STATE COLLEGE – Penn State University officials say they are committed to working with the seven communities, including Mont Alto, impacted by the Board of Trustees’ May 22 decision to shutter the campuses in two years.
They said they are trying to determine “how best to repurpose these campuses to support regional innovation and economic development. That work is underway, and we will have more updates in the next few months.”
However, one Penn State spokesman recently told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the wildlife technology program at the Dubois campus and the 122-year-old forestry program at Mont Alto may stay open in some form, perhaps even moved elsewhere.
Mont Alto’s roots are actually in its forestry program. The campus was founded in 1903 as the Pennsylvania State Forest Academy as the nation’s first public forest academy. It became part of the Penn State system in 1929. And a 1937 state law said if the forestry program ever were to be halted at Mont Alto, the land would revert to the state.
Mont Alto is in a prime location for a forestry degree. The campus borders Mont Alto State Park, and students regularly go into the forest to do field work, Peter Linehan, a former Mont Alto forestry professor who retired in December told the Post-Gazette.
Mont Alto graduates frequently work in the state forest system, state parks, gamelands, saw mills or consulting firms, Linehan said. Many of Mont Alto’s forestry students are first-generation and were drawn to Mont Alto for its smaller, more personal classes. He also said the students were doing well with job placement.
Amy Shields, executive director of the Allegheny Hardwood Utilization Group, said both the Mont Alto and DuBois campuses are important pipelines for state forestry and the forest products industry. The future of both campuses’ programs is vital, she said.
Shields also worries that the closure of DuBois and Mont Alto will negatively impact rural students looking to pursue degrees in wildlife and forestry close to home. Impact on rural regions has been a for other community members and professors, as well.
