Pennsylvania State University
201 Old Main, University Park, PA
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Pennsylvania State University, founded in 1855 as a land-grant agricultural college, has grown into one of the largest university systems in the country, with its University Park flagship campus alone enrolling more than 40,000 students and a broader Commonwealth Campus system extending across two dozen additional locations statewide. Penn State's engineering, business, and meteorology programs have each built strong national reputations, and the university's Applied Research Laboratory maintains one of the closest and longest-running research partnerships with the US Navy of any American university, reflecting decades of federally funded acoustics and materials research. The university's Nittany Lions football program and its "White Out" home games at Beaver Stadium, one of the largest stadiums in the world by capacity, have made Penn State one of the most recognizable athletic brands in the Big Ten, a national profile that's shaped the university's public identity as much as its academics have. Penn State's THON, an annual student-run dance marathon benefiting pediatric cancer research and treatment, has grown into the largest student-run philanthropy in the world, raising tens of millions of dollars over its history and giving the university a distinctive philanthropic identity that extends well beyond its academic and athletic reputations.
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- Top 6 Colleges in Pennsylvania
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