PASSHE Institutions Merging

[boatcapt]

Hahaha you're asking Pennsylvania to be innovative. In higher ed, we just build on the plan from the 1950s.

As a former resident of the Keystone State, I agree with that 100%!!! Of course, there was a Polytechnical in PA's past. The Polytechnical College of Pennsylvania opened in 1852 in Philladelphia. So I guess it wouldn't be innovative as much as recycling the past...PERFECT for PA!!!!

[Fightingscot82]

Like I said...a lot of push back. Florida did just what I'm proposing with the Florida Polytechnical University. They got a lot of push back from other public and private schools in FL that offer STEM related degrees. But FL saw a need for a seporate public University that focused on STEM and students interested in persuing these courses of study. It was incubated and nurtured as part of USF starting in 2008 and then in 2012, it became the 12'th member of the State University System of Florida.

Hahaha you're asking Pennsylvania to be innovative. In higher ed, we just build on the plan from the 1950s.

[boatcapt]

PCT offers bachelor's degrees. You get a college degree in a technical field. They're a four year school, not a JC. They're also under state oversight as part of the Penn State system. Don't confuse them with PTC (once called PTI) that's a for-profit technical college trying to do the PCT thing.

Lehigh, Lafayette, Bucknell, and Drexel are engineering-heavy private colleges. Penn State was THE state university focused on STEM. They branched out to be more liberal arts, bought a med school, bought a law school, etc. but were founded to advance the state in STEM. If you visit, you'll see that the largest academic buildings are STEM schools.

Like I said...a lot of push back. Florida did just what I'm proposing with the Florida Polytechnical University. They got a lot of push back from other public and private schools in FL that offer STEM related degrees. But FL saw a need for a seporate public University that focused on STEM and students interested in persuing these courses of study. It was incubated and nurtured as part of USF starting in 2008 and then in 2012, it became the 12'th member of the State University System of Florida.

[iupgroundhog]

PCT offers bachelor's degrees. You get a college degree in a technical field. They're a four year school, not a JC. They're also under state oversight as part of the Penn State system. Don't confuse them with PTC (once called PTI) that's a for-profit technical college trying to do the PCT thing.

Lehigh, Lafayette, Bucknell, and Drexel are engineering-heavy private colleges. Penn State was THE state university focused on STEM. They branched out to be more liberal arts, bought a med school, bought a law school, etc. but were founded to advance the state in STEM. If you visit, you'll see that the largest academic buildings are STEM schools.

Of course, Drexel was founded as Drexel Tech and stayed that way until not that long ago. Lehigh's nickname for most of its history was Engineers.

[Fightingscot82]

Yea...PCT and PIT (PA Institute of Technology) are examples of colleges that offer "technical education" at the JC level...everything from Engineering Technology to Auto/Diesel Mechanic. I'm talking about a true bachelors/masters/doctorate college who's focus is engineering/sciences/mathmatics...something similar to RPI, MIT or even Va Tech. PASSHE would probably get a lot of push back from Penn State, Pit and others who will say "we already do that" but even though they might have engineering and science programs, do they really? What I'm talking about is a University that is established from day 1 to be THE state university focused exclusively on producing STEM graduates to meet Pennsylvania's high technology needs.

PCT offers bachelor's degrees. You get a college degree in a technical field. They're a four year school, not a JC. They're also under state oversight as part of the Penn State system. Don't confuse them with PTC (once called PTI) that's a for-profit technical college trying to do the PCT thing.

Lehigh, Lafayette, Bucknell, and Drexel are engineering-heavy private colleges. Penn State was THE state university focused on STEM. They branched out to be more liberal arts, bought a med school, bought a law school, etc. but were founded to advance the state in STEM. If you visit, you'll see that the largest academic buildings are STEM schools.

[boatcapt]

You mean like these guys? https://www.pct.edu/

If their name was true to founding, Penn State would have been known as Pennsylvania A&M. For the first 75 years they were almost strictly agriculture, forestry, and engineering.

Yea...PCT and PIT (PA Institute of Technology) are examples of colleges that offer "technical education" at the JC level...everything from Engineering Technology to Auto/Diesel Mechanic. I'm talking about a true bachelors/masters/doctorate college who's focus is engineering/sciences/mathmatics...something similar to RPI, MIT or even Va Tech. PASSHE would probably get a lot of push back from Penn State, Pit and others who will say "we already do that" but even though they might have engineering and science programs, do they really? What I'm talking about is a University that is established from day 1 to be THE state university focused exclusively on producing STEM graduates to meet Pennsylvania's high technology needs.

[Fightingscot82]

You know what PA doesn't have that a lot of other states have? A true Technical college...Not as in a JUCO that teaches "Engineering Technology" or welding, I mean a true technical college that focusing on producting engineers, scientists and other high technology professionals. I wonder if one of the PASSHE colleges could not be converted to the "Pennsylvania Polytechnical Institute" with a sole and intensive focus on producing graduates from STEM programs.

You mean like these guys? https://www.pct.edu/

If their name was true to founding, Penn State would have been known as Pennsylvania A&M. For the first 75 years they were almost strictly agriculture, forestry, and engineering.

[boatcapt]

You know what PA doesn't have that a lot of other states have? A true Technical college...Not as in a JUCO that teaches "Engineering Technology" or welding, I mean a true technical college that focusing on producting engineers, scientists and other high technology professionals. I wonder if one of the PASSHE colleges could not be converted to the "Pennsylvania Polytechnical Institute" with a sole and intensive focus on producing graduates from STEM programs.

[Fightingscot82]

https://www.lockhaven.com/news/local...f-fiscal-year

That's a little high but it's pretty common to be in the 75-80% range for universities. Going back to the hospital analogy, their biggest resource is people.

[boatcapt]

I hope it is not EPU-Bloomsburg, although they have been mentioned as a source to support the other two. Hopefully they can pull out like SRU.

That would be the logical third member. But in looking at the geography of WPU, I could envision Shippensburg being the third and instead of Eastern PA University, it becomes Central PA University (CPU - Mansfield, CPU - Lock Haven and CPU - Shippensburg).

[boatcapt]

https://www.lockhaven.com/news/local...f-fiscal-year

[Bart]

That's a pretty big deal and quite the departure from the original plan that people interpreted as no change in the identity of the schools included. Schools derive much from their names. Becoming Westerm PA University - California, WPU - Clarion and WPU - Edinboro loses almost all the "identity" these schools have had.

While not part of this release, I wonder if a third "partner" in in the offing for the LHU/Mansfield pairing AND I wonder what the naming convention will be? Maybe Eastern PA University - Lock Haven, EPU - Mansfield and EPU - ?????

As this is a football message board, I ask again, what is the potential that all three WPU and the current EPU partner LHU all keep their football programs? In a much earlier post, I opined that a way around the athletic cost "burden" would be to split the athletic department among the now three schools - One campus gets football, one gets men's basketball, one get's women's basketball, etc. That would allow each campus to trim its individual athletic budget while allowing each to continue to sponsor DII athletics. AND it would allow the new university group to avoid duplication of effort. Of course, that plan would kind of reeks havoc with the PSAC lineup.

I hope it is not EPU-Bloomsburg, although they have been mentioned as a source to support the other two. Hopefully they can pull out like SRU.

[boatcapt]

I don't have much inside info. As I understand it, right now the plan is that on the ground level identity will be very much the same. But everything is on the table including a consolidated name change. Western PA University was mentioned to me.

That's a pretty big deal and quite the departure from the original plan that people interpreted as no change in the identity of the schools included. Schools derive much from their names. Becoming Westerm PA University - California, WPU - Clarion and WPU - Edinboro loses almost all the "identity" these schools have had.

While not part of this release, I wonder if a third "partner" in in the offing for the LHU/Mansfield pairing AND I wonder what the naming convention will be? Maybe Eastern PA University - Lock Haven, EPU - Mansfield and EPU - ?????

As this is a football message board, I ask again, what is the potential that all three WPU and the current EPU partner LHU all keep their football programs? In a much earlier post, I opined that a way around the athletic cost "burden" would be to split the athletic department among the now three schools - One campus gets football, one gets men's basketball, one get's women's basketball, etc. That would allow each campus to trim its individual athletic budget while allowing each to continue to sponsor DII athletics. AND it would allow the new university group to avoid duplication of effort. Of course, that plan would kind of reeks havoc with the PSAC lineup.

[Horror Child]

They should have done this in the first place!

Clarion, California and Edinboro universities are forming a partnership that could change the face of higher education in western Pennsylvania.expand high-quality educational opportunities for students throughout the region and beyond, position themselves for growth, and create greater efficienciesprovide great opportunitiessupporting our traditional and legacytruly uniquecould hold greater promisewelcome contributorenhance opportunities for students in Pennsylvania and beyond. The three universities already share successful academic programscreate a powerhouseserve our region even better, meeting the needs of all who will benefit from access to affordable, high quality educationa good fit for all three universities, given their histories of serving students with diverse economic backgrounds and offering them transformative experiences that lead them to places they may never have imaginedxcited about the possibilities

[Bart]

Any word on the changes for the eastern schools?