University of Pennsylvania Coordinates: 39.953885°N 75.193048°W from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
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University of Pennsylvania Coordinates: 39.953885°N 75.193048°W From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The University of Pennsylvania (commonly referred to as Penn or UPenn) is an American private Ivy League University of Pennsylvania research university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Incorporated as The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn is one of 14 founding members of the Association of American Universities and one of the nine original Colonial Colleges. 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 Arms of the University of Pennsylvania institutions to follow a multidisciplinary model pioneered by several European universities, concentrating multiple Latin: Universitas Pennsylvaniensis "faculties" (e.g., theology, classics, medicine) into one Motto Leges sine moribus vanae (Latin) [6] institution. It was also home to many other educational Motto in Laws without morals are in vain innovations. The first school of medicine in North America English (Perelman School of Medicine, 1765), the first collegiate business school (Wharton, 1881) and the first student Established 1740[note 1] [7] union (Houston Hall, 1896) were all born at Penn. Type Private Penn offers a broad range of academic departments, an Endowment $7.7 billion[1] extensive research enterprise and a number of community Budget $6.007 billion[2] outreach and public service programs. It is particularly well known for its medical school, dental school, design President Amy Gutmann school, school of business, law school, communications Provost Vincent Price school, nursing school, veterinary school, its social sciences and humanities programs, as well as its Academic staff 4,246 faculty members[2] biomedical teaching and research capabilities. Its Admin. staff 2,347[2] undergraduate programs are also among the most selective in the country (approximately 10% acceptance Students 24,630 (2013)[3] [8] rate). One of Penn's most well known academic Undergraduates 10,301[2] qualities is its emphasis on interdisciplinary education, which it promotes through numerous joint degree Postgraduates 11,028[2] programs, research centers and professorships, a unified Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United campus, and the ability for students to take classes from Location States any of Penn's schools (the "One University Policy").[9] Campus Urban, 992 acres (4.01 km2) All of Penn's schools exhibit very high research activity. total: 302 acres (1.22 km2), Penn is consistently included among the top five research University City campus; 600 universities in the United States,[10] and among the top acres (2.4 km2), research universities in the world, for both quality and New Bolton quantity of research.[11] In fiscal year 2011, Penn topped Center; 92 acres (0.37 km2), the Ivy League in academic research spending with an Morris Arboretum $814 million budget, involving some 4,000 faculty, 1,100 Colors Red postdoctoral fellows and 5,400 support staff/graduate assistants.[2] As one of the most active and prolific Blue[4][5] research institutions, Penn is associated with several Athletics NCAA Division I – Ivy League important innovations and discoveries in many fields of Philadelphia Big 5 science and the humanities. Among them are the first general purpose electronic computer (ENIAC), the Nickname Quakers Rubella and Hepatitis B vaccines, Retin-A, cognitive Affiliations AAU therapy, conjoint analysis and others. COFHE Penn's academic and research programs are led by a NAICU 568 Group large and highly productive faculty.[12] Nine Penn faculty URA members or graduates have won a Nobel Prize in the last ten years. Over its long history the university has also produced many distinguished alumni. These include twelve Website Upenn.edu heads of state (including one U.S. President), three United (http://www.upenn.edu/) States Supreme Court justices, and supreme court justices of other states, founders of technology companies, international law firms, and global financial institutions, university presidents and eighteen living billionaires.[13] Contents 1 History 1.1 Early campuses 1.2 Educational innovations 1.3 Motto 1.4 Seal 2 Campus 2.1 Libraries 2.2 The University Museum 2.3 Residences 3 Academics 3.1 Coordinated dual-degree and interdisciplinary programs 3.2 Academic medical center and biomedical research complex 3.3 Admissions selectivity 4 Research, innovations, and discoveries 5 Rankings 6 Student life 6.1 Demographics 6.2 Selected student organizations 6.3 The Daily Pennsylvanian 7 Athletics 7.1 Rowing 7.2 Rugby 7.3 Football 7.4 Basketball 7.5 Facilities 8 Notable people 9 Controversies 10 See also 11 Notes 12 References 13 External links History The school considers itself the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,[note 2] as well as the first university in the United States with both undergraduate and graduate studies. In 1740, a group of Philadelphians joined together to erect a great preaching hall for the traveling evangelist George Whitefield, who toured the American colonies delivering open air sermons. The building was designed and built by Edmund Woolley and was the largest building in the city at the time. It was initially planned to serve as a charity school as well; however, a lack of funds forced plans for the chapel and school to be suspended. In the fall of 1749, eager to House intended for the President, create a school to educate future generations, Benjamin Franklin Birch's Views of Philadelphia (1800). circulated a pamphlet titled "Proposals for the Education of Youth in Home of the University from 1801 to Pennsylvania," his vision for what he called a "Public Academy of 1829. Philadelphia."[15] However, according to Franklin's autobiography, it was in 1743 when he first had the idea to establish an academy, "thinking the Rev. Richard Peters a fit person to superintend such an institution." Unlike the other Colonial colleges that Ninth Street Campus: Medical Hall existed in 1743—Harvard, (left) and College Hall (right), both William and Mary, and built 1829-30. Yale—Franklin's new school would not focus This statue of Benjamin Franklin merely on education for the donated by Justus C. Strawbridge to clergy. He advocated an innovative concept of higher education, one the City of Philadelphia in 1899 now which would teach both the ornamental knowledge of the arts and the sits in front of College Hall.[14] practical skills necessary for making a living and doing public service. The proposed program of study could have become the nation's first modern liberal arts curriculum, although it was never implemented because William Smith, an Anglican priest who was provost at the time, and other trustees preferred the traditional curriculum.[16][17] 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. The original sponsors of the dormant building still owed considerable construction debts and asked Franklin's group to assume their debts and, accordingly, their inactive trusts. On February 1, 1750 the new board took over the building and trusts of the old board. On August 13, 1751 the Academy of Philadelphia, using the great hall at 4th and Arch Streets, took in its first secondary 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. In 1755, the College of Philadelphia was chartered, paving the way for the addition of undergraduate instruction. All three schools shared the same Board of Trustees and were considered to be part of the same institution.[18] The institution of higher learning was known as the College of Philadelphia from 1755 to 1779. In 1779, not trusting then-provost the Rev. William Smith's loyalist tendencies, the revolutionary State Legislature created a University of the State of Pennsylvania.[18] The result was a schism, with 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 Quad in the Fall, facing Ware College House of trustees.[19] Penn has three claims to being the first university in the United States, according to university archives director Mark Frazier Lloyd: the 1765 founding of the first medical school in America[20] made Penn the first institution to offer both "undergraduate" and professional education; the 1779 charter made it the first American institution of higher learning to take the name of "University"; and existing colleges were established as seminaries.[21] 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. Although Penn began operating as an academy or secondary school in 1751