For decades, the modest hillside campus embodied the State System of Higher Education’s promise to deliver a public university education wherever needed — in this case, a small satellite location in the heart of Pennsylvania’s oil region.

Students attending what was then the Venango branch of Clarion University in Oil City, 90 miles north of Pittsburgh, finished mostly two-year and short-term studies in areas from allied health to finance to computer software. Some learned how to inspect hardwood lumber, while others were taught to safely scale utility poles as the campus stressed workforce offerings and trained future linemen.

But over the last two decades, population loss and a changing student market proved too much, driving enrollment that once totaled 450 down by 80% to 75 students.

So this week, what is now Pennsylvania Western University, or “PennWest,” said it intends to transfer ownership of the Venango property to the Oil Region Alliance of Business, Industry and Tourism (ORA). It is hoped the nonprofit organization can reinvigorate the 65-acre campus, the oldest branch in the State System, as a catalyst for area economic and cultural growth.

The move requires approval from the State System board of governors and the state Legislature.

The alliance “would use the site to further its mission of heritage preservation, economic development, recreation, tourism and arts revitalization,” both parties said in a joint statement Monday.

In an email response to questions, PennWest spokeswoman Wendy Mackall said the transaction by the state Department of General Services is not a sale. “They will utilize legislative action to convey the property to ORA,” she said.

The Clarion University Foundation, Inc., owns the five student residence halls adjacent to the campus. They are separate from the transfer.

“The foundation is researching options for that property,” Mackall said. “Seventeen students live there. There are 89 available beds.”

The Alliance is authorized by Congress through 2037 to manage the Oil Region National Heritage Area, which encompasses Venango County and eastern Crawford County, including the communities of Titusville, Oil City, Franklin, and Emlenton, according to the VisitPa website.

The Venango campus enrolled its first class in 1961, predating the State System itself.

Rep. R. Lee James, R-Venango/ Crawford, who holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Clarion, called the transfer the best option. He said the current situation is unsustainable.

“As a graduate of Clarion University, it saddens me to have witnessed the decline of student enrollment over the past twenty years in Western Pennsylvania,” James said.

The Alliance “has the resources to promote Venango campus to potential businesses that are looking for a turn-key facility,” he said. “The campus setting would be attractive to a teaching institution but also be inclusive to business development opportunities.”

The Alliance would maintain the Barbara Morgan Harvey Center for the Study of Oil Heritage. It has artifacts and documents such as deeds, maps, publications, and other historical records from the oil industry – all kept in the Charles L. Suhr Library on the Oil City campus.

John R. Phillips, II, Alliance president and CEO, said his organization understands the property’s importance to advancing the region.

“It’s one thing to keep a building from falling down. It’s another to give it a new purpose,” said Emily Altomare, spokeswoman for the Alliance. “We have the best interests of the campus and community in mind.”

The region’s place in the history of the petroleum industry is spelled out on the web site of American Chemical Society, ACS Chemistry for Life, which promotes study in that field.

“Long before Texas gushers and offshore drilling, and a century before oil wells dotted Arabian sands and rose out of Venezuelan waters, the center of petroleum production was Western Pennsylvania,” it reads.

“ In the middle of the 19th century, two developments occurred that guaranteed Pennsylvania’s dominance: The construction, in Pittsburgh, of the first still to refine crude oil into kerosene for use in lighting, and the drilling of the first oil well in Titusville, Pennsylvania.”

A roughly 15-mile drive separates Titusville and Oil City.

At present, 75 students are enrolled in an Associate of Science in Nursing, the location’s sole program, which would move to PennWest Clarion beginning in fall 2024, pending approval from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, which accredits PennWest.

Faculty at the Venango campus will continue to have the opportunity to teach courses and supervise clinical experiences appropriate to their discipline, officials said. All 12 staff at Venango will be offered positions at other PennWest locations.

Joyce Overly, president of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties’ Clarion chapter, said her organization had no comment.

PennWest says it expects to realize $1.3 million in annual savings, plus avoiding $6 million in necessary maintenance on the property.

R. Lorraine Bernotsky, the university’s interim president, noted that the location will still provide educational opportunities. “This is a difficult, but important, step in our continued work toward financial stability for PennWest.”

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