There are a multitude of origin stories for the name âNittany,â and there are even more stories for how that name came to be associated with Penn Stateâs beloved green peak â Mount Nittany.
Tom Shakely, a Penn State alumnus, is a member of Mount Nittany Conservancyâs Board of Directors and the author of âConserving Mount Nittany: A Dynamic Environmentalism.â
According to Shakely, the mountain has always been an area of cultural relevance to human populations in the area, but the peak received increased attention during the turn of the 19th century as environmental movements began to grow in the United States.