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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.

 

penn shield

Below are photographs of the eight Presidents of Penn during their tenure.

T. Gates G. McClelland
H. Stassen G. Harnwell M. Meyerson
S. Hackney J. Rodin A. Gutmann

 

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

 

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