About Us

The Penn State Commonwealth Arboreta Network is rooted in the University’s 21st-century land-grant mission of teaching, research, and community service. We work for the benefit of all of Pennsylvania by utilizing the rich resources of our trees and grounds across the green and beautiful space known originally as “Penn’s Woods.”

While all our campuses are not yet fully mapped, we are making efforts at a scale not previously attempted by any other land-grant university or state university system. These mapping and inventorying efforts do more than document the splendor and breadth of our trees, they create tangible benefits that branch across Pennsylvania:

• Teaching resources that transform our campuses into living laboratories used for courses ranging from first-year general education to advanced graduate study, as well as for informal and essential experiential learning
• Research opportunities in broad subjects including sustainable agriculture, landscape management, plant biology, economics, engineering, and climate monitoring
• Community service encompassing cooperative extension and workforce development, access to University facilities, philanthropic endeavors, and much more

We are a collaborative of University faculty and staff, located at campuses across the Commonwealth. We connect with one another and the public through our shared tree collections, working with nonprofit and for-profit partners for the good of the communities we call home. Our campuses are vibrant ecosystems that serve a diverse population of learners and possess tangible, measurable economic value as assets wholly unique to Pennsylvania.