Former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, a 1979 Wharton graduate, is returning to Penn.
Nutter has been appointed as the Senior School of Social Policy and Practice Executive Fellow at the Penn Institute for Urban Research, according to an announcement by the School of Social Policy and Practice. In this position, he will focus on poverty in Philadelphia and other cities.
School of Social Policy and Practice Dean John L. Jackson, Jr. highlighted Nutter’s practical experience combatting poverty in Philadelphia in a statement.
"It’ll be valuable to have Mayor Nutter’s expertise, insights and public service background at the table as we think about issues of poverty in the 21st century," Jackson said.
Philadelphia has the highest poverty rate of the nation's 10 largest cities, with 26 percent of its residents living in poverty.
After Nutter left his position as mayor, he accepted positions at the University of Chicago and Columbia University. In addition to teaching, Nutter served as a CNN commentator and an adviser to the Department of Homeland Security. At the conclusion of Nutter's term as mayor, at least one Penn political science professor, Marc Meredith, appraised his tenure positively, saying this success would make him an attractive candidate for academic positions.
Despite his new position at Penn, Nutter will continue to serve as a professor at Columbia, where he currently specializes in urban and public affairs in their School of International and Public Affairs.
Before this appointment, some observers wondered whether Nutter would eventually come to Penn. “It seems like if the right job opportunity arose at a place like Penn, I could see him coming here,” Meredith told The Daily Pennsylvanian in 2016.
It seems the right opportunity has arisen.
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