President

Blue sky with invitation message for virtual Commencement.

A ‘first’ Commencement like no other

As the pandemic moves an in-person Commencement ceremony to a future date and time, a special live online University-wide celebration on Monday, May 18, will offer up a salute to graduates, the conferral of degrees, and some surprises.

Aarogya team members

PEP winners connect patients with the medicines they need

Aarogya, a social-enterprise nonprofit created by three President’s Engagement Prize winners and graduating seniors, will bring affordable medicines to low-income people living in India.

Nikil Ragav smiles and leans casually on a tree

Nikil Ragav wants to bring high-tech, hands-on learning to all students

The President’s Innovation Prize winner wants to bring high-tech, hands-on learning to students of all backgrounds across the country with inventXYZ.

aerial shot of Franklin Field and people standing in formation on the field to spell out 2021

Commemorating a milestone moment

Although unable to meet at College Green this semester, President Amy Gutmann celebrated Hey Day—the official “moving up” day for Penn juniors to seniors—in a video with Class Board 2021 members.

Screen shot of a Zoom screen with Amy Gutmann, Geoffrey Garrett and Mauro Guillen

President Gutmann teaches session in first-of-its-kind Wharton coronavirus online course

President Amy Gutmann participated in a Q&A session with Wharton Dean Geoff Garrett and approximately 2,000 students as part of the new course dedicated to the coronavirus crisis called Epidemics, National Disasters, and Geopolitics: Managing Global Business and Financial Uncertainty.

Collage of PEP/PIP winners: Top Row (from left to right): Kwaku Owusu, Hyungtae Kim, Philip Chen (top), Aditya Siroya (middle), Artemis Panagopoulou. Bottom Row (from left to right): Nikil Ragav, Mckayla Warwick, Meera Menon, Shivansh Inamdar

Class of 2020 President’s Engagement and Innovation Prize winners announced

Awarded annually, the Prizes empower Penn students to design and undertake post-graduation projects that make a positive, lasting difference in the world, and are the largest of their kind in higher education.

closeup of student at graduation

An online celebration to mark a very special day

Penn will host an online University-wide graduation event at 11 a.m. on Monday, May 18. In-person ceremonies for Penn’s 264th Commencement will still take place on campus at a later date.

Campus & Community

April 13, 2020

Finding meaning amid misfortune

In an audio message, President Amy Gutmann urges the Penn community—from Camden to California, Canada to Kuala Lumpur—to make the very best of this new way of life.

spring on campus

In the midst of a worldwide pandemic, President Amy Gutmann knows the strength and determination of the Penn community, facing the crisis together, but also apart. In an audio message, Gutmann encourages students, faculty, and staff to stay positive during such unprecedented times—a lesson she learned from her mother.

“These days bring back memories of when I was in high school and my father suddenly died. My life was split in two,” Gutmann says. “Everything that was comforting and good had come before. Now my life was uncertain and more than a little frightening. It hurt.”

But Gutmann’s mom found the means to make other lives better while calming the chaos that disrupted their own. “In the midst of misfortune, she found great meaning,” Gutmann explains.

In the midst of misfortune, Gutmann continues, “each of us can find meaning. Each of us has a calling.”

Gutmann’s full message can be listened to below.

View Transcript

Credits

Writers

Lauren Hertzler

Photographers

Steven Minicola

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