What is a Nittany Lion? The most frequently asked question about Penn State University is answered definitively for the first time in this beautifully illustrated book. Penn State librarians Jackie Esposito and Steven Herb have devoted hundreds of hours of research to uncover the fascinating and colorful history behind the beloved Penn State icon. Elements of the tale include the tragic legend of Indian Princess Nita-nee, for whom the majestic mountain in Central Pennsylvania is named; the story of the Original Nittany Lion, the elusive mountain lion that once roamed the hills of Pennsylvania; the 1904 Penn State baseball game at Princeton University, where the idea of a school mascot was born; the creation of the famous limestone Nittany Lion Shrine on Penn State's University Park campus; and the "Men in the Suit," the many Penn State students who have played the role of the Nittany Lion Mascot. This tale is also the story of many important figures in Penn State and Pennsylvania history, including folklorist Henry Shoemaker, baseball player and student leader H. D. "Joe" Mason, sculptor Heinz Warneke, famous mascot Norm Constantine, and football coaching legends "Rip" Engle and Joe Paterno. Sure to be of interest to Penn State's 340,000 living alumni and the countless numbers of Nittany Lion fans all over the world, this book will also appeal to folklorists and Pennsylvania historians.

Nittany Lion, mascot of Pennsylvania State University, visits his animal friends to get help curing the hiccups before he goes to the football game.

Football is an unmistakable part of the culture of Penn State, though the experience of a Nittany Lions home game—from the crowds and tailgates to the spectacle of the game itself—has changed significantly over the years. This richly illustrated and researched book tells the story of the structure that has evolved along with the university’s celebrated football program: the iconic Beaver Stadium. Historian Lee Stout and engineering professor Harry H. West show how Beaver Stadium came to be, including a look at its predecessors, “Old” Beaver Field, built in 1893 on a site centrally located northeast of Old Main, and “New” Beaver Field, built on the northwest corner of campus in 1909. Stout and West explore the engineering and construction challenges of the stadium and athletic fields and reveal the importance of these facilities to the history of Penn State and its cherished traditions. Packed with archival photos and fascinating stories, Lair of the Lion is a celebration of the ways in which Penn State fans, students, and athletes have experienced home games from the 1880s to the present day, and of the monumental structure that the Lions now call home.

Frederick Watts came to prominence during the nineteenth century as a lawyer and a railroad company president, but his true interests lay in agricultural improvement and in raising the economic, social, and political standing of Pennsylvania’s farmers. After being elected founding president of The Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society in 1851, he used his position to advocate vigorously for the establishment of an agricultural college that would employ science to improve farming practices. He went on to secure the charter for the Farmers’ High School of Pennsylvania, which would eventually become the Pennsylvania State University. This biography explores Watts’s role in founding and leading Penn State through its formative years. Watts adroitly directed the school as it was sited, built, and financed, opening for students in 1859. He hired the brilliant Evan Pugh as founding president, who, with Watts, quickly made it the first successful agricultural college in America. But for all his success in launching the institution, Watts nearly brought it to the brink of closure through a series of ruinous presidential appointments that led to an abandonment of the land-grant focus on agriculture and engineering. Watts’s influence in the agricultural modernization movement and his impact on land-grant education in the United States—both in his role with Penn State and later as US commissioner of agriculture—made him a leader in the history of agricultural and higher education. Roger L. Williams’s compelling biography of Watts reestablishes him in this legacy, providing a balanced analysis of his missteps and accomplishments.

No college football program has ever had to deal with the obstacles, hostility, and challenges encountered by the players and coaches of the 2012 Penn State Nittany Lions, and this book is an account of that unforgettable season in which the team rebounded from a disillusioning 0-2 start to surprise everyone and finish with an 8-4 record, third best in the Big Ten Conference. The turmoil at Penn State began in early November 2011 with the shocking arrest of retired assistant coach Jerry Sandusky for multiple charges of sexual child abuse, and within days legendary head coach Joe Paterno was fired in what would be termed the biggest scandal in college football history. By the end of January, Paterno was dead from lung cancer and a new head coach without any Penn State connections, Bill O’Brien, began putting together his staff while finishing up his job as offensive coordinator of the Super Bowl bound New England Patriots. We Are Penn State tells the story of how this team overcame unprecedented NCAA sanctions, including a four-year bowl ban and the loss of 45 scholarships over the same period, the transfer of several of its star players, and overwhelming predictions that the 2012 season would be a disaster to put together a successful season and restore some dignity to what was once considered one of the elite programs in college football.

"Ten chapters follow, each devoted to a single decade covering the major events in the band's development over the next hundred years, such as the adoption of the name "Blue Band" in 1923."--BOOK JACKET.

"Traces the history of the Creamery at the Pennsylvania State University, and examines issues relating to ice cream production, the dairy industry, and agricultural education programs"--Provided by publisher.