Amy Gutmann | It's time to explore

The 19th century British statesman Benjamin Disraeli described the ideal university as "a place of light, of liberty and of learning."

For Penn students who want to make their mark on the 21st century, Penn is providing the most dynamic, lovely and liberating learning environment in our proud history by allowing students to stretch their minds, develop their leadership skills and learn from great professors and peers. The opportunities for intellectual development at Penn are limitless. Penn students can cultivate their interests across multiple disciplines, whether by pursuing great majors and minors (with new options as far-ranging as Jazz Studies, Criminology and Modern Middle Eastern Studies), by pursuing joint and dual degrees, by taking courses across our graduate and professional schools and by making the most of our wisely-conceived distribution requirements.

We furnish more opportunities than ever before for students at all levels to engage in transformational volunteer work across the nation and around the world, and we connect our students to rewarding internships in industry, non-profits and government. These include new or expanded programs such as RealArts@Penn, Fels Public Policy Internships and summer biomedical research programs. Our Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships and our individual schools together offer unprecedented opportunities for our students to engage in independent research with faculty. These offerings enable Penn students not only to be more competitive than ever before for major awards, grants and fellowships, but also to pursue their passions wherever they may choose after graduating from Penn.

Student research projects lead to all kinds of breakthroughs. For example, Anthropology major Abigail Seldin's project on the Lenape tribe increased our understanding of Pennsylvania's contemporary Lenape community and led to her co-curating an exhibit, "Fulfilling a Prophecy: The Past and Present of the Lenape in Pennsylvania," which opens at the Penn Museum on September 13.

These unprecedented intellectual opportunities complement the many pathways to leadership that lie before every Penn student. These pathways are paved by a welter of courses, forums and experiences across our schools (take a look at the Fox Leadership Program's "Penn Leads the Vote"); by the internships and service-learning courses organized by Civic House and the Barbara and Netter Center for Community Partnerships; and by our new Civic Scholars Program, which allows undergraduates to closely integrate their passion for civic service with their academic interests.

Students also have the opportunity to participate in and lead one of our 450-plus extracurricular organizations or to launch something entirely new. These groups - from literary societies to political and religious organizations to cultural and performing arts groups to social service and entrepreneurial ventures and beyond - add incredible dynamism to our campus and provide Penn students with a vehicle to put their talents, passions, academic acumen and leadership skills into practice. They also serve as welcome sources of stress reduction and as catalysts for lifelong friendships centered around shared passions.

Dramatically strengthening need-based financial aid and bolstering recruitment efforts nationally and globally have helped us to double the enrollment of undergraduates from low-income families, greatly ease the loan burden on middle-income families, broadly increase the diversity of our student body and expand financial aid for international students and increase their already robust presence on campus. Similarly, we have continued increasing stipends for doctoral students, further opening Penn's doors to the most talented future scholars.

We are transforming Penn's already-welcoming campus into something even more attractive and environmentally sustainable: adding 20 percent more green space by converting surface parking lots into open spaces and athletics fields that will be contiguous to Franklin Field and the Palestra; improving our recycling efforts, adding more wind power to our energy grid and designing new buildings to meet LEED sustainability standards; and improving the quality of on-campus housing by renovating Harnwell, Harrison and Rodin College Houses, upgrading heating, cooling, lighting and elevator systems in Mayer, Hill and DuBois Houses and opening the 150-unit Radian complex at 39th and Walnut Streets.

Penn is more than just a great place, more than a lovely environment, more than the sum of our world-renowned schools and more than the drawing power of our academic and extracurricular programs and amenities. Penn is a dynamic fellowship of Benjamin Franklin's heirs, all of us stretching our individual minds as far as we can. Penn students form the latest and brightest link in the chain of learning that has served our society and world so well for the better part of three centuries.

Our time today at Penn affords us the greatest opportunity to cultivate knowledge and relationships among the most richly diverse and cosmopolitan student body, faculty and staff in Penn's history. Indeed, there has never been a better time or place for learning than now at Penn. May this year of learning bring us - students all - remarkable discoveries and rewarding friendships.

Amy Gutmann is President of the University of Pennsylvania. This is the first in a series of monthly columns by Penn administrators and staff.

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