Penn State

As Pennsylvania's only land-grant university, Penn State has a broad mission of teaching, research, and public service. But that mission was not so grandly conceived in 1855, when the Commonwealth chartered it as one of the nation's first colleges of agricultural science, with a goal to apply scientific principles to farming.

Penn State began offering systematic advanced-degree work in 1922 with the formation of the Graduate School. Graduate education and research evolved hand in hand.

By 1950 the University had won international distinction for investigations in dairy science, building insulation, diesel engines, and acoustics, and other specialized fields.

A college of medicine and teaching hospital were established in 1967 with a $50 million gift from the charitable trusts of renowned chocolate magnate Milton S. Hershey.

In 1989 the Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport became an affiliate of the University. In 2000, Penn State and the Dickinson School of Law merged. In 2015, two Penn State law schools, known as Dickinson Law ( in Carlisle, Pennsylvania) and Penn State Law (on University Park campus) will be in operation.

Penn State's online World Campus graduated its first students in 2000 and now enrolls more than 12,000.

For more than 150 years PSU have been leaders in higher education, as shown by rankings from those who monitor academe from the outside.

Mission

Penn State is a leader in higher education and carries out its mission of teaching, research, and service with pride and focus on the future.

Penn State is a multicampus public research university that educates students from Pennsylvania, the nation and the world, and improves the well being and health of individuals and communities through integrated programs of teaching, research, and service.

Our instructional mission includes undergraduate, graduate, professional, and continuing education offered through both resident instruction and online delivery. Our educational programs are enriched by the cutting edge knowledge, diversity, and creativity of our faculty, students, and staff.

Our research, scholarship, and creative activity promote human and economic development, global understanding, and progress in professional practice through the expansion of knowledge and its applications in the natural and applied sciences, social sciences, arts, humanities, and the professions.

Key Elements:

• As a public research institution in the top 1 percent of universities worldwide, Penn State offers a top-tier education with access to expert faculty and unique academic experiences.

• Penn State offers more than 160 majors, with four-year degrees offered at all 20 of our undergraduate campuses.

• Academic colleges at Penn State grant degrees and are generally organized around their subject matter.

• The Division of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) is for students who are unsure of their intended major or who are considering majors in more than one academic college.

• Penn State's Schreyer Honors College is widely recognized as one of the top undergraduate honors programs in the country

• Penn State can award credit to future students for previous college work completed, examinations, and other experience. 

• With hundreds of options around the globe, more than 2,000 Penn Staters each year choose to add study abroad to their academic experience.