A trio of Penn State New Kensington’s most popular academic programs has found new homes as the university plans to close the Upper Burrell campus at the end of the Spring 2027 semester.
Penn State announced this week that three programs — biomedical engineering technology, electro-mechanical engineering technology and radiological sciences — will open in new Southwestern Pennsylvania branch campuses next academic year.
The changes are effective for new students beginning in the 2026-27 school year. Currently enrolled students can remain at their campus until closures at the end of the Spring 2027 semester.
The programs currently enroll about 100 students total, said Andrew Krebs, Penn State spokesman.
Students who complete the electro-mechanical engineering technology program finish with a bachelor’s degree. Students could begin the program at any Penn State campus but had to have finished it at Fayette, New Kensington or York — all three of which are slated to close.
Next year, students can begin the program at any open Penn State campus remaining open and finish it at the Altoona, Beaver or Berks campuses, according to Penn State.
The biomedical engineering technology and radiological sciences programs are associate’s degree programs.
Currently, students pursuing radiological sciences at Penn State started and finished their degrees only at New Kensington or Schuylkill.
Next year, students will be able to start and complete the program at Greater Allegheny or Schuylkill, according to Penn State.
The biomedical engineering technology program could have been started at eight different Penn State campuses but had to be completed only at New Kensington.
Next year, students will be able to complete the program at Greater Allegheny after beginning at the Altoona, Beaver, Behrend or Greater Allegheny campuses.
Penn State trustees in May decided to close seven of the university’s Commonwealth Campuses — New Kensington, Fayette, Shenango, Mont Alto, York, Wilkes-Barre and DuBois — citing declining enrollment and finances and limited potential for growth.
Locally, the Beaver and Greater Allegheny campuses will stay open.
Krebs said Penn State will designate instructional and laboratory space at Beaver and Greater Allegheny, relocate equipment and commit additional resources as needed.
“Penn State is also supporting faculty through processes that include voluntary transfer and reassignment for tenure-line faculty, as well as priority hiring consideration for staff and non-tenure-line faculty,” Krebs said.
In addition to the Southwestern Pennsylvania program moves, Penn State will offer associate degree programs in forest technology and wildlife technology at its Altoona campus. The forest technology program was only offered at Mont Alto, and the wildlife technology program was only available at DuBois.
