Reading, PA, Tuesday, October 19, 2021 – Reading Area Community College (RACC) President Dr. Susan D. Looney and Albright College President Dr. Jacquelyn S. Fetrow, signed a transfer agreement that will offer guaranteed admission to Albright College for RACC graduates to pursue their bachelor’s degrees.

The guaranteed admission and seamless transfer agreement between RACC and Albright College will provide an affordable pathway through select associate degree programs to parallel bachelor’s degrees. This agreement provides guaranteed admission and junior standing for all RACC graduates of A.A. and A.S. programs, as well as select A.A.S. programs. In addition, Albright College will provide many robust scholarship opportunities for RACC graduates, including one full scholarship. In addition, a reverse transfer agreement will offer RACC students who have earned a minimum of 15 credits, but who enter Albright College before completing their associate degree, an opportunity to transfer Albright credits back to RACC to earn an associate degree.

“RACC is committed to creating academic partnerships, especially in Berks County, that encourage students to complete their associate degree before transferring to a four-year institution,” says Dr. Looney. “Our graduates are highly valued by our college and university partners, and we are excited that Dr. Fetrow and Albright College have committed to a seamless transfer to their bachelor’s degree programs.”

“At Albright, transfer students will expand their horizons within an academically talented community that comes from more than 25 states and a dozen countries. And they’ll benefit from nationally-recognized proactive support — academic, social and financial — all resources crucial for their success,” said Fetrow. “My goal, and the goal of all of us at Albright College, is to guide these students to exceed their own expectations.”

Reading Area Community College is an accredited, comprehensive, open-enrollment education institution that provides associate degree and certificate programs with ten programs offered fully online; workforce and career-focused training; transitional coursework; personal enrichment programs and public service activities. Sponsored by Berks County, the College provides affordable access to meet identified community educational needs. 

Named a top national college by Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education and U.S. News & World Report, Albright College (founded 1856) is home to a diverse community of learners cultivating integrity, curiosity, connection and resilience. The college's flexible curriculum encourages students to combine and cross majors to create individualized academic programs. Close faculty mentorship and numerous experiential learning options create opportunities for Albright graduates to exceed their own expectations. Located in Reading, Pa., Albright is home to undergraduate students, adult learners and graduate students.

Reading, PA – In an effort to better support its students’ basic needs, Reading Area Community College (RACC) has opened a food pantry on campus, joining more than 560 other colleges and universities nationwide that provide food to students via pantries. The mission of the pantry is to provide free, non-perishable food items for RACC students experiencing food insecurity or difficulty buying food as well as offering a resource to help students create healthy meals.

Students and other members of the college community will be able to visit the pantry and select items they need free of charge. In addition to food items, the pantry also has diapers, household and personal care items, as well as gently used second hand professional attire.

The college officially opened the pantry on Thursday, September 30, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the pantry location in the Student Union Building on the RACC campus. Present were representatives from the RACC community, and representatives from Helping Harvest mobile market, which is a community partner of RACC. The lead funding for the pantry came from two important sources, Dr. Jerry Marcus, one of the leaders of the RACC Foundation Board, and the Berks County Community Foundation, led by President Kevin Murphy.

“As a leader in the community, very often our responsibilities go beyond teaching in the classroom, and extend to improving and supporting the personal lives of our students. We established the RACC Food Pantry in an effort to minimize the burdens that food insecurities can place on some of our students,” says RACC President Dr. Susan Looney.

The pantry will be open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Fridays from 9am to 5pm; and Wednesdays from 9am to 3pm.

If you would like to contribute to the RACC Food Pantry or have additional questions, please contact Student Life Coordinator Jamica Andrews at 610.236.3943.

Stephen Kohler graduated from Governor Mifflin High School and enrolled in RACC’s Respiratory Care program. “The Respiratory Care Program itself attracted me to RACC, but it was also the financial benefit. I was able to graduate and not be in debt.”

Stephen graduated from the Respiratory Care Program and continued his education at Alvernia University where he received a bachelor’s degree in Computer System’s Management and an Executive Medical Master’s Degree in Business Administration. Stephen credits his experience and education at RACC for preparing him to care for his patients from the emergency room to the neonatal intensive care unit. “RACC is beneficial because students get to attend clinical experiences at a variety of hospitals and settings to gain a perspective from a multitude of institutions and varied care providers in the field, which makes for a synergistic real world learning experience.”

Stephen has worked at Tower Health Reading Hospital as a respiratory therapist since the day he graduated from RACC and currently holds a supervisory position as a critical care clinical specialist. He feels RACC’s rigorous program creates graduates who are ready to tackle their career. “You do not walk out of the doors on graduation day looking to the sky saying, ‘now what,’ you know, and are prepared for exactly what you were trained to do. You can find employment for exactly what your field of study was, and you have a chance to help people in their time of need.”

As Stephen looks back at his time at RACC, he has wonderful memories and valuable learning experiences. “RACC is a wonderful institution filled with an abundance of caring individuals who are dedicated and full of life experiences. The student body is comprised of a multitude of backgrounds and diverse age differences, which creates perspectives that are paramount in having the absolute best learning environment possible. Learning from those who have lived through changes and experiences can be very rewarding and eye opening. One should never shy away from where they have come; it will only make the future stronger if you never forget the past.”

Reading, PA, June 7, 2021 – Reading Area Community College (RACC) along with its valued partners, Pennsylvania State University (PSU), Berks County Career and Technology Center (BCTC) and Reading Muhlenberg Career Technology Center (RMCTC) have signed articulation agreements that result in a 2+2+2 engineering pathway. 

Career and technology center students enrolled in the Technical Academy Mechatronics/Engineering Automation Programs can earn up to 25 credits toward a RACC Associate of Science (AS) in engineering prior to graduating high school. The AS in Engineering transfers to a Bachelor of Science in Electro-Mechanical Engineering Technology or Mechanical Engineering at Pennsylvania State University-Berks Campus.

This integrated pathway involves early and intensive advising for high school students seeking to earn an ABET-accredited engineering degree and also want hands-on experience offered by the CTC and the Schmidt Training and Technology Center. Faculty from both RACC and Penn State Berks discussed curricular changes needed for RACC’s AS in Engineering, even sharing syllabi and discussing in-depth learning outcomes in order to help create a seamless pathway.  

“RACC is very fortunate to have deeply connected K12 and university partners that continue to improve our transfer pathways in order to provide students of Berks County access to an affordable college education,” says RACC President Dr. Susan Looney.

To learn more about partnership pathway programs at RACC, please contact Director of Community and Academic Partnerships, Kristen Marcinko at kmarcinko@racc.edu.

Reading, PA- The Reading Area Community College (RACC) Adult Basic Education (ABE) program honored 42 students who have obtained their GED in a graduation ceremony on Wednesday, June 2 in the Miller Center for the Arts on the RACC campus.

Students walking the stage have spent hundreds of hours working on GED preparation in one of RACC’s classes. The GED examination is equivalent to a high school diploma and certifies a student as having high school graduate-level skills. 

"Adult education is a vital program in our community, and we at RACC are proud to offer this option for students looking to improve their marketability in the workforce, or continue their education at the next level,” says Dr. Susan D. Looney, RACC president.  

Many students graduating have also completed English as a Second Language courses and now plan to further their education-including enrolling at RACC to earn a degree.

For more information about RACC’s GED and ABE programs, call 610.372.4721, x5322, or visit racc.edu.