SHARON, Pa. – Jake Rickert, associate executive director at Penn-Northwest Development Corp., knows the closure of Penn State Shenango will only make economic development in the Shenango Valley tougher.

And personally, he knows it will make it more difficult for students. Rickert is a Penn State Shenango alumnus.

“I got out of the military in October,” Rickert said, adding that is a tough time of year to get enrolled into school, and bigger schools were slow to respond. “I went to Penn State Shenango and I was enrolled that day.”

Penn State Shenango is on a list of seven rural commonwealth campuses Penn State trustees voted to close after spring 2026-27. The campus was established in 1965.

Rickert said after the steel industry and other manufacturing left the area, Penn State Shenango educated many of those workers to get them back into the workforce. 

“All that the closure of a campus like Penn State Shenango really does is disincentivizes development in Mercer County,” Rickert said. “Having that Penn State name in our community is a real attraction to have that access to education for our community, especially at the Penn State caliber. … We’re disappointed to see them go.”

Rickert said Penn-Northwest and the whole community will “wrap their arms around” the students trying to complete their education, as well as the displaced employees to try to help them find new opportunities locally. Rickert said Penn State has already let faculty and staff know the university will try to keep them within the system at some level.

He said other local campuses, especially Thiel College, have already started working to ensure every student at Penn State Shenango can transfer all of their credits to complete their degree.

Penn State Shenango’s enrollment is currently the lowest of the 13 commonwealth branches at 309 students.

Rickert said he believes Penn State Shenango would have succeeded if it had a bit more autonomy from the main campus, which would have allowed it to adapt quickly to what the regional business community needs.

While the enrollment cliff, an anticipated drop in college students across the country, has been well-documented, Rickert said the Sharon community has done its best to embrace Penn State Shenango, including with local development surrounding the campus.

One of those developers, Jim Landino, co-owner of JDL Development, along with his wife, Jen Krezeczowski, vowed they will not be deterred in their efforts to revitalize and develop properties in Sharon despite the closure.

“We continue to move from disappointment to disappointment without losing our enthusiasm,” Landino said, paraphrasing a quote about success from Winston Churchill. “And we shall persist till we succeed.”

Landino said Sharon continues to reinvent itself, and JDL Development will continue its 10-year mission, investing time and talents in the city. He said there is a huge disconnect from what people believe should be happening and what is actually happening.

One of Landino’s current projects includes a 50,000-square-foot recreation center near campus, as well as redevelopment of the former Jolley Industrial building as the 20-unit Jolley River Apartments.

But Landino said their efforts are not contingent on Penn State Shenango remaining open.

“We have been developing plan B, and it will be badass like the other projects we have started and finished,” he said.