Penn State Erie, The Behrend College

Infobox_University
name =Penn State Erie, The Behrend College


motto =
established =1948
type =Land-Grant, State-related
endowment =
staff =
faculty =207 full-time
61 part-time
chancellor =Jack Burke
students =4,400 estimate
alumni =22,000
postgrad =
doctoral =
profess =
city =Erie, PA
country =
campus =725 acres
free_label =
free =
colors =Blue and white
mascot =Behrend Lion
nickname =Behrend
affiliations =AMCC, NCAA
footnotes =
website = [http://www.pserie.psu.edu/ www.pennstatebehrend.edu]
coor =
logo = Penn State Erie, The Behrend College is a state-related public university institution and a Commonwealth campus of Pennsylvania State University located in Erie, Pennsylvania.

General Information

At Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, over 4,400 students benefit from the opportunities and prestige of the [http://www.psu.edu/ Pennsylvania State University] while set in an atmosphere of a small college setting. Students can choose from thirty-two baccalaureate majors, nineteen minors, six associate degree programs, and three graduate programs. The convert|725|acre|km2|sing=on campus is located only minutes from the City of Erie in Harborcreek Township. As a land grant and sea grant institution, the college's mission includes advancing Northwestern Pennsylvania's economic and social welfare.

The college in recent years has added a number of facilities, including an athletics and recreation center (The Junker Center), chapel and carillon (Smith Chapel), astronomy observatory, large residence halls (Senat Hall), Knowledge Park at Penn State Erie, and a baseball and softball complex. The newest construction is a $30 million research and economic development center (REDC) that houses the School of Engineering and the Sam and Irene Black School of Business. The convert|160000|sqft|m2|sing=on REDC includes state-of-the art teaching and research labs, including the largest plastics lab in the United States. Plans were announced during the summer of 2008 of plans to build an estimated $2 million Admissions and Alumni Center set to open in 2010.

Student Life

There are three on-campus dining facilities: the Gazebo at Dobbins, Bruno's Café in the Reed Union Building, and the Clark Cafe in the REDC. Dobbins is a cafeteria with a large variety of foods and drinks available as a buffet. The cafeteria will be expanding in the future as well. It is said that it will also include a "Panera-like" area for food-pick up. Bruno's is an on-campus cafe where students can get all types of food and drinks for dine-in or to-go. It is located in the Reed Union Building and has wireless internet access for students. It tends to be open longer and later than Dobbins: till about 11 PM on weekdays and midnight on weekends. There is often live entertainment on weekends at Bruno’s Café. The Clark Cafe offers a variety of sandwiches, wraps, salads, and drinks, and it provides students with wireless internet access.

Behrend has Greek life. There are three social fraternities: Delta Chi, Kappa Delta Rho, and Sigma Tau Gamma. There are three sororities: Alpha Sigma Alpha, Alpha Sigma Tau and Theta Phi Alpha.

Residential facilities have been recently renovated and all rooms have relatively new furniture in good condition with wall-to-wall carpeting and a microfridge (microwave/refrigerator) in all of the dorm rooms. Most freshman live in Lawrence, Niagara and Perry Halls. Some students may also get housing in the recently constructed Senat Hall; a freshman-only hall reserved for those who join a "FIG" or Freshman Interest Group. Senat hall is the newest residential hall, it is suite-style, located centrally on the campus and as such, is often revered to be the best place to live on campus. Honors students live in Almy Hall. Sophomores, juniors and seniors often opt to live in 8 person/4 bedroom suites in Tiffany, Tigress and Porcupine Halls. Others may prefer to live in smaller 4 person/2 bedroom suite styles in Ohio Hall. On campus apartments are available too. Off-campus apartments continue to be built directly across the entrance to campus as well as a new mini-plaza set to open in late 2008, early 2009.

The student:teacher ratio is 15:1 at Penn State Behrend. During the first two semesters, many students may find themselves in bigger classes for some popular intro courses but classes decrease in size in their sophomore year. [http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/directory/brief/drlife_3333_brief.php]

Athletics

Known as the Behrend Lions, Penn State Behrend men can compete in 10 Varsity sports while women can compete in 11 [http://www.behrend.psu.edu/athletics/varsitysports.htm .] Penn State Behrend is a member of the NCAA Division III, Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference ( [http://www.amcconf.org/ AMCC] ) and Eastern College Athletic Conference ( [http://www.ecac.org/ ECAC] ). Men's Varsity include: baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, indoor and outdoor track and field, soccer, swimming, tennis and water polo. Women's sports include: basketball, cross country, golf, indoor and outdoor track, soccer, softball, swimming, volleyball and water polo.

Changing Assignment to University Park

The vast majority of students at Penn State Behrend stay at the college and do not change assignment to another Penn State campus. However, only 20% of incoming freshmen eventually change assignment to University Park at the end of their second year in order to complete a program that Behrend College does not offer. [Chancellor Jack Burke, "Newswatch Insider" on WSEE TV, June 17, 2007.] In order to change assignment, a person must 1) declare a major by the end of their sophomore year 2) satisfy a few required classes for that major and 3) maintain a sufficient GPA. In most popular majors, about 5-9 "specific" courses need to be completed (usually a few introductory courses relevant to the major) and roughly a 3.0 GPA needs to be maintained. It is recommended that the student know what their major will be, what classes (if any) are required before changing assignment for their major and if they meet minimum GPA requirements by about third semester or earlier. This is beneficial because if a student is missing any courses or needs to boost their GPA, they can do so in their fourth semester and change assignment to the University Park campus easily and successfully.

Students who declare certain majors (architecture, agricultural business) can change assignment to University Park after their freshman year (instead of after their sophomore year which is more common) because the majors aren't offered at Behrend at all, or as in-depth as it is offered in University Park.

It should be noted that while many majors are offered in University Park and not Behrend, six majors are offered only at Behrend and not University Park: International Business (offered only as a minor at UP), Interdisciplinary Business with Engineering Studies, Plastics Engineering Technology, Software Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology, and a BFA in Creative Writing. This is a major contributing reason as to why some students do not change campuses.

Knowledge Park

Knowledge Park is a convert|200|acre|km2|sing=on research and development area located on the campus of Penn State Behrend in a park-like setting. The park enables knowledge-based organizations to take advantage of the college's intellectual and physical resources as well as the resources of other colleges and universities in the region.

Points of interest

* Arboretum at Penn State Behrend

References

External links

* [http://www.pserie.psu.edu Penn State Erie]
* [http://www.pserie.psu.edu/academic/library/ John M. Lilley Library]
* [http://pennstatebehrend.psu.edu/kpark/ Knowledge Park at Penn State Erie]
* [http://restech.bd.psu.edu/ Penn State Behrend, Residence Hall Help Desk]
* [http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/directory/brief/drlife_3333_brief.php USNews Statistics on Behrend]
* [http://pennstatebehrend.psu.edu/student/groups/groups-greeks.htm Behrend Greek Organizations]
* [http://www.pennsylvaniamentor.org/CampusTour/undergraduate/655/Penn_State_Erie_Behrend_College/Penn_State_Erie_Behrend_College1.html Pennsylvania Mentor: Penn State Erie-The Behrend College]
* [http://www.hfs.psu.edu/erie/foodservices/ Behrend Dining and Meal Plans]