Penn implemented widespread academic and administrative initiatives to expand its focus amid a quickly changing external environment.
The Daily Pennsylvanian compiled changes across individual schools and the University as a whole, highlighting new opportunities at the undergraduate, graduate, and faculty levels. Those opportunities include new master’s degrees, expansions to the Office of the Provost, and a new strategic framework.
Five new master’s degrees
At the University Board of Trustees’ spring full board meeting in June, Penn announced five new master’s degrees across multiple of the University’s schools.
The one-year Master of Communication and Media Industries is the first non-doctoral degree at the Annenberg School for Communication and will enroll 15 students in its fall 2026 inaugural cohort.
Annenberg Dean Sarah Banet-Weiser explained in the program’s announcement that it aims to “cultivate leaders” who are prepared to navigate the modern “dynamic media industries” and consider their future “expansively, ethically, and globally.”
The School of Social Policy & Practice announced a three-year doctorate in nonprofit administration — geared toward students interested in managing and leading nonprofit organizations at the “individual, organizational, and societal levels.”
The program is “designed to prepare visionary leaders for the nonprofit sector, [specifically] leaders equipped with both the conceptual frameworks and the practical tools to guide organizations toward building a better society,” Director and SP2 professor Ram Cnaan wrote on its website.
The Wharton School launched a Master of Science in Quantitative Finance, marking the school’s first new degree in 50 years. The program will prepare students for careers in quantitative finance — teaching skills such as data analysis and coding — and will host its inaugural cohort, open to current Penn undergraduates, in fall 2026.
The degree was officially announced on Sept. 15 and funded by a record $60 million donation from Bruce Jacobs, a 1979 School of Arts and Sciences graduate, 1986 Wharton Ph.D. graduate, and former Wharton faculty member.
The Perelman School of Medicine announced two new master’s degrees, dividing the existing Master of Biomedical Informatics into separate programs: the Master of Clinical Informatics and the Master of Science in Biomedical Informatics.
The MCI is oriented towards educating clinical practitioners in clinical informatics, and the MSBMI aims to train “biomedical informatics researchers for [careers] in academia, healthcare, government, and industry.”
College Foundations pilot program
The College of Arts and Sciences piloted its College Foundations program in fall 2025 with an inaugural cohort of 120 first-year students. The program seeks to introduce incoming undergraduates to a “broad liberal arts education” through courses specifically designed to cover fundamental skills across the College.
In a June interview with the DP, Stephen A. Levin Family Dean Peter Struck explained that the curriculum consists of four courses that “focus on close reading, careful observation and analysis, and intensive discussion on core questions of purpose and meaning.”
Students in the pilot cohort are taking the new “Kite” and “Key” paired courses, a writing seminar, and a first-year seminar of their choice — for which they received priority registration. The program allows students to fulfill six College requirements in their first year.
“I’d like to see these Foundations courses become the foundation of a new General Education requirement at Penn,” Struck said. He added that “adjustments” would be made as University administrators “learn from our students and our classroom.”
Students have expressed mixed reactions to the program. Some told the DP they value its interdisciplinary nature, while others claimed they feel restricted by its requirements.
In spring 2026, faculty in the School of Arts and Sciences will vote before entering a period of “implementation to roll out a broader curriculum” next fall.
Expanding the Provost’s Office
Over the past two years, Provost John Jackson Jr.’s office has expanded in size and focus with the inclusion of new vice provost positions concentrated in the arts, climate change, undergraduate education, and graduate education.
In June, Jackson named professors Russell Composto and Kelly Jordan-Sciutto as the inaugural vice provosts for undergraduate and graduate education, respectively.
“This is the role, ultimately, that’s responsible for partnering faculty [and] deans with department chairs to make sure we bring in the top talent we can from all over the country and the world,” Jackson told the DP in October. “That’s the top researchers, that’s the top teachers, that’s fantastic students — and to do that well gets you really excited.”
Jackson also explained his office’s “concerted approach to the arts” with the help of Penn Vice Provost for the Arts Timothy Rommen.
On Sept. 29, Michael Mann — the inaugural vice provost for climate science, policy, and action — resigned from his role, citing the conflict between his scientific advocacy and Penn’s “established institutional neutrality policy.”
In October, administrators appointed Sanya Carley, the former faculty director of the Kleinman Center, to fill the position.
“She is one of the world’s leading experts on energy policy, especially related to affordability, decarbonization, and the impact of changing climate systems,” Jackson stated in the announcement. “She is a widely admired teacher, mentor, and collaborator who will be a dynamic catalyst across campus on issues of energy, climate, and sustainability.”
University-wide strategic framework
In September 2025, Penn President Larry Jameson announced a new strategic plan — titled “Penn Forward” — as a framework for the school’s future goals and values. He highlighted the initiative’s importance as the University adapts to “new challenges and opportunities.”
The plan outlined six working groups that consist of undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral students, as well as faculty, staff, and administrative support. The working groups, Jameson told the DP, will not be given “specific direction,” but rather will bring together “different perspectives” that “curate the very best ideas.”
A similar structure will be used to develop Penn’s artificial intelligence policy, though it will not yet be implemented uniformly across the University. In a September interview with the DP, Jameson noted that while “there’s no question that AI is going to have a major impact on virtually everything that we do,” he will not “steer” the University’s policy on it.
Instead, rules surrounding on-campus AI use will be left to the “Penn Forward” working groups, which will “study deeply, get information, speak with professors, [and] speak with students” to make well-informed decisions.
“‘Penn Forward’ is taking what I think are the really important abstract ideas and making them more tangible,” Jackson said in an October interview with the DP. “[We’re] making it clear to folks how we’re going to turn that stuff into things students and faculty experience more every day.”
