Amy Gutmann | History in the making

I want to take this moment to thank the entire University community for the overwhelming outpouring of support that has accompanied the launch of our $3.5 billion campaign for Penn, which we have named Making History.

Whether measured in financial terms - we already have $1.6 billion in commitments - or by the incredible enthusiasm we witnessed this weekend at our campus-kickoff events, the message rang loud and clear: Our extended Penn family is energized and determined to make Penn the premier urban teaching and research university of the 21st century.

I credit this fabulous response to our impassioned students, our extraordinary faculty and staff and our devoted alumni and friends worldwide.

Penn today brims with glowing examples of our commitment to push the boundaries of knowledge and our dedication to connecting theory and practice in service to the world.

Check out the information tables on Locust Walk. Listen to the conversations taking place in our College Houses. Follow the accomplishments of our students, faculty, and alumni in Penn's publications and Web site, and in media throughout the world, from The Daily Pennsylvanian and The Philadelphia Inquirer to The New York Times, the Financial Times and The Times of India.

Wherever you are, you will find proof perfect that, in the words of Political Science professor John DiIulio, "at Penn, we are here to achieve something bigger than ourselves."

Each gift to the campaign powerfully affirms not only our donors' deep appreciation for the impact that Penn has had on their lives, but also an abiding faith that, with additional resources, Penn will accomplish so much more. Through the success of our campaign, we will bridge disciplines in ways we never imagined to generate unforeseen discoveries, insights, approaches and cures.

We will strengthen financial-aid programs for undergraduates, graduates and professional students alike, and we will establish many more endowed professorships for our fabulous faculty.

We will build state-of-the-art teaching and research facilities in which our faculty, students and staff can flourish more than ever before.

We will set ever higher standards for university residential life as we create ever more vibrant learning communities - including a new College House - on an even more beautiful urban campus. Our campus will also feature more green space, and new and improved recreation and athletic facilities.

In our increasingly complex world, we will make history in communities on this campus, at our doorstep and across the globe as never before.

The success of this unprecedented campaign ultimately will be measured not only by the financial support that we rally for innovative programs, new state-of-the-art facilities, scholarships and endowed professorships, but also by the extent to which we involve our entire University family in the creation of a new kind of University - one that that is more intellectually daring, more beautifully vibrant and more powerfully transformative than we dare to imagine.

By joining together on this great mission, we will truly make history.

Amy Gutmann is the president of the University of Pennsylvania.

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