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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,[30] 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.[31] For the latest enrollment and demographic statistics, please consult the current issue of "Penn State facts." [needs link] [footnote removed -- subsequent footnotes have not renumbered]

Sunrise over Mt. Nittany

Colleges
The University Park campus is organized into 14 distinct "colleges":[35]

College of Agricultural Sciences College of Arts and Architecture Smeal College of Business College of Communications College of Earth and Mineral Sciences College of Education College of Engineering

Penn State College of Health and Human Development College of Information Sciences and Technology College of the Liberal Arts Eberly College of Science Graduate School Schreyer Honors College School of Nursing

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.[36] The school is part of the Dickinson School of Law at its University Park campus location.[37]

As of 2008, the School of Nursing has been added to the list as a separate college.[38]

Majors
The university offers160 majors. [edit] Commonwealth campuses

Main article: Pennsylvania State University Commonwealth Campus

• Erie

• Brandywine

• Abington

• Great Valley

• Berks

• Fayette

• Mont Alto

• York

• Harrisburg

• Lehigh

• Schuylkill

• Hazleton

• Wilkes-Barre

• Worthington Scranton

• University Park

• Altoona

• DuBois

• Shenango

• Beaver

• New Kensington

• Greater Allegheny

Map depicting the locations of Penn State's 19 commonwealth campuses and the University Park campus.

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.[39] All of these satellite 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 commonwealth campuses are subsidiary to University Park and therefore "transferring" is an inaccurate term).[40]

[edit] 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. It 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, Pennsylvania, 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 offersonline education programs, degrees, and certificates. Distance education has a long history at Penn State; in 1892, it offered a correspondence course for rural farmers. Examples of current online programs include an MBA, master of professional studies in homeland security, a bachelor of science in nursing, and postbaccalaureate certificates in geographic information systems and applied behavior analysis. Penn State's World Campus offers 18 graduate degrees, 21 graduate certificates, 17 undergraduate degrees, and 11 undergraduate certificates. World Campus students come from all 50 U.S. states, more than 40 countries, and six continents.

Missions

University rankings (overall) ARWU World[56] 43

ARWU National[57] 31

QS World[58] 98

Times Higher Education[59] 109

USNWR National University[60] 47

WM National University[61] 7

The Forum Building is a classroom building with four classrooms, each capable of containing over 300 students. When Penn State became a land grant university in 1862, it took on three missions: education, research and outreach. The university has pursued these goals successfully for 150 years.

Penn State's rankings include: -- 43rd among universities worldwide (2010 Academic Ranking of World Universities) -- 47th in the nation for its undergraduate program (U.S. News & World Report, 2011 America's Best Colleges)[62] -- 98th in QS World University Rankings[63] -- #1 among 479 corporate recruiting executives surveyed by The Wall Street Journal and asked to identify "whose bachelor degree graduates were the best-trained and educated, and best able to succeed once hired"[64][65] [edit] Education Diverse educational opportunities abound at Penn State, from doing research as an undergraduate with internationally respected professors to summer internships with major corporations and from graduate assistantships to professional studies in business, law, and medicine.

A few of our top achievements: -- Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business accreditation for the Smeal College of Business, the Sam and Irene Black School of Business, Penn State Harrisburg, and Penn State Great Valley.[66]

-- accelerated Premedical-Medical studies program in cooperation with Jefferson Medical College.[67] Students in the program spend two or three years at Penn State before attending medical school at Jefferson.

-- the BS/MBA Program, a joint venture between the Eberly College of Science and the Smeal College of Business to give highly motivated students the opportunity to receive a bachelor's degree in Science and an MBA two to five years sooner than those pursuing a traditional path. The program prepares individuals to be future leaders of the world's scientific organizations. xxxxx

[edit] Research

Every day, researchers at Penn State work on understanding the universe and making life better.

According to the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, Penn State University is a Research University with very high research activity.[68] 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.[69]

Penn State's research and development expenditure has been on the rise in recent years. For fiscal year 2007, the National Science Foundation reported that Penn State had spent $652,144,000 on R&D and ranked 11th among U.S. universities and colleges in R&D spending.[70] For the 2008-2009 fiscal year, Penn State was ranked ninth among U.S. universities by the National Science Foundation, with $753 million in research and development spending for science and engineering.[71] During the 2009-2010 fiscal year, Penn State received $780 million in research expenditures.[72]

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.[73][74]

The Materials Research Institute was created to coordinate the highly diverse and growing materials activities across Penn State’s University Park 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.[75][76]

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.[77][78]

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.[79]

The University's library system began with a 1,500-book library in Old Main.[citation needed] 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.[80] (Only citation I could find for Old Main library: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/about/history.html)

The General Clinical Research Centerat Penn State's Milton S. Hershey Medical Center provides research infrastructure for investigators who conduct research with human subjects. It was established in 1995 with funding from the National Center for Research Resources.

Penn State is the home of CiteSeerX, one of the most prominent open access repositories and search engines in computer and information sciences.

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 freestanding acoustics program in the United States.

[edit] Outreach

The university began its formal outreach efforts in 1877 with Farmers Institutes. The program gave farmers from around the state the opportunity to learn about new crop and livestock practices.

Since then, the university has added programs in continuing education, cooperative extension, online education and economic and workforce development. In 1952, it added the foundations of what would become Penn State's award-winning public broadcasting station, WPSU, to its outreach efforts. Learn about the impact of Penn State Outreach.



Alumni and notable people

Former President's house, now adjoined to the Hintz Alumni Center

Further information: List of Pennsylvania State University people

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."[126] 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.[127]

As of July 1, 2010, the Alumni Association counts 496,969 members within the United States, with an additional 16,180 in countries around the globe.[128][129] 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. About 34 percent of United States alumni and 21 percent of international alumni are members of the Alumni Association.[130][131] With membership totaling 164,658, the Penn State Alumni Association is the largest dues-paying alumni association in the world, a distinction it has held since 1995.[132]

The alumni association operates a grassroots network for political activism benefiting Penn State, publishes the Penn Stater magazine, and manages a large LinkedIn alumni group. 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 (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,[133] Penn State has won the challenge each year since its inception.[134][135][136][137]

Penn State boasts a long list of notable alumni,including the first African-American astronaut; Casablanca screenwriters Julius and Philip Epstein; and numerous CEOs, actors, writers, journalists and sports figures.