University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (Penn[11] or UPenn[12]) is a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is one of nine colonial colleges and was chartered prior to the U.S. Declaration of Independence when Benjamin Franklin, the university's founder and first president, advocated for an educational institution that trained leaders in academia, commerce, and public service. Penn identifies as the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, though this representation is challenged by other universities, since Franklin first convened the board of trustees in 1749, arguably making it the fifth-oldest institution of higher education in the U.S.[note 2]
This article is about the private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. For the public research university with campuses across Pennsylvania, see Pennsylvania State University.
Former names
Leges sine moribus vanae (Latin)
"Laws without morals are useless"
November 14, 1740[note 2]
$21.0 billion (2023)[5]
$4.4 billion (2024)[6]
J. Larry Jameson (interim)
4,793 (2018)[7]
39,859 (Fall 2020; includes health system)[8]
23,374 (Fall 2022)[9]
9,760 (Fall 2022)[9]
13,614 (Fall 2022)[9]
Large city, 1,085 acres (439 ha) (total);
299 acres (121 ha), University City campus;
694 acres (281 ha), New Bolton Center;
92 acres (37 ha), Morris Arboretum
Red and blue[10]
The Quaker
The university has four undergraduate schools and 12 graduate and professional schools. Schools enrolling undergraduates include the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the Wharton School, and the School of Nursing. Among its graduate schools are its law school, whose first professor James Wilson participated in writing the first draft of the U.S. Constitution, its medical school, which was the first medical school established in North America, and Wharton, the nation's first collegiate business school.
Penn's endowment is $20.7 billion, making it the sixth-wealthiest private academic institution in the nation as of 2022. In 2021, it ranked fourth among U.S. universities in research expenditures, according to the National Science Foundation.[13] The University of Pennsylvania's main campus is located in the University City neighborhood of West Philadelphia, and is centered around College Hall. Notable campus landmarks include Houston Hall, the first modern student union, and Franklin Field, the nation's first dual-level college football stadium and the nation's longest-standing NCAA Division I college football stadium in continuous operation.[14] The university's athletics program, the Penn Quakers, fields varsity teams in 33 sports as a member of NCAA Division I's Ivy League conference.
Penn alumni, trustees, and faculty have included 8 Founding Fathers of the United States who signed the Declaration of Independence,[15][16] 7 who signed the United States Constitution,[17] 24 members of the Continental Congress, 3 Presidents of the United States, [18] 38 Nobel laureates, 9 foreign heads of state, 3 United States Supreme Court justices, at least 4 Supreme Court justices of foreign nations,[19] 32 U.S. senators, 163 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, 19 U.S. Cabinet Secretaries, 46 governors, 28 State Supreme Court justices, 36 living undergraduate billionaires (largest number of any college or university in the US),[20] and 5 Medal of Honor recipients.[21][22]
Hill College House, a dormitory designed in 1958 to house female students, was designed by Eero Saarinen
"The Quad," formerly known as the Men's Dormitory, in 2014
The Alpha Tau Omega fraternity house, built by George W. Childs Drexel as one of two mansions for his daughters
Academic rankings
12
8
6
4
7
14
12
16
15
