In 1948, Mary Behrend had the idea to gift her family’s Glenhill Farm to Penn State to create a University presence in Erie. Imagine what she’d think of how her gift has grown–from 146 students in that first year to nearly 4,300 students learning on campus and online in Behrend programs offered through World Campus.
The humanities and social sciences have been an essential element of Penn State Behrend from Day One. Some of the earliest degree programs to be offered were in the humanities and social sciences, including English, history, and political science, which continue into the present. More recently, the arts have been instrumental in helping the college celebrate its milestone anniversary.
Though he taught generations of college students during his thirty-seven years as a mathematics professor at Behrend, Norman B. “Bill” Patterson established a legacy that goes far beyond math.
Photo exhibit proves popular
Though he taught generations of college students during his thirty-seven years as a mathematics professor at Behrend, Norman B. “Bill” Patterson, below, established a legacy that goes far beyond math. When he retired in 1990, he left a trove of photos documenting life at Behrend with intimacy and affection.
The camera he used to record much of it–a $129 model he saved all year to buy from Erie’s Boston Store in 1954–is in the archives at Lilley Library, along with hundreds of his photos.
“If a picture paints a thousand words, Bill’s photos are surely the most expensive materials in the Behrend Archives,” said Jane Ingold, reference and instruction librarian and archivist at Behrend.
To commemorate the college’s anniversary, Ingold and Daniel Schank, associate teaching professor of art and English, worked together to present: “Behrend Begins: The Campus Photography of Norman B. Patterson,” an exhibit in Kochel Center that highlighted some of Patterson’s most evocative photos from the 1950s through the early 1970s.
The exhibit was so popular that Schank is now looking to exhibit the work online with the help of students in the Digital Media, Arts, and Technology program and possibly with a permanent exhibit in Lilley Library.
You can read more about Patterson and see some of his work at Behrendblog.com.
A two-story mural, “Behrend Pride,” painted by Erie artist Ceasar Westbrook is on the Reed Union Building.
Mural, larger than life
The Reed Building on campus has a new look: A two-story mural, “Behrend Pride,” painted by Erie artist Ceasar Westbrook (above). It includes depictions of Glenhill Farmhouse and Wintergreen Gorge, and in the foreground, blue silhouettes of four graduates, standing arm-in-arm at commencement.
Located just outside the building’s Wintergarden lobby, the mural was commissioned by the college’s 75th Anniversary Committee. Financial support was provided by Lincoln Recycling, Modern Industries Inc., and the School of Humanities and Social Sciences.
“Public art gives a place a sense of itself,” said Dr. Matt Levy, associate professor of art history and a member of the Anniversary subcommittee tasked with selecting the artist and overseeing the installation. “I think the mural did exactly what we wanted it to do: encapsulate Behrend’s identity in so many ways.
“It was also an educational opportunity for our students,” Levy said. “Each of the art classes paid a visit to watch Ceasar work and ask him questions about his process.”
Westbrook describes the project and the process of painting the mural in a video at youtube.com/pennstatebehrend1.