The Pennsylvania Society will award its coveted Gold Medal for Distinguished Achievement this December to University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann, PA Society President Robert J. Ciaruffoli Jr. announced today.
“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.
Gutmann will receive the award at the Pennsylvania Society’s 120th annual dinner in New York City Dec. 7. Tickets for the dinner can be purchased at pasociety.com.
Gutmann has been Penn’s President since 2004. Her most recent contract extension will make her the longest-serving President in school history.
The University of Pennsylvania’s academic, technology, healthcare and community enterprises all have grown under Dr. Gutmann’s stewardship, making the university Pennsylvania’s third-largest private employer, and the largest private employer in Philadelphia.
Dr. Gutmann has also focused her presidency on expanding access to the transformative powers of a Penn education. A first-generation, low-income college student herself, Dr. Gutmann has more than doubled the number of first-generation students attending Penn. At the same time, she has substantially increased support for students from low and middle-income families by nearly tripling Penn’s financial aid budget during her presidency.
Dr. Gutmann also has continued her personal scholarship while leading Penn’s vast enterprise; her 17th book is scheduled to be published this August.
Dr. Gutmann will be the 110th recipient of the Gold Medal. The Pennsylvania Society will donate $50,000 to a Pennsylvania charity of Dr. Gutmann’s choice.
The Pennsylvania Society is a nonprofit, nonpartisan charitable organization that traces its roots to the 19th Century. The Society has more than 2,000 members.
