The President's Report 1983

President's Report 1983 Certain of the ingredients of the 1983 Commencement ceremonies in mid- May remain vividly in my mind as I reflect upon the University of Penn- sylvania and our sense of direction and mission in this third year of my administration. The awarding of degrees symbolizes the close of one stage of a person's life and the commencing of another stage. So those of us who bear responsibility for the ongoing life of the University have completed the process of identifying certain salient ele- ments in Pennsylvania's future, and we are now involved in the planning which will serve to shape the future. I want to share some of the planning that is underway. The audience enthusiasm which greeted our Commencement speaker, syndicated columnist Ellen Goodman, indicated clearly that she had struck a chord in her reflections on the real world. At the same time her message went to the heart of what a university should be. Ms. Goodman suggested to the graduates that there is no sense in pretending that they can plan a future for themselves without regard to the future of the country and the future of humanity; that there is nothing more self-defeating and reckless than a plan to ignore the public world. Here at the University we are examining how we can most effectively - relate our human capital and the attendant resources to the recognized needs and expectations of the larger ; society. This report will focus upon ., people... planning.. and progress within Penn. Sheldon Hackney Throughout its history, the University Penn's Future be realized without the work of a dedi- of Pennsylvania has reviewed and re- Choosing cated administrative and support staff. vised its educational During We must continue to build the sort of programs. Following eighteen months of extensive the since the end of environment that leads to productive thirty-seven years discussions of long-range plans, I pre- the Second World War, there have been and satisfying work lives for all of Penn's sented a strategic plan to the trustees three exercises carried employees. My vision of the University major planning last January. The plan is called "Choos- out members of the faculty and stu- is inherently a collective one, capturing by ing Penn's Future." This title was meant dent in concert with the academic a common sense of purpose and resolve, body to emphasize a commitment to active administration. In 1946 a Committee on a jointly held sense of both past and and purposeful planning, and to declare Educational Policy and Planning submit- present on the part of all those associ- our intention to shape our own future, ted to the and trustees a com- ated in any way with Pennsylvania. president rather than leaving it to be molded by set of findings and recom- The planning process that has been prehensive events and impersonal forces. I believe mendations to described commits the entire University guide post-war planning. the strategy contained in this document Under the direction of President to self study. Detailed five-year plans is the right one for Penn at this particu- Gaylord Harnwell, there evolved during from the schools and resource centers lar time. The four general planning max- the 1954-1959 what came to be are being reviewed by the Academic period ims that serve to define our priorities known as The Educational a and Committee, which Survey, and establish a framework for future Planning Budget of is a broad-based, group compilation major reports involving decisions are: highly-respected the deliberations of 300 individuals. of University citizens responsible for Refinement of these reports led to an The Universitys quality depends on the providing the president and provost integrated development plan and major strength of its faculty; advice on future priorities. It has the in the decade of the sixties. ability to strike a critical balance be- fund-raising The University must conserve its It was the of the tween resources and aspirations. Our report University resources and protect itsfinancial Commission the task, centrally, will be to take the sepa- Development during integrity; early years of Martin Meyerson's rate school and resource center plans administration that enunciated the con- The University's special character is cept of One University, which in turn reflected in the diversity ofpeople it resulted in the Program for the Eighties attracts to its community; and fund raising campaign. The Universitys scale must ensure the These efforts have planning-funding highest academic quality of its students transformed the The Faculty Honorees in 1983 University. campus and research efforts. has been rebuilt, the and student Robert Austrian, ProfessorofResearch Medicine faculty ... IV ScholarAward. To be successful over the next dec- Century body broadened, and the University's Mildred Cohn, Professor Emeritus of Biochemis- research base strengthened as well as ades, the University not only must ttyandBiophysics... National Medalof Science. extended. Our undergraduate programs adhere to these axioms but must re- Thomas P Hughes. ProfessorofHistoryandSoci- to three with olog,of Science... Fellow of theInstitutefor have been recast and improved, while spond special challenges Advanced andFellow theAmerican commitment that have Study of our professional programs have re- the fervor and Academy of Arts andSciences. mained nationally prominent; our Ph.D. given Pennsylvania its reputation and Herman P Schwan, Professorof Bioengineering ... The 1983 Edison Medal. programs have produced more scholars distinction. These challenges are: IreneI. Winter, Associate Professorof History of and teachers than in any period of the Undergraduate education: Art... MacA rthur Fellow. University's history. Research excellence; and I took During the summer after Student financial assistance. office, we began a planning process Guggenheim Winners for 1983 Each school and resource center has aimed at analyzing some of the most Seven Pennsylvania faculty members were among been formulating its own detailed five- the Guggenheim Fellows namedlast year across the pressing problems facing the University. informed the indi- nation. The awards covering ayear's travel and This was to year plan by priorities 'choice to: process designed develop Future. These research infields of the winners went for these and cated in Choosing Penn Dr. Bludman, options meeting problems with a clear statement Sidney ProfesorofPhysics,forstu- to initiate a broad discussion of the plans will begin dies in slellarevolution andcollapse. of the intellectual directions over the Dr Farriss. Associate policy issues involved. Out of these Nancy ProfessorofHistory, next decade and must necessarily in- forwork on food in thecosmology and ecologyof discussions with individuals, and with colonial Mesoamerica. clude frank appraisals of current pro- those who spoke for officially organized Dr. Daniel Hoffman, ProfessorofEnglish andpoet grams, administrative organization and groups, evolved a set of planning direc- in residence, forstudy ofform andfable in thefic- functions, and facilities. New lion William Faulkner. tions for the immediate future. The physical of ventures will be identified along with the Dr. K C. Nicolaou, Professorof Chemistry, for undergirding all of the single proposition substitutions and reallocations neces- studies in the totalsynthesisof naturalproducts. advice we received was that the Univer- the to fund them. Finally, questions of Dr. Rosemary Stevens, Professorof History sity must strengthen itself as an institu- sary andSociologyof Science, forstudy ofAmerican scale must be addressed by examining in the20th tion of first choice for faculty, students, hospitals century. the a decade of economic Dr. Marc Associate His- and staff. ability, during Trachtenbe,g, Professorof uncertainty, to maintain the quality of tory, forwork on strategic thought in America, the student body and to make critical in- 1945-80. Neil Weiiver, Fine vestments in new and Professorof Arts,for faculty programs. painting. At the same time we must recognize that none of our academic objectives can 2 ALMANAC November 15, 1983 and meld them into a University plan. the standing faculty, the total number of A Research The outcome should be a fundamental minorities increased by twenty-nine per University statement of the scale and cent the 1978-1982. The University's during period Penn is one of the premier research for the balance of the 1980's and new minority faculty repre- scope twenty-five universities the nation, ranking elev- In committee sented one-third ofall positions added to in beyond. February a repre- enth in the total amount of expenditures Association the faculty. senting the Middle States standing for research. In the past year we Provost Ehrlich and I are committed of Colleges and Schools will be on the received $128 million of such momentum. We must nearly campus to conduct an accreditation to maintaining this funds, 1504 awards. and spread among visit. We envision the visiting commit- continue to recruit aggressively the federal for FY1984 numbers of women and Although budget tee playing a useful role in the review of appoint larger includes real increases for basic black and scholars to the individual school and resource center Hispanic research, we face continuing challenges To this end, we have plans and in making sure that a sensible standing faculty. to the of our research effort. a committee of quality University plan emerges. appointed standing These include changes in the distribution

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