Larry Jameson will serve as Penn’s 10th president following a 15-month tenure as the University’s interim leader.
Jameson — who was named interim president in December 2023 — will assume the Penn presidency in a permanent capacity through June 30, 2027. The University Board of Trustees voted to approve his appointment during a virtual meeting on March 13.
Jameson had previously agreed to serve as interim president through the 2025-26 academic year. He first assumed the role just days after former Penn President Liz Magill resigned amid national controversy surrounding the University’s response to allegations of antisemitism on campus.
During the virtual meeting announcing the appointment, Board of Trustees Chair Ramanan Raghavendran said that given the “challenges facing higher education today,” there is “nothing more important than leadership.”
“Penn has been very fortunate to have Larry Jameson at the helm during this time. I am pleased that our Board can recognize his exceptional performance, and acknowledge his inspirational leadership and vision, by formally extending his appointment to June 30, 2027,” he added.
“I am deeply honored by this vote of confidence from our Board of Trustees. I look forward to continuing the vital work of our faculty, staff, students, alumni, and community members to uphold Penn’s mission of utilizing knowledge for the greater good,” Jameson said of the appointment.
In the resolution to appoint Jameson, the Trustees noted that a “pressing need for continuity” made it “necessary and appropriate” to appoint him to the presidency without forming a traditional search committee — the process that is outlined in the Faculty Handbook.
Jameson will continue to lead the University at a time of increased political scrutiny and mounting financial pressure for higher education institutions across the nation — including Penn — following the reelection of 1968 Wharton graduate and President Donald Trump.
Since the start of Trump’s second term, a National Institutes of Health funding cut has jeopardized $240 million in federal support for Penn, leaving the University’s financial future uncertain. This week, senior administrators announced several “proactive financial measures,” including a hiring freeze and a review of capital spending, in response to recent federal actions.
Schools and centers across the University have also stripped their diversity, equity, and inclusion websites — and altered policies, programs, and initiatives — following a Jan. 20 executive order. The changes drew sharp criticism from faculty members as well as local politicians, who alleged the University had “surrendered to the Trump administration’s bullying” and “made a cowardly move” in a Feb. 25 meeting with Jameson and other senior Penn administrators.
Under Jameson’s leadership, Penn has implemented numerous changes to its policies and practices in response to campus unrest and intense scrutiny at both local and national levels.
Following Magill’s controversial congressional testimony in December 2023, the United States House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce launched an investigation into Penn that resulted in a 325-page report released in October 2024. In May 2024, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) also announced that he was opening an expanded investigation, calling for a “House-wide crackdown on antisemitism” on college campuses.
Last spring, the Gaza Solidarity Encampment stood on College Green for 16 days until it was disbanded by Penn Police and the Philadelphia Police Department, resulting in the arrest of 33 individuals — including nine students. Less than a month later, Penn introduced new Temporary Standards and Procedures for Campus Events and Demonstrations, which banned encampments and changed previous policies.
At the start of the 2024-25 academic year, Jameson announced the creation of the Office of Religious and Ethnic Inclusion and also announced that Penn would limit statements on local and world events in a major move toward institutional neutrality.
Jameson’s tenure as interim president is the longest in Penn’s history, surpassing previous terms held by Wendell Pritchett, who served from February to June 2022, and Claire Fagin, who held the position from July 1993 to June 1994.
Before his appointment as interim president, Jameson served as executive vice president of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System and dean of the Perelman School of Medicine since 2011. Prior to that, he was dean of the Feinberg School of Medicine and vice president of medical affairs at Northwestern University.
Jameson has held several advisory roles across the University, including serving on consultative committees for the selection of a provost and the dean of the Wharton School. He was also a member of the presidential selection committee that chose Magill to serve as Penn's ninth president.
After receiving his medical degree and Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of North Carolina in 1981, Jameson completed his clinical training at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, focusing on internal medicine and endocrinology.
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