$1
Million Gift: Weingarten Family Program
for
Student Disabilities Services

From
left to right: Susan Weingarten, Jeffrey Weingarten,
Presient Rodin.
A
$1 million gift from 1970 Wharton graduate Jeffrey
Weingarten and his wife Susan to the University
will enable Penn to build on its services to students
with additional needs.
The
donation establishes The Weingarten Family Program
for Student Disabilities Services, which will allow
Penn to bring the Learning Resources Center and
Student Disabilities Services under one roof. The
presentation was made on April 4, at the beginning
of Penn's second annual Learning Disability Symposium
in Houston Hall. President Judith Rodin accepted
the Weingarten donation on behalf of the University.
"This
gift demonstrates our commitment to seeing that
Penn students with learning disabilities receive
the help they need to achieve academic success at
the University," Mr. Weingarten said.
"We
at Penn are grateful for the Weingartens' vision
and generosity," Dr. Rodin said. "This
is the largest gift Penn has ever received to support
disabilities services and, to our knowledge, the
largest of its kind to any institution of higher
education on the East Coast."
The
selection of a site for the Weingarten Family Program
is expected to be made this summer and to be ready
for students by spring 2004.
The
Weingartens have been active in service to the University
in other ways. Mr. Weingarten is a member of Wharton's
European Board, and Mrs. Weingarten is a member
of Penn's Student Disabilities Services Advisory
Board, on which her husband serves in an unofficial
capacity.
They
have also created the Susan and Jeffrey Weingarten
Scholarship at Wharton.