August 31, 2021

For many readers, this “Welcome Back” column is just that. 

The new academic year is off and running, and this promises to be a truly spectacular semester back on campus for our staff, faculty, and students. Before we get swept away in a whirlwind of important and purposeful Penn activity, I would like to take this opportunity to say once again how pleased, proud, and deeply moved I am by the way our Penn community responded to the unprecedented challenges of the past 18 months. 

Some of us delight in novelty. Others prefer the new and untested to unfold at a measured pace with some fair warning that change is coming. None of us likes having the rug yanked out from under our feet. Yet that is exactly what happened last March. One day, it was life and work as usual. The next day, most of us were suddenly working from home, not knowing what would lie ahead, and trying to learn how to love the Zoom.

It wasn’t easy (to say the least). It often wasn’t fun (that’s an understatement). There were times when the very great uncertainty of not knowing made even ordinary things seem daunting. 

In the face of many challenges, Penn didn’t just persevere. We more than occasionally moved mountains to make sure the vital work of the University continued unabated. As much as possible, along the way we tried to acknowledge and share with the broader community all the amazing acts of bravery, kindness, extraordinary effort, and self-sacrifice that defined the Penn community’s response to the pandemic. These ranged from our front-line healthcare responders heroically providing comfort and care and saving lives, to the astonishing feat of our faculty moving thousands of courses online in a matter of weeks, to construction crews working around the clock to build additional beds and care capacity at the Pavilion, to students lowering pizza on ropes to help feed and cheer our community. The stories were many. They were heart-warming and cheering and, so often, they were inspiring.

But that’s not what I’m writing about here. For every great story that you saw in Penn Today, there were a thousand acts of care, concern, and kindness that went by unremarked. No doubt you saw some, you experienced some, and some you did yourselves. This is what is really on my mind as we begin this new semester. A place as large and complex and intricate as Penn cannot hope to succeed unless all our many communities, schools, centers, departments, and people work in accord, as one caring, giving, and high-performing University. None of us can know of all the admirable actions, large and small, the unheralded moments of bravery, sacrifice, and dedication, and the immense caring that enabled Penn to pull through the worst of this pandemic with flying colors. 

What we do know—for certain—is that Penn met the challenge of these times magnificently. Thanks to a caring commitment to our deepest values that never wavered. Thanks to all of us working together.

While we wish it were not so, the pandemic is not yet over. We must remain vigilant and continue to do all we can to ensure our community’s health. All the while we advance our mission of unsurpassed teaching, research, service, and healthcare in an ever more diverse and inclusive community that defines this amazing Penn community. All of this, thanks to you.

—Amy Gutmann, President