Tuesday,
Febuary 27, 2001
Volume 47
Number 24
www.upenn.edu/almanac/


Steven F. Goldstone's $2 Million Gift: Philosophy, Politics and Economics

Steven F. Goldstone, retired chairman of Nabisco Group Holdings, the New Jersey-based packaged foods giant, has made a $2 million gift to SAS, President Judith Rodin announced.

Dr. Rodin said that the gift will create the Steven Goldstone Fund for Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE). PPE, an interdisciplinary major created in 1992 for undergraduates in the College, brings together students and scholars from the humanities and social science departments who share an interest in social, political and economic thought as it relates to today's professional and intellectual world.

Mr. Goldstone, who majored in political science at Penn, graduated from the College in 1967. He also holds a law degree from NYU.

Students majoring in philosophy, politics and economics take a common core of courses in those three departments and then concentrate their more advanced work in one. PPE majors may also take advantage of faculty from the Law School, the Annenberg School and the Wharton School, all of whom share an interest in social, political and economic thought. An integrative capstone seminar is the culmination of this program.

"This generous gift from Steven Goldstone demonstrates his recognition of the importance of distinguished interdisciplinary programs to undergraduate studies at Penn," Dr. Rodin said. "His gift will substantially enhance teaching and other activities of the PPE program and provide a source of long-term funds needed to keep the program vital and strong. We are enormously grateful that he has chosen to support one of the fastest-growing majors in the College."

"PPE at Penn is based on the venerable course at Oxford University that has prepared generations of eminent British politicians, lawyers, journalists, bankers and business executives," said SAS Dean Samuel H. Preston. "In only eight years, it has become the tenth most popular major for College students."

The Goldstone Fund will support endowed teaching fellowships for faculty from each of the three departments that participate in PPE, underwrite visiting lecturers and conferences, aid PPE majors who are conducting a major research project for their capstone seminar and provide for additional teaching assistants as the program continues to grow. The fund will also sponsor the Goldstone Forum, an annual lecture by leading figures in business, political and academic arenas. PPE students will have the opportunity to meet privately with these speakers to discuss the legal, ethical, political and economic issues they are studying with people who are confronting these same issues in their work.

The first Goldstone Forum, featuring distinguished legal theorist Ronald Dworkin, will be held on April 3. Professor Dworkin holds joint appointments as Professor of Jurisprudence and Fellow of University College at Oxford and Frank H. Sommer Professor of Law and member of the philosophy department at NYU. A frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books, his most recent book, Sovereign Virtue: The Theory and Practice of Equality, presents the case for equality as the political ideal.

"This gift reflects my own experience first as a lawyer and then as a business executive," said Mr. Goldstone. "I believe that the strong foundation in liberal arts I received as an undergraduate in the College has served me well throughout my career. I am fortunate that I am in a position to make this gift and give something back to Penn."

Until last December, he served as chairman of Nabisco and Nabisco, Inc. Until 1975 he was a senior partner with the New York City law firm of Davis Polk and Wardwell. Mr. Goldstone has been active for many years with the Legal Aid Society and the Roundabout Theater in New York. He was recently honored for his work on behalf of Episcopal Charities. This year he received the Larry Award, presented by the Larry Aldrich Foundation, for his "distinguished service, courage of conviction and willingness to take risks in the presentation and support of contemporary art."



Annual Crime Report on the Web

The Campus Safety and Security: A Shared Responsibility, annual crime report will be available on the web tomorrow at www.upenn.edu/almanac/between/safetyreport2001.html. It will be published in next week's print edition of Almanac.


Past, Present and Future

Aerial perspective of University of Pennsylvania Master Plan, 1963. Rendering by George C. Rudolph. University of Pennsylvania Archives.

Building Penn: Campus Planning and Architecture at America's First University: A University of Pennsylvania Library Exhibition opens March 7 in the Kamin Gallery with a talk that evening, Building Penn: Retrospect and Prospect, by Dr. George Thomas and Dr. David Brownlee who will speak about the relevance of Penn's past to its present and future planning with comments by GSFA Dean Gary Hack. (See MARCH at PENN).

The executive summary of the Campus Development Plan 2001 begins HERE. 


Almanac, Vol. 47, No. 24, February 27, 2001

| FRONT PAGE | CONTENTS | JOB-OPS | CRIMESTATS | MODELS OF EXCELLENCE WINNERS | CAMPUS DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2001 | GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS UPDATE | TALK ABOUT TEACHING ARCHIVE | BETWEEN ISSUES | MARCH at PENN |