Fox Leadership program gets $10 million

With a new multi-million-dollar endowment, the Robert A. Fox Leadership Program is about to get a whole lot foxier.

Robert Fox, a 1952 College alumnus, and his wife Penny Grossman Fox, who graduated from the School of Education in 1952, announced their gift of $10 million to support and expand the School of Arts and Sciences program, which will bring the family's total contribution to the program to $23 million.

The Fox Leadership Program was established in 1999 with an initial gift from the Fox family.

The program, which aims to make Penn a "leadership institution," according to Robert Fox, includes courses in the Political Science department and the Fels Institute of Government, major service initiatives and public events and speakers.

Fox Leadership is at the "forefront" of launching careers in leadership, said Penn President Amy Gutmann. This donation will allow these programs to be continued in "perpetuity," she explained.

College junior Annie Lee, co-director of the Fox Student Steering Committee, said she believes the gift is a testament to the strength of the current program and hopes to use the donation to build upon past successes.

"We help Penn students step up and become leaders," said Lee. "Because we now have the financial resources to do so, we can become even more ambitious."

In addition to the permanent endowment, for example, the gift will have the immediate short-term impact of expanding the scope of the Fox Leadership Program's initiatives in New Orleans for the next five years.

The supported programs include all-expenses-paid community service- and research-oriented spring break trips for over 100 students annually, as well as 20 paid summer internships serving non-profits in the New Orleans community.

Fox Leadership executive director Joe Tierney said the Foxes have been "wonderful benefactors" with a deep commitment to student leadership and to the University as a whole.

"I think this is just a wonderful way to create something that will be there forever, and hopefully we will be instrumental in changing a lot of young lives," said Robert Fox of his gift.

And the Fox family has done more than just sign a check.

"A lot of donors give money and then leave," said College junior Miguel Garces, co-director of the Fox Student Steering Committee. "But Fox wants to stay involved, and he can really make a difference with the program."

Thanks to the gift and the hard work of the program's students and directors, especially the "visionary leader of the program," Professor John DiIulio, that difference will prove long-lasting, securing a "great future" for Fox Leadership, SAS Dean Rebecca Bushnell wrote in an email.

Not only will the endowment be permanent, but so will the Foxes' impact at Penn

"This is a really worthy legacy for him and for Penn," Gutmann said.

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