Pennsylvania State University, main campus at University Park, State College; land-grant and state supported; coeducational; chartered 1855, opened 1859 as Farmers' High School. It was named the Agricultural College of Pennsylvania in 1862, renamed Pennsylvania State College in 1874, and became a university in 1953. The medical school (1965) is at Hershey. Dickinson School of Law (1834, merged with Penn State 2000) is at Carlisle, and there are large campuses at Harrisburg and Erie. The university maintains numerous other colleges statewide, as well as forestry camps and engineering test stations. Among its extensive laboratory facilities are a nuclear reactor, a seismograph, and research centers for biotechnology, gerontology, and underwater systems.
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