New Student Issue: Ten high-profile visitors who came to Penn this year

Penn is a magnet for big names in almost every industry, from sports to academia, business to the arts. Here is a list of the top 10 coolest people to have visited Penn in the past academic year — and one or two stars that will be making their rounds in the next month.

Serena Williams

Tennis star Serena Williams visited campus to speak to students on Nov. 4, 2015. The athlete was invited by Penn’s Social Planning and Events Committee to Represent Undergraduate Minorities and SPEC Connaissance in an effort to bring diverse speakers to campus.

Williams, a six-time Wimbledon championship winner, talked for an hour in dialogue with a moderator at Irvine Auditorium and answered audience questions submitted through Twitter. Students were able to secure $10 tickets for the event by lining up on Locust Walk or purchasing tickets online.

Caitlyn Jenner

SPEC reeled in reality TV star and transgender icon Caitlyn Jenner to give a talk at Penn on Feb. 17, 2016. The decision to bring Jenner, who is seen by some to be controversial within the LGBTQ community, was questioned by some non-cisgender students.

Jenner conversed with Penn professor and longtime friend Buzz Bissinger in front of a packed audience in Irvine Auditorium, touching on topics such as gender, self identity and politics. Audience members had the opportunity to ask Jenner pre-selected questions.

Ben Bernanke

Former Federal Reserve System Chairman Ben Bernanke came to Penn on April 13, 2016, to give a talk about contemporary economic issues, including economic crisis and how to rebuild the American economy.

Bernanke talked in discussion with Penn professor Jeremy Siegel at the Annenberg Center’s Zellerbach Theatre. Some audience members at the event received a complimentary copy of his new book, “The Courage to Act,” which detailed Bernanke’s response to the 2008 global financial crisis.

Pope Francis

OK, so the Pope wasn’t exactly here just for Penn. But His Holiness did come to Philadelphia as part of the World Meeting of Families 2015 celebration. Sections of campus were blocked off from traffic in anticipation of his arrival, and the city was flooded with Sunday Mass attendees and other spectators over the weekend.

Junot Diaz

Pulitzer-prize winning author and MacArthur Fellow Junot Diaz spoke at Penn as a part of the United Minority Council’s Unity Week on Nov. 23, 2015. Diaz, whose novel “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, spoke to students in a Huntsman Hall auditorium about conformity, art and achievement.

Diaz isn’t the only Pulitzer Prize winning author to visit Penn this year. Viet Thanh Nguyen, the recipient of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, casually dropped into a Penn English class on April 22 to discuss his novel “The Sympathizer” with students.

The Daily Show

In anticipation for the 2016 Democratic National Convention, The Daily Show will be taping a week’s worth of episodes right at the heart of campus. Trevor Noah and his team will set up shop at the Annenberg Center from July 26 to July 29, and the episodes will be broadcasting on Comedy Central at 11 p.m. each night.

Penn students have special access to audience tickets through a lottery, which is raffling 200 seats per night online.

Joe Biden

The Vice President of the United States visited Penn on Jan. 15, 2016 to promote cancer research after the death of his son and 1991 College graduate Beau Biden.

Speaking alongside Penn President Amy Gutmann, Biden launched an initiative to investigate cures for cancer at the Abramson Cancer Center. Biden talked about his own family’s experience with dealing with the disease, and he emphasized the growing importance of utilizing technology to navigate scientific breakthroughs.

Carly Fiorina

The former 2016 presidential candidate, vice presidential candidate and former Hewlett-Packard executive came to Penn to talk about politics and business on Nov. 20, 2015.

Fiorina was the keynote speaker of the first annual Keystone Conference on Business and Policy. She spoke to audience members at Irvine Auditorium on economic policy, leadership and student loan debt.

Chance the Rapper

Chance the Rapper headlined the 2016 Spring Fling concert on April 15, 2016, along with electronic DJ 3LAU.

SPEC brought in the rapper to star in Penn’s annual spring concert, one of the biggest social events of the year for undergraduates. Previous Spring Fling artists include Kesha, David Guetta, Tyga and Magic Man.

Lin-Manuel Miranda

2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama winner and acclaimed author Lin-Manuel Miranda spoke at Penn during the 2016 Commencement on May 16, 2016.

Miranda, whose historical hip-hop play Hamilton has been rocking Broadway and the theater world this year, addressed a star-studded crowd at graduation. Donald Trump and Joe Biden, whose daughter and granddaughter, respectively, are graduating from the College of Arts and Sciences this year, attended the ceremony.

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