Mansfield University of Pennsylvania is a public liberal arts institution in the north of the state.
A public university founded in 1857, in the same period that the village of Mansfield became a borough, it only started to move from school to college status in 1902, when it commenced three-year courses. These became four-year programmes in 1926, the year before it was renamed Mansfield State Teachers College. In 1960, it broadened its curriculum and became Mansfield State College, the name it retained until it was given its current title in 1983 during widespread reform to Pennsylvania＊s higher education framework.
Mansfield has been ranked among the top 15 colleges in the North East in terms of affordability. It has been coeducational since its inception. Its most popular programmes include social sciences, law enforcement, visual and performing art, and management.
An 1867 law banned the sale of alcohol in Mansfield until a referendum in 1981. The borough is 20 miles south of the border with the state of New York. Situated in an area of rural tranquillity, its 174-acre campus enjoys views of the northern Pennsylvanian mountains. The nearest larger towns are Williamsport, Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, the setting of the sitcom The Office, while the historic city of Philadelphia is 200 miles south east.
Ali Soufan, an author and ex-FBI agent who played a part in various domestic and international anti-terrorism operations, is a Mansfield alumnus, as are Major League Baseball players Mike Gazella, Tom Brookens, Al Todd, Joe Shaute and Hughie Jennings.
