Rodin Legacy >

The foundation of Penn’s excellence is its accomplished faculty. During President Rodin’s tenure, that faculty has grown dramatically in stature and achievement. Some of the world’s most preeminent scholars have been recruited under Dr. Rodin’s stewardship, including Michael Eric Dyson, the outspoken social critic who joined Penn’s religious-studies department and Center for Africana Studies; John DiIulio, the distinguished political scientist who directed the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives; MacArthur Award-winning poet and theorist Susan Stewart; and Lawrence Sherman, the world-renowned criminologist who directs the Jerry Lee Center of Criminology.

Penn’s illustrious faculty have earned more than 280 national awards, including two Nobel Prizes, 11 National Academy of Science elections, 28 Guggenheim Fellowships, and two National Medals of Science winners.

The number of endowed professorships established at Penn has grown significantly, with 58 added in the past five years alone.

• Endowed chairs have increased 37 percent, from 229 in 1994 to 472 in 2003.

• Gary Hack and Daniel Libeskind, who teamed up on the winning design for World Trade Center site, sit on the Penn Fine Arts faculty.

• Professor of Chemistry Alan MacDiarmid won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2000.

• Physicist Raymond Davies Jr. was honored with a 2002 Nobel Prize for his work in neutrinos.

• Among the distinguished scholars who joined the Penn faculty over the past decade are two noted social scientitsts: criminologist Lawrence Sherman and political scientist John DiIulio.

• The School of Nursing is ranked number 3 nationally, and Penn nursing researchers are guiding the solutions to the national nursing shortage.

• Three members of the Penn faculty were elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

• Eighteen Penn professors were named to the Institute of Medicine.

• Twenty-three members of the Penn faculty have received National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships.

• 1997 MacArthur Fellow Susan Stewart joined Penn's English faculty in the fall of 1997, becoming the fifth MacArthur fellow on Penn's current standing faculty.

• Recent faculty recipients of the Guggenhiem Fellowship include Professor of Engineering Nadher Engheta, Fellow in Creative Writing Paul Hendrickson, Associate Professor of History Robert St. George and Professor of East Asian Art Nancy Steinhardt.