Penn professors are using their knowledge outside of the classroom - this month, some traveled as far as the Middle East to help draft solutions to major world problems.
These faculty members, including Penn President Amy Gutmann, went to Dubai, a city in the United Arab Emirates, to meet with other members of new World Economic Forum councils.
The Forum - an international organization that strives for worldwide economic and social development - held the inaugural summit for its 68 new Global Agenda Councils in early November.
The summit drew 700 world leaders from more than 60 countries, including experts from academia, business, government and civil society.
The meeting is particularly timely as world leaders look to lessen the burden of the current economic crisis.
In addition, the summit provided the framework for discussions that will occur at the Forum's annual meeting in Switzerland in January.
The councils covered a range of issues, from financial insecurity and global warming to the future of the Internet and water security.
Wharton professor Mike Useem served as co-chairman of the Leadership and Natural Disasters Council, which aims to compile what experts have learned from past catastrophes and how current knowledge can help mitigate future disasters.
Useem said his council plans to meet a few more times before the conference in Switzerland and eventually publish its findings in a book.
This winter will mark Useem's sixth World Economic Forum conference.
Fifteen faculty members are involved in the Forum this year, but Penn has not always had such a large presence.
"Before this year, individuals have attended the conference, but the University is now looking to build an institutional connection between Penn and the World Economic Forum," Useem said. He added that only six other universities have such strong relationships with the organization.
History professor Tom Sugrue was a member of the Council for Human Equality and Respect, which was co-chaired by Gutmann.
The council included, "really high-powered individuals - folks who spent their entire careers grappling with some of the most important issues of human rights and global inequality," he said.
Wharton Dean Tom Robertson co-chaired the Marketing and Branding council.
His group focused on how to market solutions to world crises like the $700 billion bailout plan - which was initially rejected by Congress, he said, due to poor marketing.
"If you are going to have an intervention, you have to understand who it is going to benefit and how to market it," he said.
Sugrue said the most interesting part of the conference was serving as an emissary to other councils and advising them on how human-equality issues tied into their discussions.
"There's nothing more exciting than getting some of the smartest people in the world together to talk about some of the most urgent problems," he said.
The World Economic Forum and the Dubai government covered the participants' costs of attendance.
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