KEEPING FRANKLIN’S PROMISE
In the words of one elegiac tribute, “Great men have two lives: one which occurs while they work on this earth; a second which begins at the day of their death and continues as long as their ideas and conceptions remain powerful.” These words befit the great Benjamin Franklin, whose inventions, innovations, ideas, writings, and public works continue to shape our thinking and renew the Republic he helped to create and the institutions he founded, including the University of Pennsylvania.
Nowhere does Franklin feel more contemporary, more revolutionary, and more alive than at the University of Pennsylvania. His startling vision of a secular, nonsectarian Academy that would foster an “Inclination join’d with an Ability to serve Mankind, one’s Country, Friends and Family” has never ceased to challenge Penn to redefine the scope and mission of the modern American university.
When pursued vigorously and simultaneously, the two missions – developing the inclination to do good and the ability to do well – merge to help form a more perfect university that educates more capable citizens for our democracy.
Penn has embodied and advanced Franklin’s revolutionary vision for 269 years. Throughout its history, Penn has extended the frontiers of higher learning and research to produce graduates and scholars whose work has enriched the nation and all of humanity.
The modern liberal arts curriculum as we know it can trace its roots to Franklin’s innovation to have Penn students study international commerce and foreign languages.
The first medical and business schools in the United States were launched here.
And the first general-purpose electronic, digital computer – ENIAC – was invented right here at the University of Pennsylvania. At Penn, the never-ending quest for innovation and academic distinction has found perfect Franklinian expression
in “The Penn Compact,” President Amy Gutmann’s bold vision for propelling our University from excellence to eminence in all our core endeavors. Fulfilling the goals of the Compact – increasing access for talented students of all backgrounds, integrating knowledge across multiple disciplines, and engaging our knowledge with communities locally and globally – is the focus of Penn’s current $3.5 billion Making History campaign, and will position the University to make the greatest possible contribution to our society and our world.
Today, Penn proudly graduates a class of men and women who have shown the intelligence, drive, integrity, and
character to become engaged citizens who will serve humanity with distinction. Our Penn graduates are poised to take their place as productive democratic citizens and as just and humane stewards of our world.
In these challenging and perilous times, a world in need of young men and women who are willing to shoulder the moral responsibilities of leadership can look to Penn.
Franklin wrote: “We may make these times better if we bestir ourselves. The noblest question in the world is ‘What good may I do in it?’”
COMMENCEMENT SEATING
GUEST ENTRY from South St. GUEST ENTRY from 33rd St.NORTH
STANDS
guest seating
SOUTH
STANDS
guest seating
EAST
STANDS
guest seating
COMMENCEMENT STAGEGuests will find this diagram helpful in locating the approximate seating of the degree candidates. The sequence in which the candidates are presented for degrees is shown on the next page. The list on page 13, detailing the colors of the candidates’ hoods according to their fields of study, may further assist guests in identifying the locations of the various schools.
Keeping Franklin’s Promise ... 1
Franklin Field Commencement Seating ... 2
The Commencement Ceremony ... 4
Historical Notes ... 6
Academic Ceremony and Regalia ... 12
The Schools of the University ... 14
Honorary Degree Citations ... 16
Degrees in Course ... 18
The School of Arts and Sciences ... 18
The College of Arts and Sciences ... 18
The Graduate Division ... 26
The College of Liberal and Professional Studies ... 26
The School of Engineering and Applied Science ... 29
The Wharton School ... 33
The Wharton Undergraduate Division ... 33
The Wharton Graduate Division ... 36
The School of Nursing ... 41
The School of Medicine ... 43
The Law School ... 45
The School of Design ... 47
The School of Dental Medicine ... 49
The School of Veterinary Medicine ... 50
The Graduate School of Education ... 51
The School of Social Policy & Practice ... 54
The Annenberg School for Communication ... 55
The Graduate Faculties ... 56
ROTC Commissions ... 61
Principal Academic Honor Societies ... 62
Prizes and Awards ... 64
Faculty Honors ... 70
Alumni Representatives ... 74
Commencement Marshals ... 75
Trustees of the University ... 76
Officers of the University ... 77
The audience is requested to stand during the Academic Procession, the singing of the National Anthem, the Invocation, the Dismissal and the singing of “The Red and Blue,” and to remain in place until the Academic Procession has left the field.
MUSIC
Westminster Brass James W. Hala, Director STUDENT PROCESSION ALUMNI PROCESSION
Procession of the Alumni Class Representatives Procession of the Class of 1984
Procession of the Class of 1959 ACADEMIC PROCESSION
OPENING PROCLAMATION
James S. Riepe, Chair of the Board of Trustees THE NATIONAL ANTHEM
David J. Doyle, C’09
Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro’ the perilous fight O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming. And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave? INVOCATION
Charles L. Howard, Chaplain GREETINGS
Amy Gutmann, President
Presentation of the 25th and 50th Reunion Classes Remarks
ACADEMIC HONORS
Vincent Price, Interim Provost GREETINGS
Harvey Rubin, Chair, Faculty Senate CONFERRAL OF HONORARY DEGREES The President
Yvon Chouinard ...Doctor of Humane Letters Founder, Patagonia, Inc.
Co-founder, One Percent For The Planet
George Crumb, Ph.D. ...Doctor of Music Pulitzer Prize-winning Composer
Jennifer Yvonne Mokgoro, Esq. GL’90 ...Doctor of Laws Judge, Constitutional Court of South Africa
Eric E. Schmidt, Ph.D. ... Doctor of Science Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Google, Inc.
Susan Solomon, Ph.D. ... Doctor of Science Senior Scientist, Earth System Research Laboratory, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration
1999 National Medal of Science Recipient
Co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2002-2008
Muhammad Yunus, Ph.D. ...Doctor of Laws Founder and Managing Director, Grameen Bank
With Grameen Bank, recipient of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize INTRODUCTION OF THE COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER
The Interim Provost
COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS
Eric E. Schmidt, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Google, Inc CONFERRAL OF DEGREES IN COURSE
The President
Candidates are presented by the Deans and the Associate Provost CLOSING REMARKS
The President DISMISSAL The Chaplain THE RED AND BLUE
By William J. Goeckel, Class of 1896, and Harry E. Westervelt, Class of 1898 Come all ye loyal classmates now, in hall and campus through,
Lift up your hearts and voices for the royal Red and Blue. Fair Harvard has her crimson, old Yale her colors too, But for dear Pennsylvania, we wear the Red and Blue. (Chorus)
Hurrah! Hurrah! Pennsylvania! Hurrah for the Red and the Blue; Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah for the Red and the Blue. RECESSIONAL
The Vice Provost presented to the Trustees Samuel Powell, Samuel Keene, William Paca, Alexander Lawson, John Hall, John Beard, & William Edmiston, as Candidates for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts, informing them, that they had finished their Studies, had undergone a public Examination, and were well qualified; whereupon the Trustees issued the written Mandate, under their Hands & the privy Seal of their College, directed to the Provost, Vice Provost and Professors, requiring them to admit said Students to the Degree of Bachelor of Arts, and likewise they gave a like Mandate to admit the Reverend Mr. Hector Alison, now on Duty as Chaplain in the Pennsylvania Regiment; and the Revd. Mr. John Ewing, their present Lecturer in Natural Philosophy to the honorary Degree of Master of Arts. After which the Trustees repair’d to the Academy Hall, preceded by the Candidates for Degrees, in their Gowns, and the Members of the Faculty in their Gowns, and were follow’d by the Masters and Tutors of the several Schools at the Head of the junior Classes and the Scholars, who walked in Procession, two by two; and having respectively taken their Seats, the Commencement was open’d by Prayer, performed after the Rites of the Church of England by the Reverend Mr. Peters, President [of the Trustees].
The honorable the Governor, several Officers of the Army, a great many Gentlemen of this, and the other Colonies & a Number of Ladies and Citizens were pleas’d to favor us with their Presence.
There was a great Variety of entertaining Orations and public Disputations in the Latin and English Languages, in which the Students, acquitting themselves with universal Applause, the said Mr. Alison, who presided, according to Charter, in the Absence of the Provost, conferred the several Degrees as directed by the two Mandates.
At the Close of this Ceremony, which was perform’d in a very solemn Manner, the Vice Provost made a serious Address to the Graduates, exhorting them to fear God, prosecute their Studies, and make it the whole Endeavor of their Lives to become as useful as possible in their respective Stations, and to consider this World as preparative for the Fruition of a holy God, in that glorious State of Immortality, which thro’ the Merits of our blessed Savior, was to succeed this transitory Life, And then concluded with a suitable Prayer. It gave the Trustees a very sensible Pleasure to hear the Commendations that were given of the whole Performances by almost every Body present.
Minutes of the Trustees of the College, Academy and Charitable Schools
8 June 1759
250 yearsago: Penn held the Commencement of 1759 in its Academy building (1750) (at the left in this view). The 18th century campus, located at Fourth and Arch Streets, consisted only of the Academy building and the Dormitory (1762) (at the right). This sketch, by Pierre Eugène Du Simitière, ca. 1780, is the only surviving contemporary rendering of the Fourth Street campus. Courtesy of the Library Company of Philadelphia.
TWO HUNDRED FIFTY YEARS AGO
The Commencement of 1759
To-morrow will be held a PUBLICK COMMENCEMENT, in the Hall of the COLLEGE and ACADEMY of this City,
from Ten to Twelve in the Forenoon, and from Three to Five in the Afternoon, at which Time the Company of all that please
to attend, will be very acceptable.
Pennsylvania Gazette
The academic year which concluded in the Commencement of 1759 was just the tenth in Penn’s history, but it was surely as astonishing and extraordinary as any year in the 250 since then. The Provost was the Rev. William Smith, a priest in the Church of England, but also a regular and strident writer of political essays. In the fall of 1757 he had printed a particularly harsh attack on the Pennsylvania state legislature. The legislature, finding him guilty “of promoting and publishing a false, scandalous, virulent and seditious libel against the late House of Assembly of this Province,” ordered him imprisoned. Penn’s Trustees, however, took Provost Smith’s side in the controversy and in February 1758 directed the undergraduate students to attend Smith’s classes “at the usual Hours in the Place of his present Confinement,” that is, in the county jail! The standoff continued for two months before the legislature adjourned and the Provost was released. In November, however, when the Assembly re-convened, calls again were made for Smith’s arrest. This time the Provost asked the Trustees for their permission to sail to England with an appeal to the King. The Trustees granted him that permission and in early December Smith left Philadelphia.
Provost Smith taught the senior class and the Trustees, anxious to hold Commencement in June, scrambled to find a substitute teacher. It gave them great pleasure when they found a suitable candidate at Princeton and were able to recruit him in the middle of the academic year. The new member of the Penn faculty was Rev. John Ewing, a minister in the Presbyterian church and learned in both the liberal arts and the natural sciences. Rev. Ewing took hold of his responsibilities immediately; the undergraduate calendar remained on schedule. Seven students passed their examinations and formed the Class of 1759. The crisis eased (and Smith was successful in his appeal: he returned to Philadelphia in October with an exoneration from the King’s Privy Council and an honorary doctorate from Oxford!).
The Trustees’ minutes of the Commencement of 1759 provide one of the best accounts of an early commencement on record. The descriptive detail given to every step of the process – from the “public Examination” of the College seniors, to the grant of authority conferring the degrees, to the conduct of the graduation ceremony itself – testifies to the importance of the proceedings.
Penn was following what it believed to be the best of Old World traditions, borrowed from Oxford and Cambridge and adapted to the circumstances of American higher education. Commencement was the day for celebrating the graduates’ learned achievements and the student “orations” and “disputations” commanded no less than a four-hour program. It was also an occasion for recognizing and honoring the accomplishments of those who had led lives of successful endeavor. The awarding of honorary degrees fulfilled that purpose. Finally, it was a time for reflection upon and commitment to fundamental values in life. The closing address, delivered by the highest ranking officer of the institution, sought to convey to the graduates the significance of their collective future. The academic robes, the formal procession, the prayers, the grandeur of the building and the audience – all helped serve to inspire the participants. Commencement was meant to be one of the most memorable events in one’s life.
ONE HUNDRED FIFTY YEARS AGO
The Commencements of 1859
Adjourned Special Meeting March 17th, 1859, 11½ o’clock A.M. The Board met, pursuant to adjournment at the last meeting, to attend the Medical Commencement, and proceeded to the Musical Fund Hall, where, after prayer by the Rev. Dr. Schaeffer, the degree of Doctor of Medicine was, with the usual ceremonies, conferred by the Provost upon the following gentlemen, who had been recommended for the degree by the Medical Faculty.
[The minutes then list the names of the 140 graduates, with the states of their respective residences, and the titles of their respective graduating essays.]
An address was then delivered to the graduating Class by Professor Smith.
Adjourned Minutes of the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania
17 March 1859
150 yearsago: Musical Fund Hall, where the University held both its Commencements of 1859, still stands at the southwest corner of Eighth and Locust Streets. It is associated with many world-renowned 19th century musicians, but most famous for hosting, in 1856, the first national convention of the Republican Party. This photograph of the front of the Hall, taken sometime in late 19th century, shows the building as it appeared after its 1847 remodeling.
Photograph from the publication Centenary, Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia, 1820 – 1920. 250 yearsago: Samuel Powel (1739-1793) was one of the students
who graduated at the Commencement of 1759. He later became one of Philadelphia’s leading citizens, twice
serving as the City’s mayor and twice as a Trustee of the University
of Pennsylvania. Samuel Powel remains well known
in Philadelphia today for the elegant townhouse
he owned at 244 South Third Street, which has
been preserved and is open to the public, and as the founder of Powelton Village, located just north of the University of Pennsylvania in West Philadelphia. Oval portrait attributed to Angelica Kauffmann.
Courtesy of the University Art Collection, University of Pennsylvania.
UNIVERSITY COMMENCEMENT
The Commencement of the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania took place at the Musical Fund Hall at noon yesterday. The hall was packed full in every part and it was found necessary to close the doors some time before the commencement of the exercises. A great number of persons were unable to obtain admission to the building. The graduates, headed by the officers and faculty, walked in procession from the University to the hall. The exercises were opened with prayer by the Rev. Mr. Schaeffer, after which the degree of Doctor of Medicine was conferred upon the graduates by Henry Vethake, LL.D., Provost of the University.
Henry H. Smith, M.D., Professor of Surgery, delivered the valedictory. He gave a sketch of the duties of the physician to the public, and spoke of the high tone which every honorable medical man should maintain; alluded to the position of society to a physician; to the fact that the physician and philanthropist must not expect great rewards, but must be actuated by nobler motives; of the evils of quackery; and closed as follows:
“When, in after life, temptations assail you; when evil influences beset and assail your fair fame, may you recall the fact, to-day presented to you in words of kindly interest, that you are members of a noble profession, attached to a society of honorable men, and that, as such, honor forbids your yielding to the temptations of the enemy, and basely deserting the flag under which you are now enrolled. Wishing you every happiness, I, in the name of my colleagues, tender you our farewell.”
Philadelphia Press
18 March 1859 Penn’s Trustees established the School of Medicine in 1765 and it soon proved to be a profound innovation in American higher education. By 1800 the School of Medicine had grown larger than the College and by 1830 it was generally acknowledged as the premier American institution of medical education. In the 1858-59 academic year there were 409 students in the School of Medicine, representing twenty-three states, the District of Columbia, and six foreign countries. The School’s faculty had its own buildings on campus and conducted its internal affairs largely independent of the Provost and the Trustees
of the University. Through most of the 19th century the unique status of the School was well illustrated by its academic calendar – considerably shorter than that of the College – and its stand-alone annual commencement.
The School of Medicine conducted its commencements in a manner more familiar to us today than did the College. The ceremony’s emphasis was not so much the academic attainments of the students – though the conferring of the M.D. degree certainly acknowledged that achievement. The emphasis was rather on the commencement speaker and the significance of his address for the newly-credentialed graduates. In 1859 Henry Hollingsworth Smith was in just his fifth year on Penn’s faculty, but he was well known as a surgeon of unusual ability; a prolific scholarly author; and a powerful public speaker. Those qualities led his medical faculty colleagues to select him as their representative at commencement. The Philadelphia newspapers celebrated his address and called for its publication. His leadership in the medical profession was perhaps best demonstrated two years later, when, at the outbreak of the Civil War, the Federal government chose him to organize the hospital system of Pennsylvania and the state appointed him Surgeon-General of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Smith was the very model of the modern commencement speaker.
Adjourned Meeting July 1, 1859, 9¾ [o’clock] A.M. The Board met pursuant to adjournment to attend the Commencement and proceeded to the Musical Fund Hall, where the following degrees were, with appropriate ceremonies, conferred by the Provost, after prayer by the Rev. C.W. Schaeffer and Orations by Members of the graduating Class.
[The minutes then list the names of thirty graduates of the College, the twelve graduates of the Law School, four late graduates of the School of Medicine, and the twenty-five recipients of the semi-honorary degree of Master of Arts.] The Provost announced the names of the gentlemen to whom the Henry Reed and other Prizes had been awarded and the exercises were concluded by a Valedictory Oration from a member of the Graduating Class.
Adjourned Minutes of the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania
Friday, 1 July 1859
150 yearsago: Henry
Hollingsworth Smith (1815-1890), speaker at the Medical Commencement of 1859, was Professor of Surgery in the School of Medicine from 1855 until 1871. He was later President of the Philadelphia County Medical Society and President of the Medical Society of the State of Pennsylvania, as well as Chairman of the Surgical Section of the American Medical Association. Portrait photograph, photographer unknown.
Collections of the University Archives and Records Center, University of Pennsylvania.
150 yearsago: Edward Blanchard Hodge (1841-1906) delivered the Greek salutatory at the University Commencement of 1859. Following his graduation from the College at Penn, he enrolled in the Princeton Theological Seminary, from which he graduated in 1863. He was ordained a Presbyterian clergyman, served for thirty years as pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Burlington, New Jersey, and in 1893 was named Secretary of the national Presbyterian Board of Education. He held that position until his death. Photograph taken from the publication University of Pennsylvania (Illustrated).
Collections of the University Archives and Records Center, University of Pennsylvania.
Commencement of the University of Pennsylvania
The annual commencement of the University of Pennsylvania was held yesterday morning, at the Musical Fund Hall, in the presence of a large assemblage. At ten o’clock the procession, composed of the Professors and Graduating Class, entered the Hall, the Germania Orchestra performing meanwhile, one of their choice selections. Though, according to the programme, the Orchestra was to perform pieces at different periods of the exercises, there was no music after the introductory, owing to the serious illness of the Hon. Richard Rush, residing in the neighborhood. The opening prayer was followed by the Salutatory Oration in the Greek, by Edward B. Hodge. This was succeeded by addresses on the subject named “Eldorado,” by Edward P. Capp; “The Battle of Tours,” by Richard A. Coleman; “Historic Rivers,” by James B. Roney; “The Balance of Power,” by William McMichael; “Our National Literature,” by Ludovic C. Cleemann; and “Historical Effects of Eloquence,” by Charles E. Buckwalter. The speakers acquitted themselves creditably and were much applauded. Bouquets were thrown to some of them by their enthusiastic admirers.
The degree of Bachelor of Arts was conferred on the following members of the Senior Class by [Provost Henry] Vethake: -- [here followed the thirty names of the graduates of the College]
The degree of Master of Arts was conferred on the following graduates of three years standing: -- [here followed the twenty-five names of the recipients of this semi-honorary degree]
The degree of Bachelor of Laws was conferred on [here followed the twelve names of the graduates of the Law School] The degree of Doctor of Medicine was conferred on [here followed four names of late graduates of the School of Medicine]
The valedictory address was delivered by J.H. Young, which closed the exercises.
On the stage was a fine portrait of Professor Vethake, painted by [Thomas] Sully, which is to be placed in the College Hall in commemoration of his services to the institution, with which he has been connected since 1836. He recently tendered his resignation, to take effect yesterday.
Public Ledger
Saturday, 2 July 1859 The most striking feature of the University Commencement of 1859 was its adherence to tradition. The ceremony of July 1859 was virtually indistinguishable from that of a century earlier. The public procession in academic garb, the entrance into a grand auditorium, the accompanying music, the initial student address in Greek, the six student addresses in English, the conferring of degrees, and the valedictory were all borrowed directly from Penn’s first commencements. Likewise, the undergraduate curriculum in 1859 was little different from its counterpart in 1759. While professional education – led by the School of Medicine, but by 1859 also including the Law School and the School of Engineering and Applied Science – was transforming the landscape of American universities, the liberal arts and sciences were mired in the past. Another generation would pass before this too would change.
FIFTY YEARS AGO:
The Commencements of 1959
During the middle years of the twentieth century, Penn held two, regular graduation ceremonies: the Mid-Year Convocation and the annual Commencement. The University typically conferred several hundred degrees at the Mid-Year Convocation, which permitted it to be held in Irvine Auditorium. The annual Commencement was much the larger of the two – the University typically conferred more than 2,000 degrees – and it was held in the Municipal Auditorium (where the Ruth and Raymond Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine now stands). The traditions observed at both events were similar in several respects to those held by the College a century and two centuries earlier – the participants still dressed in academic regalia; the procession, accompanied by music, was still an extraordinary parade; the awarding of degrees still symbolized the achievement of a lifelong credential of enormous importance – but the program was now focused – like that of the School of Medicine in 1859 – on the inspirational leadership of the speaker and the recipients of honorary degrees. Student “orators” had given way to those who had been successful and become prominent in American and international life. In 1959, Penn’s Mid-Year Convocation and its annual Commencement adhered closely to this new statement of educational values.
50 yearsago: The Commencement of 1959 was held in the Municipal Auditorium, which stood at the corner of South 34th Street and Civic Center Boulevard. The President, Provost, Trustees, and faculty were seated on stage; the graduates on the floor in front of the stage; and family and friends at the rear and in the balconies of this great hall. The Ruth and Raymond Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, which opened in 2008, now stands on this site. Jules Schick Photography, 10 June 1959.
Collections of the University Archives and Records Center, University of Pennsylvania.
Penn Honors Lawrence
The Commonwealth [of Pennsylvania] plans to utilize nearly $23,000,000 of Federal funds to improve instruction in Pennsylvania’s education program, Gov. David L. Lawrence said here yesterday. Speaking at the midyear convocation of the University of Pennsylvania in Irvine Auditorium, 34th and Spruce sts., Lawrence credited Russia’s scientific achievements as having aroused an intense interest in Government and public support of education.
“In what concerns education, the rockets and satellites became blessings,” he said. “An aroused public was the result, a public with an intense interest in education such as we have seldom seen before. In a matter of weeks, the public’s concern reached teachers, the school boards and administrators. They looked to government to take the initiative and display leadership.”
Pointing out that America was late in upgrading its educational program to the necessities of the times, Lawrence said Pennsylvania had moved forward as quickly as any State to bring education up to date. The Governor stressed that education today was “big business” and because of that America should not expect “sweeping improvements in all our classrooms overnight.” However, he said new requirements had been instituted in the study of English, science, mathematics and world culture.
“This is only the beginning,” Lawrence declared. “As other ideas for improving our schools are developed, we shall implement them as quickly and thoroughly as it is humanly and financially possible. Beginning this school year, the school term will mean 180 days of actual classroom instruction – not 160 days of teaching and 20 days for football, picnics, country fairs or teacher institutes. The qualifications for becoming a teacher are being raised to include more study in science, language, literature, philosophy and mathematics. More modern languages will be available for study in schools and interest is being revived in Italian, Polish, Russian, Lithuanian and Hebrew.”
Lawrence said the state was fortunate in that it has colleges for every academic pursuit. He pledged his Administration’s determination to assist as “fully as possible” State-aided colleges and universities.
About 700 students received degrees in course from Gaylord P. Harnwell, University president. Lawrence received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree for his “dedicated career in government affairs.”
Philadelphia Inquirer
Sunday morning, 8 February 1959 The Governor of Pennsylvania is an ex-officio member of the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, but Governor Lawrence was making his first appearance. Elected Governor in November 1958, David Leo Lawrence (1889-1966) had taken office just three weeks before Penn’s Mid-Year Convocation. Penn’s President, Gaylord P. Harnwell, was delighted that Governor Lawrence had accepted Penn’s invitation to speak. Lawrence was a native of Pittsburgh and had served as Mayor of that city for the past thirteen years, but he was little known to Philadelphians. The Governor’s address and Penn’s award of an honorary doctorate helped to break the ice. In the years that followed, Governor Lawrence proved to be a faithful and generous friend of
higher education in general and of Penn in particular. Under Lawrence, the state legislature funded a series of new buildings on campus, beginning with the Social Sciences Quadrangle – the Graduate School of Education, Psychology Building, Caster Building, and Stiteler Hall – and the School of Veterinary Medicine’s Gladys Hall Rosenthal Building and extending in later years to several other new structures. In 1959, Penn was on the cusp of the biggest building boom in University history.
U.S.-British Aid to Africa Urged at Penn Graduation An English educator yesterday advocated a joint venture by the U.S. and Great Britain to help develop African nations through aid in education and science. Speaking at the University of Pennsylvania’s commencement exercises in Convention Hall, Dr. Robert S. Aitken, vice chancellor of the University of Birmingham, England, said that such a program “can work wonders in Africa in two decades.”
The speaker, originally a physician and later a medical educator, asserted that the need for higher education in Africa is so great and so urgent that only the combined resources of the two countries could meet it. Acknowledging that Britain had not done enough in higher education to keep pace with the African rush toward autonomy, he said that his country had done “what she could” alone.
The University conferred 2,325 degrees-in-course.
Philadelphia Inquirer
Thursday morning, 11 June 1959 The University Commencement of 1959 featured an international speaker, one who addressed notably controversial world issues. The end of colonialism across the globe, the rise of independent nation-states in Africa, and the responsibility of the former colonial powers to the newly-free peoples were all subjects of then-current political debate.
50 yearsago: The Commencement of 1959 lauded both world and local leaders. In this view, Penn’s President, Gaylord P. Harnwell, hands the University’s diploma to Althea K. Hottel, former Dean of Women at Penn and an honorary degree recipient, and to Robert S. Aitken, the commencement speaker and also an honorary degree recipient. Jules Schick Photography, 10 June 1959.
Collections of the University Archives and Records Center, University of Pennsylvania.
The role the United States should play in these matters was unclear and unsettled. The University existed not only to instill knowledge, but to advance knowledge. The University also believed that it had a responsibility to extend its core principles and its expertise to issues of public interest. Commencement was an opportunity to perform this responsibility, to teach and nourish creative thinking, to contribute to the democratic ideal of a well-informed citizenry. Though Robert Stevenson Aitken was not well known to the American public, his topic was an excellent match for the University’s Commencement requirement. He was able to help Penn perform its public service in 1959 and Penn rewarded him by conferring upon him an honorary Doctor of Laws. In addition, Aitken was not alone. The University awarded six other honorary doctorates, in law and in science.
Commencement, in its modern form, was a rich intellectual experience, defined not just by the earned degrees of the day, but also by the individuals the University chose as role models for the graduates and the audience.
TODAY
Penn in 2009
Improving the Evolving World
Penn is in the vanguard of increasing access for high achieving students. We remain one of the few private “need-blind” universities in the nation, and, beginning this fall, we are replacing loans with grants for all financially needy students. In addition, we will fund an additional 400 new service opportunities for undergraduate students over the next four years.
This increase in support of service will build on the impressive achievements of the Civic House, the Fox Leadership Program and the Netter Center for Community Partnerships. Each year, more than 4,000 Penn undergraduates in all schools engage in a variety of service activities. Additionally, students in the School of Social Policy & Practice provide more than 150,000 hours of community service a year. The School of Dental Medicine’s PennSmiles program supplies children in West Philadelphia with dental education and treatment and the School of Nursing’s LIFE Program provides nursing, medical, and rehabilitative care for more than 350 local seniors. Notably, Penn Law was the first to require pro bono work as a graduation requirement and Penn Vet, in partnership with the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society, affords veterinary students the opportunity to participate in a surgery rotation, increasing the number of adoptable dogs and cats each year.
We are proud of putting knowledge into practice, but we are not complacent. Over the course of Penn’s history, the challenges facing humanity have increased in quantity and intensity. One hundred years ago, teams of adventurers mounted expeditions to the South Pole during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Today, expeditions to Antarctica are no longer an end unto themselves. Instead, scientists travel to the continent to study climate change, a new and evolving challenge that is sparking imagination and igniting bold pursuits.
New challenges also abound deep inside the human body. At Penn, neuroscientists explore the workings of the mind
of neuroscience is rich with opportunities for exploration and growth. Now more than ever, advances are critical as developmental disabilities and neurodegenerative diseases plague our population. Our new Penn Integrates Knowledge Neuroscience Initiative will help ensure that we are on the leading edge of new discoveries as the needs of society evolve. This initiative supports five new Penn Integrates Knowledge professorships, provides start-up funds for collaborative research, and strengthens interdisciplinary initiatives between the School of Medicine and other schools within the University.
The landscape of higher education and the greatest challenges of our time are constantly evolving. It is all the more fitting then that, on February 12, Penn and Philadelphia join communities around the world in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. Since last April, the campus has been abuzz with programs organized by Penn and local cultural organizations to celebrate the Year of Evolution. The Year explores evolution through a variety of approaches, including an interactive, multimedia exhibition at the Penn Museum entitled Surviving: The Body of Evidence.
Darwin’s contributions to science both continue to provoke debate and to spark research. His development of the modern theory of evolution enriches our understanding of the diversity of life and the development of both differentiated individuals and species. Just as biological adaptations over generations create new branches on the tree of life, the decisions we make—individually and collectively—alter the course of human history as we adapt (or fail to adapt) to a rapidly changing world. A key characteristic of evolution is that timely adaptation to change is essential to the survival of both individuals and species.
Long before Darwin’s birth or the publication of On the Origin of Species, Heraclitus said that, “There is nothing permanent except change.” As society and challenges evolve, Penn adapts and flourishes. With creative thought and innovative action, we will thrive in new environments and welcome the opportunity to tackle new intellectual and practical problems. This year, may we all broaden our horizons, attain our goals, and engage one another as members of a community of learning, growth, and fellowship.
President Amy Gutmann “Improving the Evolving World”
Almanac
for 15 January 2009 In 2009, the Penn Compact with its threefold theme – increasing access, integrating knowledge, and engaging locally and globally – leads the University of Pennsylvania into the future. It does so in partnership with the campus building plan, Penn Connects, and the $3.5 billion capital campaign, Making History. Working together these three initiatives promise to achieve President Gutmann’s objective for Penn: from excellence to eminence. Today, as the University community celebrates the Commencement of 2009, it is useful to reflect on the institution’s oldest traditions and to recognize that Penn is keeping faith with the best of its past.
Mark Frazier Lloyd Director
University Archives and Records Center
T
he practice of sporting signs on caps and gowns as a form of public proclamation at Commencement dates to the early 1760s and recalls an even more ancient tradition, originating in the practice of medieval universities. Penn’s archives contain several 18th century broadsides, printed in Latin, which were distributed to Commencement guests along with the regular programs. The broadsides contain a series of propositions classified under various academic headings. Presumably, the graduating students were willing to defend these theses against any assertions to the contrary. On the eve of the Revolution, however, statements such as “the rights of the people are as divine as the rights of their rulers” must have met with widespread sympathy.ACADEMIC CEREMONY AND REGALIA Commencement exercises at American universities and colleges traditionally are composed of three essential elements: the Academic Procession, the conferring of degrees, and the Commencement address. This practice has been codified since 1895, when a national conference on academic costume and ceremony was proposed and a plan known initially as the “Intercollegiate System” was formally adopted. The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania incorporated this code in the Statutes of the University in November 1896. Now under the aegis of the American Council on Education, the “Academic Costume Code and Academic Ceremony Guide” was revised in 1932 and 1960.* Throughout the 20th century, Commencement at Penn has, with minor modifications, followed the dictates of the code and its revisions.
By 1896, however, Penn had been granting degrees for nearly 140 years.
Like other American colonial colleges, Penn borrowed its 18th century Commencement rituals directly from the English universities. In England the history of academic dress reaches back to the early days of the oldest schools. As early as the second half of the 14th century, the statutes of certain colleges prohibited “excess in apparel” and required the wearing of a long gown. It is still an open question as to whether academic dress finds its sources chiefly in ecclesiastical or in civilian dress. It is often suggested that gowns and hoods were the simplest, most effective method of staying warm in the unheated, stone buildings which housed medieval scholars. In any case, academic regalia had evolved to contemporary familiarity by the time Benjamin Franklin was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of St. Andrews in 1759.
TRADITIONS AND CURRENT PRACTICE AT PENN
In April 1887, on the recommendation of a committee of the faculty, the Trustees adopted the “‘Pennsylvania’ System of Academic Costume.” The colors and trimmings of hoods and caps were regularized according to faculty and degree. Beginning with the Commencement of 1887, the “‘Pennsylvania’ System” was published in each year’s program and adherence to its rules was expected of trustees, faculty, and students alike. Beginning in 1896, the “‘Pennsylvania’ System” was superseded by the “Intercollegiate System,” which has continued in effect to the present time. The gowns used in American academic ceremonies vary according to the highest degree awarded to the wearer. The gown for the bachelor’s degree has pointed sleeves; it is designed to be worn closed.
The gown for the masters degree has an oblong sleeve, open at the wrist. The sleeve base hangs down in the traditional manner. The rear part of its oblong shape is square cut and the front has an arc cut away. The masters gown may be worn open or closed. The doctoral gown is a more elaborate costume faced down the front with black velvet and across the sleeves with three bars of the same; these facings and crossbars may be of velvet of the color distinctive to the field of study to which the degree pertains. The doctoral gown has bell-shaped sleeves and may be worn open or closed. Some institutions have authorized doctoral gowns in colors other than the customary black; holders of the University of Pennsylvania doctorate may wear red and blue gowns.
The hoods are lined in silk with the official color or colors of the college or university which granted the highest degree held by the wearer; more than one color is shown by division of the field color in a variety of ways, such as by chevron or chevrons. The binding or edging of the hood is in velvet, with widths of two inches, three inches, and five inches for the bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees, respectively. The color of the border indicates the field of study to which the degree pertains. University of Pennsylvania graduates wear a hood lined in red with a blue chevron. The mortarboard cap is standard, though soft square-topped caps are permissible. Recipients of doctorates may wear a gold tassel fastened to the middle point of the top of the cap; all others wear black. Today – May 18, 2009 – is the University of Pennsylvania’s 253rd Commencement. Penn traces its origins to a deed of trust executed in 1740 and is celebrating its 269th birthday this year. President Amy Gutmann will confer bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees upon some 6,000 graduates of the University’s 12 schools. Honorary degrees will be awarded to six individuals of distinction in varied fields, as you will note on pages 16 and 17 in this program.
*This and additional material which follows is taken from “An Academic Costume Code and Academic Ceremony Guide” in American Council on Education, American Universities and Colleges, 14th ed. (New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1992).
Degrees shall be conferred today according to the following order:
Arts & Letters, white Science, golden yellow
Business Administration, mustard Nursing, apricot
Medicine, green Law, purple Fine Arts, brown Dental Medicine, lilac Veterinary Medicine, gray Education, light blue Social Work, citron Philosophy, dark blue
THE ACADEMIC PROCESSION The order for today’s Academic Procession is as follows:
Mace Bearer
President and Provost Chairman of the Board of
Trustees
Commencement Speaker Candidates for Honorary Degrees Deans
Trustees
Officers of the University Faculty
Overseers
Visiting Dignitaries THE MACE
The Secretary of the University carries the University mace, the symbol of authority of the University, at the head of the Academic Procession. It was a gift of the family of William Murray Gordon, M.D. 1910. It is adorned with the seal and arms of the University, the Penn
and Franklin coats-of-arms, a depiction of the Rittenhouse orrery, and a thistle symbolizing the early ties of the University with Scotland.
THE PRESIDENT’S BADGE OF OFFICE The President wears as a badge of office a silver medallion of which one face is engraved, like the mace, with the University seal. The obverse of the President’s medal bears the “orrery seal,” designed in 1782 by Francis Hopkinson, A.B. 1757, a Signer of the Declaration of Independence. The medal, suspended on a chain composed of silver links, was given by the late Trustee Thomas Sovereign Gates, Jr., A.B. 1928, LL.D. 1956, on the occasion of Sheldon Hackney’s inauguration as President in October 1981.
University Seal and Symbols
The Seal of the Corporation
The Trustees of the University have an official seal that is, in effect, the signature of the corporation. It had its origin at a meeting of the Board of Trustees in 1755 with Benjamin Franklin as Chairman.
Though the seal underwent changes over the years, the most recent design, approved in 1932 and adopted in 1933, returned it to virtually its original form.
The seal is composed of seven books stacked on a slanted desk top with the books bearing the following titles, representing the curricula of the day: Theolog, Astronom, Philosoph, Mathemat, Logica, Rhetorica, Grammatica. On the periphery of the stack of books appears the University motto,
Leges Sine Moribus Vanae, and the whole is encircled with the inscription Universitatis Pennsylvaniensis.
Penn Coat-of-Arms
The Penn coat-of-arms was derived by combining the coat-of-arms of Benjamin Franklin and that of William Penn’s family. The dolphin
on the red chief was part of Franklin’s coat-of-arms and the three silver plates on a blue chevron were a part of Penn’s. The two were combined on a white shield along with two open volumes representing Pennsylvania’s educational purpose.
Motto: Leges Sine Moribus Vanae
The motto of the University, Leges Sine Moribus Vanae, means “Laws without morals are useless.” It comes from the longer quotation from Horace, “Quid leges sine moribus vanae proficiunt?” the sense of which is “of what avail are empty laws without (good) morals?”
School Colors
Eighteenth century American academic institutions did not have colors. The earliest known representation of the combined Penn colors, red and blue, is on the incised lid of the 1871 College Hall cornerstone. One legend traces their origins to an early track meet at Saratoga, New York, between Penn, Harvard, and Yale. When asked by the officials what colors would be representing the Penn team, the Pennsylvania captain reportedly replied, “We’re going to be wearing the colors of the teams we beat,” i.e. Harvard Crimson and Yale Blue. We shall assume that Penn was victorious and thus remained loyal to the Red and Blue.
THE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES (1755)
The School of Arts and Sciences (SAS) is the direct descendant of the College of Philadelphia, where Benjamin Franklin established the first modern arts and sciences curriculum in the English colonies. Undergraduate programs for men date to the chartering of the College in 1755; the College of Liberal Arts for Women was founded in 1933. The Graduate School was established in 1882 with the appointment of a Faculty of Philosophy. The College of Liberal and Professional Studies (lifelong learning) traces its roots to 1892. The School of Arts and Sciences was born in 1974 with the merger of the College of Arts and Sciences, the College for Women, the Graduate School, and four social science departments from Wharton. Today SAS is the largest of the University’s 12 schools, providing a liberal arts education for all Penn undergraduates and supporting graduate studies, basic research, and continuing education across the full range of the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. The School has 26 departments with 499 standing faculty, 23 research centers, five interschool institutes, and 10,000 students.
THE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE (1765)
The first medical school in the English colonies was established at Penn in 1765, and it has set the academic tone and direction of American medical education since that time. Today, the School of Medicine, a leader among the nation’s medical schools, is committed to the highest standards in education, research, and patient care. It is continuously engaged in long-range strategic planning and implementation, focusing on programs and facilities that will take it well into the 21st century. In the current academic year, the School has 28 departments, 22 interdepartmental centers and institutes, and 1,700 full-time faculty members. It educates 570 M.D. students, 150 M.D./Ph.D. students, and 550 Ph.D. students, and trains more than a thousand residents and fellows. Over the last decade, the School has consistently ranked among the top recipients of monies granted by the National Institutes of Health.
THE LAW SCHOOL (1790)
Legal education at Penn began in 1790 with a series of lectures on law by its first law professor, James Wilson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and one of the original six justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. After a long hiatus, instruction in law was reinstituted in 1850 by George Sharswood; in 1852 the Bachelor of Laws degree was conferred for the first
time, and in 1888 the course of study was extended from two to three years. Today Penn Law’s pervasive cross-disciplinary program sets the standard in legal education with an unparalleled program that starts at the Law School and extends throughout the University. More than 75 percent of our faculty hold advanced degrees beyond law and more than 50 percent have joint appointments and affiliations, adding a broader perspective to the classroom. Our students augment their legal education with classes throughout the University, and earn certificates and joint degrees from many of the graduate and professional programs. In the 2008-2009 academic year the Law School has 891 students; 57 standing faculty including 10 associated faculty and clinicians, one senior fellow, and one senior lecturer; and 85 practitioners/lecturers. The School awards four degrees: Juris Doctor; Master of Laws; Master of Comparative Laws; and Doctor of the Science of Law.
THE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCE (1852)
The School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) is one of the oldest in the United States, tracing its beginnings to the establishment of the School of Mines, Arts and Manufactures in 1852. The first graduate of the School received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1854. Since that time, the School has grown into a center of excellence in the creation of technology and in technology education. Its spirit of innovation led to the creation in 1946 of ENIAC, the first all-electronic, large-scale, general-purpose digital computer, making SEAS the birthplace of the computer age. Today, Penn Engineering offers a wide range of undergraduate and graduate programs, including the first alternative liberal arts program based in an engineering school. SEAS is particularly distinguished by its inter-disciplinary, cross–school programs such as Management and Technology, Digital Media Design, Biotechnology, and the Executive Masters in Technology Management. Penn Engineering currently has 105 standing faculty, approximately 1,500 undergraduate students, 1,000 graduate students, four research institutes, seven research centers, and one regional institute.
THE SCHOOL OF DESIGN (1869)
Although the School of Design dates its founding from 1890, architecture courses were first offered at the University of Pennsylvania in 1869, making Penn’s architecture program the second oldest in the United States. In 1921, the Department of
Architecture joined with the Department of Music and Fine Arts to create an independent undergraduate School of Fine Arts modeled on the French École des Beaux Arts. In 1958, the School was renamed the Graduate School of Fine Arts, reflecting the shift to graduate degree offerings in architecture, city and regional planning, landscape architecture and fine arts. The triumvirate of architecture, landscape architecture and city planning shaped the core of the School in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1980s, a program in historic preservation was added. Today, the School provides a rich environment for the study of the arts, architecture, landscapes and urbanism. Its opportunities now include undergraduate study in fine arts, architecture and digital media design. As a more accurate description of the School’s major concerns and advancements made across a variety of fields, the School was renamed, in 2003, the School of Design. The School has a standing faculty of 30, approximately 130 lecturers and associated faculty, and more than 500 students.
THE SCHOOL OF DENTAL MEDICINE (1878)
The Trustees of the University of
Pennsylvania established a faculty of dentistry in March 1878 making Penn Dental Medicine one of the oldest university-affiliated dental schools in the nation. The School’s first decades were remarkable for the diversity of its students, for even in the 1880s, nearly every state in the Union and many foreign countries were well represented. The School was endowed by Thomas W. Evans, a native Philadelphian and an extraordinary dentist, whose legacy made possible the construction of the School’s Evans Institute in 1915, which remains the site of much of the School’s clinical and classroom instruction. Penn Dental Medicine’s educational, research and patient care facilities reached a new level of excellence with the construction of the state-of-the-art Robert Schattner Center and renovation of several specialty clinics including the Pediatric Clinic, the Brainerd F. Swain Orthodontic Clinic, and the D. Walter Cohen and Morton Amsterdam Periodontal Clinic. As a major provider of dental care to the West Philadelphia neighborhood, the School has also established innovative community outreach programs servicing the area. The dental campus also includes the Leon Levy Center for Oral Health Research, home of the School’s basic science faculty and extensive research activities. In the 2008-2009 academic year there were 416 faculty, including 48 standing faculty and 511 students.
THE WHARTON SCHOOL (1881)
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania – founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school – is recognized globally for intellectual leadership and ongoing innovation across every major discipline of business education. The most comprehensive source of business knowledge in the world, Wharton bridges research and practice through its broad engagement with the global business community. The school has more than 4,700 undergraduate, MBA and doctoral students; more than 12,000 annual participants in executive education programs; and an alumni network of more than 84,000 graduates.
THE SCHOOL OF VETERINARY MEDICINE (1884)
Penn’s School of Veterinary Medicine is one of the world’s premier veterinary schools. Celebrating its 125th anniversary this year, the School was built on the concept of Many Species, One MedicineTM. A pioneer since its inception, the School has led the way in such areas as infectious disease research, germ cell biology, animal transgenesis, comparative oncology, and comparative medical genetics. It has also successfully integrated scholarship and research with all aspects of veterinary medical education. The School’s strength in basic sciences, immunology, and mathematical modeling are valuable assets for developing strategies to rapidly detect and control the spread of new infections, and improving and developing vaccines that effectively protect animals. In Philadelphia, on Penn’s campus, are the Matthew J. Ryan Veterinary Hospital for companion animals, as well as classrooms, research laboratories and the School’s administrative offices. The Vernon and Shirley Hill Pavilion is home to state-of-the-art classrooms and research facilities for the School. The large animal facility at New Bolton Center, in Kennett Square, Pa., encompasses hospital facilities for the care of horses and food animals, diagnostic laboratories serving the agricultural industry and research facilities to determine new treatment and diagnostic measures for large animal diseases. The School has 135 standing faculty and accepts approximately 110 students per year for the four-year program.
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION (1914)
The Graduate School of Education (GSE) is a nationally distinguished leader in the production of education research and the preparation of education practitioners. GSE is unique among schools of education in its emphasis on the interactions between theory,
research, and practice and its interdisciplinary collaborations with other Penn schools. The School is organized into five divisions, has 40 standing faculty, various research centers, and approximately 1,000 students. Originally an undergraduate education school and, for many years, a five-year professional school, GSE now provides advanced professional qualifications for educators across the lifespan and offers courses that lead to practice- and research-focused masters and doctoral degrees. The School also offers executive doctoral degree programs and a broad schedule of continuing education courses.
THE SCHOOL OF NURSING (1935)
Nursing Education at Penn began in 1886 when the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania started a nurse training program. In 1935, the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania established a nursing degree program within the School of Education, and in 1950 the School of Nursing was established. The Master of Science in Nursing program was instituted in 1961, the Doctor of Nursing Science program in 1978, and the Doctor of Philosophy program in 1984. These innovations and a curriculum which progressively reflects changing health care delivery patterns have advanced the School into the first rank of American schools of nursing. The School is widely recognized for its leadership in nursing research and its innovations in nurse-managed clinical practice. It is a World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Nursing and Midwifery Leadership. The School of Nursing has 56 standing faculty and 962 students.
THE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL POLICY & PRACTICE (1948)
The School of Social Policy & Practice began in 1908 as a private school that opened its doors to five students in the field of child welfare. The School affiliated itself with the University in 1935 and became a formal school in 1948. In 2005, it changed its name from the School of Social Work to the School of Social Policy & Practice. The School offers the Master of Social Work, Master of Science in Nonprofit/Non-Governmental Leadership, Master of Science in Social Policy, and Doctor of Philosophy in Social Welfare degrees. In 2007, the School also began offering the clinical Doctor of Social Work degree, and will graduate the first cohort in 2010. The School is devoted to advancing human welfare, promoting social justice, and developing effective societal responses to global human need. Building on the School’s century-long commitment to social work and social change, the School educates
clinicians, policymakers, scholars, researchers, and leaders who work to advance the human welfare of local, national, and global communities. The School houses a number of research centers and programs, including: the Field Center for Children’s Policy, Practice, and Research; the Center for High Impact Philanthropy; the Cartographic Modeling Lab; the Social Work Mental Health Research Center; the Social Impact of the Arts Project; the Program for Religion and Social Policy Research; the Out-of-School Time Resource Center; and the Ortner-Unity Center on Family Violence. The School has 24 standing faculty and 360 students.
THE ANNENBERG SCHOOL FOR COMMUNICATION (1959)
Founded in 1959 through the generosity and vision of diplomat and philanthropist Walter Annenberg, the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania is devoted to furthering our understanding of the role of communication in public life through research, education and service. At the School’s founding, Ambassador Annenberg identified its unique mission. “Every human advancement or reversal can be understood through communication,” he said. “The right to free communication carries with it responsibility to respect the dignity of others - and this must be recognized as irreversible. Educating students to effectively communicate this message and to be of service to all people is the enduring mission of this school.” Now marking its 50th year, Annenberg is nationally ranked as the best graduate program in mass communication, health communication, political communication, and culture, society and communication, the Annenberg School has 21 full-time faculty, over 80 graduate students and more than 200 undergraduate students. The school offers the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, and runs an undergraduate program through the College of Arts and Sciences. The School is home to the Annenberg Public Policy Center, the Center of Excellence in Cancer Communication Research, the Center for Global Communication Studies, the Scholars Program in Culture & Communication, and the Institute for Public Service, among many additional projects pursuing innovative communication research and services.
YVON CHOUINARD
In your memoir, Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman, you note that “…it is better to invent your own game; then you can always be a winner.” More than 40 years ago, you invented your own game – pioneering business practices that integrated the highest standards of quality with respect for our delicate planet. Since then, you have always been a winner on your own terms by demonstrating that green business is good business.
Early in your life, your family moved from Maine to California, where your love of nature and your sense of adventure blossomed. Mountain climbing became your raison d’être. In 1957, you took up the tools of the blacksmith and created superior climbing hardware that your fellow climbers coveted. Selling your wares out of the back of your car, you began a business that would grow slowly, give voice to the clean climbing movement, and revolutionize mountaineering equipment. In 1972, after a fortuitous foray climbing in a rugby shirt, you expanded your business to include clothing, and Patagonia Inc. was born. As owner and founder of Patagonia, you sought out the best ways to build the best products while doing the least harm to the Earth. While other companies used cheap raw materials, Patagonia bought only organically-grown cotton and created fleece fabric from recycled plastic bottles. At every turn you held fast to environmentalist David Brower’s maxim that “there is no business to be done on a dead planet.” In recognition of your efforts, you received the Sustainability Asset Management and Sustainability Performance Group’s Leader Award in 2008.
In 2001, you expanded your vision once more and co-founded One Percent for the Planet. Since 1986, Patagonia had been donating one percent of its sales to environmental groups. You invited others to embrace this self-imposed “Earth Tax” and do the same. Today, more than 1,000 businesses worldwide have joined the alliance.
Today, in recognition of your passionate and principled business practices, your legacy of environmental stewardship, and your winning ways, the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania are honored and pleased to confer upon you, Yvon Chouinard, the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.
GEORGE CRUMB
You are more than a composer. You are an explorer of form, an inventor of sound, and a wellspring of avant-garde music. In its 1977 review of Star-Child, which later won the 2001 Grammy for Best Contemporary Composition, the New Yorker praised you for creating an intimate method that invites listeners to share your poetic thoughts and visions and to enter a private world of marvels. You have, indeed, taken the world by the hand, leading us on a journey toward new and wondrous forms of musical expression.
Raised by a clarinetist and a cellist, you began composing at the age of nine in your hometown of Charleston, West Virginia, where you later attended Mason College of Music and received your bachelor’s degree. Graduate school took you to the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where you studied for your master’s degree; the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin, where you studied under Boris Blacher; and the University of Michigan, where you received your Doctor of Musical Arts. In 1965, you joined Penn’s faculty as Assistant Professor of Music. Here, you created some of your most critically acclaimed compositions, including a cycle of songs based on poetry by Federico García Lorca. Diverging from your contemporaries, you created music that juxtaposed diverse styles and sounds from Western, world, religious, and folk music. You played instruments in unique ways – striking wet tam-tams, rubbing the rims of tuned water glasses with a bow, or pouring marbles into an open piano. Today, entire festivals are devoted to your body of work, and you continue to create brilliant compositions, such as Otherworldly Resonances and American Songbook.
You have received numerous awards in recognition of your contributions to modern and avant-garde music, including the 1968 Pulitzer Prize in Music for Echoes of Time and the River. You are a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and you have been recognized with the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers Award, the Koussevitzky Recording Award, and the 1998 Cannes Classical Award for Best CD of a Living Composer.
Today, in recognition of your inspired and evocative compositions and in celebration of your lifetime of musical achievements, the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania are honored and pleased to confer upon you, George Crumb, the degree of Doctor of Music,
honoris causa.
JENNIFER YVONNE MOKGORO
Under the yoke of apartheid, you pursued an education that would become the bedrock of your contributions to building South Africa’s democracy. You received your Bachelor of Jurisprudence, Bachelor of Legal Letters, and Master of Legal Letters from the University of North West. Seeking expanded opportunities, you traveled to the United States to continue your studies, and, in 1990, you received another Master of Legal Letters from the University of Pennsylvania.
When the hope of an end to apartheid became a reality, you returned to your homeland and began your career in the Department of Justice of the erstwhile Bophuthatswana. Your work and research explored the impact of law on society and revolutionized human rights and women’s rights. You continue to make the world a more humane place through your service on the boards of the Nelson Mandela-Rhodes Trust and the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria. In 1994, Nelson Mandela appointed you to the Constitutional Court of South Africa. As the first black female judge of that esteemed body, you worked tirelessly to strike down apartheid legislation while helping to craft South Africa’s new democratic constitution. You also penned numerous groundbreaking opinions such as the decision to abolish the death penalty in South Africa.
You have taught and lectured extensively at universities in South Africa, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States. In 2007, you delivered the commencement address to the graduating class of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, which later bestowed upon you the James Wilson Award for your service and contributions to the legal community.
In recognition of your impact, you have also received Georgetown University’s Women’s Law and Public Law Fellowship, Albany Law School’s Kate Stoneman Award for Democracy, the Black Lawyers Association’s Human Rights Award, the Oude Molen Reserve Order of Merit, the University of Pretoria’s Legal Profession’s Woman Achiever Award, and the Tshwane Outstanding Service Award.
You have molded a democracy, championed women’s and children’s rights, and fought for justice for all. In recognition of your contributions to South Africa and the world, the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania are honored and pleased to confer upon you, Jennifer Yvonne Mokgoro, the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.
ERIC E. SCHMIDT
In a recent interview with Charlie Rose, you predicted that “in our lifetimes we’re going… from almost no one having any kind of information and access to libraries to virtually everyone having access to every piece of information in the world.” You understand that knowledge is freedom. You have devoted your career to heralding a new age of learning empowered by technology that is expanding exponentially.
You received your bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and your doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley. Upon graduating, you served as a member of the research staff at the Computer Science Lab at the legendary Xerox Palo Alto Research Center and held positions at Bell Laboratories and Zilog.
In 1983, you joined Sun Microsystems, Inc. As chief technology officer and corporate executive officer, you led the development of Java, a platform-independent programming technology, and defined Sun’s Internet software strategy. Your legacy of achievement as an Internet strategist, entrepreneur and developer of pioneering technologies continued when you joined Novell in 1997. As chairman and chief executive officer, you led that company’s strategic planning, management and technology development.
Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin recruited you from Novell in 2001 to serve as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Google, Inc. As the head of the world’s largest search engine, you have built the infrastructure that has enabled Google to expand at a meteoric pace, while enhancing a vibrant corporate culture admired and imitated the world over. You have ensured that quality and reliability remain consistently high, while supporting the innovative product development that has become synonymous with the Google name.
In 2006, the National Academy of Engineering recognized your work on “the development of strategies for the world’s most successful Internet search engine company.” You were elected as a member of that esteemed body. You are also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and you serve as chairman of the board of directors for the New America Foundation.
Above all, you have connected people, provided unprecedented access to information, and helped to usher in a new era of innovation and endeavor. For your manifold contributions to putting the world at humanity’s fingertips, the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania are honored and pleased to confer upon you, Eric E. Schmidt, the degree of Doctor of
SUSAN SOLOMON
In 2008, Time Magazine hailed you as one of the world’s 100 most influential people. Enumerating your achievements in the field of atmospheric science, a colleague commented that “all scientists like to believe they will leave the
