The University of Pennsylvania Board of Trustees held meetings on Thursday, September 27.  Trustees’ Chair David Cohen noted that the Convocation welcomed the Class of 2022 to Penn, which is now in its 279th year. President Amy Gutmann noted that Penn welcomed two new deans: Mark Wolf, Morton Amsterdam Dean of Dental Medicine, and Andrew Hoffman, Gilbert S. Kahn Dean of Veterinary Medicine. President Gutmann also mentioned Sally Bachman, who has been named dean of SP2 and will join Penn on January 1, 2019 (Almanac September 4, 2018). Dr. Gutmann noted that the 43rd governor of Florida Jeb Bush will become a non-residential Professor of Practice this year (Almanac September 25, 2018). The president also praised Penn alumnus John Legend (C’99), who recently became the first African American man and second youngest person ever to achieve EGOT status (winner of Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony); and, the president added, he’s a great philanthropist.

Provost Wendell Pritchett said that Benoit Dubé, Penn’s first Chief Wellness Officer, is the ideal person to oversee the new division that will galvanize numerous initiatives across the University (Almanac August 28, 2018).

EVP Craig Carnaroli reported that Penn had a very strong FY’18, as reported at the Budget and Finance Committee Meeting earlier in the day. For the 12-month period that ended June 30, 2018 the consolidated University’s total net assets were $18.6 billion, an increase of $2.3 billion over the prior year, driven primarily by strong operating performance and investment returns. The Associated Investments Fund (AIF) return of 12.9% was above budget. On the Academic side, the contributions totaled $442 million, an increase of $17 million from the prior year. The Health System had an increase in operating revenue from $6.1 billion to $6.8 billion. Expenses increased from $5.8 billion to $6.4 billion.

PSOM Dean Larry Jameson mentioned that the 152 new medical students’ first lecture was given by Jean Bennett, one of the PSOM researchers who developed the gene therapy recently approved by the FDA to correct patients’ vision  (Almanac January 9, 2018). Dr. Jameson also announced that the Penn Medicine Campaign has already raised more than a $1 billion toward its $1.5 billion goal, $50 million of which will be for scholarships. Dr. Jameson also shared the news that Carl June had received the Albany Prize September 26 for his pioneering work in developing the nation’s first FDA-approved personalized cellular therapy for cancer (Almanac September 11, 2018).

The Trustees passed two resolutions. The first one was to authorize financing of certain capital projects up to $200 million, which can be financed cost effectively with the issuance of new indebtedness (2018 Bonds) for a term of up to 50 years. The second one is to authorize Penn Medicine Radnor—a multi-specialty facility— to sell a portion of land and development rights at 145 King of Prussia Road and sell a building and land at 250 King of Prussia Road in order to expand the clinical space as well as accommodate increased programmatic needs. All patient services there would move to the new facility by June 2020.