Former Penn President Amy Gutmann has returned to Penn as a professor in the Annenberg School for Communication, according to a fall message from Annenberg Dean Sarah Banet-Weiser.
Gutmann’s 18-year presidency — the longest in the University’s history — ended in 2022, when she stepped down to serve as the United States Ambassador to Germany. After resigning from her ambassadorship in May, Gutmann is returning to Penn as the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Professor of Communication, according to Banet-Weiser’s message.
Gutmann told The Daily Pennsylvanian that she is currently on sabbatical, working on a writing project and preparing to teach during the next academic year.
“I am excited at the prospect of being back in the classroom with wonderful Penn students,” she wrote to the DP.
An Annenberg spokesperson pointed the DP to Banet-Weiser’s message, which added that Gutmann’s “wealth of experience and fresh perspectives will undoubtedly enrich not only the scholarship but also the community in our school.”
Gutmann assumed the Penn presidency in 2004, coming from Princeton University, where she served as provost. Her leadership saw many changes to the University, including a reduction of Penn’s carbon footprint by 44.3% and an increase of $16.5 billion in endowment funds.
Gutmann announced in a May 13 memo that she would be returning to the United States, citing her husband’s “professional obligations.” Her husband, Michael Doyle, is a professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
“Over the past two and a half years, Michael has moved heaven and earth to live with me in Berlin,” Gutmann wrote in the memo. “It is now my turn to plan the move back home to be with him.”
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