• There are approximately 800 Penn State student-athletes, participating in 31 varsity programs (16 men's, 15 women's), tied for the fourth-highest number of sports sponsored by a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) institution.
• Penn State is one of 14 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) institutions that reported they were self-supporting during fiscal 2016-17 (USA TODAY).
• Penn State Football has ranked in the Top 5 nationally in average home attendance 26 times since 1991.
• With an official capacity of 106,572, Beaver Stadium is the second-largest team sports venue in the nation and the third-largest in the world.
• When Penn State Football plays at home, Beaver Stadium becomes the fourth-largest city in Pennsylvania.
• Forbes ranked Penn State No. 10 among the “Top 25 Schools That Dominate Academically and Athletically” (April 2019)
• Penn State is among only four schools that have won at least 10 NCAA Championships since 2007 and earned at least a 90 percent Graduation Success Rate in the 2018 NCAA report  (Stanford, UCLA, Virginia)
• Yahoo! Sports ranked Penn State No. 9 among the nation’s top athletic programs (July 2019)
• Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Sandy Barbour was ranked No. 13 on Forbes "Most Powerful Women in Sports," in 2018 as well as No. 24 on Forbes’ "Most Powerful People in College Sports."
• Sandy Barbour was among four FBS NACDA AD of the Year recipients in 2016-17 and was among five finalists for the 2018 Sports Business Journal Athletic Director of the Year award.

  Academic Excellence

• The 90 percent Graduation Success Rate (GSR) by Penn State student-athletes in 2017 and 2018 ties the school record (NCAA, Nov. 2018).
• Eight Nittany Lion squads earned a 100 percent Graduation Success Rate in the 2018 NCAA report. The field hockey and women's tennis teams posted their 14th consecutive perfect GSR.
• A total of 46 Nittany Lion students earned a perfect 4.0 grade-point average during the 2018 fall semester and 58 posting a perfect GPA in the 2019 spring semester.
• Penn State is second among all conference institutions with 6,603 Academic All-Big Ten honorees since 1991-92, its first year of competition in some Big Ten sports (June 2019).
• Penn State had had 811 Big Ten Distinguished Scholars (3.7 yearly GPA) since the program began in 2008-09 (July 2018)
• For the past nine years, the Penn State men's and women's basketball and football programs have achieved an NCAA Graduation Success Rate at least two points higher than the Division I average for their sport (NCAA 2018).
• A total of 13 Penn State teams earned perfect NCAA Academic Progress Rate scores of 1,000 in 2017-18. (May 2019).
• The women’s cross country, women’s fencing and men’s golf teams earned perfect multi-year NCAA Academic Progress Rate scores of 1,000. (May 2019)
• The number of student-athletes earning Dean’s List honors (3.5 GPA) during the spring semester has improved by 29.6 percent from 2013 (189) to 2018 (245).
• Penn State's 205 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans all-time rank No. 4 among all Division I institutions. (June 2019)

 
Record Academic Achievement

• A semester school record 135 Penn State students-athletes graduated in May 2019. A total of 183 student-athletes graduated in the 2018-19 school year.
• A school record 368 Penn State student-athletes earned Academic All-Big Ten accolades in 2018-19, including record totals among the winter (91) and spring/at-large sports (183) (3.0 GPA).
• During the 2019 spring and 2018 fall and spring semesters, a school record-tying 26 Nittany Lion teams earned at least a 3.0 grade-point average.
• Starting with the 2014 fall semester, Penn State student-athletes have achieved the 10 highest semesters all-time for the number of students with at least a 3.0 grade-point average: 2014 fall (500); 2015 spring (474); 2015 fall (516); 2015 spring (482); 2016 fall (498); 2017 spring (495); 2017 fall (520); 2018 spring (487); 2018 fall (518); 2019 spring (505).
• During the 2018-19 academic year, Penn State student-athletes broke or tied several school records, including:
  • Combined 3.17 grade-point average (summer);
  • Total of 66 percent of student-athletes earning 3.0 GPA or higher (spring);
  • 26 teams earned a 3.0 GPA or higher (spring and fall)
  • 520 students earned a 3.0 GPA or higher (fall)
  • 505 students earned a 3.0 GPA or higher (spring)
  • 253 (fall) and 245 (spring) students earned Dean’s List honors for a 3.5 GPA or higher.
• A school record 117 student-athletes were Big Ten Distinguished Scholars (3.7 GPA) in 2018-19. 
• During the 2018 fall semester, a school record 520 student-athletes earned a 3.0 grade-point average or higher.
• During the 2018 fall semester, a school record 253 student-athletes earned Dean's List recognition for posting a 3.5 GPA or higher (minimum 12 credits).

 
National Championships

• Penn State has won 79 team national championships all-time, including a Big Ten-best nine NCAA titles since the 2013 fall semester.
• The Nittany Lions have won 51 NCAA Championships all-time to rank No. 5 nationally. Penn State leads all schools east of the Mississippi River in NCAA titles.
• Since 2007, Penn State has won 21 NCAA Championships, good for a tie for No. 3 in nation and most among Big Ten institutions (May 2019).
• Penn State’s 21 NCAA Championships since 2007 are more than double the total (10) of the next highest Big Ten institution.
• Penn State has won 32 NCAA Championships since 1993-94, its first full year in the Big Ten Conference, easily ahead of the Big Ten schools in second (24) and third place (14).

  Big Ten/Conference Championships

• Penn State has won 292 conference championships (201 regular season; 91 conference tournaments) since 1941-42. (May 2019)
• The Nittany Lions have won 113 Big Ten Championships since 1992-93, including 41 titles since the 2013 fall semester.
• Since winning its first Big Ten Championship in 1992-93 (women's volleyball), Penn State is among only three conference institutions to win at least 100 Big Ten crowns.
• The Nittany Lions have won at least five Big Ten Championships in five of the past seven years (May 2019)
• Eight of Penn State’s 10 highest total of yearly Big Ten Championships won have occurred since 2008-09.
• The Nittany Lions won a school record eight Big Ten Championships or tournament titles in 2012-13 and 2013-14, the most titles of any conference school in both years.
• Penn State won Big Ten Championships in seven different sports in 2016-17, the most of any conference school. The Nittany Lions’ seven Big Ten titles were third-highest in school history.

 
Competitive Success

• Penn State is among only nine programs nationwide to have finished in the Top 25 in all 25 final Learfield Directors' Cup ranking (June 2019)
• Penn State student-athletes have won 168 NCAA individual championships in 11 different sports (six individual NCAA champions in 2018-19; seven in 2017-18; six in 2016-17).
• Nittany Lion student-athletes have won 341 Big Ten individual championships and 35 relays in 10 different sports since 1991-92 (12 individual Big Ten champions in 2018-19, 11 in 2016-17 and 2017-18. (May 2019).
• Five different Nittany Lion teams have finished in the Top 4 of their respective NCAA Championship since the 2017 spring semester (8 combined Top 4 finishes since 2017).
• Ten Nittany Lion programs finished No. 10 or higher in the rankings or their respective NCAA Championship/football post-season in 2017-18.
• From 2012-13 through 2017-18, Penn State has an average finish of 9.8 in the Learfield Directors’ Cup, improving from an average finish of 14.2 from 2006-07 through 2011-12.
• Penn State earned three consecutive Top 10 finishes in the Learfield Directors Cup standings from 2012-13 through 2014-15 and has 12 Top 10 finishes in the 25 years of the Directors' Cup. The Nittany Lions have finished in the Top 10 in four of the past six years.
• Penn State and Stanford are the nation's only institutions that have finished in the Top 5 of final Learfield Directors' Cup winter standings the past 14 consecutive years (2005-06 through 2018-19).
• Penn State and Stanford are the nation's only institutions that have finished in the Top 5 of final Learfield Directors' Cup fall standings the past 12 consecutive years (2007-08 through 2018-19).
• During the 2018 fall sports season, Penn State led the nation with four teams ranked in the top 10 in average home attendance. (Jan. 2019)

 
Community Engagement

• Penn State student-athletes are engaged with more than 40 charitable organizations and events on an annual basis.
• Nittany Lion students performed more than 6,200 hours of community service in 2016-17.
• Penn State student-athletes, coaches and staff have combined to help raise more than $6.5 million for three primary charitable organizations:
  • Nittany Lion Basketball has helped raised more than $3 million for Coaches vs. Cancer since 1995.
  • Lady Lion Basketball has raised more than $2.1 million for PA Pink Zone since 2007.
  • Penn State Football Uplifting Athletes has raised nearly $1.4 million for Uplifting Athletes and rare diseases since 2003.
• Penn State student-athletes annually participate in the Penn State Dance Marathon (THON), the largest student-run philanthropy in the world. Among the roles student-athletes serve at THON are dancers, volunteers, pep rally and event participants. Since 1977, THON has raised more than $168 million for the Four Diamonds Fund at the Hershey Children's Hospital, providing financial assistance to families suffering from pediatric cancer.

 
Facilities Enhancements

• Since the first Lasch Football Building renovation project was announced in January 2015, a total of $28.1 million has been raised for the Football Excellence Fund to finance the upgrades (May 2019).
• The Penn State Board of Trustees approved the design team for $69 million in multi-phased renovations and upgrades to the Lasch Football Building, football outdoor practice fields and Holuba Hall. (May 2019).
• The new $7.2 million Morgan Academic Center, serving Penn State’s 800 student-athletes, opened in June 2016.
• In May 2017, men’s lacrosse alumnus Ken Panzer and his long-time business partner Jordan Kaplan made a $3.55 million gift to spark the construction of Panzer Stadium for the men’s and women’s lacrosse teams. Additional gifts brought the total donations for the facility to $5.6 million. The facility opened for the 2019 season.
• Peter and Ann Tombros committed the leading gift to construct a $1.1 million state of the art basketball film room and training table in the Bryce Jordan Center in 2015.
• A new $1.45 million surface was installed at the Nittany Lion Outdoor Track in summer 2016.
• In accordance with the Penn State Athletics Master Plan, projects for aquatics, basketball, field hockey, soccer, tennis and the Center of Excellence are in various stages of planning and funding.

 
University

• Since its founding in 1855, Penn State has conferred more than 860,000 degrees with 23,794 awarded during the 2017-18 academic year.
• Penn State offers more than 275 degree programs across 24 campuses, in addition to the nationally recognized online World Campus. There are 90,000-plus students at the 24 campuses.
• Penn State is ranked No. 20 among all U.S. public universities in The U.S. News & World Report's "2018 Best Colleges Rankings."
• Penn State received more than 125,000 applications for admission every year from 2014-18.
• Penn State was tied for the nation’s No. 2 institution for producing CEOs in the top 100 of the Fortune 500 companies by U.S. News & World Report in 2019.
• Penn State was ranked the nation’s No. 2 institution for producing CEOs in a 2018 LinkedIn survey.
• The Penn State World Campus was ranked No. 8 for the best online bachelor's programs in the U.S. in U.S. News & World Report's 2017 "Best Online Programs."
• Penn State World Campus was ranked nationally in the top 10 in six categories of U.S. News and World Report's 2018 Best Online Programs, the most of any institution.
• Penn State is ranked No. 10 in the U.S. and No. 1 in Pennsylvania by the Institute of International Education for its international student population of 9,134.
• For the eighth consecutive year, Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital ranked in 2018 among the nation's best U.S. hospitals in multiple pediatrics specialties -- cancer, cardiology and heart surgery and nephrology - according to U.S. News & World Report's "Best Children's Hospitals."
• Penn State graduate programs in environmental sciences, geochemistry and geology in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences rank in the top 2 in the nation in 2018, according to U.S. News & World Report.
• Penn State's Smeal College of Business has the No. 1 supply chain management undergraduate and graduate programs in the country, according to Gartner, Inc.
• Penn State research expenditures reached a record $927 million in 2018.
• Penn State's College of Communications is the largest accredited program of its kind in the nation, with more than 2,700 students. The College received a transformational gift of $30 million from alumnus Donald P. Bellisario in 2017.
• Penn State student-athletes at the University Park campus graduated at a 90 percent rate, compared to the 87 percent average for all Division I institutions, according to the 2018 NCAA Graduation Rates Report.
• State College was ranked by Best College Reviews as the 8th best college town in the nation in 2016 and the No. 15 best college town by Business Insider in 2018.
• State College was ranked the nation’s No. 2 Top Safest City for Families by SecurityChoice.com in 2018.

 
Alumni

• There are more than 700,000 living Penn State Alumni worldwide, including in all 50 U.S. states and more than 160 countries.
• Penn State Alumni Association membership is more than 173,000, making it the largest dues-paying alumni association in the world. (July 2018)
• Penn State's alumni network was ranked "Most Powerful" in U.S. by College Magazine in 2016.
• 1 in 111 Americans with a college degree is a Penn State graduate.
• 1 in 10 Pennsylvanians with a college degree has a degree from Penn State.
• Nearly 360,000 Penn State alumni reside in Pennsylvania, with graduates residing in every county. The top three counties for alumni are: Allegheny (30,416), Montgomery (28,347) and Centre (20,187). (July 2018)

 
 
August 31, 2019