PSU Trustees announce new on-campus buildings

The Penn State Board of Trustees announced plans on Friday to construct a new $96 million building at the University Park campus of Penn State University. Its purpose is to address a critical shortage of large, general-purpose classrooms.

The 102,000-square-foot facility will be located at the corner of Bigler Road and East Park Avenue.

The project, which is designed to meet the growing demand for classroom space, was approved by the Board of Trustees following a presentation to the Finance and Investment Committee on Thursday.

Sara Thorndike, the senior vice president of finance and business, says the current campus infrastructure includes just 24 general-purpose classrooms with a seating capacity of 150 or more, and all are heavily utilized with little to no availability for new classes.

“Anticipated enrollment growth requires that we add large general-purpose classrooms,” Thorndike said.

Such a structure will assist both current student demand and future growth projections. Penn State expects its enrollment at University Park to increase by approximately 9,175 students from the 2023-24 academic year to 10,000 students in the coming years.

To finance the project, Penn State will receive $85.5 million from borrowing, with the remaining $10.5 million coming from central reserves.

The building will feature a mix of large lecture halls, seminar-style classrooms, and flexible seating to accommodate a variety of teaching styles. The facility will add approximately 2,200 seats from the classrooms, which will be available to all academic colleges across the university.

The new building will also include non-classroom learning areas, casual seating, and study spaces designed for student collaboration, academic engagement, and simple lounge stops outside of classrooms.

Construction is expected to begin in the near future, with the facility aiming to open the building in time for the fall 2026 semester.

In addition to the new classroom building, the Board of Trustees also approved a partnership to develop new student housing. This aims to address the university’s capacity concerns further as enrollment continues to rise, and space runs low.

These will not be the only projects on campus though as Penn State has also begun the renovation of the former Palmer Museum of Art building for renovations and the creation of classrooms. The renovation is expected to complement the new building once everything is finished.

With the agricultural builds on the rise, Penn State is building to accommodate a larger student body class size and stay competitive in the racing and growing world of academics.

Bronwyn Liber is a second-year student majoring in Broadcast Journalism. To contact her, email brl5354@psu.edu.