Gutmann will be awarded the Pennsylvania Society Gold Medal award

Penn President Amy Gutmann will be awarded the Gold Medal for Distinguished Achievement by the Pennsylvania Society this December. 

The Pennsylvania Society was founded in 1899 and is a nonpartisan charitable organization that honors an individual's achievements, excellence, leadership, and service with its annual Gold Medal. Pennsylvania Society president Robert Ciaruffoli announced on April 12 that Gutmann will receive the Society's 2019 award.

“The Council of the Pennsylvania Society unanimously selected Dr. Gutmann for her remarkable leadership in Pennsylvania, and her distinguished representation of Pennsylvania’s ingenuity to the world,” Ciaruffoli said in a statement.

The Society will honor Gutmann at its annual dinner on Dec. 7 and will present a $50,000 donation to a Pennsylvania charity of her choice. 

Gutmann has served as Penn’s president since 2004. In November 2016, her contract was renewed until 2022, slating her to become the University's longest-serving president. In this role, she has run two fundraising campaigns that have helped increased the school's endowment from $4 billion in 2004 to $13.8 billion in 2018. 

Several previous Gold Medal award recipients have studied at Penn. Former Pennsylvania Governor and 1965 College graduate Ed Rendell and 1969 College graduate Marjorie Rendell received the award in 2015, and 1981 Wharton graduate Brian Roberts received it in 2018. 

Gutmann’s predecessor as Penn President and 1966 College graduate Judith Rodin was awarded the Gold Medal in 2006. Presidential Professor of Practice and former Vice President Joe Biden received the award in 2013.

Gutmann has received several other honors recently, including the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce's 2018 William Penn Award. In April 2018, she was one of 50 peopled named on Fortune Magazine’s annual World’s Greatest Leaders list.