Penn State

president

Eric J. Barron, Ph.D., President, Penn State

Overview

The Pennsylvania State University, founded in 1855, is the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s sole land-grant institution and its largest public university. Penn State’s land-grant mission embraces teaching, research, and public service in order to support the citizens of the Commonwealth, collaborating with industrial, educational, and agricultural partners to create, disseminate, integrate, and apply knowledge that is valuable to society.

Economic Impact

Penn State is an economic powerhouse, contributing more than $11.6 billion to the state’s economy and supporting, directly and indirectly, more than 105,000 jobs across Pennsylvania in FY 2017, according to a 2019 study.

Academic Programs

• 160+ baccalaureate degree programs
• 90+ associate degree programs offered at select campuses
• 190+ graduate degree programs, including doctorates and both academic and professional master’s degrees

Research

• $927 million in total research support, of which $562 million comes from federal sources.
• Consistently ranks near top nationally in annual spending on science and engineering research.

People

Employees: 31,027 full-time employees university-wide, including 7,076 full-time faculty members, all locations.

• 45 members, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Students: More than 97,136 total, all locations, all levels (as of Fall 2018)

• Total undergraduates: 82,098
• Total graduate/professional: 15,038
• University Park: 40,363
• Other campuses: 27,937
• Penn State World Campus: 8,346

Alumni:

• More than 692,000 living alumni worldwide
• More than 358,000 alumni reside in Pennsylvania
• Since its founding, Penn State has conferred more than 863,636 degrees, with 23,794 awarded in 2017-18.
• The Penn State Alumni Association has more than 173,000 members, and is the largest dues-paying alumni association in the world.

Athletics

• Penn State fields 16 men’s and 15 women’s intercollegiate athletic teams involving more than 800 student-athletes.
• Penn State student-athletes continue to graduate well above their peers nationwide: The NCAA reported that student-athletes at University Park earned a Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 90 percent, compared to an 87 percent average for all Division I institutions, for students entering from 2008-09 through the 2011-12 academic year. Student-athletes have delivered a GSR in the 88 to 90 percent range during each of the past 12 NCAA reports.
• 78 team national championships all-time (since 1924), including eight NCAA titles in the past four years.
• 110 Big Ten Championships and tournament titles since Conference competition began in 1991.

Campuses

Penn State has 24 campuses, encompassing more than 22,000 acres, across the Commonwealth—a campus within practical commuting distance of virtually every Pennsylvanian. Most offer the first two years of baccalaureate instruction as well as a limited number of four-year degree programs. More than half of the undergraduates who complete studies at University Park start at another Penn State campus.

The University also includes Penn State Great Valley School of Graduate Professional Studies, Penn State College of Medicine at The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Penn State Law (University Park), Dickinson Law (Carlisle), Penn State World Campus (online programs), and the Pennsylvania College of Technology.

Through Invent Penn State, an initiative to drive job creation, economic development and student career success by connecting researchers with the people who can help bring their discoveries to the marketplace, the University has created 21 innovation hubs designed to bolster entrepreneurship and economic development in communities surrounding Penn State campuses across the Commonwealth.

In addition to overarching contributions, the 2019 economic impact study highlighted the significant local influence of Penn State’s campuses on the state’s economy and citizenry. Outside of University Park and Penn State Health, the study found that Penn State operations and student spending at campus locations across the Commonwealth combined for more than $2 billion in total economic contributions, with most of those impacts coming in the county in which each campus is situated.

Rankings

• Ranks 20th among public universities and 59th overall nationally.
  —U.S. News & World Report, "Best Colleges 2019"
• Ranked (43rd) among the best universities in the world for the quality of education of its students and the research prowess of its faculty.
  —Center for World University Rankings, 2018/19
• Ranked in reputation (50th) as one of the world's top universities.
  —Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings 2018
• Ranked 74th among the world’s top universities for teaching and research.
  —ARWU — Academic Ranking of World Universities 2018
• International students and study abroad: Ranks 1st in Pennsylvania and 14th in the U.S., with 8,636 international students at University Park. Ranks 18th for the number of students studying abroad (2,220).
  —Institute of International Education "Open Doors," 2018