Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, officially Pennsylvania State University at Erie, The Behrend College and often shortened to Penn State Behrend, is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

satellite campus A satellite campus, branch campus or regional campus is a campus of a university or college that is physically at a distance from the original university or college area. This branch campus may be located in a different city, state, or country, ...

Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

and is located just outside

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, fifth-most populous city in Pennsylvania and the most populous in Northwestern Pen ...

. It is among the largest of Penn State's commonwealth campuses, with about 4,400 students enrolled in Behrend programs on campus and online. The college offers more than 40 undergraduate majors in four academic schools: The Sam and Irene Black School of Business, the School of Engineering, the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, and the School of Science, which includes the Nursing Program. Penn State Behrend also offers five master's degrees, as well as a range of continuing education trainings through its Community and Workforce Programs.

History

The land that became Penn State Behrend was donated to the university by Mary Behrend on June 28, 1948 in memory of her husband, Ernst, co-founder of

Hammermill Paper Company Hammermill Paper Company is an American paper manufacturer originally founded in 1898 as the Ernst R. Behrend Company. The company was purchased in 1986 by International Paper Company, where the namesake survived as a brand of paper. This brand w ...

. The first class of 146 students enrolled at what was then known as the Behrend Center of Pennsylvania State College that fall. When the Penn State system was reorganized in 1959, The Behrend Center became the Behrend campus of Penn State. Enrollments and the physical presence of the campus grew quickly in the 1960s and early 1970s. On January 20, 1973, the Penn State Board of Trustees granted four-year college and graduate status to Penn State Behrend, making it the first Penn State location outside University Park to achieve such status. At that time, the school was renamed as the Behrend College of the Pennsylvania State University. The school took on its current name, the Pennsylvania State University at Erie, The Behrend College, in 1987. Since then, the college continues to grow, and features an active residential campus, more than $8 million of sponsored faculty research, and more than two dozen outreach initiatives to benefit business and industry, area K-12 students, and the

community.

Campus

Penn State Behrend's 854-acre campus includes more than fifty buildings, a recognized aboretum, and the scenic Wintergreen Gorge, a six-mile canyon. The college is also home to Knowledge Park, a 100-acre research and development complex on campus, with 21 businesses employing 600 people. The newest building on campus is Erie Hall, a $28.2 million fitness, recreation, and wellness center that replaced the college's original athletics gymnasium, also called Erie Hall.

Academics

The average class size is 21, and the student-to-faculty ratio is 12:1. The college offers four associate degrees, nearly 40 bachelor's degrees, and five master's degrees, as well as more than 50 minors and certificates. Penn State Behrend is accredited by the

Middle States Commission on Higher Education The Middle States Commission on Higher Education, abbreviated as MSCHE and legally incorporated as the Mid-Atlantic Region Commission on Higher Education, is a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit membership organization that performs peer evalua ...

Student life

Penn State Behrend offers more than 140 clubs and organizations on campus, including academic clubs, fraternities and sororities, service organizations, and cultural societies.

The Behrend Beacon

''The Behrend Beacon'' is the student newspaper. It is published weekly during the academic year.

BVZ Radio

The college is also home to ''BVZ Radio'' ("The Voice Of Behrend"), an online streaming radio station. The station is managed by a student management team. All show programming is produced by students. BVZ often broadcasts live events on the Behrend campus and in the Erie area.

Fraternities and Sororities

Behrend has a Greek life system with several fraternities and sororities on campus.

Athletics

Penn State Behrend men and women compete as the Behrend Lions in 24 varsity sports. Penn State Behrend is a member of

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is the lowest division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that do not offer athletic scholarships to student- ...

, the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference and the

Eastern College Athletic Conference The Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) is a college athletic conference comprising schools that compete in 15 sports (13 men's and 13 women's). It has 220 member institutions in NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, ranging in location from ...

Varsity sports

Club sports

Students also participate in five intercollegiate club teams: cheerleading, ice hockey, and men's and women's lacrosse, and rugby. Behrend also has a competitive esports team.

Points of interest

* Arboretum at Penn State Behrend * Wintergreen Gorge

References

External links

*
Athletics website
{{coord, 42.119402, -79.988773, region:US_type:edu, display=title Education in Erie, Pennsylvania Universities and colleges in Erie County, Pennsylvania Universities and colleges established in 1948 1948 establishments in Pennsylvania Pennsylvania State University colleges Behrend