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The First History of Penn State
Over its 161 years, Penn State has twice sanctioned books chronicling the University’s history, once in the 1940s and again with an updated version in the 1980s. While history professor and Penn State historian Wayland Dunaway’s 1946 “History of The Pennsylvania State College” was the first official account of Old State’s history to be published,…
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Looking Back to Move Forward
Why should we care about the past? The potential answers to this question are many and varied, but certainly, in looking back to understand what came before, we can see something of ourselves reflected back at us, extracting value from the experience. It is not without peril. Genuine self-examination risks exposure to the truth about…
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Our Founders Were Real
Evan Pugh was Penn State’s first president. It’s great if you happen to know of Evan Pugh. In fact, it’s likely that knowing about him already puts you in the minority among students and alumni. But just knowing this bit of raw information isn’t worth much in and of itself. It’s available to anyone curious…
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The Origins of ‘Happy Valley’
Most of have heard at least one theory on the origins of our “Happy Valley” nickname. Did it arise during the Great Depression, an expression of area’s economic resiliency? Or perhaps it was the tongue-in-cheek lament of would-be 1960s activists, frustrated by a stubbornly docile pace of life. We are pleased to present this thorough…
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Our Street Names Are Memorials
It’s always great when we come into deeper contact with the life and history of the place we live. That happened last year with a column for Town & Gown about a project cataloging the CBICC historical archive: Vince Verbeke, immediate past president of the Mount Nittany Conservancy, left a comment on the article that included some pretty cool…
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Elliot Abrams: The More Things Change…
To even the most casual radio listeners here in the Valley (and in many other markets throughout the country), Accuweather meteorologist Elliot Abrams is the familiar voice of the morning weather forecast. Abrams has been with Accuweather since its early days; even as he has become a fixture of an expanding international corporation, for residents…
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The Week that Restored Penn State Football
By Kevin Horne & Chris Buchignani “They’ll be enjoying the tailgating afterwards, with a 30-point win.” On that note, ABC’s Brad Nessler wrapped up the national broadcast of Penn State’s October 1, 2005 win over 18th-ranked Minnesota, a 44-14 shellacking that featured two standout plays that would endure for years among the program’s most memorable…
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From the Trenches: Farms, Forts, and Penn State’s Commitment to Local History
The popular view of archaeology often conjures images of Indiana Jones or spelunking through booby-trapped pyramids. Recently it has been dramatized and turned into television entertainment. This is not an accurate image. My personal experience confirms to me that it has deeper meaning. Archaeology is almost a social science—like piecing together the jigsaw puzzle of…
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Arts Fest is Itself a Work of Art
In the slower summer months in Happy Valley, Arts Fest looms large on the calendar. The Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts has been a special time of year for many decades, since its earliest days as a student-initiated celebration on up through the singular tradition it has become today. It’s no stretch to point…
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Imagining Centre County and the Nittany Valley of the 1920s
By Cori Agostinelli Kalupson The giving and graceful nature of our community help make it such a special place. For 40 years now, these qualities have been on display through the locally-supported growth of the Centre County Women’s Resource Center, a source of help and hope for area women in need. The CCWRC is sustained…
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A Voice from Old State’s Past
The following, abridged and lightly edited, is taken from “Reminiscences of Dr. F.J. Pond,” a pamphlet-style Nittany Valley Press book of Penn State memories from Dr. Francis Pond, an alumnus and Atherton-era professor. Dr. Pond recorded these reminiscences shortly before his death, and tells us about Old State from a very different time—a place both…
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How Penn Staters Can Encounter Their Heritage
“To Thy Happy Children / Of The FutureThose Of The Past / Send Greetings” This is the inscription that the University of Illinois’s Alma Mater statue bears for the curious passerby. It’s a perfect encapsulation of everything a place of learning exists to achieve—bringing the reality and wisdom of the past alive in the present, so it can do the…
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Blue-White 2005: Prelude to a Comeback
By Kevin Horne & Chris Buchignani There are certain successes that everyone from the outside can predict. These are victories worthy of celebration, for sure, but movies aren’t made and books aren’t written about the events that everyone sees coming. The stories that inspire us the most and linger in our memories are often the…
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Why Learn the Penn State Story?
As the keynote speaker for this year’s Willow Gathering, Penn State Lunar Lion mission director Michael Paul talked about how, for Penn State, being the only university among a field of private competitors striving to reach the Moon is opening up incredible opportunities for the institution and her students. Hands-on learning and connections with the global aerospace community are…
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Three Coaches, Three Speeches at Penn State’s IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon
This weekend marks the continuation of one of the Nittany Valley’s most remarkable stories. What we know today as THON began humbly some 42 years ago and grew into a phenomenon. “The world’s largest student-run philanthropy” raises millions annually for pediatric cancer patients while uniting the Penn State community like little else. The appearance of various PSU personalities, including the…
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