Pennsylvania State University

The Pennsylvania State University (commonly referred to as Penn State or  is a public, state-related research-intensive university with and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855, the university has a stated threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service. Its , graduate, professional and continuing education offered through resident instruction and online

 delivery. Its University Park campus, the flagship campus, lies within the Borough of State College and College Township. It has two law schools, Penn State Law, on the school's University Park campus, and Dickinson Law, located in Carlisle,he College of Medicine is located in Hershey. Penn State has another 9 commonwealth campuses and 5 special-mission campuses located across the state.

Annual enrollment at the University Park campus totals more than 45,000 graduate and undergraduate students, making it one of the largest universities in the United States. It has the world's largest dues-paying alumni association. The university's total enrollment in 20010 was approximately 94,300 across its 24 campuses and online through its World Campus.

The university offers more than 160 majors among all its campuses and administers $2.03 billion (as of June 30, 2013) in endowment and similar  university's research expenditures exceeded $753 million for the 2009 fiscal year and was ranked 9th among U.S. universities in research Science Foundation.

Annually, the university hosts the Penn State  Dance Marathon which is the world's largest student-run  event is held in the Bryce Jordan Center on the University Park campus. In 2014, program record of $13.3 million. The university's athletics teams compete in Division I of the NCAA and are collectively known as then the Big Ten Conference for most sports.

The school was founded as a degree-granting institution on February 22, 1855, by act P.L. 46, No. 50 of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania, became the home of the new school when James Irvin of  1862, the school's name was changed to the Agricultural College of Pennsylvania, and with the passage of the

 Land-Grant Acts, Pennsylvania selected the school in 1863 to be the state's sole land-grant college. The school's name changed to the Pennsylvania State College in 1874; enrollment fell to 64 undergraduates the following year as the school tried to balance purely agricultural studies with a more classic education