Penn State Behrend: The Region’s Land-Grant University

 

By Dr. Jack D. Burke

Campus Executive Officer and Dean

 

Each college in northwest Pennsylvania makes an important contribution to the region’s economic, social, and cultural life. At Penn State, the Commonwealth’s only land-grant university, we know the public expects much from us—and we set a high standard for ourselves.

 

To fulfill its mission, Penn State shares the benefits gained through research and instruction. Today, that takes the form of outreach programs and services that touch lives in Erie, across Pennsylvania, and throughout the nation.

 

As the University’s regional campus, Penn State Behrend takes its land-grant mission seriously.

When Mary Behrend donated her family estate to create the college in 1948, she set an example of public service that remains central to our daily activities. We continually strive to become a more “engaged institution” by fashioning solutions to problems, and by developing new opportunities through new knowledge.

 

Our most visible success story, Knowledge Park, demonstrates the power of persistence and collaboration. More than fifteen years in the making, the park opened in 1999 as a joint venture between the college and the Greater Erie Industrial Development Corporation. Plenty of others helped along the way. Our strategy to attract and grow knowledge-based organizations has taken hold, and this summer the park will be home to seven organizations employing 270 people. When fully developed, the park has the potential to create and retain up to 3,000 jobs.

 

While Knowledge Park makes headlines, it represents only a small part of Penn State Behrend’s impact on the regional economy. For many years, the college has been establishing a foundation of high-quality programs that serve the tri-state region. This includes creation of:

 

·          undergraduate and graduate programs in areas of study related to the region’s economic and cultural growth.

·          outreach centers that focus the college’s unique expertise in a broad array of regional issues, such as engineering design, organizational evaluation, and economic analysis.

·          partnerships with organizations to bring new and expanded resources to the region.

 

In its relatively short history, the college has grown from a handful of one- and two-year programs serving several hundred students to an institution that provides twenty-nine four-year undergraduate programs and three graduate degrees. Students study in four schools: Business, Engineering and Engineering Technology, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Science. Today, our student body numbers 3,700, the faculty and staff total 600, and we have more than 6,000 alumni in the region. Through research, internships, employment, and community service, all these Penn Staters add to the area’s vitality.

 

Penn State Behrend also serves as a facilitator or partner in bringing new resources to the region. For instance, we:

  • served as co-founder of the Northwest Pennsylvania Industrial Resource Center (NWIRC), which helps small- to medium-sized manufacturers become more competitive. The NWIRC, established in 1988, has assisted scores of companies, leading to the creation and retention of hundreds of jobs and increased sales in the tens of millions.

 

  • established the Center for Organizational Research and Evaluation (CORE), which provides high-quality, innovative, and in-depth research evaluation and grant-writing services for the public and private sectors. CORE, established in 1998, has initially focused its efforts on research and outreach related to adolescent pregnancy prevention.

 

  • established the Plastics Technology Center to promote technology integration in plastics-related companies. The center, an affiliate of the NWIRC, has assisted more than 800 companies in its fifteen years of existence, resulting in product launches, increases in sales, and job creation and retention.

 

  • collaborated with the Economic Development Corporation of Erie County and GE Transportation Systems to establish the Center for eBusiness and Advanced Information Technology, located in Knowledge Park. The center, now in its first full year, promotes the understanding and use of e-business and advanced information technology by business and industry. The center’s long-range plan includes creation of 1,500 information-related jobs.

 

  • provided support for other economic and technology development organizations such as the Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program (PENNTAP), the Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Central and Northern Pennsylvania, and others that have attracted more than $30 million in state and federal funds.

 

Over the next decade, as an “engaged institution,” Penn State Behrend expects to play a major role in the development of fifty new products, enhancement of fifty existing products, creation and retention of several thousand knowledge-based jobs, new sales of more than $50 million, and the attraction of talented people to Erie.

 

All this, of course, depends on inventive collaboration and a willingness on everyone’s part to develop a competitive edge. As the region’s land-grant university, we’re expected—and judged—on how we contribute to economic development. Let us know what Penn State Behrend can do for you.

 

 

Written for the Erie Times-News, April 25, 2003

 

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