Penn State Lehigh Valley

Last updated
Penn State Lehigh Valley
PSU-LV-CV.JPG
Penn State Lehigh Valley campus in Center Valley, Pennsylvania, June 2010
Type Public satellite campus
Established1912
Parent institution
Pennsylvania State University
Chancellor Dr. Tina Richardson
President Neeli Bendapudi
Students872 (as of 2021)
Location, ,
U.S.

40°33′32″N75°24′09″W / 40.55889°N 75.40250°W / 40.55889; -75.40250
CampusSuburban
40 acres
Colors Dark Blue and White   
Nickname Nittany Lions
Affiliations PSUAC (USCAA)
Website lehighvalley.psu.edu/
Penn State Lehigh Valley logo.svg

Penn State Lehigh Valley is a commonwealth campus of Pennsylvania State University located in Center Valley, outside of Allentown in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania.

Contents

History

In 1912, Penn State opened its first permanent branch school in the attic of an elementary school in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Designed to provide professional training to employees, the Allentown Branch School offered evening courses in engineering. Over the next few decades additional programs were added, including three-year evening programs in engineering, technology, and business administration, as well as continuation school offered one day a week for workers in silk mills and other local factories. Eventually the evening programs were compressed into a one-year daytime program designed to meet the needs of returning World War II veterans.

By 1951, the curriculum had expanded to include associate degrees in electrical engineering and mechanical engineering technology, business programs, and graduate credit classes for teachers. The university purchased a converted factory building at 725 Ridge Avenue in Allentown to house its Allentown Center.

In the 1970s, the Allentown Campus grew rapidly and moved first to larger quarters in the Fogelsville School Building, and then, in 1977, to its campus in Fogelsville, which was built on a 40-acre (160,000 m2) tract of land donated by Mohr Orchards. Along with the new facilities came a new mission to provide the first two-year Penn State baccalaureate degrees and expanded continuing education programs.

The 1990s brought considerable change and subsequent growth to the campus. Changing its name to Penn State Lehigh Valley to better reflect the community it serves, the campus became part of a college within the university composed of Penn State Lehigh Valley and Penn State Berks. The two campus college was designated Penn State Berks-Lehigh Valley College. Together the campuses shared faculty and developed four-year baccalaureate degree programs in several disciplines.

With the addition of four-year baccalaureate degree programs, enrollment increased. In 2003, Penn State Lehigh Valley opened a second site, the Corporate Learning Center, located at 100 Brodhead Road in Bethlehem. The Bethlehem site currently houses continuing education programs and elementary education degree program classes. In 2005, the university restructured across the state and discontinued the Berks-Lehigh Valley College partnership.

Currently, approximately 900 undergraduate students attend Penn State Lehigh Valley. An additional 3,000 students participate each year in its continuing education programs.

On March 20, 2009, the Penn State University board approved the purchase of the facility owned by Lehigh Valley College in Center Valley. Classes moved to Center Valley in September 2009. Penn State shared the facility with Lehigh Valley College until that school closed in December 2009. The new facility more than doubled the size of the building on the old campus. [1] With the increased space at the Center Valley campus, programs at the Corporate Learning Center were moved to Center Valley and the Corporate Learning programs were closed at the end of 2010.

Athletics

Penn State–Lehigh Valley teams participate in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA). The Nittany Lions are a member of the Pennsylvania State University Athletic Conference (PSUAC). Men's sports include basketball, cross country, golf, and soccer. Women's sports include basketball, cross country, soccer, and volleyball. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lehigh County, Pennsylvania</span> County in Pennsylvania, United States

Lehigh County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 374,557. Its county seat is Allentown, the state's third-largest city after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allentown, Pennsylvania</span> Home rule municipality in Pennsylvania, United States

Allentown is a city in Lehigh County in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States. The city had a population of 125,845 at the time of the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Upper Macungie Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania</span> Township in Pennsylvania, United States

Upper Macungie Township is a township in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The population of Upper Macungie Township was 26,377 as of the 2020 U.S. census, making it the fourth-fastest growing municipality in Pennsylvania in terms of total population gain from 2010 to 2020. The township was created in 1832 when Macungie Township was divided into Upper and Lower Macungie townships. It is part of the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, which had a population of 861,899 and was the 68th-most populous metropolitan area in the U.S. as of the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bethlehem, Pennsylvania</span> City in Pennsylvania, United States

Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Among its total population as of 2020, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19,343 were in Lehigh County. It is Pennsylvania's seventh-most populous city. The city is located along the Lehigh River, a 109-mile-long (175 km) tributary of the Delaware River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moravian University</span> Private liberal-arts college in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States

Moravian University is a private university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The institution traces its founding to 1742 by Moravians, descendants of followers of the Bohemian Reformation under John Amos Comenius. Founded as a girls school in 1742, the College itself was founded as the Moravian College and Theological Seminary in 1807 and was accredited in 1863. In 2021 the College was elevated to a University. Moravian University uses the foundation of the Girls school as their foundation date which makes them the sixth-oldest college in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Index of Pennsylvania-related articles</span>

The following is an alphabetical list of articles on people, places, and things related to Pennsylvania in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lehigh Valley</span> Metropolitan Statistical Area in the United States

Penn State Berks-Lehigh Valley may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breinigsville, Pennsylvania</span> Census-designated place in Pennsylvania, United States

Breinigsville is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 7,495. The town is part of Upper Macungie Township and is located approximately 11 miles (18 km) southwest of downtown Allentown and 8 miles (13 km) east of Kutztown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Penn College</span> Private college in Pennsylvania, U.S.

Central Penn College is a private for-profit college in Summerdale, Pennsylvania. Established in 1881, CPC offers associate degrees, bachelor's degrees, and a master's degree in Professional Studies. In 2004, Central Penn College opened a Lancaster, Pennsylvania location and began offering blended and online classes. The college is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Central Penn College was originally known as Central Pennsylvania Business School. The school changed its name in 1999 to Central Pennsylvania College and then to Central Penn College in 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penn State Berks</span>

Penn State Berks is a commonwealth campus of Pennsylvania State University located in Spring Township in Berks County, Pennsylvania.

The Pennsylvania State University is a geographically dispersed university with campuses located throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. While the administrative hub of the university is located at its flagship campus, University Park, the 19 additional commonwealth campuses together enroll 37 percent of Penn State's undergraduate student population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DeSales University</span> Private Catholic university in Pennsylvania, US

DeSales University (DSU) is a private Catholic university in Center Valley, Pennsylvania. The university offers traditional, online, and hybrid courses and programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Named for St. Francis de Sales, the university was founded in 1964 as "Allentown College of Saint Francis de Sales" by the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales.

Lehigh Valley College was a college owned by Career Education Corporation, a for-profit educational company. The college was located near Allentown, Pennsylvania, in Center Valley and offered associate degree programs in a variety of vocational areas, including criminal justice, graphic design and accounting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penn State Wilkes-Barre</span>

Penn State Wilkes-Barre is a commonwealth campus of Pennsylvania State University located in Lehman Township, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Center Valley, Pennsylvania</span> Unincorporated community in Pennsylvania, United States

Center Valley is an unincorporated community located one mile north of Coopersburg, at the intersection of Pennsylvania State Routes 309 and 378 in Upper Saucon Township in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Lehigh Valley, which had a population of 861,899 and was the 68th-most populous metropolitan area in the U.S. as of the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">State Route 1002 (Lehigh County, Pennsylvania)</span> Highway in Pennsylvania

State Route 1002(SR 1002), locally known as Tilghman Street and Union Boulevard, is a major 13.8 mi (22.2 km) long east–west road in the Lehigh Valley area of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The majority of the roadway is the former alignment of U.S. Route 22, maintained by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation as a Quadrant Route, and is not signed except on small white segment markers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northampton Community College</span> Public community college in Pennsylvania, United States

Northampton Community College is a public community college in Pennsylvania with campuses in Bethlehem in Northampton County and Tannersville in Monroe County. The college, founded in 1967, also has satellite locations in the south side of Bethlehem and Hawley. The college serves more than 34,000 students a year in credit and non-credit programs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penn State Great Valley School of Graduate Professional Studies</span>

Penn State Great Valley School of Graduate Professional Studies is a special mission campus and graduate school of the Pennsylvania State University located in East Whiteland Township, Pennsylvania, near Malvern. Academic programs include engineering, information science, MBA, data analytics, finance, and leadership. Continuing professional education courses and customized corporate training are also offered. Classes are geared toward working adults and meet evenings and Saturdays in seven- and fourteen-week sessions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sports in Allentown, Pennsylvania</span>

Sports in Allentown, Pennsylvania has a rich tradition at all levels, including professional sports, the Olympics, and high school levels. While most Allentown residents support professional sports teams in New York City or Philadelphia, Allentown itself also is home to two major professional sports teams, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, the Triple A team of the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball, and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the American Hockey League, the primary development team of the Philadelphia Flyers.

References

  1. "'Penn State Board of Trustees Approves Property Purchase in Center Valley'". Archived from the original on 2009-03-26. Retrieved 2009-03-23.
  2. "Penn St.-Lehigh Valley". Penn St.-Lehigh Valley. Retrieved 2018-04-30.