PennWest Edinboro is a campus 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 ...

, a multi-campus

public university A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national universi ...

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, ...

. Located in the town of Edinboro, the campus has more than 4,600 enrolled students.

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 Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as La ...

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

and within of the educational and population centers of McKean,

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

, 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.

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 s ...

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 ...

. Wrestling competes on the

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

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 t ...

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

Notable alumni

* Jack R. Anderson, former director of the University of Pittsburgh bands * Leo Bemis, former head coach of the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

men's soccer team, 1954-1983 * Ryan Bizzarro, member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 2013–present * Jim Booros, an American professional golfer who played full-time on the PGA Tour for nine years * Karl Boyes, former member of Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1981-2003 *

Samuel Myron Brainerd Samuel Myron Brainerd (November 13, 1842 – November 21, 1898) was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. Samuel M. Brainerd was born in Albion, Pennsylvania. He attended the public schools, Edinboro Norm ...

, U.S. Congressman from Pennsylvania, 1883-1885 *

Shawn Bunch Edinboro Fighting Scots Shawn Bunch (born March 19, 1983) is an American mixed martial artist who competed in Bellator's bantamweight division. Wrestling career Bunch competed in high school for Leavenworth High School and in univ ...

, All-American wrestler and MMA fighter * Adda Burch, teacher, missionary, temperance activist, reporter * Robert Carothers, President of

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of the state of Rhode Isla ...

, 1991-2009 * Henry Alden Clark, U.S. Congressman from Pennsylvania, 1917-1919 * Mark Corey, professional baseball player * Kathy Dahlkemper, U.S. Congresswoman from Pennsylvania, 2009-2011 * Denayne Davidson-Dixon, former

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

player * Jakim Donaldson (born 1983), basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League * Mari K. Eder, United States Army Major General (retired) * John Evans, former sportscaster at WJET-TV in Erie, PA, former representative in Pennsylvania House of Representatives * Dave Filoni, American film writer, and animator; director of Star Wars: The Clone Wars film and series * Teresa Forcier, member of Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1991-2006 *

LaToya Ruby Frazier LaToya Ruby Frazier (born 1982) is an American artist and professor of photography at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. From Braddock, Pennsylvania, Frazier began photographing her family and hometown at the age of 16, revising the socia ...

, photographer, Guggenheim Fellow, MacArthur Fellow * Gregor Gillespie, NCAA Champion wrestler; professional Mixed Martial Artist in the UFC * David Green, former NFL and

CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

football player *

Trevor Harris Trevor Harris (born May 31, 1986) is an American professional Canadian football quarterback for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars as an undrafted free agent in 2010. Ha ...

, former NFL player for the Jacksonville Jaguars and starting quarterback in the CFL for the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes ( French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the East Division of the Cana ...

* James T. Harris III, President of University of San Diego, former president of

Widener University Widener University is a private university in Chester, Pennsylvania. The university has three other campuses: two in Pennsylvania (Harrisburg and Exton) and one in Wilmington, Delaware. Founded as The Bullock School for Boys in 1821, the schoo ...

and Defiance College *

Merritt Eldred Hoag Merritt Eldred Hoag (May 25, 1909 – November 19, 1994) was a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy during World War II as well as the 11th president of University of North Georgia (now known as the University of North Georgia). Early life Hoa ...

, former president of

University of North Georgia The University of North Georgia (UNG) is a public senior military college with multiple campuses in Georgia. It is part of the University System of Georgia. The university was established on January 8, 2013 by a merger of North Georgia Coll ...

* Richard Holmes, professional football player * Chris Honeycutt, All-American wrestler; professional

MMA Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incor ...

fighter for Bellator MMA * Josephine Brawley Hughes, early women's rights advocate * L. C. Hughes, newspaper editor, lawyer, union organizer, and politician who served as the eleventh Governor of Arizona Territory * Bill Jacobs, biologist who made genetic engineering of mycobacteria including

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, ...

possible. * Kenneth Jadlowiec, member of Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1987-2002 * Mike Kelly, football coach for numerous NCAA, CFL, and NFL teams * Miles Brown Kitts, Mayor of

(1916-1924), Pennsylvania State Senator 1924-1932 * Josh Koscheck, NCAA D-1 Wrestling Champion; professional mixed martial artist, former UFC Welterweight Contender * Pat Monahan, lead singer of alternative-rock band

Train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often ...

* Andrew Muldoon, retired professional

pair skater Pair skating is a figure skating discipline defined by the International Skating Union (ISU) as "the skating of two persons in unison who perform their movements in such harmony with each other as to give the impression of genuine Pair Skating a ...

* Rajee Narinesingh, transgender actress, activist, author, singer, and reality television personality * Sean O'Brien, former member of Ohio House of Representatives, 2011–2016, former member of Ohio Senate 2016-2020 *

Jeremy O'Day Jeremy O'Day (born August 31, 1974 in Buffalo, New York) is the current general manager and vice president of football operations for the Saskatchewan Roughriders and a former Canadian Football League offensive lineman. He grew up in Lockport, Ne ...

, General Manager & Vice President of Football Operations, Saskatchewan Roughriders, former

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a c ...

player, Toronto Argonauts and Saskatchewan Roughriders * Joseph Newton Pew, founder of

Sun Oil Company Sunoco LP is an American master limited partnership organized under Delaware state laws and headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that is a wholesale distributor of motor fuels. It distributes fuel to more than 5,500 Sunoco-branded gas stations, ...

, now Sunoco * Frank Polaski, former member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1964-1970 * Dr. Sian Proctor, Inspiration4 Astronaut, first black female pilot on a spacecraft *

Tara Seibel Tara Seibel (born February 4, 1973) is an American cartoonist, graphic designer and illustrator from Cleveland. Her work has been published in '' Chicago Newcity, Funny Times, The Austin Chronicle, Cleveland Scene, Heeb Magazine, SMITH Magazine ...

, cartoonist, graphic designer, and illustrator * R. Tracy Seyfert, Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives 1997-2000 *

Milton William Shreve Milton William Shreve (May 3, 1858 – December 23, 1939) was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. Biography Milton W. Shreve was born in Chapmanville, Pennsylvania. He attended the Edinboro State Norma ...

, U.S. Congressman from Pennsylvania, 1913–1915,1919–1933 * Keith Skelton, former member of Oregon House of Representatives, 1957–1973 * Danny Smith, Pittsburgh Steelers' Special Teams Coordinator * David Steadman, curator of ornithology at the Florida Museum of Natural History at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

* Sharon Stone, actress (attended briefly; honored with honorary degree in 2006) * Laura Temple, missionary teacher and archaeologist based in Mexico *

Vicki Van Meter Victoria Louise Van Meter (March 13, 1982 – March 15, 2008) was an American aviator. She was known for setting several distance-flying records for child pilots. At the age of 11, she became the youngest pilot to fly east to west across the cont ...

, Youngest female pilot to cross the continental United States * Justin Wilcox, professional mixed martial artist formerly competing in Strikeforce, currently fighting for Bellator * John Williams, CFL football player * Mike S. Zafirovski, former

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of Nortel Networks and former president of

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent public companies, Motorola ...

References

External links

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