Groups forming to plan futures of Penn State Fayette, New Kensington campuses

Officials in Fayette and Westmoreland counties are in the early stages of figuring out how they can best repurpose the closing Penn State campuses in their communities.

Scott Dunn, chairman of the Fayette County commissioners, has been leading the charge to establish a team — branded the Eberly Campus Transition Committee — that will establish a collaborative, strategic plan for the future of the Fayette campus.

Members include state representatives; Penn State Fayette and University Park staff; and representatives from Fayette County’s redevelopment authority, chamber of commerce and economic development office, Dunn said.

“There’s a lot of questions about who is going to own the campus going forward,” Dunn said. “We’re just at the beginning of talks with Penn State.”

Penn State owns the campuses near Uniontown in Fayette and in New Kensington in Westmoreland, but no decisions have been made about selling the land and buildings once the campuses close.

Penn State trustees in May voted to close seven Commonwealth Campuses — including Fayette and New Kensington — at the end of the Spring 2027 semester. Those campuses lost money last year, university officials say, and have seen their enrollments decline drastically.

University spokeswoman Tyra McGarvie said Penn State is committed to working with communities where campuses are closing, along with local, state and federal officials, on how these locations can support local needs, regional innovation and economic development in the future.

“That work is underway, and we will have more updates as this work advances,” she said.

Dunn said efforts are being made to invite new stakeholders to the committee, which eventually will welcome input from members of the public.

Future educational opportunities

Local leaders want to keep Penn State Fayette’s educational functions alive.

At this stage, Dunn proposed co-locating several universities and other educational programs on the campus.

“We want that education to reflect the in-demand careers in Fayette County,” Dunn said, referring to what opportunities might be offered at the campus in the future.

State Rep. Pat Stefano, R-Bullskin, shares interest in Dunn’s proposal.

“We are all in alignment in what we would like to have,” he said.

It’s anticipated similar efforts to study future uses of the Penn State New Kensington campus in Upper Burrell will be underway in the Alle-Kiski Valley.

“Since the announcement of the Penn State New Kensington closure, there’s been a number of county stakeholders that have started some basic conversations of the transformation of the Penn State-owned asset,” said Jason Rigone, executive director for the Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corporation.

Those conversations have been informal, Rigone said. He said he anticipates there will be a working group to identify needs for the Alle-Kiski Valley and communicate to Penn State leaders how repurposing the campus could support the community.

For now, the focus is on supporting students at the campus for the next two years, he said.

“The campus has served the community for the last number of decades. I certainly think it can serve our world moving forward,” Rigone said.

Kellen Stepler and Nathan Ferraro are TribLive staff writers. Kellen can be reached at kstepler@triblive.com. Nathan can be reached at nferraro@triblive.com.