University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann and three other university leaders will discuss current topics in higher education and their own personal journeys as part of the new American Conversation Series at the 92nd Street Y in New York on Tuesday, Oct. 13, at 8:15 p.m. 

In “Our Turn: Women Leading Academia,” Gutmann will share the stage with the chancellor of Rutgers University-Newark, Nancy Cantor; the president of Amherst College, Carolyn “Biddy” Martin; and Christina Paxson, president of Brown University. Award-winning journalist and author Lisa Birnbach will moderate the conversation, which will be webcast by the 92nd Street Y: https://www.92y.org/92YLive/Our-Turn-How-Women-Took-Over?92YLive=true 

These four academic leaders will discuss their individual career paths balancing work and family, as well as challenges facing higher education today. 

As president of Penn since 2004, Gutmann is an internationally recognized leader in higher education who attended Radcliffe as a first-generation college student and had made affordability a top priority in her own leadership. Penn’s all-grant undergraduate financial aid program is the largest in the country, meeting the full demonstrated financial need of all admitted students. 

Under her Penn Compact 2020, the University has entered into a new era with bold steps that focus on increasing access, integrating knowledge and engaging locally, nationally and globally. 

Gutmann has brought Penn to the forefront of civic engagement, expanded the number of first-generation college students and students from low- and middle-income families at Penn, bridged academic fields through interdisciplinary programs and published widely on the value of education and deliberation in democracy. In 2009, she was appointed by President Obama to chair the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues.  

This lecture is endowed by Claire B. and Lawrence A. Benenson in memory of their son, Harold Berger Benenson. 

Tickets are available at http://www.92y.org/Event/Our-Turn-Women-Leading-Academia