State College is situated at an elevation of approximately 1,200 feet (370 m) above sea level.[8] According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 4.5 square miles (12 km2), all of it land. It is surrounded by large tracts of farmland, and an expanse of Appalachian Mountain ranges and forests. Its location within a valley makes it prone to frequent rain and snowfall. Nittany Mountain is part of Pennsylvania’s geologic ridge-and-valley province of the Appalachian Mountains.[Nittany Mountain is part of Pennsylvania’s geologic ridge-and-valley province of the Appalachian Mountains.[9]9] It is (approximately) the geographic center of Pennsylvania.
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State College is one of the densest cities of its population in the United States, primarily aided by the presence of numerous high rises downtown along Beaver and College Avenues. The 2010s saw a construction boom downtown, with several mixed-use towers being developed, including the Rise, Metropolitan, Fraser Centre, Here State College (a 15-floor tower on Garner Street), among other projects. Unlike most older towers, many of the newer buildings are mixed-use, with retail on the first floor, offices on the next couple floors up, and apartments on the top floors.[11][12]
This high rise building boom has drawn debate in the local area. Some residents see it as a boon to increase foot traffic downtown and reduce congestion on the arterial roads leading into the town. Others, however, are skeptical of the developments as they replace historical buildings in the area, losing some of the borough’s character.
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Weather in State College is strongly influenced by the mountain and valley topology of the area. The surrounding mountains cause significantly lower temperatures in the winter, and make summer heat waves much rarer than in the rest of the state. Precipitation is about 20% lower than areas at comparable elevations, again due to the surrounding mountains. Snowfall typically occurs between October and April, but has happened as late as June.[21]
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Bellefonte is a borough in Centre County, about twelve miles northeast of State College. It is the county seat of Centre County and is home to about 6,400 people. The town features many examples of Victorian architecture, as well as a natural spring, which is how the town got its name. Legend has it that French ambassador Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord, for whom Talleyrand Park is named, exclaimed “La belle fonte!” – “beautiful fountain” – upon seeing the Big Spring, source of 11 million gallons of spring water per day.
According to the 2010 census,[24] there were 42,034 people, 12,610 households, and 3,069 families residing in the borough. The population density was 9,258.6 people per square mile (3,574.3/km2). There were 13,007 housing units at an average density of 2,865.0 per square mile (1,106.0/km2). The racial makeup of the borough was 83.2% White, 3.8% Black or African American, 0.2% Native American, 9.8% Asian, 1.0% Other, and 2.0% from two or more races. 3.9% of the population were of Hispanic or Latino ancestry. 22,681 or 54.0% of borough residents were males and 19,353 or 46.0% were females.
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The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers’ High School of Pennsylvania,[14] Penn State became the state’s only land-grant university in 1863. Today, Penn State is a major research university which conducts teaching, research, and public service. Its instructional mission includes undergraduate, graduate, professional and continuing education offered through resident instruction and online delivery.[15] The University Park campus has been labeled one of the “Public Ivies,” a publicly funded university considered as providing a quality of education comparable to those of the Ivy League.The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers’ High School of Pennsylvania,[14] Penn State became the state’s only land-grant university in 1863. Today, Penn State is a major research university which conducts teaching, research, and public service. Its instructional mission includes undergraduate, graduate, professional and continuing education offered through resident instruction and online delivery.[15] The University Park campus has been labeled one of the “Public Ivies,” a publicly funded university considered as providing a quality of education comparable to those of the Ivy League.
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Annual enrollment at the University Park campus totals more than 46,800 graduate and undergraduate students, making it one of the largest universities in the United States.[20] It has the world’s largest dues-paying alumni association.[21] The university’s total enrollment in 2015–16 was approximately 97,500 across its 24 campuses[22] and online through its World Campus.[23] The university offers more than 160 majors among all its campuses.[24] The university’s research expenditures totaled $836 million during the 2016 fiscal year.[25]
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Old Main, the main administrative building of Penn State, located at University Park.
Penn State’s student union building, the HUB-Robeson Center
Old Main, the main administrative building of Penn State, located at University Park.
Penn State’s student union building, the HUB-Robeson Center
The Forum Building is a classroom building with four classrooms, each capable of containing over 300 students.The Forum Building is a classroom building with four classrooms, each capable of containing over 300 students.
Osmond Laboratory
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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.[30] 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.[30]
In 1953, President Milton S. Eisenhower, brother of then-U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, sought and won permission to elevate the school to university status as The Pennsylvania State University.[35] Under his successor Eric A. Walker (1956–1970), the university acquired hundreds of acres of surrounding land, and enrollment nearly tripled.[30] In addition, in 1967, the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, a college of medicine and hospital, was established in Hershey with a $50 million gift from the Hershey Trust Company.[30]
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University Park
Panoramic view of Ag Hill Complex
Nittany Lion Shrine
The largest of the university’s 24 campuses, University Park is located in State College borough and College Township in Centre County, near the geographic center of the state. Its dedicated ZIP code is 16802. With an undergraduate acceptance rate of 49 percent,[59] it is the most selective campus in the Penn State system.[60] It is one of the most selective schools in the state of Pennsylvania, according to various publications.[61][62][63] During the fall 2018 semester, 40,363 undergraduate students and 5,907 graduate students were enrolled at University Park.[64] Of those, 46.5 percent were female[65] and 42.4 percent were non-Pennsylvania residents.[66]
The University Park campus is centrally located at the junction of Interstate 99/U.S. Route 220 and U.S. Route 322, and is due south of Interstate 80. Before the arrival of the Interstates, University Park was a short distance from the Lock Haven – Altoona branch line of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The last run of long-distance trains from Buffalo or Harrisburg through Lock Haven was in 1971.[67] Today, the nearest Amtrak passenger rail access is in Tyrone, 25 miles to the southwest. Intercity bus service to University Park is provided by Fullington Trailways, Greyhound Lines, Megabus, and OurBus. The University Park Airport, serving four regional airlines, is near University Park.
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The Eberly College of Science is the science college of Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1859 by Jacob S. Whitman, professor of natural science. The College offers baccalaureate, master’s, and doctoral degree programs in the basic sciences. It was named after Robert E. Eberly.
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Eberly College of Science offers sixteen majors in four disciplines: Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Mathematical Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies.[2]
The Life Sciences: Biology, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Biotechnology, Microbiology
The Physical Sciences: Astronomy & Astrophysics, Chemistry, Physics, Planetary Science and Astronomy
The Mathematical Sciences: Mathematics, Statistics, Data Sciences
Interdisciplinary Programs: General Science, Forensic Science, Premedicine, Integrated Premedical-Medical, Science BS/MBA&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Current Eberly faculty members include fourteen members of the United States National Academy of Sciences,[3] considered one of the highest honors that can be bestowed upon a U.S. scientist, and three members of the British Royal SocietCurrent Eberly faculty members include fourteen members of the United States National Academy of Sciences,[3] considered one of the highest honors that can be bestowed upon a U.S. scientist, and three members of the British Royal Society.y. Eberly faculty members were the first to: “see” an atom (physicist Erwin Mueller); formulate covariant quantum gravity (physicist Abhay Ashtekar); discover practical synthesis of the pregnancy hormone progesterone (chemist Russell Marker);[4] and discover planets outside the Solar System (astronomer Alex Wolszczan). University researchers also designed the world’s largest optical telescope, the Hobby-Eberly Telescope.
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There are seven housing complexes on campus for students attending the University Park campus: East Halls, North Halls, Pollock Halls, South Halls, West Halls, Eastview Terrace, and Nittany Apartments. Each complex consists of a few separate buildings that are dormitories and a commons building, which has: lounges, the help desk for the complex, mailboxes for each dormitory room, a convenience store, a food court, an all-you-care-to-eat buffet. Different floors within a building may be designated as a Special Living Option (SLO). SLOs are offered to members of certain student groups (such as sororities), students studying particular majors, students who wish to engage in a particular lifestyle (such as the alcohol-free LIFE House), or other groups who wish to pursue similar goals.
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Student media groups on campus include The Daily Collegian, Penn State’s student-run newspaper; Onward State, a student-run blog; The Underground, a multi-cultural student media site; The LION 90.7 FM (WKPS-FM), a student-run radio station; CommRadio, a student-run, internet-based radio program; La Vie, the university’s annual student yearbook; Kalliope, a student-produced literary journal; Valley, a student-run style and life magazine; Phroth, a student-run humor magazine; and Penn State Live, the official news source of the university published by its public relations team.
The Daily Collegian has continuously been ranked as one of the top college newspapers by the Princeton Review. The paper, founded in 1904, provides news, sports, and arts coverage and produces long-form features. It publishes in print on Mondays and Thursdays while classes are in session. Since the summer of 1996, the traditional paper publication has been supplemented by an online edition. Online content is published every day. Penn State’s commonwealth campuses receive a weekly copy of the paper titled The Weekly Collegian.
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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, now blue and white, were originally black and dark pink. Penn State participates in the NCAA Division I FBS and in the Big Ten Conference for most sports.[158]
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Beaver Stadium
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The University Club State College was founded in 1910 to promote sociality among local residents living and working at Penn State and State College. The club continues its activities, but the historic facility was sold to Penn State University in 2022. Future goals include highlighting the people and State College history.
The club is no longer renting housing or event space. Thank you everyone for all the great memories.
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Extra Details – the Allen Street Grill
Located on the second floor of Hotel State College, an iconic corner of hospitality in the community, the Grill has offered the community and alumni one of the grandest views of town and Penn State through floor-to-ceiling windows for more than 40 years. Thoughtfully restored and reimagined by new owners, Chef Karen Nicolas and the team set out to re-establish the Allen Street Grill as the epicenter of the downtown dining scene with a focus on local, quality ingredients and great hospitality.
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Panera Bread State College – N Atherton St
1613 N Atherton St State College, PA 16803
Phone
(814) 237-0552
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Penn State University Libraries Special Collections & Archives
The Special Collections Library contains over 200,000 books as well as non-book items such as diaries, scrapbooks, and maps. These items can be found in the University Libraries Catalog.
We also house several thousand non-book collections. Collections might consist of the records of an organization, the collected papers of an individual, correspondence between family members, or a collector’s systematic accumulation of material on a specific topic.
Collections are described in summary catalog records, but they are also described in more detail by finding aids. A finding aid contains information on the person or organization that created the records, the organization of the collection, and a folder listing.
Please note that some of our collections are housed offsite and require advance notification for retrieval.
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In keeping with our innovative and interdisciplinary mission in Biobehavioral Health, the research possibilities here are both extensive and diverse.
Our state-of-the-art research laboratories provide support, training, and in some cases, fee-for-service testing for Penn State faculty, their collaborators, and students. We have many research oriented faculty who serve as graduate mentors. Below is a list of the laboratories associated with our department, some of which are not linked to any particular faculty member. Explore the individual laboratory pages to learn more about their unique offerings and the role they play in Penn State BBH research initiatives.
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About The Lab
The Student Space Programs Laboratory (SSPL) at the Pennsylvania State University allows undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to design, fabricate, and integrate space systems. SSPL provides hands-on projects to apply classroom knowledge to real world, interdisciplinary settings. SSPL students experience working through a complete design cycle and must develop a systems engineering mind-set in addition to their component-level experience.
Founded in August 2006, SSPL united a long history of student space projects at Penn State. In the past, Penn State students have delivered payloads for multiple high-altitude balloons, microgravity experiments, sounding rockets, and space shuttle “Get Away Specials.” Because of the synergies between projects’ development and because of the number and complexity of the projects, the need for a central management structure and systems engineering framework was evident.
SSPL exists to coordinate current Penn State student space projects and to expose students to the systems engineering process rarely seen in engineering classrooms. The organization facilitates the sharing of resources between projects, effective recruiting to engage students, and improved capabilities to attract future student opportunities. The lab also coordinates education and public outreach to inspire younger students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math.
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The Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) at Penn State is an integral part of the University and was established in 1945 at the request of the U.S. Navy. Originally focused on undersea weapons technology development, ARL now includes a broad research portfolio addressing
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Communications and Space Sciences Laboratory. The Communications and Space Sciences Laboratory (CSSL) is an interdisciplinary and intercollege component of Penn State’s Department of Electrical Engineering. Founded in 1949 by Arthur H. Waynick as the
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Communications and Space Sciences Laboratory
The Communications and Space Sciences Laboratory (CSSL) is an interdisciplinary and intercollege component of Penn State’s Department of Electrical Engineering. Founded in 1949 by Arthur H. Waynick as the Ionosphere Research Laboratory (IRL), it became the Communications and Space Sciences Laboratory in 1985 because of the diversity of its research activities.
CSSL educational and research activities center on electromagnetic (EM) phenomena either directly or as tools for probing the structure and dynamics of the atmosphere and ionosphere. For example, we are using a variety of radar, lidar, radiometer, and rocket-borne probing techniques to investigate atmospheric and ionospheric processes and coupling between atmospheric regions. Much of the instrumentation is conceived, designed, and built in-house. CSSL is also concerned with the study of EM phenomena, such as pulse propagation and scattering in a variety of media, and with the design of antennas. We utilize an array of computer codes to study EM processes and to visualize these and other processes.
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Satellite Ground Station
The Lab is developing its own satellite tracking ground station. The ground station is being built from the ground up entirely by students. Currently, the lab possesses one tracking parabolic antenna and is in the final stages of acquiring three radome SeaTel antenna. With these resources available, Penn State can network with other universities within the United State as well as Europe, in becoming a very powerful node in network of ground stations. The ground station network provides an opportunity for each node to track and receive data from university and professional satellites.
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