This Is Penn State
An Insider's Guide to the University Park Campus
160 pages | 50 color/65 b&w illustrations/4 maps | 7.5x9 | 2005
Cloth edition is not available
ISBN 978-0-271-02720-3 | paper: $22.95 tr
A Keystone Book®
Tenderfooted freshmen and seasoned alumni alike can find Penn State to be a mysterious place, with its hundreds of buildings, thousands of people, and stories too numerous to count. This Is Penn State: An Insider’s Guide to the University Park Campus can help orient and enlighten anyone with an interest in Penn State, from visiting parents to lifelong State College residents.
For readers with a desire to get outside and get moving, This Is Penn State serves as a guidebook to the University Park campus. Augmented by four detailed color maps, the book progresses from west campus to east, moving in a logical sequence from building to building that allows readers to understand and appreciate how each area developed.
But This Is Penn State does more than simply take the reader on a leisurely walking tour of the campus. It documents the rich history that lies beneath the surface of the Penn State experience, offering facts and figures, essays and anecdotes, obscure trivia, notable quotations, and a wealth of other information for anyone interested in Penn State’s past, present, or future. Forty of the University’s most prominent buildings and areas are highlighted in the book, accompanied by more than 120 illustrations, ranging from historical photographs to architectural sketches of buildings not yet completed. Essays by veteran Penn Staters Leon Stout, Craig Zabel, and Gabriel Welsch cover the University’s history, architecture, and changing physical landscape.
Scattered throughout the book are little-known facts to educate and amuse—facts such as:
• One of Penn State’s most popular arts venues, the Pavilion Theater, was built in 1915 as a livestock judging arena. The basement, now used for acting and dance classes, was once home to the meatcutting laboratory.
• Penn State’s thriving squirrel population had its humble beginnings as four pairs of grey squirrels purchased by the University in 1925 for a total of $32 and “planted” on the campus.
• The skeleton of Old Coaly, the legendary mule who hauled the limestone from a College Avenue quarry to build the original Old Main, currently resides in a display case on the first floor of the HUB–Robeson Center.
Over the last 150 years, Penn State has maintained an impressive dedication to scholarship, research, and service to the community. In honor of the University’s sesquicentennial, Penn State Press is proud to offer This Is Penn State as its gift to everyone who feels a connection with “dear old State."
Contents
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Penn State’s University Park Campus: Its Evolution and Growth
Leon J. Stout
West Campus
Hintz Family Alumni Center
Steidle Building
West Halls
Social Sciences
Keller/Mateer Buildings
Nittany Lion Inn
Nittany Lion Shrine
Recreation Hall
Burrowes Fraternities
Information Sciences and Technology Building
Leonhard/Earth and Engineering Sciences Buildings
Sackett/Hammond Buildings
A Historical Reflection on the Architecture of Penn State
Craig Zabel
Central Campus
The Mall
Old Main
Schwab Building
Carnegie Building
Old Botany Building
Burrowes/Sparks Buildings
Pattee and Paterno Libraries
Pasquerilla Spiritual Center/Eisenhower Chapel
Music I/Music II/Arts Buildings and Playhouse Theater
Stuckeman Family Building for the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
Palmer Museum of Art
Creamery
Pavilion Theatre
Old Ag Hill Group
Life Sciences/Chemistry Buildings
Cottages
Eberly College of Science
HUB–Robeson Center
Student Services
Schreyer Honors College
What Endures: The Landscape at University Park
Gabriel Welsch
East Campus
Eisenhower Auditorium
Agriculture Sciences Complex
Smeal College of Business
School of Forest Resources Building
Athletic Facilities
Shields/Wagner Buildings
Bryce Jordan Center
Beaver Stadium
Innovation Park
Selected Bibliography
Index
Credits
ContentsForeword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Penn State’s University Park Campus: Its Evolution and Growth
Leon J. Stout
West Campus
Hintz Family Alumni Center
Steidle Building
West Halls
Social Sciences
Keller/Mateer Buildings
Nittany Lion Inn
Nittany Lion Shrine
Recreation Hall
Burrowes Fraternities
Information Sciences and Technology Building
Leonhard/Earth and Engineering Sciences Buildings
Sackett/Hammond Buildings
A Historical Reflection on the Architecture of Penn State
Craig Zabel
Central Campus
The Mall
Old Main
Schwab Building
Carnegie Building
Old Botany Building
Burrowes/Sparks Buildings
Pattee and Paterno Libraries
Pasquerilla Spiritual Center/Eisenhower Chapel
Music I/Music II/Arts Buildings and Playhouse Theater
Stuckeman Family Building for the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
Palmer Museum of Art
Creamery
Pavilion Theatre
Old Ag Hill Group
Life Sciences/Chemistry Buildings
Cottages
Eberly College of Science
HUB–Robeson Center
Student Services
Schreyer Honors College
What Endures: The Landscape at University Park
Gabriel Welsch
East Campus
Eisenhower Auditorium
Agriculture Sciences Complex
Smeal College of Business
School of Forest Resources Building
Athletic Facilities
Shields/Wagner Buildings
Bryce Jordan Center
Beaver Stadium
Innovation Park
Selected Bibliography
Index
Credits