Penn State Fayette presents 2017 Retirees, Faculty & Staff Awards

LEMONT FURNACE, Pa. — Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus honored faculty and staff retirees and recipients of awards of excellence at the 2017 Retirement & Recognition Celebration on Friday, Dec. 1, at the Uniontown Country Club.

Charles Patrick, chancellor and chief academic officer, presented the Excellence awards, established in 1979 and supported by the Fayette Campus Endowment Fund, along with several family-endowed awards.

The Staff Excellence award was presented to Paul Coltus, research technologist in the Academic Affairs department. The Faculty Excellence award for outstanding service was presented to Kevin Maxwell, assistant teaching professor of mathematics.

The Ellen M. Laun Advising Excellence Award was presented to Michael Ridenour, lecturer in the business program, and the Barbara B. Solesky Support Staff Service Award was presented to Sherry Scully, administrative support assistant in the Admissions department.

“It’s easy to do this job when you love what you do,” said Scully.

Retirees Jon Rapano, senior instructor and coordinator of human development and family studies; Jan Jordan, administrative support assistant; Frederick Russel Filburn, senior instructor of speech communications; Bob Miller, maintenance worker; and James Crawford, associate professor of physics, were honored with words from their closest colleagues.

A common theme emerged in farewell speeches — gratitude for a prevailing sense of family across the campus community.

“It’s not at every campus that you see a maintenance worker sitting down for lunch with a physicist,” said Miller. “That’s Penn State Fayette.”

Patrick also honored recently passed colleagues, including Margaret “Peggy” Triplett, a former area representative in the Continuing Education department; Albert Skomra, a professor of English, former CEO of the Fayette, Beaver and Shenango campuses, and co-founder of the Coal and Coke Heritage Museum; and George S. Rigg, a former member of the Penn State Fayette Advisory Board.

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