establish a multimillion-dollar endowment and help bring long-term stability to a 10-year-old center on the campus.

University officials announced late Thursday that they received a multimillion-dollar gift from Susan Hirt Hagen, a member of the three-member trust that controls voting stock of Erie Indemnity Co., for Behrend's Center for Organizational Research & Evaluation. Erie Indemnity is the parent company of Erie Insurance Group.

University officials said C.O.R.E. will be renamed in Hagen's honor as a result of the gift.

Hagen's endowment gift "will provide us a solid base so we can focus our efforts on research and outreach and we won't have to worry about where our funding is coming from in the next year," said psychology professor Carl Kallgren III, Ph.D., C.O.R.E.'s founder and director.

Founded in 1998, C.O.R.E. is one of the region's leading advocates for addressing issues that affect youth, including teen pregnancy, truancy prevention and healthy youth-development initiatives, according to the university. Kallgren said the amount of the gift will not be disclosed to respect Hagen's wishes.

Kallgren said Hagen's gift "reflects her serious commitment to our community and the youth of Erie County."

Kallgren said C.O.R.E. professors and researchers have been contributing to an overall decline in the teenage birth and pregnancy rates, which he said are now at par with the U.S. averages. Hagen's gift will help continue that work and allow researchers to shift their focus to elements in a community or in youth psyches that affect how their lives will progress.

The center director also said that the new funding will allow researchers to offer their services at a lower cost to regional organizations, allowing them to lower the amount of money they seek for programs and activities and become more likely to have their request granted.

Penn State Behrend Chancellor Jack Burke praised Hagen for her generosity.

"Susan Hagen is credited with recognizing the need for C.O.R.E. and then stepping up to meet that need," he said. "The health and well-being of our youth is of critical importance, and I greatly admire her commitment to improving the lives of others."

The announcement came on the eve of a meeting of Pennsylvania State University's board of trustees, which is taking place today at the Harborcreek Township campus. Details of a second multimillion-dollar gift to Penn State Behrend will be announced at a 10 a.m. news conference.