Pennsylvania Western University, Edinboro (abbreviated as PennWest Edinboro) is a public university in Edinboro,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is part of

Pennsylvania Western University Pennsylvania Western University, or PennWest is a public university with campuses in California, Pennsylvania; Clarion, Pennsylvania; and Edinboro, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education and accredited b ...

History

Edinboro University was founded as the Edinboro Academy, a private training school for Pennsylvania teachers in 1857, by the region's original Scottish settlers. It is the oldest training institution west of the

Allegheny Mountains The Allegheny Mountain Range (; also spelled Alleghany or Allegany), informally the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada and posed a significant barrier to land travel in less devel ...

and the second oldest in all of Pennsylvania. In the beginning, Edinboro modestly consisted of one two-story building, six classrooms, three instructors, 110 students and a principal. That original building Academy Hall is currently used as the undergraduate admissions office. In 1861, the Edinboro Academy affiliated with the state government of Pennsylvania to become the second State Normal School in Pennsylvania, occasionally known as the Northwest State Normal School. In 1914, the state purchased the school from the original stockholders and renamed it the Edinboro State Normal School. By 1927, the advancement of academic programs to include liberal arts study required the school to rename itself Edinboro State Teachers College. Further development of the liberal arts to include degree programs outside the field of education resulted in Edinboro becoming Edinboro State College in 1960. Continued development of undergraduate

liberal arts Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the ...

programs and advanced graduate degrees earned Edinboro university status in 1983, and was known as Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. In July 2021, the university was officially merged with fellow Western Pennsylvania institutions

Clarion University of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Western University, Clarion, also known as PennWest Clarion, is a public university campus in Clarion, Pennsylvania. Part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE), the institution was founded in 1867 and offers ...

and

California University of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Western University, California (commonly known as PennWest California) is a public university campus in California, Pennsylvania and one of three campuses of Pennsylvania Western University, part of the Pennsylvania State System o ...

. On October 14, 2021, the state officially adopted the new name of the combined universities:

Campus

The campus is located from

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...

and within of the educational and population centers of

McKean McKean may refer to: Places * McKean, Pennsylvania * McKean County, Pennsylvania * McKean Island, island in the Phoenix Islands, Republic of Kiribati * McKean Township (disambiguation) Other uses * McKean (surname), people with the surname ''McKea ...

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, and

Albion Albion is an alternative name for Great Britain. The oldest attestation of the toponym comes from the Greek language. It is sometimes used poetically and generally to refer to the island, but is less common than 'Britain' today. The name for Scot ...

. The main campus has 42 buildings on a campus which includes a lake, open fields and woods, 11 on-campus residence halls (Highlands 1~8, Rose Hall and Earp Hall (used for summer sports camps) and Towers (only one being used currently)) for approximately 2,500 students, and the seven-story Baron-Forness Library. Edinboro University offers 150 degree programs and 57 minors. The student-faculty ratio is 18:1. In 2007 the university announced a plan to build dormitories for $115 million. The Highland Complex had eight halls, with the first four beginning operations in 2008 and 2009 and the remainder doing so in 2010 and 2011. They opened at a time when enrollment peaked. By 2022 enrollment had sharply declined and Edinboro University was merging with other universities. That year the university announced that Buildings 7 and 8 of the Highland Complex were to be sold; at the time the two buildings had no students. Fighting Scot Statue

Athletics

Edinboro University offers 17 varsity sports: women's basketball, cross country, lacrosse, volleyball, swimming, soccer, softball, tennis, and indoor and outdoor track and field, and men's football, wrestling, cross country, basketball, swimming, tennis, wheelchair basketball and outdoor track and field. All but the

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

and wheelchair basketball are

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

programs and members of the

Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. The conference was originally formed in 1951 as the State Teachers C ...

. Wrestling competes on the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

level, and as of the 2019 season will no longer actively compete against Division II level PSAC wrestling programs as a result of their new affiliation with the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

in wrestling. Its wheelchair basketball team competes in the NWBA Intercollegiate Division.

Notable alumni

References

External links

Official websiteOfficial athletics website
{{authority control Universities and colleges established in 1857 Universities and colleges in Erie County, Pennsylvania 1857 establishments in Pennsylvania Public universities and colleges in Pennsylvania