Penn State officials say two unique programs at closing Commonwealth campuses will move to the Altoona campus, but some people are hesitant about the change.
The associate degree programs in forest technology at Penn State Mont Alto – and wildlife technology at DuBois – will both open at Penn State Altoona in fall 2027. Students who are currently enrolled in those programs will be able to finish at their respective campuses.
Ron Darbeau, the chancellor at Penn State Altoona, said it’s the “perfect” place to move both programs. He points to the 40-acre "Seminar Forest" across the Juniata Gap entrance to campus, which Penn State acquired in 2008 for recreational and educational use.
“We are two miles away from game lands," Darbeau said. "We have a freshwater stream that runs literally through the campus, and there's a small wetlands area that's just sort of northeast of the campus."
Darbeau said they hope to continue using the resources at DuBois and Mont Alto in some way, such as the historic arboretum at Mont Alto and surrounding forests.
Troy Ott, the dean of Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, said he sees an opportunity for growth, both for the programs and for Penn State Altoona itself.
"DuBois and Mont Alto, those locations are not particularly convenient to anybody," Ott said. "By co-locating those two at a place that's a larger metropolitan area, that's more centrally located in the state, we actually think we'll be able to serve more students."
Ott said Altoona's proximity to University Park will give students and faculty better access to educational and research resources.
Keely Roen is a professor in the wildlife tech program at DuBois and said she’s been there for 24 years.
“This is one of the programs that Penn State DuBois is really known for," Roen said. "It's been around since 1970. We have an excellent reputation in the state. Many of our graduates are in natural resource agencies throughout the state, the country. We're actually internationally accredited with the North American Wildlife Tech Association.”
Roen said she was heartbroken when Penn State announced plans to close the DuBois campus, but said moving to Altoona is "the best of what felt like a bad situation.”
“Going from being really heartbroken to knowing that our program's going to have a home, I think one of the most exciting things is we're going to be co-located with the forestry technology program, which has an incredibly long history in the state," Roen said. "Penn State Mont Alto was one of the very first public forestry schools in the U.S. ever."
Roen said having the wildlife tech and forestry programs on the same campus will give students and faculty opportunities to collaborate. But she said she’s worried about the loss to the DuBois community and what will happen to faculty like herself.
Penn State is offering tenure-line faculty "need-driven reassignments to remaining campuses" and offering priority hiring to non-tenure-line faculty and staff at closing campuses. But Altoona is an hour and a half away from DuBois, and Roen said she’s not sure if she wants to move since her family is deeply embedded in the DuBois community.
Thomas Henry, a game warden in DuBois, said he knows many other game wardens and biology technicians from across the state who graduated from the wildlife tech program, like himself.
“It's sad to see that it's leaving the DuBois area, knowing how much is around DuBois for that program," Henry said. "We’ve got the elk range, we've got forestry, we've got anything you can imagine right around this DuBois area when it comes to the outdoors.”
The Pennsylvania Game Commission says elk mostly live in northcentral Pennsylvania. Their range doesn’t include the more southcentral Blair County, where the Penn State Altoona campus is located.
But, Henry said he’s glad the wildlife tech program has a future. He said he worried it would be gone forever when Penn State announced plans to close the DuBois campus.
Penn State's Board of Trustees voted in May last year to close seven campuses after the spring 2027 semester. There are various reasons for closure, but officials mostly blame declining enrollment.
