Kara Lederer said she has two uncles, an aunt and two cousins who graduated from Penn State or are currently attending the university.

"My one uncle ... he has Penn State stuff everywhere," Lederer (freshman-division of undergraduate studies) said. "Even at Christmas, it comes up. It's just the stuff on the walls."

Lederer and her family are members of the nearly two million Pennsylvanian households -- one in every two households in the state -- "touched" in some way by Penn State, according to a Penn State Outreach Marketing Research survey released last week.

The survey's findings are a testament to the wide range of programs the university offers throughout the state, said Talat Azhar, senior market research manager for Penn State Outreach.

"I think everyone knows that Penn State has a very huge impact on the commonwealth," Azhar said. "It does not come to me as a surprise that we touch one in two households through our programs, our education, our youth services, 4-H programs, our extension offices, our campuses.

"Penn State has very wide-ranging services and programs that reach a lot of households in Pennsylvania," she said.

Lederer said she was not surprised by the survey's findings.

"Everyone has a tie -- someone knew someone who knew someone else ... everyone goes to Penn State," she said. "What about all the people who eat Ben and Jerry's?"

Ben and Jerry's ice cream company founders Jerry Greenfield and Ben Cohen chose to pursue ice cream-making after receiving A's in a $5 Penn State correspondence course in ice cream-making in 1977.

Some of the unconventional ways Penn State affects state residents include: the Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program, a collaboration between the university and federal and state governments that offers free technology assistance to small businesses; the Penn State Dickinson Elder Law and Consumer Protection Clinic, which handles issues of law and aging; and Penn State's 24 campuses and 67 cooperative extension locations, according to the press release.

Azhar said Vice President for Outreach Craig Weidemann commissioned the study a few months ago.

Penn State Outreach partnered with the Center for Survey Research at Penn State Harrisburg to compile the survey of 806 Pennsylvania households.

Penn State "touched" 46.5 percent of respondents or a member of their household in the 12-month period prior to October 2007, when the survey was conducted, Melissa Kaye, senior editor of Penn State Outreach Magazine, wrote in an e-mail.

Amanda Fellmeth (freshman-history and international politics) said she thinks the numbers were probably accurate.

"Affected by Penn State? That's hard to gauge," Fellmeth said. "But I'm sure the families from Thon are affected in ways that aren't the usual, 'I know someone who goes here' way."