Julia Brill
Julia Gregg Brill was the first female professor in Penn State’s English Department where she taught composition from 1924 to 1954. She was a tireless advocate for women and recognized by the university for her work.
Division: People
Peter Meek
Peter Gray Meek was the controversial editor of the Democratic Watchman for more than fifty years. He was widely known for his editorials opposing the Civil War, which led to his arrest several times.
Phil Hallock
Philip Fischler Hallock was a professor at Penn State whose design of residential and commercial projects contributed to the growth of modern architecture in Centre County in the middle of the twentieth century.
Franco Harris
Franco Harris was a popular Penn State graduate who went on to a Hall of Fame career as a running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League.
Davey Lewis
Davey Lewis, a native of Centre County, was a scourge of central and southern Pennsylvania in the early 19th century, notorious for highway robbery, counterfeiting, and prison escapes.
Nadine Kofman
Nadine Kofman was a long-time journalist, author, and historian, who in different ways, helped preserve the history of Centre County. As a reporter for the Centre Daily Times, she wrote the “Way Back When” column. She also wrote “About Town” for Town & Gown magazine.
John Patton
John Patton was a Revolutionary War veteran and prosperous Philadelphia merchant and civic leader, who moved to Centre County in 1789 to build the region’s first charcoal-fired iron furnace, Centre Furnace. The operation’s success sparked the founding of additional furnaces and forges in what would become Centre County.
Wally Triplett
Wallace “Wally” Triplett was a trailblazing Penn State athlete who was the first Black student to earn a varsity letter on the football team and the first drafted by a National Football League team.
Mary Willard
Mary Louisa Willard was a long-time chemistry professor at Penn State and an expert in chemical microscopy who became internationally known for her scientific work helping to solve crimes. Willard was born on Mary 19, 1898, in Moffatt Cottage on the Penn State campus.
Milton Eisenhower
Milton Stover Eisenhower came to Penn State in 1950 as its eleventh president after serving as a government administrator and seven years as president of Kansas State University. Eisenhower guided Penn State through a postwar transition of rapidly growing enrollment, academic programs, and research.