Ramos shares stories of career and Penn past

When Pedro Ramos, then a full-time partner for Ballard Spahr Andrews and Ingersoll law firm in Philadelphia, sat down for lunch with University President Judith Rodin a few months ago, he was under the impression that their conversation would be about the board of overseers at the University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

But the conversation took an unexpected twist, and he was offered the job of vice president and chief of staff in the Penn administration.

And yesterday, on the 11th day of his new job, Ramos took an hour to reflect on the unpredictable path that his career as a lawyer and social activist has taken and to offer some advice to the student audience.

As part of Career Services' lecture series in commemoration of its 75th anniversary, Ramos was the third of five distinguished alumni to shed insight on his career pursuits after graduating from Penn. About 30 people were present at the event, which took place in the Ben Franklin Room in Houston Hall.

The conversation with Rodin "really describes a lot about the road here and my road, and the things that happened in my career," Ramos said as he reminisced about the recent turn in his vocational path. "A lot of it has boiled down to doing what you're doing really well while you're doing it and not being so entrenched that you miss what's going on outside."

Associate Director of Career Services Genny Dunne, who introduced Ramos, said his local background made him a strong choice for a speaker.

"He's a real Philadelphia story," Dunne said. "He's a Philadelphia native, and someone who's been very active in civil affairs for a very long time."

Describing the wide array of experiences that led up to his current position, the former Philadelphia School Board president began his talk by outlining his upbringing in a primarily Latino community in West Philadelphia.

Ramos, who grew up making protest signs for his older brother's activist campaigns, was instilled with a sense of public service and responsibility at an early age.

From there, Ramos ended up as an urban studies major at Penn, where he became aware of the stark contrast between his upbringing and that of his fellow students.

"I knew that I was academically ready for Penn, but I had no idea how different it would be from the world I grew up in," Ramos said.

Serving as the United Minorities Council president while at Penn, Ramos was a passionate activist and learned some important lessons about the administrative aspects of institutions in the process.

"Being at Penn was a major introduction into the American main stream and institutional culture and bureaucracy," Ramos said. "I started learning as a student here how a big organization operates and how decisions are made."

Ramos graduated from Penn in 1987 and received his law degree from the University of Michigan in 1992. He accepted a position at Ballard Spahr Andrews and Ingersoll, where he spent much of his time focusing on advising colleges and large non-profit organizations.

But Ramos was not content just working a 9-to-5 job.

"I tried to stay involved with things that I like by volunteering and joining the boards of organizations," Ramos said. "It kept me grounded apart from the grind of working as a young lawyer."

At the age of 30, Ramos became the youngest member of Philadelphia's school board, and he went on to serve as president of the school board for two years. In the midst of overseeing reforms in the public education system, Ramos acquired a number of skills that he believes will be an asset to his work at Penn.

"One of the things that I learned while I was on the board was the power of being forthright," Ramos said. "You have to give out the truth early, before someone puts it out for you."

Following the formal speech, the audience was invited to engage in a question-and-answer session with Ramos.

In addition to answering basic queries about the law school application process, Ramos provided in-depth explanations of the intricacies of the Philadelphia school system's budget and current reformation.

Ramos left the audience with reassuring words about the good fortune he has had in his career thus far.

"I could have never written this script," Ramos said. "I'm trying to do something that I enjoy and to continue to grow."

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