<p>I second GreenButton: your father won’t be able to play golf since the gold course will be under one foot of snow packed with ice on top 
Plan for one day discovering the campus (have them take a campus tour with prospective students and their families, if they speak English), visit the stadium, shop in the Penn state bookstore to stock up on tee shirts and fanions and mugs to bring back home, walk around downtown (Pig Alley, etc). Lots of nice little shops too. They can easily take a bus to Wegman’s (a nice supermarket and a great cultural experience) and shop at the shopping mall around there. Have lunch at The Corner, meet for sticky buns with ice creams at The Diner on College Avenue. Spend time in the library, see the stuffed lion that gave its name to the Penn State mascot, find the map room, sit in the comfy chairs and warm up before going to the museum. Oh and even in winter people line up to eat ice cream at the creamery!
Another day could be spent in Pittsburgh or Philadelphia (each is about 4 hours away, one way, so it’d be a full day excursion). The big problem would be weather unpredictability since there could be snow and ice, and if they’re not used to driving in slush or snow, it’d be difficult. A train can be taken, I think from Lewisburg? Straight into Philadelphia, and from there you can take public transportation to all the main historical places. (Philadelphia itself deserves 3-4 days but if they’ve got one day only, well, that’ll do).
If they’re adventurous, they can try driving to the Great Canyon of Pennsylvania, under the snow it’s impressive, and you get a feeling of how the pioneers must have felt, in your car alone among humongous trees with no car and no house for a long time 
But I think it’s better to do that in the summer
Boalsburg is a nice town with Victorian homes about 5mn from State College, a bit farther away you have Bellefonte, and Williamsburg has the old millionaires row (from the time of the Robber Barrons).
Even if it’s before classes start, there’ll be films around towns and there may be concerts or events at the Bryce Jordan Center.</p>