The
Pennsylvania State University (commonly known as
Penn State) is a state-related,
land-grant, space grant public research university located in the University
Park
area and within State
College
and College Township
in Pennsylvania
, United
States
. The University has 24 campuses throughout the
state of Pennsylvania, including a virtual World Campus, with University
Park being its largest campus. Penn State
University Park (commonly referred to as the "Main Campus") is
ranked in the top 15 nationally for public universities and is a
Public Ivy.
The enrollment at the
Penn State University Park campus is 43,252 with a total enrollment
of over 84,000 across its 24 campuses, placing it among the
ten largest public universities in the United States. Penn State offers more than 160 majors and
administers a $1.6 billion (
USD) endowment(systemwide).
History
Early years
Penn State was founded as a degree-granting institution on
February 22,
1855 by act
P.L. 46, No. 50 of the
General Assembly of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as the Farmers' High School of
Pennsylvania.
Centre County
became the home of the new school when James Irvin of Bellefonte
donated of land—the first of the University would
eventually acquire. In 1862, the school's name was changed
to the Agricultural College of Pennsylvania, and with the passage
of the
Morrill
Land-Grant Act, Pennsylvania selected the school in 1863 to be
the state's sole land grant college. In thefollowing years,
enrollment fell as the school tried to balance purely
agricultural studies with a more
classic education, falling to 64 undergraduates in 1875, a year
after the school's name changed once again to the Pennsylvania
State College.
President Atherton
George W. Atherton became president of the school
in 1882 , and broadened the school's curriculum. Shortly after he
introduced
engineering studies, Penn
State became one of the ten largest engineering schools in the
nation. Atherton also expanded the
liberal
arts and agriculture programs, for which the school began
receiving regular appropriations from the state in 1887 .
Atherton
is widely credited with saving Penn State from bankruptcy, and is still honored today by the
name of a major road in State
College. Penn State's
Atherton Hall, a well-furnished
and centrally located residence hall, is named not after George
Atherton himself, but after his wife, Frances Washburn Atherton .
His grave is in front of Schwab Auditorium near
Old Main, marked by
an engraved
marble block in front of his
statue.
Early 20th century
In the years that followed, Penn State grew significantly, becoming
the state's largest grantor of
baccalaureate degrees and reaching an
enrollment of 5,000 in 1936 . Around that time, a system of
commonwealth campuses was started by President
Ralph Dorn Hetzel to provide an
alternative for
Depression-era
students who were economically unable to leave home to attend
college .
Rapid growth
In 1953, President
Milton S.
Eisenhower, brother of then
U.S. President
Dwight D.
Eisenhower, changed the
school's name to The Pennsylvania State University , and the
University developed rapidly under his successor
Eric A. Walker.
Under Walker's leadership (1956–1970), the University acquired
hundreds of acres of surrounding land, and enrollment nearly
tripled.
In addition, in 1967, the Hershey Medical
Center
, a college of medicine and hospital, was
established in Hershey
with a US$50 million gift from the
Hershey Trust Company
.
Modern era
In the 1970s, The Pennsylvania State University became a
state-related
institution . As such, it now belongs to the
Commonwealth System of
Higher Education, and is not part of the fully public
Pennsylvania State
System of Higher Education.
In recent years, Penn State's role as a leader in education in
Pennsylvania has become well-defined.
In 1989, the Pennsylvania
College of Technology
in Williamsport
joined ranks with the University, and in 1997, so
did the Dickinson School of
Law . The University is now the largest in Pennsylvania,
and in 2003, it was credited with having the second-largest impact
on the state economy of any organization, generating an economic
effect of over $6 billion on a budget of
US$2.5 billion. To offset the lack
of funding due to the limited growth in state appropriations to
Penn State, the University has concentrated its efforts on
philanthropy (2003 marked the end of the Grand Destiny campaign—a
seven-year effort that raised over
US$1.3 billion) .
Campuses and colleges
The Lion Shrine at University Park was
a gift of the class of 1940 and is the most photographed site on
campus.
University Park
The
largest of Penn State's 24 campuses, University
Park, is almost entirely within the boundaries of
State
College borough, a site chosen to be near the geographic
center of the state. With an undergraduate acceptance rate
of 51 percent,it is the most selective campus in the Penn State
system, due primarily to the fact that students select University
Park as their first-choice campus at a far greater rate than Penn
State's other undergraduate campuses. During the fall 2006
semester, 36,612 undergraduate students and 6,302 graduate students
were enrolled at University Park. Of those, 45.2 percent were
female and 25.5 percent were not Pennsylvania residents.
Colleges
The University Park campus is organized into 13 distinct
"colleges":
In addition, the Penn State Board of Trustees voted in January 2007
to create a
School of
International Affairs, with the first classes admitted in the
fall 2008 semester.
The school is part of the Dickinson School of Law at its
University
Park campus location.
As of 2008 the College of Nursing has been added to the list as a
separate college.
Commonwealth campuses
In addition to the University Park campus, 19
campus
locations throughout the state offer enrollment for
undergraduate students. Over 60 percent of Penn State first-year
students begin their education at a location other than University
Park. All of these smaller campuses offer a limited number of
degree programs, but any student in good academic standing is
guaranteed a spot at University Park to finish his or her degree if
required or desired. Most students do complete their degree program
at University Park (known as "change of assignment," since Penn
State campuses are not independently operated and therefore
"transferring" is an inaccurate term).
Special-mission campuses
The
Dickinson School of Law of
the Pennsylvania State University was founded in 1834 and is
the oldest law school in Pennsylvania. It merged with Penn State in
2000. Students now have the choice of studying in either Carlisle
or University Park, with classes teleconferenced between the two
locations using high-tech audiovisual equipment. The school is
ranked among the top 100 law schools nationally, and has produced a
number of governors, members of congress, and judges. A number of
attorneys comprise the faculty and lead several centers and
institutes devoted to specific practice areas. The school's
alternative dispute resolution program is ranked among the top 10
nationally. The law school also houses the School of International
Affairs.
Penn
State Great Valley School of Graduate Professional Studies is a
special mission campus offering master's degrees, master's
certification, and continuing professional education.
Located in Malvern,
Pa., it also offers classes at the old Philadelphia
Naval Shipyard
. Penn State Hershey Medical Center and
College of Medicine
in Hershey, Pa., is Penn State's medical school and
teaching hospital. Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical
Center has become only the ninth hospital in the United States and
16th worldwide to implant the CardioWest temporary Total Artificial
Heart when a 60-year-old man suffering from end-stage heart failure
received the device in May, 2008.
Pennsylvania
College of Technology, in Williamsport, Pa., offers certificates as well
as degrees in over 10 technical fields.
In 1998, the University launched
Penn State World Campus, or Penn
State online, which offers over 50 online education programs,
degrees, and certificates. Distance education has a long history at
Penn State, which was one of the first universities in the country
to offer a correspondence course for remote farmers in 1892.
Examples of online programs include a master's in homeland security
in public health preparedness, a bachelor of science in nursing, a
master's in business administration, and certificates in applied
statistics and in economic and community development. Penn State's
World Campus offers nine graduate degrees, 16 graduate
certificates, 13 undergraduate degrees, and 16 undergraduate
certificates. World Campus students come from 50 U.S. states, 43
countries, and seven continents.
Demographics and trends
Racial composition of student enrollment at Penn State as of fall
2006.
Racially,
the University is representative of the state of Pennsylvania, although less diverse than comparable
institutions. As of fall 2006, the racial makeup of the Penn
State system, including all campuses and special-mission colleges,
was 82.8 percent white, 5.4 percent African-American, 4.6 percent
Asian-American, 2.9 percent Hispanic-American, 0.2 percent Native
American, and 4.2 percent international students. Over the period
1996–2006, minority enrollment as a percentage of total enrollment
has risen 3.5 percentage points, while minorities as a percentage
of total teaching positions rose 2.0 percentage points from 1997 to
2002.
Organization
Penn State is a "state-related" university, part of Pennsylvania's
Commonwealth
System of Higher Education. As such, although it receives
funding from the Commonwealth and is connected to the state through
its board of trustees; it is otherwise independent and not subject
to the state's direct control. For the 2006-2007 fiscal year, Penn
State received 9.7 percent of its budget from state appropriations,
the lowest of the four state-related institutions in Pennsylvania.
Initial reports concerning the 2007-2008 fiscal year indicate that
Pennsylvania Governor
Ed Rendell is
recommending a 1.6 percent increase in state appropriations. Penn
State's appropriation request, submitted to the Pennsylvania
Department of Education in September, requested a 6.8 percent
increase in funding.
Board of Trustees
The university is governed by the 32-member board of trustees. Its
members include the president of the University, the
Governor of the Commonwealth, and
the state Secretaries of Agriculture, Education, and Conservation
and natural resources. The other members include six trustees
appointed by the Governor, nine elected by alumni, and six elected
by Pennsylvania agricultural societies. Six additional trustees are
elected by a board representing business and industry enterprises.
Undergraduate students do not elect any trustees; the court case
Benner v. Oswald ruled that the Equal Protection
Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment did not require the
undergraduate students be allowed to participate in the selection
of trustees.
As of 2009 the chair of the board of trustees is James S.
Broadhurst, a 1965 graduate of Penn State and CEO of
Eat'n Park Hospitality Group, Inc.
The main responsibilities of the board are to select the president
of Penn State, to determine the goals and strategic direction of
the University, and to approve the annual budget. Regular meetings
of the board are held bi-monthly and take place primarily on the
University Park campus, although on occasion meetings are held at
other locations within the Commonwealth.
Administration
The president of the University is selected by the board and is
given the authority for actual control of the university, including
day-to-day management. In practice, part of this responsibility is
delegated by the president to other departments of the
administration, to the faculty, and to the student body. As of 2009
the president of the university is
Graham
Spanier.
The executive vice president and provost is the chief academic
officer of the University. As of 2009 the provost is Rodney
Erickson, and the Associate Vice President and Senior Associate
Dean For Undergraduate Education is Jeremy Cohen.
Tuition
According to a 2006 survey by
USA Today, Penn State's
"flagship" campus, University Park, has the highest in-state
tuition rates among comparable institutions
nationwide. While a task force formed in 2001 to study options for
tuition projections determined that the University's operating
efficiency is among the highest
in postsecondary education, it found that tuition increases at Penn
State still consistently outpaced increases at other
Big Ten Conference institutions.
Student
leaders of The Council of Commonwealth Student Governments (CCSG)
have led annual rallies to lower rate hikes at each of the 19
commonwealth campuses and at the Pennsylvania state capitol in
Harrisburg
. In 2005, the board of trustees proposed a
tuition freeze at the undergraduate
campus
locations (except University Park) as part of its state
appropriation request.
Academics
The Forum Building, a classroom
building with four 300+ capacity classrooms.
of September 2009, only 24 Pennsylvania colleges and universities
held
Association
to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business accreditation in
business and only 4 in accounting.
The Smeal College of Business, The
Sam and Irene Black School of
Business
, Penn State Harrisburg
, and Penn
State Great Valley were among the institutions
accredited.
Penn
State offers an accelerated Premedical-Medical Program in
cooperation with Jefferson Medical College
. Students in the program spend two or three
years at Penn State before attending medical school at
Jefferson.
Over 10,000 students are enrolled in the University's graduate
school (including the law and medical schools), and over 70,000
degrees have been awarded since the school was founded in
1922.
Research
For
fiscal year 2007 the
National Science Foundation
reported that Penn State had spent
US$652,144,000 on
R&D, of which
US$370,789,000 (57%) had come from the
U.S. government, and that it ranked
11th among U.S. universities and colleges in R&D
spending.
The
Applied Research Lab (ARL), located near the University
Park campus, has been a research partner with the
United States Department of
Defense
since 1945 and conducts research primarily in
support of the United States
Navy. It is the largest component of Penn State's
research efforts statewide, with over 1,000 researchers and other
staff members.
The Materials Research Institute was created to coordinate the
highly diverse and growing materials activities across Penn State’s
main campus. With more than 200 faculty in 15 departments, 4
colleges, and 2 Department of Defense research laboratories, MRI
was designed to break down the academic walls that traditionally
divide disciplines and thereby enable faculty to collaborate across
departmental and even college boundaries. MRI has become a model
for this interdisciplinary approach to research, both within and
outside the university.
Penn State was one of the founding members of the
Worldwide Universities
Network (WUN), a partnership that includes 17 research-led
universities in the United States, Asia and Europe. The network
provides funding, facilitates collaboration between universities,
and coordinates exchanges of faculty members and graduate students
among institutions. Penn State president
Graham Spanier is a former vice-chair of the
WUN.
The
Pennsylvania
State University Libraries were ranked 14th among research
libraries in North America in the 2003–2004 survey released by
The Chronicle of
Higher Education.
The University's library system began with a 1,500-book library in
Old Main. In 2009 its holdings had grown to 5.2 million
volumes, in addition to 500,000 maps, five million microforms, and
180,000 films and videos.
The campus is also host to a
Radiation Science & Engineering Center, which houses the
oldest operating university
research
reactor. Additionally, University Park houses the Graduate
Program in Acoustics, the only acoustics program in the United
States.
Athletics
Wall near Beaver Stadium
Pennsylvania State University mascot
and cheerleader
Penn State's mascot is the
Nittany
Lion, a representation of a type of
mountain lion that once roamed what is now
University Park. The school's official colors were originally black
and pink. Penn State participates in the
NCAA Division I-A and in the
Big Ten Conference for most sports.A few
sports participate in different conferences: men's volleyball in
the
Eastern
Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA); men's
lacrosse in the
Eastern College Athletic
Conference (ECAC); women's lacrosse in American Lacrosse
conference; and hockey (American Collegiate Hockey Association).
The fencing teams operate as independents. In 2010, the men's
lacrosse team will join the
Colonial Athletic Association
(CAA).
Athletic teams at Penn State have won 65 national collegiate team
championships (37
NCAA, 2 consensus
Division I
football titles, 6
AIAW, 3 USWLA,
1
WIBC, and 4
national titles in boxing, 11 in men's soccer and one in wrestling
in years prior to NCAA sponsorship). There have been another 53
national collegiate championships, by either individuals or club
teams. The 36 NCAA Championships ranks eighth all time in NCAA
Division I, and is the most of any Big Ten school. Recent
championships won include Women's Rugby, Men's Gymnastics,
Men's/Women's Fencing, Women's Volleyball in 2007, Men's
Volleyball, and Women's Volleyball in 2008 and 2009 and
Men's/Women's Fencing in 2009 won their respective national
titles.
Since joining the
Big Ten in
1991, Penn State teams have won 48 regular season conference titles
and 11 tournament titles, including eleven consecutive titles in
women's soccer (second longest streak in Big Ten athletic
history),and six straight in women's volleyball (the longest streak
in
Big Ten volleyball
history).
Penn State has one of the most successful overall athletic programs
in the country, as evidenced by its rankings in the
NACDA Director's Cup, a list compiled
by the
National
Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics that charts
institutions' overall success in college sports. From the Cup's
inception in the 1993–1994 season through the 2007–2008 season, the
Nittany Lions have finished in the top 10 eight times and the top
five four times, and have finished in the top 25 every year.In
1999,
Sporting News named Penn State as the country's best
overall athletic program, citing its consistent and wide-ranging
athletic successes along with its athletes' long-standing tradition
of excelling in the classroom. Penn State placed 6th in
Sports Illustrated's top
25 rankings for athletic success for the 2007-08 academic year, the
highest of any Big Ten school.
Penn State student-athletes receive academic honors that often far
exceed those awarded to other Division 1-A schools. In the 2007-08
academic year, a school record 261 Penn State Student-Athletes
earned Academic All-
Big Ten
honors. Penn State leads the Big Ten with 3,069 selections.
Despite widespread success in the overall athletic program,
however, the school is best known for its
football team, which draws
a very large following. Penn State's Beaver Stadium has the largest
seating capacity (over 107,282) of
any stadium in the nation, slightly ahead of Michigan Stadium,
whose
seating capacity was reduced
following litigation regarding the number of handicapped seats in
the stadium. The football team is led by legendary coach
Joe Paterno, who at 82 is in his 44th year as
head coach (as of the 2009 season).
Joe Paterno is in a constant race with
Bobby Bowden, the head coach for
Florida
State
, for the most wins ever in Division I-A (now the
FBS) history. As of July 2009 Paterno has 383 total career
wins.
In
2007 he was inducted into the College
Football Hall of Fame
.
In 2009,
Cael Sanderson became the
head coach of Penn State's wrestling team.
The University opened a new
Penn State All-Sports Museum in
February 2002.
This two-level museum is located inside
Beaver
Stadium
. During Penn State home football games, State
College becomes the third most populous city in Pennsylvania,
surpassed only by Pittsburgh
and Philadelphia
.
In addition to the school funded athletics, club sports also play a
major role in the University, with over 68 club sport organizations
meeting regularly to date. Many club teams compete nationally in
their respective sports. The Penn State Ski Team, which competes as
part of the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association
(USCSA) in the Allegheny Conference, as well as the Penn State Swim
Club, which competes in the American Swimming Association -
University League (ASAU), are just a few examples. Some other clubs
include baseball,
squash,
karate,
crew and
sailing.
Penn State's most well-known athletic cheer is "We are...Penn
State." Typically, the students and cheerleaders shout "We are,"
followed by a response of "Penn State" from the rest of the fans.
This is typically done three or four times, and followed by "Thank
you..." "... you're welcome!" when completed. The cheer is by no
means restricted to sporting events, as prospective students
touring the campus (with the aid of either the Lion Scouts or Lion
Ambassadors) will hear plenty of these chants from current
students.
Student life
The Irvin residence hall in West
Halls
The University's fight song is "
Fight
On, State," and other notable songs performed at public
celebrations include the
Penn
State Alma Mater, "
The Nittany
Lion"
("Hail to the Lion...") and "Victory".
Diversity
Penn State has been the subject of controversy for several issues
of discrimination. In response, in 1990 a vice provost for
educational equity was appointed to lead a five-year strategic plan
to "create an environment characterized by equal access and
respected participation for all groups and individuals irrespective
of cultural differences." Since then, discrimination issues include
the handling of death threats in 1992 and 2001, controversy around
LGBT issues, reverse discrimination - including
the university violating its own nondiscrimination policies by
prohibiting white males from seeking counseling at the
Multicultural Resource Center and the investigation of a 2006
sexual discrimination lawsuit filed by former Lady Lions basketball
player
Jennifer Harris, alleging
that head coach
Rene Portland
dismissed her from the team in part due to her sexual orientation.
Sunrise over Mt.
Student organizations
As of November 2009, 778 student organizations were recognized at
the University Park campus. In addition, Penn State has one of the
largest
Greek systems in the
country, with approximately 12 percent of the University Park
population affiliated.
While each individual residence area at the University Park campus
holds its own Student Government, the official on-campus residence
Student Government is the Association of Residence Hall Students
(ARHS) In additional to several ad-hoc committees, students serve
as chairs and directors for many campus-wide functions, such as
Channel 72, ARHS Cinemas, and
Movin'
On. ARHS's National Communications Chair (NCC), in conjunction
with the National Residence Hall Honorary - Nittany Chapter
(NRHH-Nittany), coordinates Penn State's representation at the
National
Association of College and University Residence Halls (NACURH)
and Central Atlantic Association of College and University
Residence Halls (CAACURH) events every year.
Students at Penn State are represented by one of three different
student governments, the University Park Undergraduate Association
(UPUA), the Council of Commonwealth Student Governments (CCSG), and
the Graduate Student Association (GSA). The official student
undergraduate government of the University Park Campus is
University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA). The UPUA
comprises an Assembly of Student Representatives, an Executive
Board, and a Board of Arbitration. The official Commonwealth Campus
Student Government of The Pennsylvania State University is the
Council of Commonwealth Student Governments (CCSG). CCSG meets
typically 3 times a semester at University Park, with two
representatives from each commonwealth campus. The executive board
of CCSG is made up of University Park students dedicated to the
commonwealth ideal of "One university, geographically dispersed."
CCSG represents all students enrolled through Penn State.
The
Penn State Glee Club,
founded in 1888, is the oldest student organization on campus, and
has reached a broad audience with their annual spring break tour,
which has led them to many destinations around the globe. Another
organization rich in history is the
Penn State Thespians, who have
performed theatre at University Park since 1898, and are the oldest
continuously-active student-run organization on campus (the Glee
Club having been temporarily suspended during the
Second World War). Additionally, the
Penn State Blue Band, founded
in 1899, performs during halftime at football games and at other
university functions, and was honored with the
Sudler Trophy in 2005. The Trophy, which has
been presented by the
John
Philip Sousa Foundation since 1982, is regarded as the nation's
highest accolade for collegiate bands.
Penn State is also home to the
Paranormal Research Society
(PRS), which has earned national media attention over the past few
years. The
A&E Network recently
announced that it is developing a national reality series with the
group and University, entitled
Paranormal State. Parts of the series will
be filmed on campus.
Media
The student-run newspaper is
The Daily Collegian.
It is published every weekday while classes are in session. Since
the summer of 1996, the traditional paper publication has been
supplemented by an online edition, known as
The Digital
Collegian.
Onward State has
recently gained standing as an alternative media outlet to The
Daily Collegian. It is a blog centered around the Penn State
community. In addition, Penn State's newspaper readership program
provides free copies of
USA Today,
The New York Times, as well as
local and regional newspapers depending on the campus location (for
example, the
Centre Daily
Times in University Park). This program, initiated by
President Graham Spanier in 1997, has since been instituted on
nearly 400 other universities across the country.
The student-run organization for yearbooks is named
La
Vie.
La Vie 1987 won a College Gold Crown for
Yearbooks award from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association.The
La Vie 1987 editor-in-chief was David Beagin.
The
student-run radio station is The LION
90.7 fm 
. Founded in 1995 as a replacement for Penn
State's original student radio station WDFM, The LION broadcasts
from the ground floor of the HUB-Robeson Center
, serving the Penn State and State College
communities with alternative music and talk programming, including
live coverage of home Penn State football games. The LION's
signal can be heard in the greater State College area at 90.7 FM
and anywhere in the world via its live 24/7 webstream at
www.theLION.fm. The
LION's programming grid can be found at
www.thelion.fm/shows/. Among the station's most
popular shows is its long-running public affairs program,
Radio Free Penn State, hosted by Andy
Nagypal, which airs weekdays from 5-6pm Eastern.
In addition, the
Penn State College of
Communications operates
ComRadio. It was founded in the spring of 2003
as an internet-based audio laboratory and co-curricular training
environment for aspiring student broadcasters. ComRadio is most
well known for its coverage of most major Penn State sporting
events. ComRadio also airs student-produced Penn State news. Other
programming includes student talk shows, political coverage, AP
syndicated news and soft rock music.
The student-run humor magazine is
Phroth, which publishes
two to four issues each year.
Phroth's roots date back to
1909 when it was called
Froth. Several Froth writers and
editors have gone on to win fame:
Julius J. Epstein wrote the screenplay for
Casablanca and won three Academy Awards; Jimmy Dugan wrote
for the S
aturday Evening Post,
National
Geographic and
The New York Times; and Ronald Bonn
was a producer with
NBC Nightly News and
CBS Evening
News.
Kalliope is an undergraduate literary magazine
produced by students and sponsored by the Penn State English
Department.
Kalliope includes works of fiction,
nonfiction, poetry and visual art.'The student-run life and style
magazine is
Valley.
Other
Every February, thousands of students participate in the
Penn State Dance Marathon (THON),
In previous years, participants stood for 48 hours nonstop and
performed a line dance at least once every hour to stay alert. In
2007, THON was moved to the Bryce Jordan Center and now lasts 46
hours. THON raises millions of dollars annually for pediatric
cancer care and research, generally through the
Four Diamonds Fund. In 2009, THON raised
more than
US$7.49 million.
The 22,000+ student section at home football games is the largest
concentrated student section in the nation. However, Penn State has
the lowest percentage of students given the opportunity to purchase
season in tickets in the
Big Ten, and one of
the lowest in the nation at just 25.25% (it should be noted that
this percentage includes students at all 24 campuses statewide; the
student section is approximately 50% of the students attending the
University Park campus).
Conversely, Ohio State University
, with a student section of 29,000 tickets (in a
smaller stadium nonetheless) has seats for 57.16% of their
students. Penn State students were listed number one in the
"students who pack the stands" category of the 2009
Princeton
Review survey. Due to a change in the way seating is assigned,
beginning in 1993 tradition has been for students to camp outside
of the stadium on the days leading up to important games, and
beginning in 2005 the campsite has been called
"Paternoville."
Alumni and notable people
Former President's house, now adjoined
to the Hintz Alumni Center
Established in 1870, nine years after Penn State's first
commencement exercises, the Penn State Alumni Association has the
stated mission "to connect alumni to the University and to each
other, provide valuable benefits to members and support the
University's mission of teaching, research and service." The Alumni
Association supports a number of educational and extracurricular
missions of Penn State through financial support and is the network
that connects alumni through over 280 "alumni groups," many of
which are designated based on geographical, academic, or
professional affiliation.
As of 2006, the Alumni Association counts 453,346 members within
the United States, with an additional 6,277 in countries around the
globe.
About half the United States alumni reside
in Pennsylvania, primarily in the urban areas of Philadelphia (and the surrounding counties), the Pittsburgh Area and in the Centre
County region surrounding State
College, although alumni can be found in almost every
region of the country and abroad. About 34 percent of United
States alumni and 21 percent of international alumni are members of
the Alumni Association. With membership totaling 154,688, the Penn
State Alumni Association is the largest dues-paying
alumni association in the world, a
distinction it has held since 1995.
Since 2001, Penn State, along with all schools in the
Big Ten, has participated in the "Big Ten
Challenge" website, which is a "competitive" clearinghouse of
alumni donation statistics for member schools. Results are tracked
to determine a percentage of each school's alumni from the previous
decade who gave to their alma mater each calendar year (for
example, during the 2005-2006 year, alumni donations from 1996 to
2005 were tallied).
With the exception of 2005-2006, when Penn
State fell to second behind Northwestern University
, Penn State has won the challenge each year since
its inception.
Point of interest
See also
References
- " State College borough, Pennsylvania."
U.S.
Census Bureau. Retrieved on August 24, 2009.
- " College township, Pennsylvania." U.S. Census
Bureau. Retrieved on August 24, 2009.
- "Why should you start your education at a Penn State campus?"
Published by the Undergraduate Admissions Office, The Pennsylvania
State University. 2006.
- " Penn State championship history". Penn State
Athletics.
- " Schools with the most NCAA championships"
NCAA.
-
http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/1992/01/01-28-92tdc/01-28-92dops-column-01.asp
-
http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/1992/02/02-03-92tdc/02-03-92dnews-02.asp
-
http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/1992/08/08-04-92tdc/08-04-92dnews-4.asp
-
http://www.noindoctrination.org/cgibin/display_record.cgi?uid=380
-
http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2001/04/04-12-01tdc/04-12-01dnews-2.asp
-
http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2002/01/01-24-02tdc/01-24-02dnews-01.asp
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