In search of Penn State Delco

Penn State Delaware County is contemplating a change - to its name, that is.

Officials at the 40-year-old campus in Middletown Township are weary of having their school confused with other colleges that share the moniker "Delaware."

There's Delaware Valley College in Doylestown and Delaware County Community College, whose class locations also spill into Chester County. And there are all the schools actually in Delaware, such as the University of Delaware, Delaware Technical and Community College, and Delaware College of Art and Design.

"People show up on our campus that meant to go to another campus," said Helene C. Bludman, director of marketing and university relations. The school also receives numerous phone calls about academic programs at other "Delaware" schools, Bludman said.

"We want to make sure that we're known as Penn State and part of the Penn State system," she said. The Pennsylvania State University system has more than two dozen campuses throughout Pennsylvania.

Although discussion is still in the preliminary stages, Bludman said that two names are under consideration: Penn State Media and Penn State Brandywine.

Not wanting to create more confusion, a few possibilities were quickly rejected, she said.

Lima, where the campus sits, can be pronounced different ways, and there's always that city in Peru.

Middletown is out because Penn State Harrisburg is in a Dauphin County borough of the same name. And there are Middletown Townships in Bucks County and Monmouth County, N.J.

Penn State Delaware County started life in a Chester City building that also housed a roller rink. It moved to its present location in 1966, after Delaware County provided $1.2 million and 90 acres. The campus, which has about 1,650 students, now offers 10 four-year degree programs and three two-year degree programs.

Penn State Delaware County wouldn't be the first school in the region to take a new name.

Widener University in Chester has had a number of identities in its 186-year history. In 1966, the school - then known as Pennsylvania Military College - became PMC Colleges. It took its current name in 1972.

In 1992, Glassboro State College was renamed Rowan College of New Jersey, after Henry and Betty Rowan, who gave the school $100 million. A year later, it graduated to Rowan University.

Trenton State University switched to the College of New Jersey in 1996.

And, tired of being the butt of jokes, Beaver College morphed into Arcadia University in 2000.