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Pennsylvania State University (commonly referred to as Penn State) was founded in 1855 by order of the Commonwealth government as Agricultural College of Pennsylvania. The main campus, University Park, is found in State College, just east of the geographic center of the state. Additionally, PSU comprises 19 other campus locations and several "special-mission" campuses. More than 80,000 students attend the university with over half in University Park.
Penn State was the first college in the United States to award baccalaureate and graduate degrees in agriculture, the first to operate a nuclear reactor capable of reaching criticality, and the first to found a graduate program for Native Americans.
Pennsylvania State University should not be confused with the University of Pennsylvania (commonly referred to as "Penn"), another high-quality, research-oriented university located in Philadelphia. Penn State is a public school, while Penn is private, although Penn State actually gets a very small percentage of its budget from public funds compared to most public universities.
Penn State's mascot is the Nittany Lion. They participate in the NCAA Division I-A and in the Big
Ten Conference.
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