Penn State’s THON is a 46-hour dance marathon at Penn State that has become the largest student-run philanthropy in the world. Since its founding in 1973, the event has raised more than $190 million. The Four Diamonds Fund at Penn State Children’s Hospital is the event’s sole beneficiary.
The Morrill Land-Grant College Act created a new class of colleges centered on scientific, technical, and applied subjects, especially agriculture and engineering. The Pennsylvania Legislature designated the Agricultural College of Pennsylvania, today’s Penn State, as the recipient of the act’s endowment income.
Memorial Field is the historic home of State College Area High School athletic programs and other community events. Once a farmer’s field with a prominent sinkhole on the edge of the borough, the area around what is now Memorial Field became the home to State College schools starting with a two-story, four-room schoolhouse that opened in 1897.
The Boogersburg School is a historic one-room schoolhouse in Patton Township where students were educated for 75 years. On May 1, 1877, Moses Thompson, the owner and ironmaster of the Centre Furnace, deeded land on what is now Fox Hollow Road for the schoolhouse. Thompson wanted to provide a school for the children of his […]
In Joe Paterno’s extraordinary career as Penn State’s head football coach from 1966 to 2011, Paterno was the most recognizable Penn Stater and citizen of Centre County. Not only was the longevity of his career at one institution exceptional in the world of intercollegiate football, but his success was unequaled as well: No other NCAA […]
The embodiment of the Penn State spirit for many is the statue of the Nittany Lion, situated in a small grove of trees to the east of Rec Hall. It is quite likely the most photographed place on the campus. Hundreds of thousands of students in caps and gowns at graduation, couples in wedding garb, […]
The Nittany Lion is Penn State’s beloved mascot, “storied in song and legend.” It takes its name from Mount Nittany and the mountain lions that once roamed there and across Pennsylvania. Today, the Lion mascot is ubiquitous across campus for sporting, philanthropic, or any event that inspires the cheer “WE ARE … PENN STATE!”
Thelma Price was the first Black woman to serve as assistant vice president for Student Affairs at Penn State. She was known for her advocacy of minority students. The native of Detroit, joined Penn State in 1964 as an assistant dean of students at the New Kensington campus. In 1971, she became the acting director […]
Creamery is beloved institutional symbol of Penn State. Its ice cream and dairy products are legendary among alumni, students, and visitors. The Ice cream short courses have attracted students from every continent.
Ralph Dorn Hetzel lead Penn State from 1926 to 1947, a period of exceptional growth in enrollment and campus construction, despite the twin crises of the Great Depression and World War II. During his tenure, enrollment grew from about 4,000 to more than 12,000, including a several new satellite campuses. The university also embarked on […]