University of Pennsylvania

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This article is about the private university in Philadelphia. For the state-related university "Penn State", see Pennsylvania State University.
University of Pennsylvania

Motto Leges sine moribus vanae (Laws without morals are useless.)
Established 1740[1]
Type Private
Endowment $5.71 billion[2]
President Amy Gutmann
Staff 4,603
Undergraduates 9,718
Postgraduates 10,103
Location Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Campus Urban, 269 acres (1.1 km²)
Athletics 33 varsity teams
Nickname Quakers
Affiliations Ivy League, AAU
Website www.upenn.edu
Philadelphia Portal

The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn[3][4]) is a co-educational, private, nonsectarian research university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to the university, it is the fourth-oldest[5] institution of higher education in the U.S. and America's first university.[6] Penn is a member of the Ivy League and is also one of the Colonial Colleges.

Nine signers of the Declaration of Independence and eleven signers of the Constitution are associated with the University. Benjamin Franklin, Penn's founder, advocated an educational program that focused as much on practical education for commerce and public service as on the classics and theology. Penn was one of the first academic institutions to follow a multidisciplinary model developed by several European universities, concentrating several "faculties" under one institution.

Penn is acknowledged as a leader in the arts and humanities, the social sciences, architecture, communications, and education.[7] [8]. Penn is particularly noted for its schools of business, law and medicine (see BusinessWeek Magazine and U. S. News and World Report.[9] About 4,500 professors serve nearly 10,000 full-time undergraduate and 10,000 graduate and professional students. Penn is incorporated as "The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania."

In FY2006, Penn's academic research programs undertook more than $660 million in research, involving some 4,200 faculty, 870 postdoctoral fellows, 3,800 graduate students, and 5,400 support staff. Much of the funding is provided by the National Institutes of Health for biomedical research. In 2005, Penn was awarded $470 million in grants by the NIH, ranking it second among all universities.[10]

Penn tops the Ivy League in annual spending, with a projected 2006 budget of $4.41 billion, including a payroll of $2.183 billion. In 2005, it ranked fourth among U.S. universities in fundraising, bringing in about $394 million in private support, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy.[11]

Penn is one of 14 founding members of the Association of American Universities.

Contents

History

Benjamin Franklin Statue, in front of College Hall

In 1740, a group of Philadelphians joined together to erect a great preaching hall for the evangelist George Whitefield. Designed and built by Edmund Woolley, it was the largest building in the city and it was also planned to serve as a charity school. The fundraising, however, fell short and although the building was erected, the plans for both a chapel and the charity school were suspended. In the fall of 1749, eager to create a college to educate future generations, Benjamin Franklin circulated a pamphlet titled "Proposals for the Education of Youth in Pensilvania," his vision for what he called a "Publick Academy of Philadelphia." However, according to Franklin's autobiography, it was in 1743 when he first drew up a proposal for establishing the academy, "thinking the Rev. Richard Peters a fit person to superintend such an institution." Unlike the other three American Colonial colleges that existed at the time — Harvard, William and Mary, and Yale — Franklin's new school would not focus on education for the clergy. He advocated an innovative concept of higher education, one which would teach both the ornamental knowledge of the arts and the practical skills necessary for making a living and doing public service. The proposed program of study became the nation's first modern liberal arts curriculum.

Franklin assembled a board of trustees from among the leading citizens of Philadelphia, the first such non-sectarian board in America. At the first meeting of the 24 members of the Board of Trustees (November 13, 1749) the issue of where to locate the school was a prime concern. Although a lot across Sixth Street from Independence Hall was offered without cost by James Logan, its owner, the Trustees realized that the building erected in 1740, which was still vacant, would be an even better site. On February 1, 1750 the new board took over the building and trusts of the old board. In 1751 the Academy, using the great hall at 4th and Arch Streets, took in its first students. A charity school also was opened in accordance with the intentions of the original "New Building" donors, although it lasted only a few years.

Quad in the Fall, facing Ware College House

For its date of founding, the University uses 1740, the date of "the creation of the earliest of the many educational trusts the University has taken upon itself"[12] (the charity school mentioned above) during its existence.

The institution was known as the College of Philadelphia from 1755 to 1779. In 1779, not trusting then-provost Dr. William Smith's loyalist tendencies, the revolutionary State Legislature created a University of the State of Pennsylvania as a new institution with a new board of trustees. The result was a schism, with Dr. William Smith continuing to operate an attenuated version of the College of Philadelphia. In 1791 the legislature issued a new charter, merging the two institutions into the University of Pennsylvania with twelve men from each institution on the new board of trustees.[13]

Penn has two claims to being the First university in the United States, according to university archive director Mark Frazier Lloyd: founding the first medical school in America in 1765, makes it the first university de facto, while, by virtue of the 1779 charter, "no other American institution of higher learning was named University before Penn."[6]

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.

College Hall and Logan Hall viewed from Woodland Ave., ca. 1892.

Penn's educational innovations include: the nation's first medical school in 1765; the first university teaching hospital in 1874; the Wharton School, the world's first collegiate school of business, in 1881; the first American student union building, Houston Hall, in 1896; the country's second school of veterinary medicine; and the home of ENIAC, the world's first electronic, large-scale, general-purpose digital computer in 1946. Penn is also home to the oldest Psychology department in North America and where the American Medical Association was founded.[14][15]

Penn is one of the nation's few private universities to be named for the place in which it is located (others include the University of Southern California, Boston College, Boston University, Georgetown University, Syracuse University, New York University, Princeton University, and the University of Chicago). Because of this, it is sometimes confused with the Pennsylvania State University (also known as "Penn State"), a public research university whose main campus is located in the geographic center of Pennsylvania in State College.

Motto

Penn's motto is based on a line from Horace’s III.24 (Book 3, Ode 24), quid leges sine moribus vanae proficiunt? ("of what avail empty laws without [good] mores?") From 1756 to 1898, the motto read Sine Moribus Vanae. When a wag pointed out that the motto could be translated as "Loose women without morals," the university quickly changed the motto to literae sine moribus vanae ("Letters without morals [are] useless"). In 1932, all elements of the seal were revised, and as part of the redesign it was decided that the new motto "mutilated" Horace, and it was changed to its present wording, Leges Sine Moribus Vanae ("Laws without morals [are] useless").[16]

Academics

Undergraduate programs

The University of Pennsylvania has four undergraduate schools:

Lower Quad in Winter, from Riepe College House
  • The College of Arts & Sciences
  • The School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS)
  • The School of Nursing
  • The Wharton School

The College of Arts & Sciences is the undergraduate division of the School of Arts and Sciences, which also contains the Graduate Division and the School of General Studies.

Penn has a strong focus on interdisciplinary learning and research. It emphasizes joint degree programs, unique majors and academic flexibility. Penn's One University policy allows undergraduates access to courses at all of Penn's undergraduate and graduate schools.

Undergraduate students at Penn may also take courses at area colleges participating in the Quaker consortium, including Swarthmore, Haverford, and Bryn Mawr.

Graduate and professional schools

The following schools offer graduate programs:

University of Pennsylvania Dental School

Rankings

U.S. News & World Report ranks Penn as seventh in the nation for 2007, fourth in the Ivy League behind Princeton, Harvard, and Yale.[17] Newsweek in 2007 ranked Penn the twelfth most global university, fourth in the Ivy League school behind Harvard, Yale, and Columbia.[18] Penn was previously ranked #4 by US NEWS in both 2005 and 2006. The undergraduate business program at Penn's Wharton School was ranked Number 1 by US NEWS. Wharton Undergraduate has been ranked number one by BusinessWeek also.

In 2006, The Washington Monthly published a unique ranking that focused on universities' contributions to national service (Research: total research spending, Ph.D.s granted in science and engineering, Community Service: the number of students in ROTC, Peace Corps, etc.; and Social Mobility: percentage of, and support for, Pell grant recipients); Penn ranked 30th overall, and 13th among private institutions.[19]

Logan Hall, home of The College of Arts and Sciences

At the undergraduate level, Penn's business and nursing schools have maintained their #1, 2 or 3 rankings since U.S. News began reviewing such programs. The departments of African American literature, anthropology, art history, bioengineering, biology, communications, computer science, English, economics, French, history, mechanical engineering, political science, psychology, and Spanish are also extremely well regarded.

Penn's graduate schools are among the most distinguished schools in their respective fields. Historically, Penn's graduate level programs have ranked higher in their respective academic fields than the overall undergraduate program relative to other colleges. Significant investments in Penn's faculty, in marketing the institution to new students and more aggressive sourcing of research and endowment funds have allowed Penn to maintain the standing of its graduate schools even as the university focused intensively on advancing its undergraduate programs. The schools of business (Wharton School), architecture (School of Design), communications (Annenberg School for Communication), medicine (School of Medicine), dentistry, nursing and veterinary medicine rank in the top five nationally (see U.S. News, National Research Council, DesignIntelligence magazines). Penn's law (Law School) is ranked seven and the social work and education schools are ranked in the top ten (U.S. News).

Admissions selectivity

The university received 20,479 applications for the Class of 2010 entering in the fall of 2006; Penn admitted 17.7 percent of those applicants, representing its most selective admissions year in history. For comparison, in recent years, Penn has received 18,000 - 20,000 applications for each freshman class, has admitted 20-25% of applications and yielded 60-65% of its extended offers.

In 2002, The Atlantic Monthly ranked it as the eighth most selective college in the United States (factoring in average grades, SAT scores, students' high school rankings, and offer yields).[citation needed]

At the graduate level, Penn's admissions rates - like most universities - vary considerably based on school and program. Based on admission statistics from US News, Penn's most selective programs include its law school, the health care schools (medicine, dental medicine, nursing) and its business school.

Joint-degree and interdisciplinary programs

Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology

Penn offers specialized joint-degree programs, which award candidates degrees from multiple schools at the University upon completion of graduation criteria of both schools. Undergraduate programs include:

Dual Degree programs which lead to the same multiple degrees without participation in the specific above programs are also available. Unlike joint-degree programs, "dual degree" students fulfill requirements of both programs independently without involvement of another program. Specialized Dual Degree programs include Liberal Studies and Technology as well as a Computer and Cognitive Science Program. Both programs award a degree from the College of Arts and Science and a degree from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

For graduate programs, there are many formalized joint degree graduate programs such as a joint J.D./MBA. Penn is also the home to interdisciplinary institutions such as the Institute for Medicine and Engineering, the Joseph H. Lauder Institute for Management and International Studies, the Institute for Research in Cognitive Science, and the Executive Master's in Technology Management Program.

Academic Medical Center and Biomedical Research Complex

Penn's health-related programs - including the Schools of Medicine, Dental Medicine, Nursing and Veterinary Medicine, and programs in bioengineering (School of Engineering) and health management (the Wharton School) - are among the university's strongest academic components. The combination of intellectual breadth, research funding (each of the health sciences schools ranks in the top 5 in annual NIH funding), clinical resources and overall scale ranks Penn with only a small handful of peer universities in the U.S.

The size of Penn's biomedical research organization, however, adds a very capital intensive component to the university's operations, and introduces revenue instability due to changing government regulations, reduced Federal funding for research, and Medicaid/Medicare program changes. This is a primary reason highlighted in bond rating agencies' views on Penn's overall financial rating, which ranks one notch below its academic peers. Penn has worked to address these issues by pooling its schools (as well as several hospitals and clinical practices) into the University of Pennsylvania Health System, thereby pooling resources for greater efficiencies and research impact.

Campus

Overlooking Lower Quad from Upper Quad

Much of Penn's architecture was designed by Cope & Stewardson. The two architects combined the Gothic architecture of the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge - retaining some of their classical elements - with the local landscape to establish the Collegiate Gothic style. The present core campus covers over 269 acres (~1 km²) in a contiguous area of western Philadelphia's University City district. All of Penn's schools and most of its research institutes are located on this campus. Recent improvements to the surrounding neighborhood includes the opening of several restaurants, a large upscale grocery store, and a movie theater on the western edge of campus.

Penn recently acquired approximately 35 acres of land located between the campus and the Schuylkill River (the former site of the Philadelphia Civic Center and a nearby 24-acre site owned by the US Postal Service), which will be redeveloped for expanded educational, research, biomedical, and mixed-use facilities over the next ten years.

Upper Quad Gate (Memorial Tower)

The postal site extends from Market Street on the north to Penn’s Bower Field on the south. It encompasses the main U.S. Postal Building at 30th and Market Streets (the retail post office at the east end of the bulding will remain open), the Postal Annex between Chestnut Street and Walnut Street, the Vehicle Maintenance Facility Garage along Chestnut Street and the 14 acres of surface parking south of Walnut Street. Acquisition of the Postal Lands, which will become official in 2007, will allow Penn to create new connections between the campus and the city, including a pedestrian bridge, and provide additional space for research, teaching, housing and retail.

In addition to its properties in West Philadelphia, the University owns the 92 acre Morris Arboretum in Chestnut Hill in northwestern Philadelphia, the official arboretum of the state of Pennsylvania. Penn also owns the 687 acre New Bolton Center, the research and large-animal health care center of its Veterinary School. New Bolton Center received nationwide media attention when Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro underwent surgery at its Widener Hospital for multiple fractures to his right hind leg, suffered while running in the Preakness Stakes on May 20, 2006. It is located near Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.

Penn borders Drexel University and is near the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia (USP). Also nearby is the University City High School.

Libraries

Fisher Fine Arts Library at night
Fisher Fine Arts Library during the day

Penn's library began in 1750 with a donation of books from cartographer Louis Evans. Twelve years later, then-provost William Smith sailed to England to raise additional funds to increase the collection size. More than 250 years later, it has grown into a system of 15 libraries (13 are on the contiguous campus) with 400 FTE employees and a total operating budget of more than $48 million. The library system holds 5.7 million book and serial volumes. It subscribes to 44,000 print serials and e-journals.[21]

Penn's Libraries, with associated school or subject area:

  • Annenberg (School of Communications), located in the Annenberg School
  • Biddle (Law), located in the Law School
  • Biomedical, located adjacent to the Robert Wood Johnson Pavilion of the Medical School
  • Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, located on Walnut Street at Washington Square
  • Chemistry, located in the 1973 Wing of the Chemistry Building
  • Dental
  • Engineering
  • Fine Arts, located within the Fisher Fine Arts Library
  • Lippincott (Wharton School), located on the second floor of the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center
  • Math/Physics/Astronomy, located on the fourth floor of David Rittenhouse Laboratory
  • Museum (Anthropology)
  • Rare Books and Manuscripts
  • Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center (Humanities and Social Sciences)
  • Veterinary
  • High Density Storage

The University Museum

Main article: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

The University Museum, as it is commonly called, was founded in 1887. During the early twentieth century UPM conducted some of the first and most important archaeological and anthropological expeditions to Egypt, Mesopotamia, Africa, East Asia and South America, thus the collection includes a very large number of antiquities from ancient Egypt and the Middle East. Its most famous object is the goat rearing into the branches of a rosette-leafed plant, from the royal tombs of Ur. The Museum also has a strong collection of Chinese artifacts. Features of its Beaux-Arts building include a dramatic rotunda and gardens that include Egyptian papyrus. UPM's scientific division, MASCA, focuses on the application of modern scientific techniques to aid the interpretation of archaeological contexts.

The Institute of Contemporary Art based on Penn's campus showcases various exhibitions of art throughout the year.

Residences

  • Stouffer College House
  • Fisher Hassenfeld College House
  • Rodin College House
  • Harrison College House
  • Harnwell College House
  • Hill College House
  • DuBois College House
  • Gregory College House
  • Mayer College House
  • Kings Court / English House
  • Ware College House
  • Riepe College House

Student life

Main article: Penn Student Life
Locust Walk lit up during the winter season

39.2 percent of those accepted for admission to the Class of 2009 are Asian, Hispanic, African, or Native American. Women comprise 51.3 percent of all students currently enrolled. A total of 2,440 international students applied for admission to Penn's undergraduate schools for the Class of 2008, and 489 (20%) were accepted. More than 13% of the first year class are international students. Of the international students accepted to the Class of 2008, 15.8% were from Africa and the Middle East, 48.1% from Asia, 0.4% from Australia and the Pacific, 11.7% from Canada and Mexico, 10% from Central/South America and the Caribbean, and 14.1% from Europe. Penn had 4,192 international students enrolled at all levels in Fall 2004.

The Daily Pennsylvanian has been published since 1885, and is among the top college papers in the country, regularly winning Pacemaker and CSPA Gold Circle awards. The Pennsylvania Punch Bowl is one of the nation's oldest humor magazines.

The University's Political Science Department is known for publishing a semesterly scholarly journal of undergraduate research called "Sound Politicks." The journal is student-run and is widely noted for the originality and quality of the articles it publishes. It accepts submissions from Penn students year round. There are many such journals across the university.

The University of Pennsylvania Band has been a fixture of student life on campus since 1897. The Penn Band performs at football and basketball games as well as University functions throughout the year and has a current membership of approximately 80 students.

Athletics

Athletic Logo

The first athletic team at Penn was its cricket team.[22] In the sport of football, "Penn first fielded a team against Princeton at the Germantown Cricket Club in Philadelphia on November 11, 1876. [23]

Penn's sports teams are called the Quakers. They participate in the Ivy League and Division I (Division I-AA for football) in the NCAA. In recent decades they often have been league champions in football (12 times from 1982 to 2003) and basketball (22 times from 1970 to 2006). Penn football made many contributions to the sport in its early days. During the 1890s Penn's famed coach George Woodruff introduced the quarternick kick, a forerunner of the forward pass, as well as the place-kick from scrimmage and the delayed pass. In 1894, 1895, 1897 and 1904 Penn was generally regarded the national champion of collegiate football.[24] The achievements of two of Penn's outstanding players from that era -- John Heisman and John Outland -- 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.

Franklin Field

University of Pennsylvania Basketball is steeped in tradition. Penn made its only (and the Ivy League's second) Final Four appearance in 1979, where the Quakers lost to the Magic Johnson-led Michigan State Spartans in Salt Lake City. (Dartmouth twice finished second in the tournament in the 1940's, but that was before the beginning of formal League play). Penn is also is one of the