Welcome to Penn State Behrend

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Metzgar Center—Welcome

Tour stop audio transcript

Welcome to Penn State Behrend! We're one of the largest Penn State campuses, with 4,500 students and nearly 50 undergraduate and graduate degrees. At Behrend, you'll be welcomed like family, find your fit on our active campus, and explore your career options with hands-on learning. We're starting your tour at Metzgar Center—our front door. It's the first stop for prospective students and home to our admissions team and financial aid office. It's also the first stop for returning graduates—and with more than 40,000 alums from Behrend and 700,000 from Penn State, we're part of the world's largest dues-paying alumni network! Here's how to use this virtual tour: Click on "Next" to move to the next stop. Or, click on the list or the map to jump to any location. To explore stops in detail, click on the image icons.

Burke Center—Business and Engineering

Tour stop audio transcript

Burke Center is home to both our business and engineering schools—a natural connection that gives students the kind of education across disciplines that employers want and need. As a business student, you'll learn in "smart" classrooms, including a Financial Lab with investment trading terminals just like you'd see on Wall Street. As an engineering student, you'll study in advanced labs, including the largest undergraduate plastics processing lab in North America! Burke also houses the James R. Meehl Innovation Commons, a makerspace where students help community partners take ideas from paper to market. It's all part of Behrend's Open Lab, giving students hands-on experience solving real-world problems.

Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation Center and Knowledge Park

Tour stop audio transcript

At Behrend, you'll learn in an Open Lab—and nowhere is that truer than in our Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation Center. Here, Behrend students and faculty work with industry partners to solve business and engineering challenges. It's part of the on-campus Knowledge Park technology hub, where partner businesses give students opportunities for internships, co-ops, and jobs.

Science Complex—Science and Nursing

Tour stop audio transcript

Nine buildings make up the Science Complex, which is home to our science and nursing programs. You'll learn in "smart" classrooms and labs, and have the opportunity to conduct research alongside faculty members and other students. Nursing labs give you experience in patient care, using high-tech mannequin simulators. In our biomedical research lab, you can work with faculty researchers conducting clinical medical trials. And our observatories and planetarium give you the chance to look beyond Earth's boundaries.

Kochel Center—Humanities and Social Sciences

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Kochel Center is home to the humanities and social sciences, or H&SS, at Behrend. As an H&SS student, you'll have the chance to get hands-on experience in history, political science, education, psychology, and more. Plus, you can pursue two unique degrees that you won't find anywhere else in the Penn State system—the bachelor of fine arts in Creative Writing and the bachelor of arts in Digital Media, Arts, and Technology.

Reed Union Building—Student Activities

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The hub of student activities on campus is Reed Union Building. Here, you'll find the headquarters for student activities—including our 140-plus clubs and organizations—as well as student services like academic and career advising, equity and diversity services, the student bookstore, and more. And if you're looking for a quick meal or a snack on the go, you can find it at The Galley convenience store—or at Bruno's Café or Paw's Coffee Shop, all on the second floor of Reed. You can hear more about our campus dining options on the Dobbins Dining Hall tour stop.

Erie Hall—Student Recreation

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The newest building on campus is the Erie Hall fitness and recreation center for students. Erie Hall is meant to keep students healthy—in body and mind. Our Personal Counseling team supports students in one-on-one sessions, workshops and other programming. Students also can work out on cardio and spin equipment, join activities in the multipurpose room, or make use of the three-court gymnasium. Erie Hall's recreation opportunities are among many on our active campus! Outdoors, students can make use of a disc golf course, sand volleyball courts, and, of course, the gorgeous Wintergreen Gorge.

Trippe Hall—Residence Life

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Our resident students find their home away from home in one of our residence halls. Trippe Hall is our newest residence hall. Here, you'll find traditional rooms with shared private bathrooms, as well as vibrant community spaces. Other residence halls—Almy, Lawrence, Niagara, Ohio, and Senat—offer a range of rooming options, and some even feature special living-learning communities.

Apartments and Suites

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Upper-level students who want to live right on campus will find Behrend Apartments a good choice. Our nine-building complex offers four-person apartments, each with a full kitchen and living room. First-year and upper-level students can also choose suite-style living. Here's a fun fact: All of our residence halls, apartments, and suite buildings are named for ships or people connected to the Battle of Lake Erie.

Dobbins Dining Hall—Campus Dining

Tour stop audio transcript

Dobbins Dining Hall is the place for good food on campus! Dobbins is an all-you-care-to-eat buffet serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner—with different food stations and dining options. Its location in the center of campus makes it close to residence halls and a convenient stop between classes and activities. Other campus dining options are Paw's Coffee Shop or Bruno's Café food court, available all day—including late nights!—in Reed Union Building, and Clark Café, for coffee and grab-and-go foods, in Burke Center.

Glenhill Farmhouse

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Glenhill Farmhouse anchors the historic heart of campus. Now home to administrative offices, Glenhill was once the summer home of Mary Behrend, who donated her family's land to Penn State to create the campus in 1948. Other family buildings nearby include Mary Behrend's painting studio, now the Studio Theatre, and the family's former carriage house, now home to the college's Health and Wellness Center. The Behrend family history also contributes to the beauty of the campus: The Behrends collected trees on their travels around the world and planted them around their farmhouse, and today the campus is a designated arboretum with plenty of quiet, shady places to study and relax.

Junker Center and Lion Plaza

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Junker Center is home to the Behrend Lions—24 NCAA Division III teams, plus dozens of club and intramural sports. Our athletes train and compete on a lighted turf soccer field, tennis courts, baseball and softball diamonds, and a track and field complex. Just outside Junker Center is one of the most photographed places on campus: the Lion Shrine. It's the top picture-taking spot on campus for students, graduates, and parents!

Smith Chapel

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Smith Chapel helps to build community on campus—whether you're there for nondenominational spiritual growth or to join in service opportunities through Civic and Community Engagement. Smith is also home to the Commuter Lounge, where off-campus residents can relax and recharge between classes. And the music you might hear drifting across campus? It comes from the Smith Carillon, an 80-foot tower of bronze bells.

Lilley Library

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Lilley Library has so much more than books—though it does have 125,000 of those! You'll find rooms where you can work on small-group projects, a language lab, digital collections, and—of course—helpful librarians. Behrend's Learning Resource Center, which offers one-on-one and small-group peer tutoring, is also located in Lilley Library.

Federal House and CORE

Tour stop audio transcript

You won't be bored at Penn State Behrend! Every week you can choose from concerts, lectures, workshops, readings, dinners, comedy shows, movies and more. Penn State Behrend's Office of Student Activities plans on- and off-campus events for students, as do our 120 student clubs and organizations. Some special events are held in Logan House, an elegant campus gathering place. This Georgian mansion is the perfect space for readings, receptions, student ceremonies, and dinners with distinguished campus visitors. Logan House also is used for presentations on social etiquette. These presentations teach students the soft skills they'll need to approach a job interview or lunch meeting with confidence.

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