New at Penn State
Penn State Intercom......January 18 , 2001

Altoona announces partnership
with Career, Technology Center

Penn State Altoona and the Greater Johnstown Career and Technology Center have formed a partnership to offer workforce development and training to the Greater Johnstown region.

In addition to workforce training, both credit and non-credit adult education programs will be offered, including a Webmaster Certificate program that will be established in the spring and management development programs.

According to Jack Sinclair, director of Continuing Education and Training at Penn State Altoona, the Career and Technology Center's computer labs and classrooms will allow delivery of quality educational offerings to the region. As part of the partnership, Penn State Altoona will be working with several staff members of the Career and Technology to certify them to teach Penn State courses.

The Greater Johnstown Career and Technology Center provides vocational, technical and academic education to secondary and post-secondary students who demonstrate the interest and aptitude to benefit from specialized education.

Altoona partners with
university in China

Penn State Altoona will officially kick off its partnership with the China University of Mining and Technology this spring.

The college will offer a six-week series of courses this semester for 12 students enrolled in the Executive MBA Program at the China University of Mining and Technology. These courses will focus on marketing principles, business seminar and practices, and e-business, and will be taught by Penn State Altoona faculty. Additionally, the MBA students will be visiting local businesses to gain hands-on experience in how businesses operate in the United States.

Penn State Altoona and the China University of Mining and Technology announced the formation of a partnership two years ago, whereby students from each college would have the opportunity to study abroad in either China or Altoona. Details of the agreement have been finalized, with the first group of students coming to Penn State Altoona this spring.

The courses, which begin Jan. 29 and continue until March 9, were developed by Penn State Altoona's Continuing Education and Training Department and the Center for Asia/Pacific Management Research.

Smeal trading room brings
Wall Street to Penn State

Wall Street is coming to Penn State in the form of a state-of-the-art trading room in The Smeal College of Business Administration.

"Today's financial markets have unleashed an increasing demand for individuals who can understand, design and trade complex securities for investment banks and other financial institutions," said J. Randall Woolridge, professor of finance in The Smeal College of Business Administration. "The Smeal College Trading Room will put theory into practice. Students will conduct trading and make complex financial transactions with the same speed and power as if they were on Wall Street."

The Smeal College Trading Room functions as a classroom as well as a laboratory facility. The facility, which is scheduled to be completed in March, will give students access to all the data Wall Street analysts have. Computer stations will allow students to trade using the real-time information, but in simulations.

Penn State is among a handful of universities with Wall Street replicated on campus. Others with trading rooms include Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Cornell and the University of Texas.

J. David Rogers, managing director of equities trading at Goldman Sachs and Co. in New York City and a graduate of Penn State, has contributed more than $1 million toward construction of this facility. Additional fund-raising will support the trading room's construction and ongoing operation. New York-based Sky Technologies, which builds trading rooms for Wall Street, is designing the trading room.

Wilkes-Barre partners with Global Wireless Education Consortium

Penn State Wilkes-Barre was recently made a provisional partner with Global Wireless Education Consortium (GWEC).

The consortium was formed by a wide range of companies including Verizon, Lucent, Motorola and AT&T. The board of directors includes both industry and education representatives in a collaboration to develop joint goals; share mutual authority and accountability for success; and share resources and rewards.

GWEC offers its members multi-media wireless curriculum developed by industry for use in the classroom; faculty workshops and industry training; student participation in wireless career fairs; and opportunities for student participation in structured practical work experiences at industry members' sites. By working together, consortium members are developing curricula that includes continually up-dated, wireless education material.

Penn State Wilkes-Barre offers an associate degree in telecommunications engineering technology. For more information, call Willie Ofosu at (570) 675-9137 or check the Web at http://www.wb.psu.edu/.

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