One Community Impacting Many

As Pennsylvania’s sole land-grant institution and its largest public university, Penn State is a shared public asset that provides opportunity and enriches the quality of life for residents of the Commonwealth and beyond.

Our combined efforts and talents as well as our scale make Penn State an instrument for change and impact. Not only are we educating Pennsylvanians from all walks of life, we’re also fueling the state’s economy, serving our communities, and solving universal problems.

Featured Stories of Impact

Penn Staters are imagining, inventing, and collaborating our way to a better world

Educating Pennsylvanians

As one university with the resources of twenty-five campus locations—including a medical college, two law schools, a school of graduate professional studies, and an online World Campus—we're setting students up for greater career potential and empowering them to positively impact the world. Our unique educational model makes a Penn State degree accessible to students from all backgrounds, from first-generation students to adult learners.

Penn State student Shevy Karbasi smiles at the camera in a lab

From the Waiting Room to the Living Room

With entrepreneurial guidance, education, and funding from programs at Penn State, recent biology graduate Sherveen “Shevy” Karbasi is bringing complete blood count testing out of the clinic and onto a smartphone.

Read Shevy’s story.

Two students walking outside

Creating equal educational opportunities

We take pride in delivering world-class education to our community of Penn Staters. Unique programs assist students with financial, academic, and personal challenges to help all succeed.

Learn more

Impacting the Pennsylvania Economy

By leveraging our size and research strengths, Penn State drives job creation, economic development, and student career success while contributing more the $11.6 billion annually to the state’s economy. Through the Invent Penn State initiative, the University has made a $30 million investment in economic development that supports entrepreneurs in their communities through partnerships with Penn State campuses.

Penn State professor Tom Sharbaugh walks in downtown State College

Sustaining Communities Through Small Business

As the director of Penn State Law’s Entrepreneur Assistance Clinic, Tom Sharbaugh is helping support the Pennsylvania economy by providing small businesses and entrepreneurs free legal expertise and resources.

Read more about the Entrepreneur Assistance Clinic.

Serving Communities Across the State

We serve Pennsylvania’s communities through partnerships that include county extension offices, philanthropy, and a teaching hospital. Through Penn State Extension offices—located in all sixty-seven Pennsylvania counties—residents have access to practical training and advice based on University research. Penn State Health’s comprehensive health network provides residents with high-quality care and treatment at locations throughout the state.

Penn State researchers meet at a Pennsylvania farm

Saving the Chesapeake

As Pennsylvania renews efforts to clean the state's waterways and the Chesapeake Bay, Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences is crafting a strategy in which farmers can help.

Read more about Penn State’s impact on the Chesapeake Bay.

Solving Universal Problems

As a research enterprise grounded in an interdisciplinary spirit, Penn State’s breadth of expertise allows us to tackle the most pressing issues for the Commonwealth and beyond. Fifteen disciplines—from psychology to atmospheric science and materials engineering—rank nationally in the top ten for research expenditures. (Only one other major research university—Johns Hopkins—shares this distinction.)

Penn State professor Felecia Davis smiles

Smart Fabrics

Felecia Davis, an associate professor of architecture, is leveraging Penn State’s network of expertise to weave art with science in reimagining the use of everyday fabric. Working with an interdisciplinary team of researchers, Davis is exploring how these smart fabrics can provide shelter and energy to communities around the world.

Read Felecia’s story.

Coastline map with hands pointing to features

A sustainable future is essential

At every college and on every campus, Penn State faculty are researching innovative ways to tackle the world’s most pressing issues.

Learn more

96%

Of Pennsylvanians live within thirty miles of a Penn State campus.

$11.6B+

Contributed to the Pennsylvania economy annually.

67

Pennsylvania counties served by Penn State Extension.

21

Innovation hubs supporting economic growth across Pennsylvania.