Penn State Lehigh Valley

Penn State Lehigh Valley

The Penn State Lehigh Valley campus in Center Valley, Pennsylvania
Type	Public
Established	1912
Parent institution	Pennsylvania State University
Chancellor	Dr. Tina Richardson
President	Eric J. Barron
Students	849
Location	Center Valley, PA, United States
Campus	Suburban 40 acres
Colors	Blue and White
Nickname	Nittany Lions
Affiliations	PSUAC (USCAA)
Website	Penn State Lehigh Valley

Penn State Lehigh Valley is a commonwealth campus of Pennsylvania State University. It is located in Center Valley, outside of Allentown in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania, in the United States. Founded in 1912, Penn State Lehigh Valley is the oldest of Penn State's commonwealth campuses.

In 1912, Penn State opened its first permanent "branch school" in the attic of an elementary school in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Designed to provide professional training to employees, the Allentown Branch School offered evening courses in engineering. Over the next few decades additional programs were added, including three-year evening programs in engineering, technology, and business administration, as well as "continuation school" offered one day a week for workers in silk mills and other local factories. Eventually the evening programs were compressed into a one-year daytime program designed to meet the needs of returning World War II veterans.

By 1951, the curriculum had expanded to include associate degrees in Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering Technology, business programs, and graduate credit classes for teachers. The University purchased a converted factory building at 725 Ridge Avenue in Allentown to house the "Allentown Center."

In the 1970s, the Allentown Campus grew rapidly and moved first to larger quarters in the Fogelsville School Building, and then, in 1977, to its campus in Fogelsville, Pennsylvania which was built on a 40-acre (160,000 m²) tract of land donated by Mohr Orchards. Along with the new facilities came a new mission to provide the first two years of Penn State baccalaureate degrees in addition to expanded continuing education programming.

The 1990s brought considerable change and subsequent growth to the campus. Changing its name to Penn State Lehigh Valley to better reflect the community it serves, the campus became part of a college within the University composed of Penn State Lehigh Valley and Penn State Berks. The two-campus college was designated Penn State Berks-Lehigh Valley College. Together the campuses shared faculty and developed four-year baccalaureate degree programs in a number of disciplines.