Penn is moving ahead with the implementation of its new strategic plan, administrators said during a State of the University address at yesterday's University Council meeting.
The latest version of the plan, "Building on Excellence," was released in April and includes a comprehensive series of academic, research and community initiatives that Penn will pursue over the next five years.
Administrators are currently assessing costs and formulating a list of priorities, Deputy Provost Peter Conn said in his report. Several task forces -- including those of the urban community, the continuum of education and teaching and technology -- have already been established.
Other immediate focuses of the plan include developing research opportunities and a common core academic program across the four undergraduate schools as well as conducting a large-scale graduate education review process.
In her annual report, Rodin highlighted the University's accomplishments over the last year, including faculty appointments, the opening of the Sadie Alexander School and plans for the creation of additional West Philadelphia schools, the University's recently-announced partnership with Citizen's Bank for redevelopment in West Philadelphia and the creation of the Institute of Strategic Threat and Analysis Response.
"Now, reflecting back on the year, I would say with so much pride that this university has been an amazing place this year," Rodin said. "I think the University is in a wonderful position to take its next step forward."
Rodin also discussed the University's financial status, noting that in the last four months, Penn has received more than $148 million in gifts and pledges, including the $100 million donation the late Walter Annenberg made in September. Other substantial gifts were a nearly $5 million donation from Robert McNeil for a new center of American Studies and a $3 million donation from University Trustee Paul Kelley to the School of Arts and Sciences and the Huntsman Program in International Business.
"From a development perspective, the University fared quite well this year," Rodin said.
"Doing well at this time has additional resonance," she added, noting that a number of schools have announced large-scale lay-offs and faculty freezes within the last week due to a lack of received pledges and poorly-performing endowments.
"We are in a position clearly where we did some necessary belt-tightening last year and we may do some this year again... but both in our fundraising and also in the performance of our endowment relative to our peer's endowment performance, Penn is actually doing quite well."
Other status reports included an update on the University's research standards and revised conduct policies from Vice President for Research Neal Nathanson and a summary of information technology initiatives for the year by Vice President for Information and Technology Robin Beck.
The Council also reviewed a series of proposed revisions to its bylaws, which will be voted on in December. Among the changes discussed was a decrease in the number of undergraduate representatives on the Council's Committee on International Programs, which Undergraduate Assembly members claimed would negatively impact their efforts to increase undergraduate involvement.
The University Council, which includes administrators, faculty members and student representatives, meets monthly in Houston Hall.
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