Ronald Daniels | Gratitude and community

Thanksgiving on Penn's campus is one of the quietest times of year. There are no office hours or classes and few unlocked doors. Wandering down Locust Walk becomes a solitary experience.

The peace and quiet here belie the communal gatherings happening indoors - in kitchens over glasses of cider and wine, around crowded dining room tables, and - yes - in front of the television. Historically, the holiday was a time to celebrate the end of the growing season, enjoy the harvest and prepare for winter. In a global economy, the end of the harvest is now less momentous, and other traditions come to the fore. It is a time to celebrate, communally, what matters most in our lives - and a time for reflection.

My own reflections these days turn often to these values of community, as I reflect on my own time at Penn. This campus is much more than a place for learning. It is a community of ideas, of talents, of aspirations. It is a broad and accommodating community, comprised of students, faculty, staff and alumni. Accomplishments here are collective accomplishments, not only because of Penn's vibrant collective spirit but also because individual successes elevate all of us and thus the entire institution.

This Thanksgiving, I am especially grateful for the spirit, dynamism and creativity that emanate from this University. Penn's community radiates from the center of campus to the four corners of the world; from summer mentorships on campus, to assisting victims of Katrina on the Gulf Coast, to life-saving initiatives in Botswana, the Penn community rises to challenges both near and far.

On election night, I watched the returns with about 40 undergraduates from the UA. As we talked and processed the results, I felt lucky to be surrounded by young people so engaged with and committed to the world. I thought about my own family, especially my eldest children who are themselves preparing to apply to college.

I was struck then, as I have been so often, by the unique place of academic institutions in our society. In an academic community, learning is a collaborative process. It works best when we interact with those whose lives experiences differ from our own. This is why we place such emphasis on bringing the world to Penn and bringing Penn to the world - whether welcoming international students and scholars in record numbers or strengthening and expanding our study abroad programs.

This is why we must always see ourselves as a partner and neighbor in West Philadelphia, helping our fellow residents with the kind of educational, vocational and safety challenges that, if they affect any of us, affect all of us. And this is why we emphasize interdisciplinary conversations across our 12 schools, which give students and faculty the opportunities to enrich each other's perspectives by sharing their areas of passion and knowledge.

Seeing ourselves as a community also means that we must help ensure the well-being of future generations, both here at home and in our larger global community. This is why we have worked so hard to advance quality-of-life initiatives, especially for our young graduate students and faculty members who struggle to balance their careers and their families. It equally informs our community's strong investment in sustainability, which generates energy and innovation from our students and faculty and also now informs the ways in which we design and reconfigure our physical spaces.

A community must also open its arms to all members, regardless of need. This Thanksgiving, as we face a global financial crisis, we will continue to be vigilant in preserving our educational and financial priorities. We will never allow external circumstances to define us as an insular community that ignores the moral imperative of equal opportunity. Our commitment to need-blind, no-loan financial-aid policies for undergraduates and increased financial and family-friendly support for graduate students, are critical building blocks in sustaining a diverse community of peers, in which people can come together across differences of race, sex, class, ethnicity and sexual orientation.

Penn is defined by its preeminence in research and education. Yet Penn is also defined by each and every one of us on this campus, forging a community that expands to include our families and friends, global partners and peers, intellectual mentors and colleagues. We embody Penn's core values every day, not as static or abstract principles but as the beating heart of a simply wondrous community.

Ronald Daniels is Provost of the University of Pennsylvania.

This is the third in a series of monthly columns by Penn administrators and staff. To see the previous columns in the Voices of the Administration series, click on the links below.

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