Integrating Knowledge

The Penn Compact, which was launched at the inauguration of President Amy Gutmann in October 2004, has become the vision that expresses the Penn community's commitment to propel the University of Pennsylvania "From Excellence to Eminence."

The problems of our times—from fighting global epidemics and terrorism to preparing for natural disasters, from mediating ethnopolitical conflict to preventing wars, from revitalizing cities to revolutionizing medicine—cannot be understood or solved by insulated thinking. Students and faculty need the tools of multiple disciplines to understand these challenging issues and to contribute to their resolution.

With outstanding faculty and 12 schools located on one campus, Penn excels in interdisciplinary teaching and research. Under the Penn Compact, the University has built on these strengths to launch major initiatives that will foster more effective integration of knowledge and expertise across multiple professions and academic disciplines.

• The Role Of Eminent Faculty

• Integrating Cutting-Edge Research

• Integrating Teaching And Learning

• Integrating Knowledge In The Public Square

• Integrating Knowledge Among Global Partners

 

The Role Of Eminent Faculty

• Penn Integrates Knowledge Initiative

Faculty members who have demonstrated exceptional achievement across disciplines are central to the Penn Compact's vision.

President Gutmann conceived Penn Integrates Knowledge (PIK), an initiative to recruit scholars whose research and teaching exemplify the integration of knowledge. These scholars hold endowed professorships and joint appointments between Penn's schools.

The first ten PIK Professors are:

• Shelley L. Berger, the Daniel S. Och University Professor, a world-renowned genetics researcher. Her appointment is shared between the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology in the School of Medicine and the Department of Biology in the School of Arts and Sciences.
• Philippe Bourgois, the Richard Perry University Professor, a medical anthropologist. He holds appointments in the Department of Anthropology in the School of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Family Practice and Community Medicine in the School of Medicine.
• Robert Ghrist, the Andrea Mitchell University Professor, an expert in applying mathematical methods to real-world engineering challenges. He holds joint appointments in the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Department of Mathematics in the School of Arts and Sciences.
• Karen Glanz, a globally influential public health scholar, will lead a new Penn center focused on research and training in health behaviors, and will hold a joint appointment in the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing.
  
• John L. Jackson Jr., a cultural anthropologist and documentary filmmaker, the Richard Perry University Professor with appointments at the Annenberg School for Communication and School of Arts and Sciences, with affiliation to the Center for Africana Studies. Jackson comes to Penn with his wife, Deborah A. Thomas, an associate professor of anthropology with expertise in Africana studies and cultural politics.
• Jonathan Moreno, the David and Lyn Silfen University Professor, a biomedical ethicist who holds appointments in medical ethics in the School of Medicine and in the history and sociology of science in SAS.
• Christopher B. Murray, the Richard Perry University Professor, a nanoscale researcher who holds appointments in chemistry in SAS and materials science in the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Murray is joined here at Penn by his spouse, Cherie R. Kagan, an associate professor of electrical and systems engineering.
• Adrian Raine, the Richard Perry University Professor, a psychologist and neuroscientist known for integrating varied perspectives to predict violent behavior. He holds appointments in the Department of Criminology of SAS and in the Department of Psychiatry of the School of Medicine. Raine's wife, Jianghong Liu, an assistant professor in Penn's School of Nursing, studies how early risk factors predispose children to behavioral problems.
• Sarah Tishkoff, the David and Lyn Silfen University Associate Professor, a leading global expert in human genetics, will share appointments between the Department of Genetics in the School of Medicine and the Department of Biology in the School of Arts and Sciences.
• John Gearhart,  the James W. Effron University Professor, a renowned researcher in regenerative medicine,  shares appointments  between the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology in the School of Medicine and the Department of Animal Biology in the School of Veterinary Medicine.

 

Integrating Cutting-Edge Research

• PIK Neuroscience Initiative
• Nano/Bio Interface Center
• Center for Molecular Discovery
• Penn Institute for Urban Research

In 2008, Penn unveiled the "Penn Integrates Knowledge Neuroscience Initiative" with a generous $50 million contribution from the University of Pennsylvania Health System. The Health System’s contribution will endow five new PIK Professorships in neuroscience, jointly appointed in the School of Medicine and other Penn schools, and will support interdisciplinary work in neuroscience. With this new initiative, Penn will further champion efforts to improve understanding of the brain, the neural basis of behavior, and neurodegenerative diseases.

Penn is home to the only national center that combines work in Nanotechnology and Biotechnology, the Nano/Bio Interface Center. Representing a collaboration among Penn's Schools of Engineering, Arts and Sciences, and Medicine, this center leverages Penn's faculty strength in materials science and the fields of engineering, chemistry, condensed-matter physics, molecular biology, medicine, and bioethics.

Penn has been chosen by the National Institutes of Health to develop a massive molecular database accessible to biomedical scientists worldwide. As a result, Penn launched the Center for Molecular Discovery. Penn engineers with skills in robotics, chemists from Penn’s School of Arts and Sciences, and biomedical researchers from Penn Medicine will produce discoveries that enhance our understanding of living organisms.

The School of Medicine recently received a $68 million grant through the NIH Clinical and Translational Science Awards program. The gift, received jointly by Penn and The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, will enhance Penn’s capacity to convert new scientific breakthroughs into real-world applications.

The Penn Institute for Urban Research (PIUR) is an exciting effort to help the University become a global leader in urban scholarship, teaching, and practice. Convening faculty from all 12 schools, the PIUR integrates scholarship from the sciences, the humanities, business, law, education policy, and design to help shape more effective urban policies.

 

Integrating Teaching And Learning

• Vagelos Program in Life Sciences and Management
• Revised College Curriculum and Integrated Majors
• Graduate Interdisciplinary Fellowships

Fluency in multiple academic disciplines will be the mark of successful future leaders. Great engineers must also be great managers. Successful investors and entrepreneurs must be able to navigate global politics and economics. All effective leaders must grasp the essentials of the sciences.

Joint-degree programs long have been a Penn trademark: International Studies and Business, Management and Technology, Media and Computer Science are eminent examples. More recently, the Roy and Diana Vagelos Program in Life Sciences and Management created a partnership between the College of Arts and Sciences and the Wharton School to give students the scientific and entrepreneurial background necessary for success in the complex world of biotechnology.

More than half of undergraduate majors in the School of Arts and Sciences are now interdisciplinary. In the fall of 2006, the College introduced a 21st-century general education curriculum that engages students in a variety of fields across the arts and sciences. The new curriculum includes two interdisciplinary requirements: one course that integrates the humanities and social sciences across the sectors of society, history and tradition, and arts and letters; and one course that blends the natural sciences and mathematics spanning the living and physical worlds. Penn’s emphasis on interdisciplinary learning has led to the development of truly unique academic programs. SAS’ Visual Studies program, for example, offers a challenging curriculum connecting the theory, practice and culture of “seeing.” The program encompasses a broad diversity of subjects including philosophy, cognitive science, art history, and psychology.

In 2007 Penn introduced the Award for Interdisciplinary Innovation, which encourages collaboration of student scholars from different University departments and includes a summer fellowship.

 

Integrating Knowledge In The Public Square

• Penn Conference on Civility and American Politics
• Penn Humanities Forum
• Founder’s Day Symposium
• Hurricane Katrina Conference

Many programs at Penn foster lively conversations and engage the broader public. The Penn Conference on Civility and American Politics convened elected officials and scholars to discuss the increasingly polarized political discourse of Washington, D.C. The Penn Program on Democracy, Citizenship, and Constitutionalism sponsors workshops and conferences, funds fellowships and research, and will produce a special series of books through Penn Press.

The Penn Humanities Forum unites the humanities, sciences, and the professions. Among its programs are an interdisciplinary research center for Mellon post-doctoral fellows, faculty, and students, and a popular lecture series addressing such themes as "Human Nature," "Time," and "Word & Image.”

In 2007 Penn established a Founder’s Day Symposium to explore multiple perspectives of issues by bringing together faculty from several disciplines. The first program, "Changing the World? Penn Confronts Global Challenges," explored the prospects, challenges, rewards, and obligations of the University to reach beyond its borders in these complex times.

After Hurricane Katrina, Penn organized a Symposium in Washington, D.C., that brought together policymakers, public and private-sector leaders, and scholars to develop more effective strategies for saving lives and speeding recovery when disaster strikes. The lessons drawn from those discussions were published in On Risk and Disaster. Lessons drawn from a second Katrina conference, organized by the Penn Institute for Urban Research, were published in Rebuilding Urban Places After Disaster.

 

Integrating Knowledge Among Global Partners

• The Penn Summit on Global Issues in Women's Health
• Global Colloquium of University Presidents on Academic Freedom
• Penn Tsinghua T.C. Chan Center for Building Simulation and Energy Studies

A resolve to improve the status of women who are victims of violence, political oppression, and discrimination led Penn Nursing and Medicine to host "The Penn Summit on Global Issues in Women's Health: Safe Womanhood in an Unsafe World." During the two-day conference, experts reassessed existing models for health promotion and illness prevention for women while proposing new strategies for empowering girls and women. Currently, in the AIDS-ravaged nation of Botswana, Penn Medicine faculty and students are providing care to HIV patients and training local doctors and nurses on how to do the same. The School of Nursing, Wharton School, School of Social Policy and Practice and Annenberg School for Communication have also contributed to the Botswana effort.

In 2005 President Gutmann was one of 25 University presidents to participate in the first Global Colloquium of University Presidents. Launched by Columbia University, New York University, Penn, Princeton, and Yale in response to the United Nations Secretary-General's call for the academic community to bring its expertise to bear on pressing international issues. By 2007 the colloquium had grown to include university presidents from around the world, and the group turned its attention to the role of universities in relation to climate change and post-Kyoto climate policy.

Penn has partnered with Beijing's Tsinghua University to create a Center for Building Simulation and Energy Studies. This innovative center is developing energy-efficient strategies that lead to high-performance buildings and sustainable environments. The T.C. Chan Center conducts research, organizes symposia, and consults on building design projects worldwide.

Download Impact of the Penn Compact brochure (PDF format)