Q 01/05

What name did Penn State's founders pick in 1855 to reassure rural families wary of colleges?

A) Centre County Academy

B) Pennsylvania Agricultural Institute

C) Bellefonte College

D) Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania

Answer · why

D) Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania

Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania granted college degrees from the start; the humble name was chosen to soothe distrust. It became the Agricultural...

Q 02/05

Which Penn State president won the school university status in 1953?

A) Milton Eisenhower

B) Ralph Hetzel

C) Eric Walker

D) Edwin Sparks

Answer · why

A) Milton Eisenhower

Milton Eisenhower, younger brother of the sitting U.S. president, then pushed to rename State College. Voters refused, so he got the campus its own po...

Q 03/05

Which 1882 president pushed Penn State beyond agriculture and has a main road named for him?

A) George Atherton

B) James Irvin

C) Fred Pattee

D) Bryce Jordan

Answer · why

A) George Atherton

George Atherton built an engineering program that by the early 1900s ranked among the ten largest in the nation. Atherton Hall is named for his wife, ...

Q 04/05

Penn State's College of Medicine, which opened to students in 1967, is in which town?

A) Harrisburg

B) Hershey

C) Altoona

D) Erie

Answer · why

B) Hershey

Hershey won the school with money: in 1963 the M. S. Hershey Foundation, built on chocolate magnate Milton Hershey's fortune, offered Penn State $50 m...

Q 05/05

What were Penn State's original official colors before blue and white?

A) Green and gold

B) Maroon and gray

C) Orange and black

D) Black and dark pink

Answer · why

D) Black and dark pink

Black and dark pink, adopted in 1887, lasted barely three years. The pink bleached toward white in the sun, so the school switched to blue and white i...