Penn Forward

Penn Forward is a strategic initiative to reshape how the University fulfills its missions of education, research, and service in a rapidly changing world. We are not starting from scratch, but we are not tinkering at the margins either. The effort will examine fundamental aspects of how Penn operates, how we engage with learners, how we generate knowledge, and how we sustain excellence. Our goal is to design a future for Penn that is academically vibrant, financially viable, publicly engaged, and organizationally sound.

No. In Principle and Practice remains our strategic foundation. Penn Forward is how we put that framework into motion—developing the structures, investments, and commitments necessary to deliver on its vision.

Many of the forces affecting higher education today, such as declining public trust, skepticism about cost and value, increasing regulatory complexity, and unstable research funding, have been building for years. Others, like the rapid emergence of generative AI, have arrived more suddenly. In this shifting landscape, Penn has an opportunity and a responsibility to help define what excellence in higher education looks like for the decades ahead. That means acting now, and with intention.

Penn Forward has been organized and set in motion by the President, the Provost, and the Executive Vice President with direct support from faculty and staff leaders. Each of the six topical domains has working group leads—members of the Penn community with deep knowledge and institutional experience. Those working groups are at the heart of the initiative, and will lead the process. They comprise faculty, staff, senior leaders and thinkers, students and post-doctoral scholars in regular consultation with the organizers and the University Board of Trustees. The overall effort is coordinated by Senior Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and John Morgan Professor, David A. Asch, and Senior Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer, Thomas Murphy.

No. Our goal is to transform how Penn operates, making it easier and more efficient for work to get done across the University’s multilayered administrative structures. We will need to carefully manage the University’s finances through the new external finance pressures and uncertainties, including the endowment tax, declining federal funding support, and tariffs. However, this effort is focused on ensuring Penn’s operational processes and systems, and the staff who use them, are best positioned to manage the increasing complexity and scale of our work over the long term.

Working groups are composed to reflect a wide range of perspectives, and there will be structured opportunities for engagement, feedback, and idea-sharing throughout the fall. We recognize that Penn is a pluralistic institution, and good strategy must emerge through dialogue and deliberation.

Success is generating strategic clarity and executable choices—for example: reimagined undergraduate curricula, new financial models for research, a more purposeful international footprint, or a meaningful expansion of lifelong learning. These aren’t predetermined outcomes, but they represent the kinds of bold, future-focused directions we aim to explore and shape together.

Working groups began meeting in August and will deliver findings in early 2026. Some initiatives will begin rolling out even sooner, particularly where early accomplishments are possible. Throughout the year, we will continue sharing updates and inviting your feedback.