You know her as president, but now Amy Gutmann is taking on the role of professor, too.
School of Arts and Sciences Dean Rebecca Bushnell announced last week that Penn President Amy Gutmann has been named the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor in Political Science.
Gutmann's professorship is one of five positions established in February by a $15 million contribution to SAS from 1969 alumnus and trustee Christopher Browne. The gift follows a previous $10 million donation by Browne in 2000 that endowed five other chairs.
Although Gutmann is not teaching any classes at Penn at the moment, she did teach a preceptorial this fall about the Penn Compact and has an "excellent" record in education, said Bushnell.
Gutmann is the seventh professor to be appointed to a Browne chair. Ultimately, the University plans to have 10 professors in such positions, said Bushnell.
Other Browne professors include Music professor Carolyn Abbate, Political Science professor Rogers Smith and German professor Liliane Weissberg.
Bushnell added that the title is the "best way of recognizing . everything that [Gutmann] does to represent democracy and the free exchange of ideas."
A deliberative democracy expert, Gutmann was previously a professor and the provost at Princeton University, where she taught political science and served as the founding director of the University Center for Human Values.
She holds secondary faculty appointments in Penn's Philosophy Department, the Annenberg School for Communication and the Graduate School of Education.
"I continue to be dedicated to the mission of teaching and research, and this is, for me, a tremendously welcome honor and a privilege," said Gutmann. "It will underscore my commitment to academic excellence at Penn."
Although Browne explained that he officially has no say in the appointments, he is pleased with the selections thus far.
When he initially endowed the chairs, Browne intended the chosen professors to be distinguished for their academic work both in publishing and teaching, he said.
He also hoped they would be teaching undergraduate courses and that they promote "free and open discussion in the classroom."
Browne added that Gutmann "fits the bill" perfectly for the position.
She is not the first sitting president to receive an endowed professorship - Bushnell cited former Penn President Judith Rodin, who was named the Robert A. Fox Leadership Professor during her term in office.
According to Political Science department chairman Avery Goldstein, Gutmann's appointment is "well-deserved recognition for the many roles she has played both as a scholar and as a leading intellectual."
"One of the great strengths of Penn is that you get world class professors teaching at the undergraduate level," Browne said -- "unlike Harvard, where they don't bother with undergraduates."
*This article was edited at 1:08 a.m. on Tuesday, October 21, 2008 to correct the misattribution of the last quote in the article to Avery Goldstein.
