University of Pennsylvania

18th century

In 1740, a group of Philadelphians organized to erect a great preaching hall for George Whitefield, a traveling Anglican evangelist,^[30] which was designed and constructed by Edmund Woolley. It was the largest building in Philadelphia at the time, and thousands of people attended it to hear Whitefield preach.^[31]: 26

In the fall of 1749, Benjamin Franklin, a Founding Father and polymath in Philadelphia, circulated a pamphlet, "Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pensilvania," his vision for what he called a "Public Academy of Philadelphia".^[32]

On June 16, 1755, the College of Philadelphia was chartered, paving the way for the addition of undergraduate instruction.^[33]

Penn identifies as the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, though this representation is challenged by Princeton and Columbia since the College of Philadelphia was not chartered or commence classes until 1755 and the first board of trustees was not convened until 1749, arguably making it the sixth or fifth-oldest.^[b]

In the 1750s, roughly 40 percent of Penn students needed lodging since they came from areas in the British North American colonies that were too far to commute, or were international students.^[34] Before the completion of the construction of the first dormitory in 1765, out of town students were typically placed with guardians in the homes of faculty or in suitable boarding houses.^[35][36] Jonathan and Philip Gayienquitioga, two brothers of the Mohawk Nation,^[37] were recruited by Benjamin Franklin to attend the Academy of Philadelphia,^[38] making them the first Native Americans at Penn when they enrolled in 1755.^[39]

The 1765 founding of the first medical school in America^[40] made Penn the first institution to offer both "undergraduate" and professional education. Moses Levy, the first Jewish student, enrolled in 1769.^[41]

In 1765, the campus was expanded by opening of the newly completed dormitory run by Benjamin Franklin's collaborator on the study of electricity using electrostatic machines and related technology and Penn professor and chief master Ebenezer Kinnersley.^[f] Kinnersley was designated steward of the students in the dormitory and he and his wife were given disciplinary powers over the students and supervised the cleanliness of the students with respect to personal hygiene and washing of the students' dirty clothing.^[42][43]

Even after its construction, however, many students sought living quarters elsewhere, where they would have more personal freedom, resulting in a loss of funds to the university. In the fall of 1775, Penn's trustees voted to advertise to lease the dormitory to a private family who would board the pupils at lesser cost to Penn.^[44] In another attempt to control the off-campus activities of the students, the trustees agreed not to admit any out-of-town student unless he was lodged in a place which they and the faculty considered proper.^[34]

As of 1779, Penn, through its trustees, owned three houses on Fourth Street, just north of the campus's new building with the largest residence located on the corner of Fourth and Arch Streets.^[45][34]

When the British abandoned Philadelphia during the Philadelphia campaign in the American Revolutionary War, College Hall, the college's only building at the time,^[g] served as the temporary meeting site of the Second Continental Congress from July 7 to 20, 1778,^[46] briefly establishing Penn's campus as one of the early capitals of the United States.^[47][48]

In 1779, not trusting then provost William Smith's Loyalist tendencies, the revolutionary State Legislature created a university, and in 1785 the legislature changed name to University of the State of Pennsylvania.^[49][h] The result was a schism, with Smith continuing to operate an attenuated version of the College of Philadelphia. The 1779 charter represented the first American institution of higher learning to take the name of "University".^[50][51] In 1791, the legislature issued a new charter, merging the two institutions into a new University of Pennsylvania with twelve men from each institution serving on the new board of trustees.^[49]

19th century

In 1802, the university moved to the unused Presidential Mansion at Ninth and Market Streets, a building that both George Washington and John Adams had declined to occupy while Philadelphia was the nation's capital.^[33]

Among the classes given in 1807 at this building were those offered by Benjamin Rush, a professor of chemistry, medical theory, and clinical practice who was also a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, member of the Continental Congress,^[52][53] and surgeon general of the Continental Army.^[54]

Classes were held in the mansion until 1829 when it was demolished. Architect William Strickland designed twin buildings on the same site, College Hall^[i] and Medical Hall (both 1829–1830), which formed the core of the Ninth Street Campus.

Joseph M. Urquiola, School of Medicine class of 1829, was the first Latino,^[55][56][57] and Auxencio Maria Pena, School of Medicine class of 1836, was the first South American^[58] to graduate from Penn.

In 1849, following formation of Penn's Eta chapter^[j] of Delta Phi by five founders and 15 initiates,^[59] Penn students began to establish residential fraternity houses. Since Penn only had limited housing near campus and since students, especially those at the medical school, came from all over the country, the students elected to fend for themselves rather than live in housing owned by Penn trustees. A number chose housing by pledging and living in Penn's first fraternities, which included Delta Phi, Zeta Psi, Phi Kappa Sigma, and Delta Psi.^[60] These first fraternities were located within walking distance of 9th and Chestnut Street since the campus was located from 1800 to 1872 on the west side of Ninth Street, from Market Street on the north to Chestnut Street on the south. Zeta Psi Fraternity was located at the southeast corner of 10th Street and Chestnut Street, Delta Phi was located on the south side of 11th Street near Chestnut Street, and Delta Psi was located on the north side of Chestnut Street, west of 10th Street.^[61]

After being located in downtown Philadelphia for more than a century, the campus was moved across the Schuylkill River to property purchased from the Blockley Almshouse in West Philadelphia in 1872, where it has since remained in an area now known as University City. The new campus and its associated fraternities centered on the intersection of Woodland Avenue, 36th Street, and Locust Street. Among the first fraternities to build near the new campus were Phi Delta Theta in 1883 and Psi Upsilon in 1891. By 1891, there were at least 17 fraternities at the university.^[62]

Penn hosted the nation's first university teaching hospital in 1874; the Wharton School, the world's first collegiate business school, in 1881; the first American student union building, Houston Hall, in 1896;^[63] and the only school of veterinary medicine in the United States that originated directly from its medical school, in 1884.^[64][65]

Tosui Imadate (今立吐酔) was the first person of Asian descent to graduate from Penn (College ^[66] Class of 1879).^[67]

William Adger, James Brister, and Nathan Francis Mossell in 1879 were the first African Americans to enroll at Penn. Adger was the first African American to graduate from the college at Penn (1883),^[68] and when Brister graduated from the School of Dental Medicine (Penn Dental) (class of 1881), he was the first African American to earn a degree at Penn.^[69]

Lewis Baxter Moore, brother in law of two other Penn alumni who broke the color barrier by being among the first of their race to graduate from Penn degree granting programs, Nathan Francis Mossell (medicine) and Aaron Albert Mossell II (law), was the first African American to earn a PhD in 1896.^[70] His doctorate was in classics.^[71]

The first women enrolled at Penn were two graduate students at Penn's Towne Scientific School, medical doctors, Gertrude Klein Pierce,MD, Anna Lockhart Flanigen, MD, who were admitted in October 1876 as "special students" to study chemistry. In 1878 they were awarded certificates of proficiency in chemistry (finishing second and third in their class) and continued their postgraduate studies in organic chemistry with professor (who later became Provost) Edgar Fahs Smith.^[72] In 1880, Mary Alice Bennett and Anna H. Johnson were the first women to enroll in a Penn degree-granting program and Bennett was the first woman to receive a degree from Penn, which was a PhD.^[73][74][55]

From its founding until construction of the Quadrangle Dormitories, which started construction in 1895, the university largely lacked university-owned housing with the exception of a significant part of the 18th century. A significant portion of the undergraduate population commuted from Delaware Valley locations, and a large number of students resided in the Philadelphia area.^[75] The medical school, then with roughly half the students, was a significant exception to this trend as it attracted a more geographically diverse population of students.^[76][77]

George Henderson, president of the class of 1889, wrote in his monograph distributed to his classmates at their 20th reunion that Penn's strong growth in acreage and number of buildings it constructed over the prior two decades (along with a near-quadrupling in the size of the student body) was accommodated by building The Quad.^[78] Henderson argued that building The Quad was influential in attracting students, and he appealed for it to be expanded:^[79]

And the new buildings? First of all there is need of greater dormitory room. Did you ever live in the "dorms?" Then you do not know what "dorm" life means for college spirit. Several hundred men who live in the same big family have a feeling of common fellowship. Life in the "dorms" develops what our sociologists call a "Solidarity of Responsibility." Men who live there learn to care for the associations that brought them together and that keep them related. And this college spirit they never lose or forget. Some parents, living at a distance, do not like to send their sons to live in a general boarding house. But a dormitory, a University institution, appeals to them, and the boys come and live there. You would scarcely believe it, but when College opened last fall not only were the dormitory rooms over subscribed, but there was a long list of anxious ones, ready to snap up the room of any unlucky fellow who might miss his examinations, and be forced to spend another year at preparatory school grind. So we need the new dormitories, and although they are going up steadily, they might well go up faster.^[79]

20th century

During the first decades of the 20th century, Penn made strides and took an active interest in attracting diverse students from around the globe. Two examples of such action occurred in 1910. Penn's first director of publicity, created a recruiting brochure, translated into Spanish, with approximately 10,000 copies circulated throughout Latin America. That same year, the Penn-affiliated organization, the Cosmopolitan Club, started an annual tradition of hosting an opening "smoker," which attracted students from 40 nations who were formally welcomed to the university by then-vice provost Edgar Fahs Smith (who the following year would start a ten-year tenure as provost)^{[80][81][82][83][84]} who spoke about how Penn wanted to "bring together students of different countries and break down misunderstandings existing between them."^[55]

In 1911, since it was difficult to house the international students due to the segregation-era housing regulations in Philadelphia and across the United States, the Christian Association at the University of Pennsylvania hired its first Foreign Mission Secretary, Reverend Alpheus Waldo Stevenson.^[85] By 1912, Stevenson focused almost all his efforts on the foreign students at Penn who needed help finding housing resulting in the Christian Association buying 3905 Spruce Street located adjacent to Penn's West Philadelphia campus.^[86]

By January 1, 1918, 3905 Spruce Street officially opened under the sponsorship of the Christian Association as a Home for Foreign Students, which came to be known as the International Students' House with Reverend Stevenson as its first director.^[87]

The success of efforts to reach out to the international students was reported in 1921 when the official Penn publicity department reported^[88]

We have an enrollment at the University of 12,000 students, who have registered from every State in the Union, and 253 students from at least fifty foreign countries and foreign territories, including India, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and practically all the British possessions except Ireland; every Latin American country, and most of the Oriental and European nations.

Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander who had earned a degree at Penn's School of Education in 1918^[89] and master's in economics from Penn in 1919, was awarded the Francis Sergeant Pepper fellowship enabling her in 1921 to became the first African-American woman in the United States to earn a PhD from an American university.^[90][91][92] She was also the first African-American woman admitted to and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1927^[93] and earned the right to be an editor of University of Pennsylvania Law Review^[94]

Until 1930, Penn's top academic and business professional was its Provost. In 1930, Penn's Board combined the two positions and created the office of President and elected Thomas Sovereign Gates, a Philadelphia banker who had served as director of a number of companies including Pennsylvania Railroad (which at time was largest company in world) and the Baldwin Locomotive Company, and had served for ten years as a Penn Trustee and as chairman of Penn's endowment fund.^[95][96]

From 1930 to 1966, there were 54 documented Rowbottom riots, a student tradition of rioting which included everything from car smashing to panty raids.^[97] After 1966, there were five more instances of "Rowbottoms," the latest occurring in 1980.^[97]

By 1931, first-year students were required to live in the quadrangle unless they received official permission to live with their families or other relatives.^[76] However, throughout this period and into the early post-World War II period, the undergraduate schools of the university continued to have a large commuting population.^[98] As an example, into the late 1940s, two-thirds of Penn women students were commuters.^[99]

George William McClelland, a professor of English at Penn who (received his bachelors, masters and Ph.D. all from Penn in 1903, 1912 and 1916 respectively) served from 1944 to 1948 as Penn's second President, and the most notable achievement during his tenure was the creation in 1946 of ENIAC, the world's first all-electronic digital computer.^[100]

Former Minnesota governor and perennial presidential candidate Harold Stassen served as third president of the University of Pennsylvania from 1948 to 1953. Penn's board of trustees elected Stassen to fill the office of the president, left vacant by the unexpected resignation of Penn's second President, George McClelland. Stassen was selected, in part due to his reputation as a successful fundraiser (as Penn was in the middle of a long simmering financial crisis). Stassen did indeed help raise funds and cut costs, focusing financial resources into a few prestigious departments and fulfilling McClelland's campus expansion plan, as well as reforming intercollegiate athletics in order to conform to the requirements of the new Ivy League.^[101] Stassen focused on Penn's football team by contesting the NCAA prohibition over televising football games (to stop the slide in gate attendance) by entering into a $200,000 contract with ABC but Stassen eventually backed down when the NCAA threatened to expel Penn.^[102]

After World War II, the university began a capital spending program to overhaul its campus, including its student housing. A large number of students migrating to universities under the G.I. Bill, and the ensuing increase in Penn's student population highlighted that Penn had outgrown previous expansions, which ended during the Great Depression era. But in addition to a significant student population from the Delaware Valley, the university continued to attract international students from at least 50 countries and from all 50 states as early as of the second decade of the 1920s.^[88] By 1961, 79% of male undergraduates and 57% of female undergraduates lived on campus.^[103]

In 1965, Penn students learned that the university was sponsoring research projects for the United States' chemical and biological weapons program.^[104] According to Herman and Rutman, the revelation that "CB Projects Spicerack and Summit were directly connected with U.S. military activities in Southeast Asia," caused students to petition Penn's fourth president Gaylord Harnwell (1954 to 1971) to halt the program, citing the project as being "immoral, inhuman, illegal, and unbefitting of an academic institution."^[104] Members of the faculty believed that an academic university should not be performing classified research and voted to re-examine the university agency which was responsible for the project on November 4, 1965.^[104]

Martin Meyerson, the 5th president of Penn (from 1970 to 1981), was a prominent scholar of urban design and oversaw the conversion of what had been a collection of buildings on Philadelphia streets into a true college campus as streets (in center of campus - Locust Street and Woodland Avenue) were closed, landscaped walkways were built, and a large park was created in the middle of the campus.^[105]

The first openly LGBTQ+ organization funded by Penn was formed in 1972 by Kiyoshi Kuromiya, a Benjamin Franklin Scholar and Penn alumnus from the college's class of 1966, when he created the Gay Coffee Hour, which met every week on campus and was also open to non-students and served as an alternative space to gay bars for gay people of all ages.^[106]

Vartan Gregorian, who joined the University of Pennsylvania faculty in 1972 as Tarzian Professor of Armenian and Caucasian History and Professor of South Asian history,^[107][108] became the founding dean of Penn's Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 1974 (through 1978), and served as the 23rd provost of Penn from January 1979 to October 1980,^[109] was widely considered to be the most probable candidate to become the 6th president of the University of Pennsylvania^[107][108] as he had the "resounding support of most of the deans, the Faculty Senate, and the Undergraduate Assembly" and was seen as a charismatic leader with "flamboyant style and ever-present brilliance". However, the university trustees chose Sheldon Hackney instead.^[110][111] Hackney served as president from 1981 through 1993.

In 1983, members of the Animal Liberation Front broke into the Head Injury Clinical Research Laboratory in the School of Medicine and stole research audio and video tapes. The stolen tapes were given to PETA who edited the footage to create a film, Unnecessary Fuss. As a result of media coverage and pressure from animal rights activists, the project was closed down.^[112]

Penn gained notoriety in 1993 for the water buffalo incident in which a student who told a group of mostly black female students to "shut up, you water buffalo" was charged with violating the university's racial harassment policy.^[113]

Penn appointed a woman as president when it elected Dr. Claire M. Fagin, who served from July 1, 1993, to June 30, 1994, becoming one of the first women to serve in the capacity of a university president with an Ivy League university^[114]

Judith Rodin, from 1994 through 2004, served as the first permanent female president of an Ivy League university.^{[115][116][117]} During her presidency, Penn tripled its fundraising and the size of its endowment, engineered an internationally heralded community renewal program, attracted the most selective classes in the university's history (climbing from 16th to fourth in the leading national rankings), rapidly grew its academic core, and dramatically enhanced the quality of life on campus and in surrounding community by encouraging revitalization in U City and West Philly through (a) public safety, (b) establishment of Wharton School alliances for small businesses (c) development of buildings and streetscapes that turned outward to U City and West Philly communities, and (d) establishment of a university-led partnership school, the Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander University of Pennsylvania Partnership School (aka "Penn Alexander School").^[118][119]

21st century

In 2004, Amy Gutmann succeeded Judith Rodin as the 8th president of the University of Pennsylvania, serving until 2022, the longest-serving president in Penn's history.^[120]

In 2022, some asked for the tenure of Amy Wax, a University of Pennsylvania law school professor to be revoked after she said the country is "better off with fewer Asians."^[121][122]

In March 2023, Penn announced a first in the United States LGBTQ+ scholar in residence after a $2-million gift.^[123]

In October 2023, Penn hosted a Palestinian Writers Conference on campus which was attended by several hundred students, scholars and members of the media. The conference was sponsored by student groups at the university though not by the university itself. Segments of the student body, alumni and the media expressed extreme hostility to the event, in some cases viewing the conference as an affront to their own perspectives in the ongoing Israel/Palestine conflict.^[124] While the conference was viewed as a success by its organizers, it contributed to heightened tensions on campus between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli groups as well as advocates of free speech vs. people concerned with certain forms of expression.^[125]

After the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, tensions across university campuses rose across the United States. Certain schools, including Penn, Harvard University and MIT were cited repeatedly in the media for particularly vocal student protests against Israeli military strikes against the civilian populations in Gaza as well as Hamas' violent attack on villages and military outposts just north of the Gaza/Israeli barrier wall.^[126] These protests led to increased concerns about antisemitism on college campuses. These concerns in turn led to Congressional hearings convening by several conservative Republican congressmen focused on the fears of rising antisemitism in the US.

In a hearing before the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce on December 6, when prompted for a "Yes/No" response to a hypothetical situation about protesters "calls for the genocide of Jewish people," Magill responses to the hypothetical scenario was viewed as equivocating^[127] as she stated it depended on context, and the university's codes of conduct and its guidelines for free speech and campus behavior.^[128] Magill's response was deemed by certain politicians, external stakeholders and members of the media as tolerant of antisemitism. Significant media pressure, vocal concerns voiced by a number of trustees and threats to suspend donations to the university by several large pro-Israel donors continued to mount.^[129]

On December 9, the university's president Liz Magill and the chairman of its board of trustees, Scott L. Bok, resigned from their respective positions.^[130] Magill remained a tenured member of the Penn Law faculty.^[131] Bok later published a letter addressed to the university community detailing his perspective on the situation and his recommendations for university governance going forward.^[132]

During 2024, pro-Palestinian students participated in 2024 pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses, starting the 2024 University of Pennsylvania pro-Palestine campus encampment.^{[133][134][135]}

Architecture and layout

Much of the historic core campus was shaped by the Philadelphia firm Cope and Stewardson, whose work helped establish the campus's Collegiate Gothic character.^{[136][137][138]} A central pedestrian spine, Locust Walk, connects major academic and residential areas; its conversion to a largely car-free corridor was developed in the mid-20th century and completed in the 1970s.^[139]

Expansion and adjacent sites

Penn has expanded and redeveloped facilities beyond the historic core, including the Pennovation complex along the Schuylkill River, which includes flexible workspaces, laboratories, and incubator-style facilities.^[140] The Wistar Institute is located adjacent to the campus and collaborates with the university in biomedical research.^[141]

Parks and arboreta

Penn maintains the Penn Campus Arboretum, an accredited arboretum encompassing the main campus and associated green spaces.^[142] Penn also operates the Morris Arboretum, the official arboretum of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.^[143]

New Bolton Center

Penn's veterinary school operates the New Bolton Center near Kennett Square, a large-animal hospital and research center.^[144][145]

Libraries

Penn Libraries is a multi-library system anchored by Van Pelt Library and including specialized libraries and collections across the university, such as the Fisher Fine Arts Library.^[146]

Museums, galleries, and public art

Penn is home to the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Penn Museum).^[147] The university also supports galleries and an outdoor public art collection across campus.^[148] Notable works installed on or near campus include Simone Leigh's Brick House (2020) and Claes Oldenburg's Split Button (The Button).^[149][148]

Art installations

The campus has more than 40 notable art installations, in part because of a 1959 Philadelphia ordinance requiring total budget for new construction or major renovation projects in which governmental resources are used to include 1% for art^[150] to be used to pay for installation of site-specific public art,^[151] in part because many alumni collected and donated art to Penn, and in part because of the presence of the University of Pennsylvania School of Design on the campus.^[148]

Penn is presently reevaluating all of its public art and has formed a working group led by Penn Design dean Frederick Steiner, who was part of a similar effort at the University of Texas at Austin that led to the removal of statues of Jefferson Davis and other Confederate officials, and Penn's Chief Diversity Officer, Joann Mitchell. Penn has begun the process of adding art and removing or relocating art.^[153] Penn removed from campus in 2020 the statue of the Reverend George Whitefield (who had inspired the 1740 establishment of a trust to establish a charity school, which trust Penn legally assumed in 1749) when research showed Whitefield owned fifty enslaved people and drafted and advocated for the key theological arguments in favor of slavery in Georgia and the rest of the Thirteen Colonies.^[154]

In 2020, Penn installed Brick House, a monumental work of art, created by Simone Leigh at the College Green gateway to Penn's campus near the corner of 34th Street and Woodland Walk. This 5,900-pound (2,700 kg) bronze sculpture, which is 16 feet (4.9 m) high and 9 feet (2.7 m) in diameter at its base, depicts an African woman's head crowned with an afro framed by cornrow braids atop a form that resembles both a skirt and a clay house.^[149] At the installation, Penn president Amy Guttman proclaimed that "Ms. Leigh's sculpture brings a striking presence of strength, grace, and beauty—along with an ineffable sense of mystery and resilience—to a central crossroad of Penn's campus."^[155]

The Covenant, known to the student body as "Dueling Tampons"^[156][157] or "The Tampons",^[158] is a large red structure created by Alexander Liberman and located on Locust Walk as a gateway to the high-rise residences "super block". It was installed in 1975 and is made of rolled sheets of milled steel. The Button, officially called the Split Button, is a modern art sculpture designed by designed by Swedish sculptor Claes Oldenburg (who specialized in creating oversize sculptures of everyday objects). It sits at the south entrance of Van Pelt Library and has button holes large enough for people to stand inside. Penn also has a replica of the Love sculpture, part of a series created by Robert Indiana. It is a painted aluminum sculpture and was installed in 1998 overlooking College Green.^[148]

In 2019, the Association for Public Art loaned Penn^[159] two multi-ton sculptures. The works are Social Consciousness, created by Sir Jacob Epstein in 1954,^[160] and Atmosphere and Environment XII, created by Louise Nevelson in 1970.^[159] Until the loan, both works had been located at the West Entrance to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the older since its creation and the Nevelson work since 1973. Social Consciousness was relocated to the walkway between Wharton's Lippincott Library and Phi Phi chapter of Alpha Chi Rho fraternity house, and Atmosphere and Environment XII is sited on Shoemaker Green between Franklin Field and Ringe Squash Courts.^[161]

In addition to the contemporary art, Penn also has several traditional statues, including a good number created by Penn's first Director of Physical Education Department, R. Tait McKenzie.^[162] Among the notable sculptures is that of Young Ben Franklin, which McKenzie produced and Penn sited adjacent to the fieldhouse contiguous to Franklin Field. The sculpture is titled Benjamin Franklin in 1723 and was created by McKenzie during the pre-World War I era (1910–1914). Other sculptures he produced for Penn include the 1924 sculpture of then Penn provost Edgar Fahs Smith.

Residences

Undergraduates are housed primarily through the College Houses residential system, which combines on-campus housing with faculty-led programming and advising.^[163]

• 
  The university's first purpose-built dormitory in the foreground (on right), built in 1765^[164]
• 
  The Upper Quad, originally called The Triangle,^[165] and formerly "The Men's Dormitory", viewed from the Memorial Tower^[166]
• 
  Woodland Walk pathway between Hill College House and Lauder College House
• 
  Hill College House, a dormitory designed in 1958 to house female students, was designed by Eero Saarinen
• 
  "The Quad", formerly known as the Men's Dormitory, in 2014
• 
  The Alpha Tau Omega fraternity house, built by George W. Childs Drexel as one of two mansions for his daughters

Campus police

The University of Pennsylvania Police Department (UPPD) is the largest private police department in Pennsylvania, with 117 members. All officers are sworn municipal police officers and retain general law enforcement authority while on the campus.^[177]

Seal

The official seal of the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania serves as the signature and symbol of authenticity on documents issued by the corporation.^[178] The most recent design, a modified version of the original seal, was approved in 1932, adopted a year later and is still used for much of the same purposes as the original.^[178] The official seal of the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania serves as the signature and symbol of authenticity on documents issued by the corporation.^[178] A request for one was first recorded in a meeting of the trustees in 1753 during which some of the Trustees "desired to get a Common Seal engraved for the Use of [the] Corporation." In 1756, a public seal and motto for the college was engraved in silver.^[179]

The outer ring of the current seal is inscribed with "Universitas Pennsylvaniensis", the Latin name of the University of Pennsylvania. The inside contains seven stacked books on a desk with the titles of subjects of the trivium and a modified quadrivium, components of a classical education: Theolog[ia], Astronom[ia], Philosoph[ia], Mathemat[ica], Logica, Rhetorica and Grammatica. Between the books and the outer ring is the Latin motto of the university, "Leges Sine Moribus Vanae".^[178]

Coordinated dual-degree, accelerated, interdisciplinary programs

Penn offers unique and specialized coordinated dual-degree (CDD) programs, which selectively award candidates degrees from multiple schools at the university upon completion of graduation criteria of both schools in addition to program-specific programs and senior capstone projects. Additionally, there are accelerated and interdisciplinary programs offered by the university. These undergraduate programs include:

• Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business^[184]
• Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology (M&T)^[185]
• Roy and Diana Vagelos Program in Life Sciences and Management (LSM)^[186]
• Nursing and Health Care Management (NHCM)^[187]
• Roy and Diana Vagelos Integrated Program in Energy Research (VIPER)^[188]
• Vagelos Scholars Program in Molecular Life Sciences (MLS)^[189]
• Singh Program in Networked and Social Systems Engineering (NETS)^[190]
• Digital Media Design (DMD)^[191]
• Computer and Cognitive Science: Artificial Intelligence^[192]
• Accelerated 7-Year Bio-Dental Program^[193]
• Accelerated 6-Year Law and Medicine Program^[194]

Dual-degree programs that lead to the same multiple degrees without participation in the specific above programs are also available. Unlike CDD programs, "dual degree" students fulfill requirements of both programs independently without the involvement of another program. Specialized dual-degree programs include Liberal Studies and Technology as well as an Artificial Intelligence: Computer and Cognitive Science Program. Both programs award a degree from the College of Arts and Sciences and a degree from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Also, the Vagelos Scholars Program in Molecular Life Sciences allows its students to either double major in the sciences or submatriculate and earn both a BA and an MS in four years. The most recent Vagelos Integrated Program in Energy Research (VIPER) was first offered for the class of 2016. A joint program of Penn's School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering and Applied Science, VIPER leads to dual Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science in Engineering degrees by combining majors from each school.

The School of Social Policy and Practice, commonly known as Penn SP2, is a school of social policy and social work that offers degrees in a variety of subfields, in addition to several dual degree programs and sub-matriculation programs.^{[195][196][197]} Penn SP2's vision is: "The passionate pursuit of social innovation, impact and justice."^[198]

Originally named the School of Social Work, SP2 was founded in 1908 and is a graduate school of the University of Pennsylvania. The school specializes in research, education, and policy development in relation to both social and economic issues.^[199][200]

The School of Veterinary Medicine offers five dual-degree programs, combining the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (VMD) with a Master of Social Work (MSW), Master of Environmental Studies (MES), Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Master of Public Health (MPH) or Masters in Business Administration (MBA) degree. The Penn Vet dual-degree programs are meant to support veterinarians planning to engage in interdisciplinary work in the areas of human health, environmental health, and animal health and welfare.^[201]

Academic medical center and biomedical research complex

In 2018, the university's nursing school was ranked number one by Quacquarelli Symonds.^[202] That year, Quacquarelli Symonds also ranked Penn's school of Veterinary Medicine sixth.^[203] In 2019, the Perelman School of Medicine was named the third-best medical school for research in U.S. News & World Report's 2020 ranking.^[204]

The University of Pennsylvania Health System, also known as UPHS, is a multi-hospital health system headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, owned by Trustees of University of Pennsylvania. UPHS and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania together constitute Penn Medicine, a clinical and research entity of the University of Pennsylvania. UPHS hospitals include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania,^[205] Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Pennsylvania Hospital, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Hospital, and Princeton Medical Center.^[206] Penn Medicine owns and operates the first hospital in the United States, the Pennsylvania Hospital.^[207] It is also home to America's first surgical amphitheatre^[208] and its first medical library.^[209]

Admissions

Undergraduate admission is selective. For the Class of 2026 (entering fall 2022), Penn received 54,588 applications and admitted 3,404 applicants (4.24%).^[210][211] Reported test score ranges for enrolled first-year students (25th–75th percentile) were 1510–1560 (SAT) and 34–36 (ACT).^[210]

Admission is need-blind for U.S., Canadian, and Mexican applicants.^[212]

Reputation and rankings

U.S. News & World Report's 2024 rankings place Penn 6th of 394 national universities in the United States.^[214] In international rankings, Penn is consistently placed among the top universities globally by several publications.^[222] The Princeton Review student survey ranked Penn in 2023 as 7th in their Dream Colleges list.^[223] Penn was ranked 4th of 444 in the United States by College Factual for 2024.^[224] The Wall Street Journal reported in 2024 that Penn's undergraduate alumni earned the 5th highest salaries (taking into account the cost of education and other factors^[225]).

Among its professional schools, the school of education was ranked number one in 2021 and Wharton School was ranked number one in 2022^[226] and 2024^[227] and the communication, dentistry, medicine, nursing, law and veterinary schools rank in the top 5 nationally.^[228] Penn's Law School was ranked number 4 in 2023^[229] and Penn's School of Design and Architecture, and its School of Social Policy and Practice are ranked in the top 10.^[228]

Penn Electric Racing

Penn Electric Racing is the university's Formula SAE (FSAE) team, competing in the international electric vehicle (EV) competition. Colloquially known as "PER", the team designs, manufactures, and races custom electric racecars against other collegiate teams. In 2015, PER built and raced their first racecar, REV1, at the Lincoln Nebraska FSAE competition, winning first place.^[255] The team repeated their success with their next two racecars: REV2 won second place in 2016,^[256] and REV3 won first place in 2017.^[257]

Traditions

Hey Day

In April, several class traditions are celebrated. Class Day, which began in 1865 to supplement the final graduation exercises, celebrates the progression of all classes and the departure of the seniors. In 1916, this day merged with Straw Hat Day and became the "day of two events." In 1931, Hey Day arose from these two celebrations. On this day, the juniors gather on High Rise Field for a picnic, don straw "skimmers" and canes, and march triumphantly down Locust Walk to College Hall.

The procession tradition began in 1949. More recently, the straw skimmers have changed to Styrofoam hats, and classmates take bites out of one another's hats. When the procession reaches College Hall, the students make an arch with their canes to greet the President of the university. The outgoing and incoming senior class presidents then give speeches, and the juniors are "officially" declared seniors. In May 2015, the university commemorated the celebration of the 100th Hey Day.^[263]

Ivy Day

Since 1873 (the year Penn moved to new campus in West Philadelphia), each graduating class at Penn has placed an "Ivy Stone" on the campus buildings or features.^[264] Counting the era when women had their own college and placed their own stones, Penn now has over 150 Ivy Day stones installed across the campus.^[265] In 1981, the day was officially moved to the Saturday before Commencement. Also on this day, the Spoon, Bowl, Cane, and Spade awards, honoring four graduating men, and the Hottel, Harnwell, Goddard, and Brownlee awards, honoring four graduating women, are presented. During the celebration, a noted individual who is chosen by the class gives an address. Recent Ivy Day addresses have been presented by Penn Parent Joan Rivers, former Philadelphia Mayor and Governor of Pennsylvania (and also a Penn alumnus) Ed Rendell, and basketball player Julius Erving.

The building receiving the Ivy Stone is very often a building of some significance to the graduating class. For example, in 1983, a stone was placed near the field in Franklin Field celebrating Penn's first Ivy League championship in football since 1959, the previous fall—at the yard line from which the game-winning field goal against Harvard was kicked, clinching at least a share of the championship.^[266]

Student health and well-being

Student life at Penn has been the subject of national attention in discussions of student stress and campus mental health. The term "Penn Face" has been used to describe a perceived culture of presenting confidence or happiness despite academic and social pressures.^[268] The university has convened task forces and issued reports addressing student psychological health and welfare.^[269]

Origins

The first athletic team at Penn was the cricket team, which formed in 1842 and played regularly through 1846, the year it lost its "grounds", and then only played intermittently until 1864, the year it played its first intercollegiate game (against Haverford College).^[274] The rowing (or crew) team composed of Penn students but not officially representing Penn was formed in 1854 but did not compete against other colleges as official part of Penn until 1879. The rugby football team began to play against other colleges, most notably against College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1874 using a combination of association football (i.e. soccer) and rugby rules (the twenty players on each side were able to use their hands but were not able to pass or bat the ball forward).^[275][276]

Baseball

The University of Pennsylvania's first baseball team was fielded in 1875. Penn has won four championships in the Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League, a baseball-only conference that existed from 1930 to 1992, which consisted of the eight Ivy League schools and Army and Navy.^[277]

Basketball

Penn basketball is steeped in tradition. Penn was retroactively recognized as the pre-NCAA tournament national champion for the 1919–20 and 1920–21 seasons by the Helms Athletic Foundation and for the 1919–20 season by the Premo-Porretta Power Poll.^[279] Penn made its only (and the Ivy League's second) Final Four appearance in 1979, where the Quakers lost to Magic Johnson-led Michigan State in Salt Lake City.^[280][281](Dartmouth twice finished second in the tournament in the 1940s, but that was before the beginning of formal League play.) Penn's team is also a member of the Philadelphia Big 5, along with La Salle, Saint Joseph's, Temple, Villanova, and Drexel. In 2007, the men's team won its third consecutive Ivy League title and then lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Texas A&M. Penn last made the NCAA tournament in 2018 where it lost to top seeded Kansas.^[282]

Cricket

The first University of Pennsylvania cricket team, reported to be the first cricket team in the United States composed exclusively of Americans,^[283] was organized in 1842.^[283] On May 7, 1864, Penn played its first intercollegiate game against Haverford College (the 3rd oldest intercollegiate athletic contest after Harvard Yale 1852 crew race and Amherst Williams 1859 Baseball game^[284][285]).^[286][287] After Penn moved west of the Schuylkill River in 1872, Penn played cricket at one of the local clubs, Belmont Cricket Club, Merion Cricket Club, Germantown Cricket Club, or at Haverford College.^[286] Beginning in 1875 and through 1880, Penn fielded a varsity eleven, which played a few matches each year against opponents that included Haverford College and Columbia College.^[285] In 1881, Penn, Harvard College, Haverford College, Princeton College (then known as College of New Jersey), and Columbia College formed the Intercollegiate Cricket Association,^[287] which Cornell University later joined.^[285] Penn won The Intercollegiate Cricket Association championship, the de facto national championship, 23 times (18 solo, three shared with Haverford and Harvard, one shared with Haverford and Cornell, and one shared with just Haverford) during the 44 years that The Intercollegiate Cricket Association existed from 1881 through 1924.^{[note 2]} In the 1890s, Penn's cricket team frequently toured Canada and the British Isles.^[285] Perhaps the university's most famous cricket player was George Patterson (class of 1888), who still holds the North American batting record and who went on to play for the professional Philadelphia Cricket Team.^[288] Following the World War I, cricket began to experience a serious decline,^[289] such that in 1924 Penn fielded its last team in the twentieth century. Starting in 2009, however, Penn once again fielded a cricket team, albeit club, that ended up being the first winner of a tournament for teams from the Ivies.^[290]

Curling

University of Pennsylvania Curling Club qualified for the 2023 National Championship at 6th place, the same ranking they qualified for the 2022 National Championship (where they finished in 2nd place), but in 2023 the team won the national championship by defeating arch rival Princeton University in the championship match (6 to 3).^[291][292] Penn Curling is the only East Coast team to have won the Curling National Championship.^[293]

Football

Penn's football team competes in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision. The football team (a) has competed since 1876 (b) has won a share of 7 national championships, (c) competed in 1917 Rose Bowl, (d) has 18 players and 5 coaches who are members of the College Football Hall of Fame, (e) has had 11 unbeaten seasons, and (f) plays at the oldest playing field, Franklin Field, in college football.^[294][295]

Since the formation of the Ivy League in 1956, Penn has won 17 Ivy League Football Championships:(1959, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1993, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015).^[296] Penn has been outright Ivy Football Champion 13 times and been undefeated 8 times.^[297] Eighteen former players have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

The achievements of two of Penn's other outstanding players from that era, John Heisman, a Law School alumnus, and John Outland, a Penn Med alumnus, are remembered each year with the presentation of the Heisman Trophy to the most outstanding college football player of the year, and the Outland Trophy to the most outstanding college football interior lineman of the year.

The Bednarik Award, named for Chuck Bednarik, a three-time All-American center and linebacker who starred on the 1947, is awarded annually to college football's best defensive player. Bednarik went on to play for 12 years with the Philadelphia Eagles, and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1969.

Penn's game against University of California, Berkeley on September 29, 1951, in front of a crowd of 60,000 at Franklin Field, was first college football game to be broadcast in color.^[298][299]

Ice hockey

Penn's first ice hockey team competed during the 1896–97 academic year, and joined the nascent Intercollegiate Hockey Association (IHA) in 1898–99. On the first team in 1896–97 were several players of Canadian background, among them middle-distance runner and Olympian George Orton (the first disabled person to compete in the Olympics). Penn fielded teams intermittently until 1965 when it formed a varsity squad that was terminated in 1977. Penn now fields a club team that plays in the American Collegiate Hockey Association Division II,^[300] is a member of the Colonial States College Hockey Conference, and continues to play at the Class of 1923 Arena in Philadelphia.^[301]

Rowing

Rowing at Penn dates back to at least 1854 with the founding of the University Barge Club. The university currently hosts both heavyweight and lightweight men's teams and an open weight women's team, all of which compete as part of the Eastern Sprints League. Ellis Ward was Penn's first intercollegiate crew coach from 1879 through 1912.^[303] During the course of Ward's coaching career at Penn his .".. Red and Blue crews won 65 races, in about 150 starts."^[304] Ward coached Penn's 8-oared boat to the finals of the Grand Challenge Cup (the oldest and most prized trophy) at the Henley Royal Regatta (but in that final race was defeated by the champion Leander Club).^[305]

Penn Rowing has produced a long list of famous coaches and Olympians. Members of Penn crew team, rowers Sidney Jellinek, Eddie Mitchell, and coxswain, John G. Kennedy, won the bronze medal for the United States at 1924 Olympics.^[306]

Joe Burk (class of 1935) was captain of Penn crew team, winner of the Henley Diamond Sculls twice, named recipient of the James E. Sullivan Award for nation's best amateur athlete in 1939, and Penn coach from 1950 to 1969. The 1955 Men's Heavyweight 8, coached by Joe Burk, became one of only four American university crews in history to win the Grand Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta. The outbreak of World War Two canceled the 1940 Olympics for which Burk was favored to win the gold medal.^[307]

Other Penn Olympic athletes and or Penn coaches of such athletes include: (a) John Anthony Pescatore (who competed in the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games for the United States as stroke of the men's coxed eight which earned a bronze medal^[308] and later competed at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games in the men's coxless pair), (b) Susan Francia (winner of gold medals as part of the women's 8 oared boat at 2008 Olympics and 2012 Olympics), (c) Regina Salmons (member of 2021 USA team),^[309] (d) Rusty Callow, (e) Harry Parker, (f) Ted Nash,^[306] and (g) John B. Kelly Jr., son of John B. Kelly Sr. (winner of three medals at 1920 Summer Olympics) and brother of Princess Grace of Monaco, was the second Penn Crew alumnus to win the James E. Sullivan Award^[310] for being nation's best amateur athlete (in 1947), who was winner of a bronze medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics).

Penn men's crew team won the National Collegiate Rowing Championship in 1991. A member of that team, Janusz Hooker (Wharton School class of 1992)^[311] won the bronze medal in Men's Quadruple Sculls for Australia at the 1996 Summer Olympics.^[312] The Penn teams presently row out of College Boat Club, No. 11 Boathouse Row.

Olympics

Penn alumni include numerous Olympic athletes and medalists.^[313] At least 43 different Penn alumni have earned 81 Olympic medals including 26 gold medals.^[29][k]

Facilities

Several of Penn's athletics traditions and facilities are nationally notable. Franklin Field, home to Penn football and the annual Penn Relays, is among the country's best-known historic college stadiums. Franklin Field, with a present seating capacity of 52,593,^[314] is where the Quakers play football, lacrosse, sprint football and track and field (and formerly played baseball, field hockey, soccer, and rugby). It is the oldest stadium still operating for college football games,^[315] first stadium to sport two tiers,^[316] first stadium in the country to have a scoreboard, second stadium to have a radio broadcast of football, first stadium from which a commercially televised football game was broadcast,^[314] and first stadium from which college football game was broadcast in color.^[298] Franklin Field also played host to the Philadelphia Eagles from 1958 to 1970.^[314] Since 1895, Franklin Field has hosted the annual collegiate track and field event "the Penn Relays", which is the oldest and largest track and field competition in the United States.^[317]

Penn's Palestra is home gym of the Penn Quakers men's and women's basketball and volleyball teams, wrestling team, Philadelphia Big Five basketball, and other high school and college sporting events, and is located mere yards from Franklin Field.^[319] The Palestra has been called "the most important building in the history of college basketball" and "changed the entire history of the sport for which it was built".^[320] The Palestra has hosted more NCAA Tournament basketball games than any other facility.

Penn's River Fields hosts a number of athletic fields including the Rhodes Soccer Stadium, the Ellen Vagelos C'90 Field Hockey Field, and Irving "Moon" Mondschein Throwing Complex.^[321] Penn baseball plays its home games at Meiklejohn Stadium at Murphy Field.

Penn's Class of 1923 Arena (with seating for up to 3,000 people) was built to host the University of Pennsylvania Varsity Ice Hockey Team, which has been disbanded, and now hosts or in the past hosted: Penn's Men's and Penn Women's club ice hockey teams, practices or exhibition games for the Philadelphia Flyers, Colorado Avalanche and Carolina Hurricanes, roller hockey for the Philadelphia Bulldogs professional team, and rock concerts such as one in 1982 featuring Prince.^{[322][323][324]}

Penn owns a clubhouse at number 11 Boathouse Row on Kelly Drive (named after Penn alumnus) which all three rowing teams use.

Notable people

Since its founding, Penn alumni, trustees, and faculty have included eight Founding Fathers of the United States who signed the Declaration of Independence,^[23] seven who signed the United States Constitution,^[23] and 24 members of the Continental Congress.

Penn alumni include two presidents of the United States (William Henry Harrison,^[e] and Donald Trump),^[326][327] 32 U.S. senators, 163 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, 19 U.S. Cabinet Secretaries, 46 governors, and 28 State Supreme Court justices, 36 billionaires,^[26][328] and as of 2023^[update] there have been 38 Nobel laureates affiliated (see List of Nobel laureates by university affiliation) with the university.^[329][135]

Prior to becoming president of the United States, Joe Biden was a Benjamin Franklin Presidential Practice Professor at University of Pennsylvania, where he led the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, a center focused principally on diplomacy, foreign policy, and national security.^[330][331]

Nine foreign heads of state attended Penn (including former prime minister of the Philippines, Cesar Virata;^[332] first president of Nigeria, Nnamdi Azikiwe;^[333] first president of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah,^[334] former Prime Minister of Latvia, Krišjānis Kariņš, former President of Panama, Ernesto Pérez Balladares, former President of Argentina, Mauricio Macri, former President of Estonia, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, and the current president of Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara.^{[335] [citation needed]}

Penn alumni or faculty also include three United States Supreme Court justices (William J. Brennan,^[336] Owen J. Roberts,^[337] and James Wilson) and four Supreme Court justices of foreign nations, (including Ronald Wilson of the High Court of Australia, Ayala Procaccia of the Israel Supreme Court, Yvonne Mokgoro, former justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, and Irish Court of Appeal justice Gerard Hogan).^{[citation needed]}

Penn alumni in business, finance and investment banking include Warren Buffett^[l] (CEO of Berkshire Hathaway),^[338] Charles Butt (chairman and CEO of H-E-B),^[339] Richard Bloch (co-founder of H&R Block),^[340] Josh Harris (co-founder of Apollo Global Management),^[341] Leonard Lauder (Chairman & CEO of The Estée Lauder Companies),^[342] Elon Musk (CEO of Tesla, cofounder of OpenAI and Neuralink, founder of SpaceX, The Boring Company and xAI),^[343] Edmund T. Pratt Jr. (Chairman & CEO of Pfizer),^[344] and Sundar Pichai (CEO of Alphabet and Google).^[345]

Penn alumni have won 53 Tony Awards,^[346][347] 17 Grammy Awards,^[348] 25 Emmy Awards,^[349][350] 13 Oscars, and 1 EGOT (John Legend^[351]).^[m]

In the military, Penn alumni include Samuel Nicholas, "founder" of United States Marine Corps^[352] and William A. Newell, whose congressional action formed a predecessor to the current United States Coast Guard.^[353] Two Penn alumni have been NASA astronauts,^[354] and five Penn alumni have been awarded the Medal of Honor.^[27][28]

Penn's alumni also include poets Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams,^[356] civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.,^[357] linguist and political theorist Noam Chomsky, athletes Jerome Allen,^[358] Chuck Bednarik, Mark DeRosa,^[359] Doug Glanville,^[360] and Justin Watson,^[361] businesspeople Steve Cohen,^[362] J. D. Power III,^[363] Donald Trump Jr.,^[364] Ivanka Trump^[365] and George Herbert Walker IV, journalist's Max Blumenthal, Nancy Cordes,^[366]Jeffrey Goldberg,^[367] Andrea Mitchell^[368] and Ashley Parker,^[369] architect Louis Kahn, cartoonist Charles Addams, actors and actresses Candice Bergen,^[370] Elizabeth Banks,^[371] Bruce Dern, Melissa Fitzgerald, James McDaniel, Becki Newton and Noah Schnapp.

Alumni organizations

Penn has over 120 international alumni clubs in 52 countries and 37 states, which offer opportunities for alumni to reconnect, participate in events, and work on collaborative initiatives.^[372] In addition, in 1989, Penn bought a 14-story clubhouse building (purpose-built for Yale Club) in New York City from Touro College for $15 million^[373] to house Penn's largest alumni chapter. After raising a separate $25 million (including $150,000+ donations each from such alumni as Estee Lauder heirs Leonard Lauder and Ronald Lauder, Saul Steinberg, Michael Milken, Donald Trump, and Ronald Perelman) and two years of renovation,^[374] the Penn Club of New York moved to its current location at 30 West 44th Street on NYC's Clubhouse Row.^[375][376]