When Amy Gutmann left Princeton last year, she bade farewell to the open spaces and subtle peacefulness of suburban America.
Taking the place of that tranquility is a city that -- despite its many offerings -- often teems with filth, corruption and noise.
For Gutmann, serving as president of a university that is both academically and socially intertwined with Philadelphia means that she must extend her realm of responsibility beyond Penn, into the depths of the city.
To that end, she sits on a number of city organizations, including the executive board of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and the Schuylkill River Development Corporation.
But after more than a year in the city, many say she has not done much different from her predecessor, Judith Rodin.
Real estate and the improvement of education in West Philadelphia have topped her list of city initiatives, Gutmann said.
The growth of the Penn-Alexander School -- a public elementary school near campus that is partially funded by the University -- and the possibility of a new local high school for international studies have been marked achievements of Gutmann's first year in office, but are generally extensions of Rodin's plans.
Gutmann said the commercial revitalization of the 34th and Chestnut corner is at the top of her list while plans are unfolding to develop the postal lands -- 24-acres of land located just east of campus that will become Penn's in 2007 -- to transform the area into a "more attractive gateway from Center City."
City Councilwoman for Penn's district Jannie Blackwell said she is pleased with Gutmann's continuation of ideas set forth by Rodin.
Blackwell said that though the University's current programs with the city are successful, new ones will also be necessary.
"One of the issues that we will be working on this year is getting neighborhood people to be involved with employment," Blackwell said.
Gutmann said that she works with Blackwell on a weekly basis, since Penn's primary interest is in the local community.
Philadelphia Director of Commerce Stephanie Naidoff said Gutmann is contributing specifically through West Philadelphia revitalization and the Riverview Project along the Schuylkill river.
Naidoff added that Campus Philly -- which aims to keep college graduates in Philadelphia -- is a program on which she hopes to work closely with Gutmann.
"I am sure that Dr. Gutmann will be interested in it as time allows because this is very much in Penn's interest," Naidoff said.
City Councilman David Cohen -- a 90-year-old Penn alumnus who is frequently critical of the University -- said that while progress is important, it is Gutmann's responsibility to ensure that the University treats its community employees fairly.
"I think that it is an excellent school, but it ought also to be a model for how to conduct employee relations, between an employer and an employee, and I don't think that it does that," Cohen said.
Cohen said that he would be willing to work with Gutmann to achieve this.
"I would like to meet with Amy Gutmann and discuss this firsthand," Cohen said. The University "is viewed as a member of the city that seeks to deal unfairly with the ordinary people. And that always saddens me."
Cohen and Blackwell agreed that there has not been much change in Penn's relationship with the city since Gutmann took office.
Political Science professor Henry Teune said the only additional measure that he has seen from Gutmann is her plan to visit area high schools to recruit students.
"I don't think that there has been any radical discontinuity," Teune said. "Over the years we have developed a strong relations with West Philly, and that is on track."
Teune said that a positive relationship between the school and the city is inevitable, considering that Penn is offering exactly what the city needs.
"If this city is going to grow, it is going to do it in research and development," he said. "We are not going to do it by bringing in factories to make cars and brew beers."
