Penn State Altoona is a four-year baccalaureate degree-granting college, situated on a beautiful 150-acre tract of land, around a mile and three-quarters from the business district of downtown Altoona, Pennsylvania. The institution has a strong academic curriculum with baccalaureate programs, associate degree programs, minors programs, and several continuing and distance education programs. The college was founded in 1939, as the Altoona Undergraduate Center (AUC) in the Webster Grade School Building, downtown Altoona. In 1940, a second downtown building, the Madison Building, was constructed to make room for sophomore science courses. AUC was closed during World War II, when men went to war and women went to work. Returning World War II veterans overfilled the Webster and Madison buildings in 1946, making expansion inevitable. The Ivyside Park campus was established in 1948, with approximately 600 students and 30 faculty members. The opening of the Smith Building in 1958 changed AUC’s name to the "Altoona Campus of Pennsylvania State University." On July 1, 1997, the Penn State Altoona Campus became Penn State Altoona, a four-year degree college of the Pennsylvania University. Penn State Altoona offers students the opportunity to complete bachelor’s and associate degrees in a friendly setting with small classes taught by experienced professors. Major bachelor degree programs include business, environmental studies, engineering, human development and family studies, nursing, liberal arts, and English. More than 112 full-time and 155 part-time faculty members are on board there. The college is equipped with computer labs, a gymnasium, indoor swimming pool, weight rooms, lockers, on-campus housing, conference rooms, music studio, and art galleries. The library contains more than 62,000 books, and 300 magazines and newspapers. The outdoor athletic facilities include tennis courts, basketball courts, volleyball courts, a baseball field, a pond for winter ice skating, and a soccer field. About 45 clubs and student organizations function on the college campus. Those activities, which provide students with opportunities to develop leadership and social skills, including a student newspaper and literary magazine, student government association, diversity organizations, honor societies, fraternities, and sororities. The Penn State Altoona Bookstore — a student, faculty, and staff-oriented service center — offers textbooks, course-packs, apparel, gift items, art supplies, computer software, and supplies required by instructors for courses. The institution has a Program Participation Agreement with the U.S. Department of Education for eligible students to receive Pell Grants and other federal aid.