The University Board of Trustees approved two capital resolutions and reviewed Penn’s finances at its meeting last Thursday.
The Budget and Finance Committee approved a $12.5 million renovation of the Penn Libraries Center for Global Collections and the $94.3 million construction of a Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at the New Bolton Center campus. Administrators also discussed changes in the University’s revenue streams amid a shifting funding landscape.
The Penn Libraries renovation — occurring on the fifth floor of Van Pelt-Dietrich Library — will “create regional, specific seminar rooms,” as well as improved conference spaces and staff offices, according to Executive Vice President Mark Dingfield. He said that roughly three quarters of the funding for the project comes from “capital and operating gifts.”
The new veterinary facility, which will house two diagnostic laboratories — one for large animals and one for toxicology research — is primarily funded by a grant from Pennsylvania’s Department of Agriculture.
The University’s total net assets reached $36.2 billion as of March 31, a $2.3 billion increase from June 30, 2025. While operating revenue from the University of Pennsylvania Health System grew, revenue from academic operations declined $223 million compared to the previous year due to “the tapering of the mRNA revenue,” according to Vice President for Finance and Treasurer Colleen O’Neill.
Total cash stood at $13 billion, up 17.7% over the previous year. O’Neill noted that the increase in cash was driven by operations and debt issuances.
Health System Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Julia Puchtler reported “favorable results” driven by growth in the ambulatory pharmacy program. She also noted an environment of “high risk of large verdicts” and increasing settlement costs for medical malpractice.
“We continue to see this increase in severity for our medical liability — not so much the volume of claims, but really the severity,” Puchtler said.
RELATED:
Board of Trustees discusses Penn’s financial future, global tensions at winter meeting
How the groups behind ‘Penn Forward’ are shaping the University’s future
Last May, the Board of Trustees approved a $300 million debt plan at its meeting due to concerns over reduced federal support and an endowment tax. Decreased federal funding was a continuing theme at the meeting this month.
In response to funding challenges caused by federal policies, Penn instituted a hiring freeze in March 2025. Dingfield highlighted that total salary costs rose just 1% year over year despite a 3% merit increase — a figure he attributed to the ongoing hiring freeze and operational restructuring.
“We have done select layoffs for the course of this year as part of those restructures,” Dingfield said. “We’ve not needed, however, to do across-the-board layoffs across the institution.”
“I just want to highlight that this is not a result of top-down, across-the-board cost reduction but really strategic opportunity from our schools and centers to rethink how they're delivering their services,” he added.
Vice President for Budget Planning and Analysis Trevor Lewis noted that research revenue helped to alleviate the effects of federal funding cuts.
“While federal dollars are down year over year, that decline is being partially offset by gains in commercial and other sponsored research activity,” Lewis said.
Vice Provost for Research David Meaney expressed confidence in Penn’s “remarkably diverse and productive portfolio” of research that withstood “all of the volatility coming out of Washington in the last year.”
He also made connections to the Penn Forward strategic framework — in which he co-chaired the Research Strategy and Financing working group — and explained efforts to increase collaboration within Penn.
“One of the things that we’re going to be developing out of Penn Forward is an AI-based tool that allows faculty to explore expertise across campus, rather than seeking a collaborator somewhere else at another university,” Meaney said.
Meaney explained that addressing “gaps in our commercialization” was also a priority within his Penn Forward work.
Penn President Larry Jameson revealed the first set of initiatives from Penn Forward last month, including Penn Partners for Impact, which, according to the University, is a “partner-forward business development approach to engaging with nonprofit, government, and industry organizations.”
