History of Penn State Behrend
Ernst Behrend
Mary Behrend
Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, is a four-year and graduate college of Penn State. The college's campus was donated to the University in 1948 by Mary Behrend in memory of her husband, Ernst, co-founder (with his father and brother) of the Hammermill Paper Company. In donating her family's Glenhill Farm Estate to Penn State, Mrs. Behrend was responding to the need, expressed by a committee of prominent Erie residents, for a public, co-educational, non-sectarian university presence in Erie.
First class at Behrend
In 1948, 146 students enrolled at what was known as The Behrend Center. Those first students could complete only their freshman year at the center. When Penn State reorganized in 1959, the Commonwealth Campus System was established and The Behrend Center became The Behrend Campus of Penn State. Both the enrollments and the physical expanse of the campus grew throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. By 1971, more than 1,200 students were enrolled.
Behrend Family historical marker
On January 20, 1973, the Penn State Board of Trustees granted four-year college and graduate status to Penn State Behrend. With that decision, Penn State Behrend became the first Penn State location outside of University Park to achieve such status. Today, nearly 4,000 students attend classes in original buildings from the Glenhill Farm Estate and in more recently constructed academic buildings. Nearly 1,650 students currently live in residence halls and student apartments on campus.
The college is a dynamic and growing institution, and in recent years has added a number of impressive facilities, including an athletics and recreation center, chapel and carillon, observatory, three residence halls, Knowledge Park at Penn State Erie, and a baseball and softball complex. The new $30 million Research and Economic Development Center, which houses the Black School of Business and the School of Engineering opened in 2006.
The college is now led By Dr. Jack Burke, chancellor, named to the position in March 2003.
For a detailed history, read the Historical Timeline.
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