Penn State kicks off yearlong 150th birthday celebration

Penn State will kick off its yearlong sesquicentennial observance at 4 p.m. Thursday, July 8, with a celebration in Schwab Auditorium on the University Park campus.

The event is open to the public and will feature remarks by Penn State President Graham B. Spanier, Board of Trustees Chair Cynthia Baldwin, Penn State Alumni Association President Marianne Alexander and head football coach Joe Paterno.

The hourlong celebration also will include a brief historical video produced by WPSX-TV, a video message from Gov. Ed Rendell and musical entertainment by singing group Four the Glory, a quartet of Penn State students and alumni.

The event will conclude with the unveiling of the new ice cream flavor created especially for the sesquicentennial by the Creamery. Attendees will have the opportunity to sample the new flavor immediately after the program. The ice cream will be served at a tent directly behind Schwab Auditorium and Old Main. Complimentary sesquicentennial posters and related publications also will be available there. Tickets are not needed for the event, but seating is limited.

Schwab Auditorium celebrated its own 100th birthday as a Penn State landmark in 2003 and has been the site of many important public gatherings over the years. Penn State received its charter from the Pennsylvania Legislature as an agricultural college on Feb. 22, 1855, and now is the commonwealth's largest public research university.

For more information about the sesquicentennial and the various events and observances planned for the 2004-05 academic year, visit http://www.sesquicentennial.psu.edu