Penn Law’s Bold Ambitions
November 7, 2006, Volume 53, No. 11	Print Issue

The Law School has launched Bold Ambitions: The Campaign for Penn Law—in an effort to increase financial aid, augment endowment for professorships and create new spaces conducive to teaching and learning. The campaign will raise $175 million in new resources for Penn Law, said Paul S. Levy, L ’72, chair of the Law School’s Board of Overseers and chair of the Campaign Committee.

“A school is defined by its people, but resources are critical in supporting both faculty and students. Imagine what we could accomplish with an endowment commensurate with the quality of our people and programs,” said Law School Dean Michael Fitts.

Penn Law is redefining legal education. The campaign for Penn Law will support:

• A top-notch and expanded faculty, second to none: $63 million. So much depends on faculty who move the mind and stir the spirit. Additional endowment will give the school the means to draw more of the top talent, with professorships in a variety of legal disciplines.

• Student aid to keep the best and brightest coming: $65 million. Penn Law students are remarkable by any standard, and most choose among the nation’s top law schools. More endowment will help the school offer competitive financial aid and relieve the burden on our operating budget.

• Cross-disciplinary institutes that will be to the legal world what think tanks are to government: $4 million. Cross-disciplinary institutes stir new thinking and help educate people in the role of integrator. The school looks to establish new institutes in areas such as Law and Health Sciences, Law and the Constitution, and Law and the Global Community.

• Modernized facilities that foster a challenging but personal experience: $15 million. Penn Law has invested heavily in facilities in the last decade, but more projects await: renovations to the dean’s suite, the lower floor of Silverman and Pepper Halls, “The Goat” and adjacent areas. Additional renovations will create seminar-style classrooms that foster interaction and the free flow of ideas.

• Program support and increased annual support to sustain every day excellence: $28 million. While endowment provides a financial foundation, term gifts—those can be expended immediately—sustain the every day excellence of the school’s efforts. During the campaign, the school plans to grow annual giving at five percent a year. Also direct increased support to the Biddle Law Library, the Gittis Center for Clinical Legal Studies, and the Institute for Law and Economics.

For more information visit www.law.upenn.edu/alumni/campaign.