Penn State University will award its one millionth cumulative degree during summer commencement ceremonies Saturday at the Bryce Jordan Center on the University Park campus, capping a run that started with just 11 graduates back in 1861. About 2,700 degrees are going out across three separate sessions that day, covering everything from associate degrees to doctorates, and university officials are calling it a historic threshold and rare milestone.
The school reached this point in a little over 170 years, according to Boston 25 News, which reported the university had already banked more than 999,400 cumulative degrees heading into the weekend. Penn State was founded as the Farmers' High School, and its first graduating class earned Bachelor of Scientific Agriculture degrees in 1861 — a small beginning for what is now a top 25 U.S. research institution offering 275 majors and roughly 11,000 courses, per the same report.
Saturday's Ceremonies, By the Numbers
The baccalaureate and associate degree ceremony kicks off at 9:30 a.m. Eastern, with the master's and doctorate ceremony following later Saturday afternoon, and both will be live-streamed. Penn State is set to award 1,458 baccalaureate degrees, 753 master's degrees, 403 doctorates, 110 associate degrees, and two law degrees during the weekend's commencement, according to Boston 25 News.
Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi said the milestone honors the university's past graduates while illustrating its commitment to future generations, per the outlet's reporting. The scale of the achievement is notable on a national level too — Penn State News reports the school is the first higher education institution in Pennsylvania, and one of only a small number nationwide, to confer 1 million cumulative degrees.
Shapiro and Local Leaders Issue Proclamations
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro issued an official state proclamation honoring Penn State's workforce contributions as it hits the seven-figure mark, while State College Mayor Ezra Nanes and Centre County commissioners issued their own municipal proclamations, Penn State News reports. The university will hold that statewide proclamation alongside several local events commemorating the milestone, according to Boston 25 News.
The pace of growth behind the number tells its own story. Penn State reached its 500,000th cumulative degree in 2001 and its 750,000th in 2015 before crossing the million mark this month, according to StateCollege.com — meaning it took roughly 146 years to confer the first half-million degrees but just 25 years to award the second half-million, driven by the growth of the university's Commonwealth Campuses, online World Campus programs, and graduate schools.
A Land-Grant Legacy Dating to Lincoln
Penn State's roots trace back to the federal Morrill Land-Grant Act, signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862; Pennsylvania designated Penn State as its sole land-grant institution in 1863, receiving 780,000 acres of federal land scrip that was sold for $439,000 to establish the school's initial endowment, according to Penn State News. The university evolved through several names over the decades — chartered as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania in 1855, renamed the Agricultural College of Pennsylvania in 1862, the Pennsylvania State College in 1874, and finally elevated to The Pennsylvania State University in 1953 under President Milton S. Eisenhower, per Penn State University Archives.
Today Penn State is Pennsylvania's first and only land-grant institution, operating a statewide system of 24 campus locations that includes 20 Commonwealth Campuses, two law schools, a medical center in Hershey, and an online campus, according to Britannica. That system enrolled more than 86,557 students as of fall 2025, university officials say.
World Campus and a Global Alumni Base
Nearly 1,500 students graduating during the August commencement weekend earned their degrees through Penn State World Campus, ranging in age from 20 to 77 and hailing from 47 states and 22 countries, according to Penn State World Campus data. The university now counts more than 800,000 living alumni globally, per university officials, supported by the Penn State Alumni Association — described by Penn State News as the world's largest dues-paying alumni organization, with more than 173,000 active members.
Penn State is also marking the occasion with a lighter touch: the university's Berkey Creamery is launching a limited-time commemorative ice cream flavor this fall, chosen through a university-wide community vote, according to PennWatch. The celebration arrives even as the university system navigates other challenges, including a fight to save Penn State Fayette from closure earlier this summer.
