Penn State University moves forward with plans to construct $127.7 million liberal arts building

Penn State University plans to construct a $127.7 million, 143,000-square-foot liberal arts building on the University Park campus. 

The Susan Welch Liberal Arts Building will house several academic units in the College of the Liberal Arts – the School of Public Policy and the departments of Anthropology, Political Science, and Sociology and Criminology – and the School of International Affairs, the university says in a news release. 

The facility also will be home to the Matson Museum of Anthropology, the Population Research Institute, the McCourtney Institute for Democracy, the Criminal Justice Research Center, general classrooms, and other labs, centers and institutes.

The university's Oswald Tower is being demolished to make way for the new building. 

Construction is expected to be completed for fall 2024. 

Bohlin Cywinski Jackson is the architect.