A Medal for Mr. Gore

The University of Pennsylvania Medal for Distinguished Achievement will be given to U.S. Vice President Albert Gore, Jr., when he comes to Penn this week to take part in the 50th anniversary celebration of ENIAC.

President Judith Rodin will award the medallion at the 11:50 a.m. assembly Wednesday, when Vice President Gore delivers the Conn-aissance lecture. Later they will both help reenact the throwing of the switch at the Towne Building that ushered in the age of computing.

(See additional program details, back cover.)

Penn's Medal has been given on only four occasions before: to Attorney General Janet Reno at the dedication of the Law School's new Nicole E. Tanenbaum Hall; to three distinguished chemical engineers-- Neal Amundson, Stuart W. Churchill and Arthur E. Humprey--to mark the centennial of chemical engineering at Penn; to the American Philosophical Society in celebration of its 250 th anniversary in 1994; and to the Hon. Walter H. Annenberg and the Hon. Leonore Annenberg at a dinner that year marking the end of the Campaign for Penn.

The citation to Vice President Gore will read:

Referring to the "information superhighway"--an expression you coined 17 years ago--you have said, "Let us seize this moment. Let us link the people of the world. Let us create this new path as we walk it together." With the vision to recognize the immense possibilities of new technology and the courage to chart a new course, you have been at the vanguard of harnessing those possibilities and using them to reinvent our government and reshape our world.

Like our own founder, Benjamin Franklin, you possess the vision and unswerving persistence to transform your convictions into reality. In your eight years as a congressman and eight years as a United States Senator, you mastered the intricacies of foreign policy and were a leader in space, science, and technology policy. Your ongoing commitment, in the Congress and as Vice President of the United States, to preserving and renewing our environment has helped us envision a future that embraces and balances technological development and environmental integrity.

We are proud that 50 years ago ENIAC gave birth to the information revolution that has transformed our nation and the world. The University of Pennsylvania takes pride in your presence here today, and in your leadership of this, our "Second American Revolution." We commend the Trustees for offering you a token of their true respect, the University of Pennsylvania Medal for Distinguished Achievement.


Almanac

February 13, 1996
Volume 42 Number 20


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