwork from the grassroots, artist-led cooperative located at 100 S. Main St. A variety of artwork will be exhibited, such as paintings, drawings and sculpture. The exhibition will run until Oct. 12.
In 2016, Wilson and its Division of Arts and Letters formed a partnership with The Foundry that provides opportunities for exhibition exchanges, as well as possible studio/workshop opportunities.
Anne Finucane: Printmaker takes inspiration from Pennsylvania’s forests, orchards and fields. Whether rendering them abstractly or realistically through etchings, pastels or colored pencils, her goal is to convey the excitement she feels about the natural world to others. The exhibition will continue through Nov. 30.
Finucane, who has worked with Chambersburg’s Council for the Arts and the Franklin County Art Alliance, has served as guest curator and juror for art shows throughout the area, and as a panelist for the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Her artwork has been featured in solo shows throughout the Cumberland Valley, in juried national competitions and in membership exhibitions with FCAA and Penn’s Woods Printmakers.
For additional information or an appointment, contact Professor of Fine Arts Philip Lindsey at 717-264-2783 or philip.lindsey@wilson.edu.
At its 148th commencement ceremony held Sunday, May 13, Wilson College conferred degrees on 192 undergraduate and graduate students. Twenty-five students graduated from Wilson’s Master of Science in Nursing program: Charity Marie Barber-Heaton , Angela Marie Blair, Joyce M. Burkholder , Sean R. Corcoran , Monica L Diehl, Kelly A. Engel, Holly M. Friese, Maryann K Gaulding, Christina L. Hershey, Matthew E. Hopkins, Danielle R. Leedy, Wanda K. Leedy, Deana L. McClure, Katherine J. Merideth, Nicole A. Mills, Susan K. Monismith, Candy L. Moschetti, Teresa J. Napier, Nicole L. Naugle, Rhonda M. Rice, Sandra K. Strait, Catherine I. Szuchnicki, Heather R. Thompson, Hilary D. Weller and Erin Young. Five students graduated from Wilson’s Master of Fine Arts program: Lisa Ruth Harman and Kathleen Meyer Leiner, Anabella Guillermina Lenzu, Douglas Kenneth Mott and Lillian A. Oglesby. Four students graduated from Wilson’s Master of Educational Technology program: Pamela D. Grimminger, Debra K. Harte, Christina M. Peterson and Naomi Lynn Rupert. Sixty-seven students graduated from Wilson’s Master of Education program: Keara Allshouse, Megan Anderson, Leigh Arnold, Shannon Arnold, Ashton Barry, Theresa J. Bechtel, Stephanie J. Blaker, Marcus M Brothers, Heather Brown, Lisa M. Coder, Monica L. Cox, Laura B. Deyarmin, Dane M. Domonkos, Jessica Durofchalk, Amanda J. Escolarte, Grace Farabaugh, Tiffany Frazier, Terra Funston, Michael A. Furry, Christina Giacchino, Meghan M. Girroir, Colleen A. Glenn, Kristen Green , Dawn Murphy Hardman, Cierra L. Hough, Jeffrey R. Howe, Brittany N. Ilgenfritz, Ashley Janson, Kayla Kapinus, Colleen S. Kassman, Matthew J. Kilgore, Kate E. Kim, Jennifer Kroboth, Elizabeth A. Lancaster, Catherine Bayley Leonard, Erin May, Jennifer L. McConnell, Sean P. McConnell, Jessica E. Morgan, Luke A. Nerone, Heather N Nyquist, Allison O'Handly, Megan Over, Kortni Peropat, Molly A. Pomeroy-Hoover, Jodi Proctor, Kelly L. Robinson, Jennifer L. Rowe, Leighette Sechrist, Kathryn Settle, Debbie J. Shatzley, Dana F. Sheaffer, Rebecca P. Shertzer, Michaela J. Sicuranza, Kaitlin Slessinger, Ryan Small, Zachary Smith, Trina Snoke, Kayla A. Stickell, Kathleen A. Taylor, Stacie L. Trent, Lisa Velazquez, Autumn M. White, Elizabeth Whitehead, Courtney Wiser, Jennifer L. Wyant and Jayme Zimmerman. One student graduated from Wilson’s Master of Accountancy program: Darian Kaylee Hufcut. Six students graduated from Wilson’s Master of Arts in Humanities program: Frances Maria Caroscio, Adam C. Ellerbrock, Travis Frank Horton, Marybeth Richards, Ghada S.Y. Tafesh and Sarah L. Taylor-Foltz. The following students graduated from Wilson College with bachelor’s degrees: Mohammed Ali Alameer, Ahmed Saad Alshahrani, Taylor R. Amsley, Shayla Ladawn Appleby, Kristina Anne Bartholomew (distinction), Melissa Sue Beck (magna cum laude), Marquise Michael Beckett (magna cum laude), Martez A Beckett, Jacob Robert Benford, Ann Therese Bianca, Kirsten D. Bilger, Danielle R Boock, Ashley Brown, Kelsey Lynne Brunner (cum laude), Ashley R. Carbaugh (cum laude), Tiffany Ann Cobb, Justine Lee Commero, Lindsy Jo DeBross, Laura L. Deigert, Cody Reid Dunlap (cum laude), Dasia Janee Edwards, Kaitlyn Michelle Eller, Destiny Amber Feggins, Kristyn T. Fogg (magna cum laude), Daniel Robert Glazier (cum laude), Haley Angeline Glofka (summa cum laude), Amanda Marie Haase, Raechelle Marie Hilbish, Kelsey Marie Hockensmith, Ashley Nichole Horn, Timothy L. Horn, Jennifer Rebecca Hornberger, Rebecca Lynn House (cum laude), Darian Kaylee Hufcut (cum laude), Haley D. Hutchinson, Katherine Ann Jacobs, Raymond L. Kerr, Ian M. Kuykendall, Katie J. Lacko, Anita A. Laman (cum laude), Tara J. Leeking, Kirstin Marion Lehman, Miranda S. Long (honors in the major), Charlene Nichole Marthers, Erin Marie Martin, Katrina J Martin (magna cum laude), Shannon Genette McKenzie (cum laude), Kyle Lee McNew, Beverly A. Meyers, Katelin Marie Mowen, Hong Thuy Nguyen (cum laude), Olivia A. Noone, Aurora M. Ortiz, Heather Paxson, Stephanie Marie Peebles (summa cum laude), Shelby N. Peiffer, Adele Rose Reinoehl, Deborah Ann Rifflard (magna cum laude), Michele Lynn Rogers, Karen Cynthia Saltzgiver (distinction), Abigail Oyler Selman, Roger Michael Shaffer (cum laude), Sarah Elizabeth Six, Andrea L Smith, Heidi Smith, Jenny D. Smith, Shelby E. Spencer, Erin Theresa Stephan (magna cum laude), Darren Grant Stephens (cum laude), Ryan P. Stine (magna cum laude), Autumn Carol Swartzlander, Stephen G. Thompson, Alaya P. Torpy, Esther Ruth Twombly (magna cum laude), Cierra Valentine, Sierra Jade Watson, Amanda E. Waxman (distinction), Audrae Morae Westurn, Kristy L. Zeis, Luori Zhuoma, Danielle R. Zona and Kaitlin V. Zwicker. Two students graduated with associate degrees: Holly A. Mooney and Sierra Lynn Williams.
In collaboration with Coyle Free Library, students in the Wilson College Master of Fine Arts program will present an interactive art exhibition from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, July 21, at the library, 102 N. Main St. in Chambersburg. CONNECT: A Walk-Through Exhibit is free and open to the public.
Visitors are encouraged to “connect” via the temporary exhibitions placed throughout the newly renovated Coyle Library. Artists’ projects include a performance in homage to Margaret Cochran Corbin, who fought in the American Revolutionary War; an interactive yarn installation; a robotic dancing statue and show tunes sung by musical theater performers.
For more information, contact MFA guest faculty member Ed Woodham at ed.woodham@wilson.edu or 347-350-4242.
The Thoroughbred Education and Research Foundation (TERF) has awarded Wilson College a $16,000 grant to provide $4,000 scholarships for four students with animal-related majors, including veterinary medical technology (VMT), animal studies, equestrian studies, equine-facilitated therapeutics and equine journalism.
This is the fourth year TERF has given Wilson money for scholarships, which are awarded to students based on need, achievement and equine-related aspirations.
TERF awards scholarships consistent with its mission of supporting and promoting equine education and research by sponsoring scholarships in veterinary medicine and supporting organizations that are educating the public in the proper care of horses.
TERF, which is based in Middletown, Delaware, began in the 1990s as the Thoroughbred Charities of America—the premier thoroughbred charity in the United States. In 2007, several TCA directors, including Dr. James Orsini, a Wilson College Trustee, established an endowment to support the charitable needs of worthy education and research organizations in the Mid-Atlantic region. In 2012 the name of the endowment was changed to Thoroughbred Education and Research Foundation.
The TERF scholarship program at Wilson is directed by professors Freya Burnett and Ann O’Shallie, directors of the VMT and equestrian studies programs, respectively.
The Charlotte W. Newcombe Foundation has awarded Wilson College a $25,000 grant to support students age 25 and older who are pursuing a bachelor’s degree and need financial assistance.
The Newcombe Foundation, a Princeton, N.J.-based charitable organization, has supported mature students at Wilson College since 1986. The Newcombe Scholarships for Mature Students enroll students through two programs: the Single Parent Scholars Program and the Adult Degree Program.
The Charlotte W. Newcombe Foundation is an independent foundation that began in 1979 as the result of a bequest from its namesake, a Philadelphia philanthropist. The foundation continues Newcombe’s support of students as they pursue degrees in higher education through scholarships and fellowships.
The M&T Charitable Foundation, the philanthropic arm of M&T Bank, recently awarded Wilson College a $2,500 grant. This is the fourth year the foundation has funded a scholarship for a student with financial need who is enrolled in one of Wilson’s health sciences majors, with preference given to a nursing student. The foundation “strives to strengthen communities by providing support for a diverse range of civic, cultural, health and human service organizations,” according to its website. M&T, based in Buffalo, N.Y., and with locations in Chambersburg, has also supported Wilson College in the past through the M&T Bank Endowed Scholarship and by contributing to an outdoor learning pavilion at the college’s organic farm.
