1:00 p.m. – 2:20 p.m.
Meet the Panel
Not pictured: Heather Makal, Shamokin Creek Restoration Alliance
Jake Betz
Director, Mother Maria Kaupas Center
Jake Betz is the director of the Mother Maria Kaupas Center in Mount Carmel, a ministry of Divine Redeemer Catholic Church. The Center is an anchor partner of Bucknell’s Coal Region Field Station. He is also an officer of the Mount Carmel Area Community Center and the Mount Carmel Area Public Library Board and the director of the Mount Carmel Area Food Pantry.
Betsy Kramer, CEcD, EDP
Program Manager, Community Revitalization
SEDA-Council of Governments (SEDA-COG)
Betsy Kramer is a leader in economic and environmental resiliency, driving transformative redevelopment across central Pennsylvania. Since its creation in 2019, SEDA-COG’s Community Revitalization program has secured nearly $37 million in grant funding to support infrastructure improvements, flood resiliency, and sustainable redevelopment across the 11-county SEDA-COG region. Betsy’s work began in Shamokin, where she led the award-winning GoShamokin Plan, an ongoing initiative that has positioned the city as a regional model for revitalization. Through major grants such as EPA Brownfield funding and DOT Safe Streets for All (SS4A), she has spearheaded projects including
environmental remediation, downtown revitalization, and green infrastructure improvements. Collaboration has been central to Betsy’s success, with key partnerships including Bucknell University’s
Center for Sustainability & the Environment, the EPA, DEP, and the AmeriCorps VISTA program. These efforts have advanced initiatives from Shamokin’s Climate Action Plan, which Betsy helped develop and
is now actively implementing.
With over eight years at SEDA-COG, Betsy has played a pivotal role in regional strategic planning and sustainable economic development. Before joining the agency, she spent 12 years as a small business
owner, author, and speaker, recognized as a featured success story by Bucknell University’s Small
Business Development Center (SBDC). Betsy is a Certified Economic Development professional (CEcD) and Entrepreneurship Development
Professional (EDP) through the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) and holds a Business
Contracts Certification from Cornell Law School, reinforcing her expertise in navigating complex partnerships that drive sustainable growth.
Matt McMullen
Americorp VISTA Member
As a VISTA member, Matt has been working with the City of Shamokin to further implement their Environmental Resiliency Plan by building the city’s capacity to foster environmental and sustainable projects related to energy efficiency, transportation, green space development, and more. Matt graduated from Bucknell University in May 2024 with a Bachelor of Arts in Geography and a minor in Environmental Studies. During his undergraduate years, he spent over two years as a Place Studies Research Intern with the BCSE, when he worked directly with the Shamokin area. This experience deepened his connection to the community, and solidified his passion for environmental resilience, leading to his application to the VISTA program, and an opportunity to continue building on the connections he made as an undergraduate student.
Mark Stansberry
Founder, Screen Arts Institute
:Mark Stansberry is a professional animator who has been
producing and teaching animation in some shape or form since 1996. He
has taught and produced animation in Baltimore, Md (His hometown) and
NYC and moved to central Pennsylvania in 2016. He once again wanted to share the creation of art and animation with a community where he saw an untapped and marginalized culture, so began teaching animation to teens through his small Saturday class and now the “Broadcast Arts Initiative” program which will teach (adults ages 18-99) digital media regarding fostering “artrepreneurship” and remote/freelance creatives in the region.”
Moderator
Katherine Faull
Associate Provost for Local and Global Engagement and Senior International Officer, Bucknell University