Rodin Legacy >

Biographical sketches of Penn Presidents (including Acting and Interim Presidents) and historically significant aspects of University history during each administration.

Judith Rodin, President (1994-Present)

Claire Muriel Mintzer Fagin, Interim President (1993-1994)

Francis Sheldon Hackney, President (1981-1993)

Martin Meyerson, President (1970-1981)

Gaylord Probasco Harnwell, President (1953-1970)

William Hagan DuBarry, Acting President, (1950-51, 1952, and 1953)

Harold Edward Stassen, President (1948-1953)

George William McClelland, President (1944-1948)

Thomas Sovereign Gates, President (1930-1944)

Judith Rodin, President (1994-Present)

Born 1944 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Living in 2003

B.A., University of Pennsylvania, 1966
Ph.D. in Psychology, Columbia University, 1970

• Assistant Professor of Psychology, New York University, 1970-1972

• Associate Professor of Psychology, Yale University, 1973-1978

• Professor of Psychology and Director of Graduate Studies, Yale University, 1978-1984

• Philip R. Allen Professor of Psychology, Medicine, and Psychiatry, Yale University, 1984-1994

• Chair, Department of Psychology, Yale University, 1989-1991

• Dean, Graduate School, Yale University, 1991-1992

• Provost, Yale University, 1992-1994

Claire Muriel Mintzer Fagin, Interim President (1993-1994)

Born 1926 in New York, New York
Living in 2003

B.S., School of Nursing, Wagner College, 1948
M.A., Teacher's College, Columbia University, 1951
Ph.D., New York University, 1964

Hon. LL.D., University of Pennsylvania, 1994

• Associate Professor of Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing and Director of the Graduate Program in Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing, New York University, New York City, 1965-1969

• Professor and Chair, Department of Nursing, Herbert H. Lehman College, City University of New York, 1969-1977

• Professor of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, 1977-1996, now Emerita Dean and Emerita Professor and currently Program Director of John A. Hartford initiative: Building Academic Geriatric Nursing Capacity

• Dean, School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, 1977-1992

• Fellow, American Academy of Nursing, 1975

• Director, Health Professions Institute, Lehman College and the Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center, 1975

• Developed, won approval of, and implemented Ph.D. degree program, School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, 1977-78
  Member, Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, 1980

• Elected to governing board, Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, 1981

• Appointed member, Board of Mental Health and Behavioral Medicine, Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Medicine, 1982

• Distinguished Scholar, American Nurses' Foundation, 1984

• Member, College of Physicians of Philadelphia, 1986

• Author, Essays in Nursing Leadership (2000)

• Honorary Fellow, Royal College of Nursing, 2002

Francis Sheldon Hackney, President (1981-1993)

Born 1933 in Birmingham, Alabama
Living in 2003

B.A., Vanderbilt University
M.A., Yale University, 1955
Ph.D., Yale University, 1963

Hon. LL.D., University of Pennsylvania, 1966

• 1993 Assistant Professor, Princeton University, 1965-1969

• Associate Professor, Princeton University, 1969-1972

• Professor and Provost, Princeton University, 1972-1975

• President, Tulane University, 1975-1980

• Author, From Populism to Progressivism in Alabama, 1969

• Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania, 1981 to the present

• Chairman, National Endowment for the Humanities, 1993-1997

• President Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania, 1999 to the present

University history during the Hackney administration:

• 1982: The Wharton SchoolÍs Steinberg Hall-Dietrich Hall completed and occupied.

• 1983: "Choosing Penn's Future" was formally adopted as the strategic plan of the Hackney administration. It established a framework of four priorities and three "special challenges" for the decade that followed.

  The priorities were:

  a) the University's quality is the strength of its faculty;

  b) the University must conserve its resources and protect its financial integrity;

  c) the University's special character is reflected in the diversity of interest and people it attracts to its community; and

  d) the University's scale must ensure the highest academic quality of its students and research efforts.

  The special challenges were:

  a) undergraduate education;

  b) research excellence; and

  c) student financial assistance.

• 1984: Stephanie Dangel awarded a Rhodes Scholarship

• 1985: Michael S. Brown (B.A. 1962; M.D. 1966) awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine

• 1986: Seeley G. Mudd Biological Sciences Building completed and occupied.

• 1987: 3401 Walnut Street building completed and occupied.

• 1989: Campaign for Penn launched.

Martin Meyerson, President (1970-1981)

Gaylord Probasco Harnwell, President (1953-1970)

Born 1903 in Evanston, Illinois
Died 1982 in Haverford, Pennsylvania

B.S. in Physics, Haverford College, 1924
M.A. in Physics, Princeton University, 1926
Ph.D. in Physics, Princeton University, 1927

Hon. LL.D., University of Pennsylvania, 1953

• Assistant and after 1936, Associate Professor of Physics, Princeton University, 1929-38

• Professor of Physics, University of Pennsylvania, 1938-1970 (with leave of absence, 1942-46)

• Chair, Department of Physics, University of Pennsylvania, 1938-1953 (with leave of absence, 1942-46)

• Director, University of California Division of War Research, U.S. Navy Radio and Sound Laboratory, 1942-46, with Medal of Merit awarded him by the U.S. Navy in 1947 for advances in submarine detection devices, particularly in sonar technology

• Editor, Review of Scientific Instruments, 1941-53
  (published by the American Institute of Physics)

• Editorial Director, Physics Today, 1951-53

• Author, Russian Diary (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1960). This book described his travels there.

• Author, Educational Voyaging in Iran (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1962). This book described his advising on the establishment of an American-style university at Shiraz.

University history during the Harnwell administration:

• 1953: The administration of President Gaylord P. Harnwell initiated "The Educational Survey," a major institutional self-study and long-range planning project.

• 1954: Penn and seven other research universities established the Ivy League.

• 1958: The Annenberg School for Communication established as a graduate professional school.

• 1959: The Educational Survey was concluded with the publication of several studies and recommendations on educational policy, University administration, and athletics, including a summation by President Harnwell, titled "Assaying a University." The Educational Survey subsequently proved to be the model for modern strategic planning at Penn.

• 1961: The Graduate School of Education took its modern name and became a graduate professional school.

• 1961: The Graduate School of Fine Arts took its modern name and became a graduate professional school.

• 1962: Development Program of the Sixties launched.

• 1963: The Institute of Contemporary Art established.

• 1965: Laboratory for Research in the Structure of Matter (LRSM) completed and occupied.

• 1970: Achievements of the seventeen-year Harnwell administration included "the University's development from a regional university to a major national force in research with world-wide outreach.

  His administration was the time of the deliberative diversification of the student body to include students from all walks of life; of dramatic changes in faculty hiring to counter what had been labeled ‘inbreeding'; and of the founding of the Faculty Senate and later of other mechanisms that brought consultative groups together.

  Physical expansion alone was monumental: 93 projects were completed and another 38 designed during his administration.

  In the neighborhood to which Penn committed itself after deciding not to move to Valley Forge, he helped found the University City Science Center and the West Philadelphia corporation, and to put through a guaranteed mortgage program to draw faculty back from the suburbs.

  For the sixties, the $93 million capital campaign of the Harnwell era was one of the largest development campaigns to be dared in the country – and went over goal." (Almanac, 20 April 1982)

William Hagan DuBarry, Acting President on three separate occasions in 1950-51, 1952, and 1953.

Born 1894 in Lewistown, Pennsylvania
Died 1958 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

B.S. in Econ., University of Pennsylvania, 1929 (as of 1916)

• Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army, World War I, 1917-1919

• Salesman, Graham & Co., 1916-1917

• Assistant to the Provost, University of Pennsylvania, 1923-1931

• Director of Scholarships and Student Finance, 1931-1938

• Vice President and Assistant to the President, 1938-1944

• Executive Vice President, 1944-1954

• Vice President for the Corporation, 1954-1958

Directorships of University boards:

• Member of the Board of Managers, Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology, University of Pennsylvania, 1939-195? (President, 1944-1950)

• Member of the Board of Managers, Graduate Hospital, University of Pennsylvania, 1940-1947

• Trustee, Moore School of Electrical Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, 1947-1950

• Trustee, Pennsylvania School of Social Work, 1947

• Member of the Board of Managers, University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, 1947

• Trustee, Thomas W. Evans Institute and Museum Society, (President in 1947-1950)

Directorships of non-University boards:

• President, Foulke and Long Institute, 1931-1938

• Member, Rittenhouse Club, 1923-1958 (President, 1949-1954)

• Member of the Vestry, Protestant Episcopal Church of the Holy Trinity, Philadelphia, 1947

• Secretary, Standing Committee of the Protestant Episcopal

• Diocese of Pennsylvania, 1931-1947

• Director, American Academy of Music, 1946-

• Director, Zoological Society of Philadelphia, 1946-1958

• Director, Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Red Cross, 1945-1951 (Chairman, 1948-1950)

• Trustee, Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute, 1949-53 and President of the Board of Trustees, 1953-

• Director, Provident Mutual Life Insurance Company

Harold Edward Stassen, President (1948-1953)

Born 1907 in North St. Paul, Minnesota
Died 2001 in Minnesota

B.A., University of Minnesota, 1927
L.L.B., University of Minnesota, 1929

Hon. LL.D., University of Pennsylvania, 1948

• Practicing attorney, 1929-1930

• County Attorney of Dakota County, Minnesota, 1930-1938

• Governor, State of Minnesota, 1938-1943

• Captain, U.S. Navy, 1943-1945 (his military service was performed in the South Pacific, where he was assigned to the staff of Admiral William F. Halsey)

• U.S. Delegate, San Francisco Conference of the United Nations, 1945

• Nationally prominent candidate for U.S. President, 1948, but was defeated for nomination at the Republican National Convention by New York Governor Thomas Dewey

• Director, Mutual Security Administration, 1953, with cabinet rank in the Eisenhower administration

• Director, Foreign Operations Administration, 1953-1955, with cabinet rank

• Special Assistant to the U.S. President, 1955-1958, with cabinet rank, to direct studies of U.S. and world disarmament

• Practicing attorney in the Philadelphia law firm of Stassen, Kostos, and Mason, 1958-

• Candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania, 1958, but was defeated in the Republican primary by McGonigle

• Candidate for Mayor of Philadelphia, 1959, but was defeated in the general election by the incumbent Democrat, Richardson C. Dilworth

• Candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania, 1966, but was defeated in the Republican primary

Significant events in or aspects of University history during the Stassen administration:

• 1950: The School of Nursing established as an undergraduate professional school.

George William McClelland, President (1944-1948)

Born 1880 in Dobbs Ferry, New York
Died 1955 in Little Deer Isle, Maine

B.A., University of Pennsylvania, 1903
M.A. in English, University of Pennsylvania, 1912
Ph.D. in English, University of Pennsylvania, 1916

Hon. LL.D., University of Pennsylvania, 1931

• Instructor of English and Latin, City College, New York City, 1903-1911

• Instructor of English, University of Pennsylvania, 1911-1917

• Assistant Professor of English, University of Pennsylvania, 1917-1924

• Professor of English, University of Pennsylvania, 1924-1950

• Professor Emeritus, 1950-1955

• Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admissions, University of Pennsylvania, 1915-1921

• Director of Undergraduate Admissions, 1921-1925

• Vice Provost, 1925-1928

• Vice Provost in charge of Undergraduate Schools, 1928-1931

• Vice President in charge of Undergraduate Schools, 1931-1939

• Provost, 1939-1944

• Trustee, University of Pennsylvania, 1948-1955

Significant events in or aspects of University history during the McClelland administration:

• 1946: ENIAC, the world's first all-electronic digital computer, was designed, constructed and put into production at Penn

Thomas Sovereign Gates, President (1930-1944)

Born 1873 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died 1948 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Ph.B. in the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 1893
LL.B., University of Pennsylvania, 1896

Hon. LL.D., University of Pennsylvania, 1931

• Practicing attorney in the office of John G. Johnson, 1896-1906

• Trust Officer and Vice President, First Pennsylvania Bank, 1906-1912

• President, Philadelphia Trust Company, 1912-1918

• Partner, Drexel and Company, 1918-1930

• Partner, J.P. Morgan and Company, 1921-1930

• Trustee, University of Pennsylvania, 1921-1948

• Chairman, University of Pennsylvania Fund, 1925-1929

• Chairman, Board of Trustees, 1944-48

Significant events in or aspects of University history during the Gates administration:

• 1930: The University of Pennsylvania was composed of a College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; five undergraduate professional schools – Education, Engineering, Fine Arts, Veterinary Medicine, and the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce; and four graduate professional schools – Law, Medicine, Dental Medicine, and Graduate Medicine. Penn also owned and operated the University Museum, the University Hospital, the Veterinary Hospital, and the Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology.

• 1932: Penn acquired the Morris Arboretum, located in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia, established onsite research programs in botany and opened the ninety-two-acre Victorian garden to the public.

• 1933: The College of Liberal Arts for Women established. It was Penn's first, full-time, undergraduate liberal arts degree program for women.

• 1935: The Pennsylvania School of Social Work affiliated with Penn as a graduate, professional school. Penn conferred, for the first time, the degree of Master of Social Work (MSW).

• 1936: Women first earned the degree of Bachelor of Architecture (B. Arch.).

• 1937: The Fels Institute of State and Local Government established. Penn conferred, for the first time, the degree of Master of Government Administration (MGA).

• 1938: Women first earned the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVD).

• 1940: The School of Veterinary Medicine became a graduate professional school. All first-year students were required, for the first time, to demonstrate the completion of a minimum of two full years of higher education as a prerequisite to admission.

• 1943: World War II training programs established, including the United States Naval Flight Preparatory School, the Navy College Training Program, the Army Specialized Training Program, and the Women's Army Corps. Total enrollment in these wartime programs exceeded 3,500.