Although the new Penn State Dickinson School of Law at University Park will bring new students to campus, departments such as admissions and housing will be virtually unaffected by the new facility.

In an e-mail message, Penn State President Graham Spanier said construction on the facility at University Park would begin within the next few years, around the same time renovations begin at the current Carlisle campus.

He added that once construction begins at the dual campuses, the project would take about two years to complete.

Spanier said Penn State admissions would not be greatly affected by the addition of a law school.

"As we ramp up we are looking at entering law school classes of about 100 students," he said.

"It is unlikely we would enroll more than 150 new students in a given year at University Park when fully ramped up," he added.

Division of Undergraduate Studies pre-law adviser Barbara Rayman said the new law school would probably not lead to the creation of an undergraduate pre-law major.

"Most schools are now going away from pre-law majors," she said. "They are looking for students to have diverse backgrounds and majors from across the board."

Dan Cahoy, assistant professor of business law, said the new law school would not change the university's current undergraduate business law program.

"I would imagine our business law program would not change radically," he said. "Many schools have law schools at the same main campus as the business school."

He said he is excited about the possibilities that could come from the dual-campus program, including research and collaborations that can take place between faculty on both campuses.

"Carlisle has a much more diverse group of legal expertise than we do here," he said. "It will be nice to have a different opinion and access to more information on research issues."

Lynn DuBois, associate director of housing, said discussions about where law school students would be housed on campus have not yet begun, but would start in the near future.

"We first need to see if they can fit in our current housing options on campus," she said. "If not, we will have to look into building additional housing for them."

The first housing options to be considered for law school students will be Graduate Circle and Nittany Apartments, she added.

Although plans for the new law school at University Park have not been formalized, economics professor Dirk Mateer said it could significantly bolster the local economy.

"The new law school will add to Penn State's workforce and this will filter into Centre County as well," he said. "This will also attract and help retain more students in the graduate program."

He added that lawyers' high salaries would help to stimulate the local economy because they would be spending money earned at local businesses.