Launching the Penn Wharton China Center	Print Issue
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The University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania announced the opening of the Penn Wharton China Center (PWCC) in Beijing, China. The Center is an important expansion of Penn’s engagement with China, which began in 1896 when the first Chinese student enrolled at Penn. It will operate through the University’s China-based affiliate, Penn Wharton Consulting (Beijing) Co. Ltd.

The Center will serve as a valuable resource and vibrant gathering place, enhancing learning and research opportunities to the benefit of Penn’s faculty, students, alumni and friends in China. Through its consulting programs, it will also support Chinese executives and others in acquiring the practical skills and perspectives that will help them successfully lead their organizations in a global context.  

“We are delighted to launch the Penn Wharton China Center,” said Penn President Amy Gutmann. “We are building on Penn’s history of broad, deep engagement with China and creating a Center that provides an impressive infrastructure and significant resources to augment the University of Pennsylvania’s many collaborations and partnerships with great Chinese educational institutions. The Center represents another major milestone in the Penn Compact 2020’s vision of bringing Penn to the world and the world to Penn.”

“The Penn Wharton China Center will play a pivotal role in furthering Penn’s dual missions of research and learning,” said Penn Provost Vincent Price. “It will provide a much-needed, on-the-ground hub for our faculty and students at Penn and Wharton, advancing both our faculty’s research and our students’ learning experiences.”

To celebrate the opening, Provost Price will lead a delegation of more than 40 faculty and senior administrators from Penn that includes Vice Provost for Global Initiatives Ezekiel Emanuel, Dean of the Wharton School Geoffrey Garrett and seven other Penn deans. They are convening a two-day series of academic discussions this month featuring a roundtable with Chinese university leaders to discuss issues in higher education, panel discussions with senior Chinese business leaders and Penn scholars, and research talks with Penn faculty and deans. These events kick off a six-month grand opening, which will bring to China the best of Penn and Wharton and culminate with a Gala Celebration and Forum in September 2015 with President Gutmann. Details on these and all events are available at http://pwcc.upenn.edu

“The Penn Wharton China Center reaffirms the Wharton School’s commitment to serving as the premier innovator in global business education and to strengthening relationships across the globe,” said Dean Garrett. “We are excited to officially open the Penn Wharton China Center, which further enhances Wharton’s position as a training ground for current and future global leaders across public and private sectors in China. The Center will be an invaluable resource available to the nearly 1,800 Wharton alumni living in China and 10,000 Penn alumni currently living in Asia.”

“With the launch of the new Penn Wharton China Center, I look forward to welcoming Penn and Wharton faculty and students to spend more time in China and to boost ties with Chinese partner institutions,” said John Zhang, Murrel J. Ades Professor of Marketing and Penn Wharton China Center executive faculty director.

Penn is also pleased to announce the creation of a fund to support research and collaborative projects that focus on China or are carried out in conjunction with a China-based partner or institution. Through the Penn China Research and Engagement Fund, the University will provide $10 million over five years for projects that create knowledge in partnership with Chinese researchers, deepen the contributions of Penn faculty members to the understanding of China, increase Penn’s engagement in China or develop innovative educational and curricular programs for Penn students and lifelong learners.