Pondering Penn's Past Presidents and Previous Chief Executives
With the Inauguration of President Amy Gutmann set for next week, an often asked question on campus lately has been, "How can Dr. Gutmann be the eighth president of Penn if the University was founded more than 200 years ago?"
The answer can be found in a soon to be mounted, special Inaugural Exhibition in College Hall—Penn Presidents and the Presidency—prepared by the University Archives, which has compiled the following history of Penn's previous chief executives: "The University of Pennsylvania traces its origins to 1740. Benjamin Franklin was Penn's founder and the first president of the trustees of the Academy and of the College. He was in spirit Penn's first chief executive, but it was the Aberdeen-educated Anglican clergyman, the Reverend William Smith, nominated as Provost of the new College in 1755, who was the first actual administrative head. As noted below, 13 successors to Dr. Smith bore his title of provost. In 1930, Thomas Sovereign Gates became the first administrative head to bear the title of president."
The exhibition text was prepared by the curator, Carol A. Benenson, historical consultant, under the direction of Mark Frazier Lloyd, Director of the University Archives and Records Center. Exhibit design is by Keith Ragone. Penn Presidents and the Presidency will be on view in College Hall beginning on Monday, October 11 and remain through the end of the year. It will contain historical photographs from the Collections of the University Archives covering the period of the modern presidency, from 1930 to the present.
Below are photographs of the eight Presidents of Penn during their tenure.
Previous Chief Executives
Benjamin Franklin
Founder
The Reverend William Smith
Provost 1755-1779
The Reverend John Ewing
Provost 1779-1802
John McDowell
Provost 1806-1810
The Reverend John Andrews
Provost 1810-1813
The Reverend Frederic Beasley
Provost 1813-1828
The Reverend William Heathcote DeLancey
Provost 1828-1834
The Reverend John Ludlow
Provost 1834-1853
Henry Vethake
Provost 1854-1859
The Reverend Daniel Raynes Goodwin
Provost 1860-1868
Charles Janeway Stillé
Provost 1868-1880
William Pepper
Provost 1881-1894
Charles Custis Harrison
Provost 1894-1910
Edgar Fahs Smith
Provost 1910-1920
Josiah Harmar Penniman
Provost 1921-1930
Thomas Sovereign Gates
President 1930-1944
George William McClelland
President 1944-1948
Harold Edward Stassen
President 1948-1953
William Hagan DuBarry
Acting President 1953
Gaylord Probasco Harnwell
President 1953-1970
Martin Meyerson
President 1970-1981
Francis Sheldon Hackney
President 1981-1993
Claire Mintzer Fagin
Interim President 1993-1994
Judith Seitz Rodin
President 1994-2004
Almanac, Vol. 51, No. 6, October 5, 2004
ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS:
Tuesday,
October 5, 2004
Volume 51 Number 6
www.upenn.edu/almanac