National athletic championships, official colors, honorary alumni, and the number 163,111 are among the topics of the 2008 edition of the annual Penn State history trivia quiz. Developed by Michael Bezilla, special projects head in the Office of University Relations and former University historian, the quiz, now in its 10th year, consists of 12 questions with multiple-choice answers.
1. Penn State's University Libraries ranks among the ten largest academic libraries in North America, by collection size, with Pattee and Paterno Libraries at the University Park campus containing the majority of the holdings. How many linear miles of shelf space are there in Pattee and Paterno Libraries combined?
a. 40 miles
b. 25 miles
c. 7 miles
d. 3 miles
2. The Princeton Review recently ranked what Penn State facility as the best in the nation for the kind of academic majors that are located there?
a. the Research and Economic Development Center at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
b. the Earth-Engineering Sciences Building at University Park campus
c. the Environmental Resources Laboratory at Penn State Altoona
d. the Business Building at University Park campus
3. In 1973, the Penn State Alumni Association began conferring the Honorary Alumnus award to recognize individuals who, though not graduates of Penn State, greatly enhance the University through their commitment and service. Who received the first Honorary Alumnus award?
a. Penn State President John Oswald
b. Josephine Walker, wife of former Penn State President Eric Walker
c. Fran Fisher, play-by-play announcer for Nittany Lions football
d. Pennsylvania Governor Milton J. Shapp
4. Penn State athletes through the 2007-08 academic year have won 62 national team championships -- 37 men's, 15 women's, 10 combined. The first was wrestling in 1921. The first women's national team championships occurred in 1978 in two sports. What were they?
a. fencing and volleyball
b. bowling and fencing
c. lacrosse and field hockey
d. gymnastics and lacrosse
5. Penn State reported having 163,111 of these in 2007-08. What are they?
a. total undergraduate and graduate admissions applications
b. alumni and friends who made donations
c. ice cream cones sold at the Berkey Creamery
d. requests to Coach Joe Paterno's office for autographed footballs
6. One-third of all Penn State faculty report using this as a teaching tool:
a. newspapers
b. YouTube
c. Blackberries
d. Truffles
7. The Pennsylvania College of Technology is one of the 24 Penn State locations across Pennsylvania and has been affiliated with the University since 1989. What are the Penn College official colors?
a. blue and white
b. green and gray
c. blue and gray
d. green and gold
8. Penn State in 2008-09 is observing the centennial of the founding of the first academic department in the nation in this field:
a. chemical engineering
b. industrial engineering
c. dairy science
d. vocational and industrial education
9. Penn State's World Campus, which offers Internet-based learning on an anywhere, anytime basis to students around the globe, observed its 10th anniversary in 2008 and enrolls about 7,500 students in 60 programs. When the World Campus debuted in 1998, it enrolled 41 students and offered only four courses. Which of the following was NOT among the four original courses?
a. noise control engineering
b. chemical dependency counseling
c. retail accounting
d. turfgrass management
10. Among Penn State's 24 campuses across Pennsylvania, Penn State Wilkes-Barre once offered a certificate program in which subject?
a. open pit mining operations
b. car-wash technology
c. shopping mall marketing
d. convenience store management
11. In his report to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for 1872, Penn State President James Calder noted that a certain event on campus "will introduce a powerful element that will make itself felt in the important work of the college, but great prudence and consideration will be required to avoid lamentable irregularities." To what event did he refer?
a. the admission of the first female undergraduates
b. the admission of the first African American undergraduates
c. a new rule that made military instruction mandatory for all able-bodied male students
d. the implementation of the letter grade system, i.e., A through F
12. Elm yellows, a deadly infectious disease, has been detected in 47 of the approximately 290 elm trees on the central campus at University Park, and poses a serious threat to all the remaining elms. To positively identify which trees are infected, Penn State scientists developed a test that uses the tree's
a. outer bark
b. chlorophyll
c. DNA
d. insect parasites
Visit http://live.psu.edu/story/36629 for answers.