1959 graduating class, Penn State Wilkes-Barre
100 Years, Penn State Wilkes-Barre, 1916-2016, is now on display in the Art Gallery in the Academic Commons building. The exhibit, which draws on the rich material available in the Penn State Wilkes-Barre campus archives, highlights key events in every decade of the campus’s existence. A virtual, online version is available here:
In 1986, the Penn State Wilkes-Barre campus appointed a Study Group on Student Involvement to examine the level of students’ involvement in the educational, cultural, and social life of the campus and to make recommendations to the Strategic Planning Committee. The Study Group distributed 100 questionnaires to different populations on campus, and received 41 responses. Here are their findings, in summary:
Our “average” student is male. He is about 19 or 20 yrs. old. He is pursuing a Technology/Engineering curriculum. He is taking about 15 hrs. of classes per week and studies about 15 hours per week outside of the class room. He works between 10-20 hrs. a week in off-campus employment. He is receiving financial aid; lives at home and neither of his parents are college graduates. His grades average between C+ and B+. He is white.
Library
His most frequent use of the library is as a quiet place to study. Occasionally he will ask the Librarian for help in finding material on some topic; however he hardly ever runs down leads cited in his text books; nor reads specialized collections or references.
Read the full Report of the Study Group on Student Involvement, 1986. How different was the student experience in 1986 to the experience today?
Immaculata (who went by Mackey) Comitz, of Sugar Notch, PA was the first women graduated from Penn State Wilkes-Barre with an associate degree in engineering. She majored in drafting and design technology.
She followed in her father, Joseph J. Comitz, footsteps. He was an auto mechanic. Sadly he didn’t get to see his influence. He died the spring before Immaculata started classes at PSU Wilkes-Barre.
Even though Immaculata was celebrated by PSU Wilkes-Barre, she was entering a field that was not all together welcoming of women. Engineering was still seen as a man’s job. The year after Immaculata graduated from Penn State Wilkes-Barre, the President of Penn State, Eric Walker, featured an opinion piece in the official Penn State engineering department magazine Penn State Engineer titled, “Women Are Not For ENGINEERING.” Walker had originally published this article in Penn State Engineer three years before, when he was Dean of the College of Engineering and Architecture. The article was alongside the monthly pin up girl (with measurements), and the “Chemical Analysis of Women.”
Despite the grim view of female engineers by their male counterparts, Immaculata succeeded in being one of 39 out of the 56 graduates of the class of 1959 with a 2 year degree in engineering to get a job by August of that year. Her first job was at the Troyler Corporation in Scranton as a project draftsman engineer. She was a key member of the team who helped design the first 6 car haul away trailer.
Later she also worked as an industrial and electronic engineer at GET Sylvania, and Primus Technology, which she retired from.
New Library to Enhance Penn State U. Center, Sunday Dispatch, August 14, 1960
August 14, 1960
“Vince Suchocki of Kingston, left, and Frank Castrignano of Wilkes-Barre, students at the Pennsylvania State University, 669 North Watchington Street, Wilkes-Barre, are seen helping Miss Loretta D. Ritzie, librarian of the Penn State Center, transfer materials and books from the former library room to new and spacious quarters on the second floor of the University Center.
Additional shelves have been installed in the new library to accommodate the growing number of books and magazines acquired through the years. A feature of the new library is the large reading and study room provides for the Penn State students.
Miss Ritzie announces that the new library will be completely equipped in time for the opening of classes in September.”
New Library at Penn State Center, The Independent, August 14, 1960
Penn Center Builds Computer, The Record, November 30, 1960
55 years ago today…
Penn State Center’s recently assembled analog computer was given its first operational test by Dr. Carl Volz of Penn State’s Main Campus. He set up problems on the computer and demonstrated the solution to a technical discussion meeting held by Lehigh Valley Section, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, Wilkes-Barre Division.
The analog computer was obtained by Penn State Center and assembled by the center students as an outside technical project.
Dr. Volz is a professor in electrical engineering and in charge of analog computers at Penn State University. He spoke on elements of analog computers and set up a problem on the computer.
Working on the analog computer are, left to right: John Porter, Manager of Wilkes-Barre’s AIEE, Dr. Carl Volz, and Walter A. Sowa, chairman of the AIEE and faculty member at the center.