Michael Lear-Olimpi

I will help you examine, question, comprehend, test and use skills in school, at work and in everyday life that you hone or acquire while working with me at Central Penn College. I'll also help you learn how to consider and decide whether you're using those skills ethically, or not. I’m your guide and sounding board, your coach and your resource, on your learning journey. Your time at Central Penn isn’t a journey on your own, though: We journey together; welcome, friend of learning – let’s go!

Before Lear-Olimpi joined the Central Penn faculty to teach communications, he was a journalist with a range of media outlets, and later an independent journalist, across three decades. The Philadelphia Inquirer is among outlets for which he reported, covering some of Philadelphia’s South Jersey suburbs. His journalism career began not far from Central Penn, in Lebanon, with The Daily News. He has taught journalism at Temple University, Philadelphia; at Temple’s Ambler Campus; and at Penn State Harrisburg; and English composition at several colleges and universities. Lear-Olimpi is president of the Keystone Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He is a media ethicist and a member of SPJ’s national Professional Standards and Ethics Committee, and is a member of SPJ’s national Bylaws Committee. He is co-advisor of The Knightly News Media Club @ Central Penn College, and is editor of its blog, Central Penn’s online student newspaper (www.cpcknightlynews.com). Born in Pottsville, and raised in Mahanoy City, Schuylkill County – widely believed to be the birthplace of cable television – he is proud of his Anthracite Region roots. He loves working with students, reading, movies, the woods and music. He lives in suburban Harrisburg, close to what many scientists believe is the world’s oldest river.