Category: News || By Submitted Report

Christmas has arrived early on Penn State's McKeesport campus.

An anonymous donor has committed $2.2 million to create a scholarship fund, two professorships and a "chancellor's excellence fund," a spokeswoman for the Greater Allegheny Campus announced this morning.

The scholarship fund will start with an endowment of $700,000, while the "excellence fund" begins with $500,000. Interest on the two funds is expected to total $54,000 per year.

Greater Allegheny Chancellor Curtiss Porter called the pledge a "tremendous gift" that is "historic in its size and scope, as well as in the impact it will have on our students, faculty and community."

"Private philanthropy is a major driving force behind the growth and enhancement of our campus," Porter said. "Gifts from alumni and friends allow us to fulfill Penn State Greater Allegheny's mission to care for the success of our students and communities."

Located in the city and White Oak, the Greater Allegheny Campus supports more than 40 full-time faculty and about 800 students from 20 states and two foreign countries. About 20 percent of students live on campus.

Although many students still start their Penn State degrees in McKeesport and then transfer to the university's main campus in State College after two years, the Greater Allegheny Campus also offers four-year bachelor's degrees in business, communications, English, arts and sciences, information sciences, organizational leadership and psychology.

The "chancellor's excellence fund" will be targeted toward faculty research, student projects, community outreach programs, support for campus facilities and "other steps" to enhance the student experience, says Linda Curinga, campus spokeswoman.

The scholarship fund will target financially needy students, with preferences given to applicants from the Pittsburgh area. More than 90 percent of Greater Allegheny students qualify for financial aid, but Porter said much of that aid is in the form of loans.

New scholarships "will help us continue to keep a university degree accessible to future Penn Staters," Porter said.

The new professorships will be established in the departments of Business and Information Sciences and Technology and are the first ever established at the McKeesport campus. The money will be used to recruit and retain faculty members, Curinga said.

The business professorship is designed as an "early career" professorship to provide junior faculty with a stable, dependable source of income for research and teaching materials, travel assistance and other needs.

"The most innovative research initiatives must often produce results before greater funding can become available," Porter said. "The professorships have the potential not only to support the careers of our faculty, but also to fund breakthroughs that will transform their disciplines."

The early career award will rotate every three years to a new recipient who has completed his or her terminal degree within the past 10 years.

(Editor's Note: This story is written from a press release sent by Linda Curinga, Penn State spokeswoman)

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