This month marks Ramanan Raghavendran’s one-year anniversary as Chair of the Penn Board of Trustees. He spoke with Penn Today in August about what he’s learned since becoming Board Chair, the idea of “overlapping consensus,” and the role and responsibility of a trustee.
He continues that dialogue with observations on Penn’s changes over the last year, the importance of its inaugural values statement, the relevance of institutions like Penn to American society, a call for alumni to expand their engagement with Penn, and more.
What is most on your mind as you reach the one-year mark as Penn’s Board Chair?
I took on this role because I really care. I care not just because I am a proud Penn alumnus; I care because there is plenty of evidence that universities like Penn are central to American greatness. So, what is most on my mind is finding ways to communicate the abiding importance of higher education for American leadership in the world.
Our universities are currently sites of societal focus and cultural debate. That is fine, and many aspects of the debate are healthy. But I never lose sight of the fact that our universities are really important for America, and we should do everything we can to help them prosper. That keeps me up at night!
Penn has seen major changes this past year. What are some that strike you as particularly pertinent?
Many of the things that have made Penn great are enduring. The excellence of our faculty, the quality of our students, our compact urban campus which encourages interdisciplinarity. Many of the visible changes we’ve seen over the last year simply advance our excellence. For instance, the two recent inaugurations of Amy Gutmann Hall and the Vagelos Laboratory will catalyze continued work in interdisciplinary areas. The new Ott Center for Track & Field provides indoor facilities for Penn but it also creates another gateway to campus for communities outside of Penn.
Other changes are more immediately transformative. President Jameson tackled one long-standing gap with the new Temporary Standards for campus events and demonstrations, followed by a faculty-led review of the Open Expression Guidelines. Two other landmark moments stand out: a statement on academic independence, endorsed by all 12 deans, and the first formal statement of values in our 284 years. The latter, just 81 words, is uniquely Penn, reflecting a culture rooted in Ben Franklin’s practicality. It’s an elegant guiding framework for how we think about ourselves and treat one another.
Have you found yourself referencing the values statement?
I do it all the time. I have it printed on a card I carry in my wallet. I constantly whip the card out at Penn events, which makes me quite the life of the party. I make no apology for being a Penn nerd—I was one as an undergraduate, and that has not changed!
My favorite phrase from the statement is ‘imperfect but self-improving.’ No person or institution is perfect. Ben Franklin was imperfect, as is Penn. But we are also self-improving, as Franklin was. Do we do it as well as we should at all times? Probably not, but that’s part of the imperfection.
Higher education has been subject to heavy scrutiny recently. What are your thoughts about some of the critiques?
I can’t address all of the commentary, but I can offer a couple of thoughts. First, I should say that different concerns have been voiced from inside and outside the academy. From the inside, I look to President Jameson to set the tone and articulate the substance, as he has done since becoming president. We must appreciate the distinction between the Trustees’ governance role and the president’s and his team’s operational roles.
I can certainly make this observation, though: Our values statement makes it clear that we are ‘a scholarly community that advances discovery and opportunity toward a better future for all.’ Penn is, first and foremost, a site for academic excellence.
From outside the academy looking in, I want to touch on one idea out there, that places like Penn are ‘elitist.’ We use the word frequently ourselves—‘elite educational institutions,’ and so forth. But over time, that’s made some people think of these schools as insular, fostering an increasingly ossified aristocracy of intellect or privilege.
I don’t see it that way at all. When I arrived at Penn 40 years ago with two suitcases and not much else, I wasn’t anyone’s idea of ‘elite.’ There are students on campus now from humble backgrounds who, 20 years hence, will shape politics, business, the nonprofit world, and more. Among them are many future Trustees.
Institutions like Penn are some of the best engines for social mobility, generation after generation. We refresh our society’s leadership ranks. That is why financial aid, for graduate and undergraduate students, will always be the most critical fundraising priority.
Speaking of which: the Quaker Commitment, announced in the fall semester, seems like a material step toward enabling greater access to a Penn education.
We must always consider the arc of time. When I was an undergraduate at Penn, we had very little financial aid. That’s dramatically different today. Forty-six percent of our undergraduates receive some form of financial aid, and the average annual financial aid grant is $68,837. These are nontrivial amounts, and that is a nontrivial percentage.
The Quaker Commitment focuses on middle-income families. It eliminates primary home equity from financial aid calculations, and raises the income threshold for full-tuition scholarships from $140,000 to $200,000. This will benefit approximately 900 current undergraduates with increased grant aid. Going forward, it will increase access for many students who might not otherwise consider Penn. It is a hugely important step in expanding affordability.
You’ve talked about service-based leadership. Expand on that.
A sense of service drives our Trustees—it’s baked into the word itself. We hold Penn in trust. We’re here to serve Penn and, through it, society. And I should mention we don’t get paid for this work—I keep getting that question!
This idea of service means putting the university’s interests above our own causes—not just financially but intellectually and emotionally. Being a Trustee means focusing on the university as a whole, its values, and its mission. That’s the foundation of service leadership as I see it here.
It also requires a deep commitment to understanding Penn. Penn is staggeringly complex—the size of a Fortune 250 company but much more complex. Trustees must grasp as much of it as possible to fulfill their responsibilities, and I’m deeply grateful for the dedication I see from my fellow trustees.
When I meet alumni, I push them to know more about this amazing place and get more engaged. It is natural that an alumnus will know most about the school they attended, or were involved with, at Penn. But this can result in a narrow perspective, so we are working to share more information about Penn’s scale and complexity to help inform alumni views.
I want to get your view on something topical: AI. I noticed Kate Crawford’s ‘Atlas of AI’ was on your annual top books list from a couple of years ago. What do you think Penn’s contribution to this conversation could be?
AI is here to stay—I use AI tools daily! But Penn, with its interdisciplinary strengths, is uniquely positioned to ask tough questions. One pressing concern is the energy AI consumes at scale. Its demands are skyrocketing, and in 50 years, we might regret rushing forward without addressing the sustainability and climate impacts. With a new vice provost for climate science, Penn is ready to lead on these challenges.
Another big issue is AI’s impact on jobs. Automation in manufacturing often left workers behind, and I worry AI could do the same for white-collar roles. Analyzing this issue requires expertise from myriad fields—sociology, business, law, computer science, education, and more. Penn is world-class in all these areas, and few institutions are better equipped to shape how we navigate AI’s opportunities and risks.
What are you looking forward to in the coming year?
Serving in university leadership in this era, whether in administration or as a trustee, is really not for the faint-hearted. This is a moment when the popular discourse about these places can be extraordinarily unforgiving. A relatively minor incident can overshadow much that is positive.
Our task is to navigate this landscape steadily and with a clear moral compass. President Jameson, with the help of his team and the trustees, is driving substantial change while embracing the qualities that make Penn one of the most sought-after institutions in the world for students and faculty.
We will not make everyone happy, but we will continue moving Penn forward.
So, what I am most looking forward to in 2025 is supporting Larry and his team in all they have planned. That is my core job here, as it is for the trustees.
