Penn State Mont Alto is a residential commonwealth campus of the Pennsylvania State University. Located in Mont Alto, Pennsylvania, the campus offers nine four-year and seven two-year degree programs, including nursing, forest technology, occupational therapy assistant, physical therapist assistant, business, information technology, and project and supply chain management.
In 2021, 672 students were enrolled at the campus.
History
Pennsylvania State Forest Academy
Joseph Rothrock, an explorer, botanist and medical doctor founded the academy to train men for service in the state forests.
In May 1903, Samuel W. Pennypacker, governor of Pennsylvania, established the Pennsylvania State Forest Academy in Mont Alto. With the precipitous closure of the New York State College of Forestry at Cornell in the same month, the new Pennsylvania school became one of three forestry schools in the nation, along with Yale and Biltmore. George Wirt, the academy's first administrator, patterned the curriculum after curricula in Germany. All first year students were required to bring a horse with them to the academy until the late 1920s. The horses were used to fight forest fires in the Michaux State Forest. The nation's first academically trained African American forester, Ralph E. Brock, graduated from the academy in 1906 as a member of the first graduating class.
The yearbook of the Pennsylvania State Forest Academy was called "The Oak Leaf". It was published in 1914, 1920, 1923 and 1927, and may now be viewed online through the Pennsylvania State University Libraries along with other items documenting the history of this campus.
Merger with Penn State
In 1929 the Forest Academy merged with Pennsylvania State University, establishing Penn State Mont Alto. Students were adamantly opposed to the merger, and they protested by hanging two state officials in effigy.
The campus closed from 1943 to 1946 because the students and faculty were fighting in WWII.
In 1963, Penn State Mont Alto became a Penn State campus.
In 1997, Mont Alto joined the Commonwealth College, and began to offer baccalaureate degrees.
Campus
Residence halls
Penn State Mont Alto offers two residence halls to students: Mont Alto Hall and Penn Gate II.
Mont Alto Hall offers traditional dorm life. All three floors of the building are broken up into an east and a west side, with only one gender belonging to a particular wing. Each room holds two people, although it is possible to obtain a single room given certain circumstances. The rooms are not carpeted, and lack a central AC unit. They do however, include a heater. Each resident is provided with a desk, a phone jack, an Ethernet connection, a dresser, and a closet. The "Microfridge", a combination microwave and refrigerator, is standard as well. Every wing of the building includes a bathroom that the entire hall shares, making for two per floor. Mont Alto Hall also includes a basement with washers/dryers and study rooms. This hall is a mere 4-5 minute walk from virtually anything on campus, with the exception of the Penn Gate dorms and other parts of the campus east of PA 233 (softball fields, etc.). Penn Gate II offers four-person suite living. Similar to Mont Alto Hall, the building is three stories tall. While halls themselves are not gender specific, each individual suite is. The four-person suite includes two spacious bedrooms as well as a bathroom that is shared by all four people in the suite. Each room is carpeted and also includes a central air conditioning unit. Penn Gate II is located across Route 233 and is near the campus' baseball and softball fields.