Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the University of Pennsylvania, also known as Penn or UPenn, is a private Ivy League research university. Founded by Benjamin Franklin, the university’s first president and founder, it is one of nine colonial institutions that was incorporated before the United States Declaration of Independence. Franklin pushed for the university to be an educational institution that developed leaders in scholarship, trade, and public service. Although other institutions contest this claim, Penn is regarded as the fourth-oldest university in the country. Franklin, on the other hand, may have been the fifth-oldest, having called the inaugural meeting of the board of trustees in 1749.
There are 12 graduate and professional schools at the university in addition to four undergraduate schools. The Wharton School, the School of Nursing, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and the College of Arts and Sciences are among the institutions that are accepting undergraduate applications. Its highly regarded graduate programs include its medical school, which was the first in North America to establish a medical program, its law school, where its first professor, James Wilson, contributed to the writing of the first draft of the U.S. Constitution, and Wharton, the first collegiate business school in the country. With an endowment of US$20.7 billion as of 2022, Penn is the sixth wealthiest private university in the US. The university received $1.5 billion in research funding in 2020, ranking fourth among all US universities.
The main campus of the University of Pennsylvania is situated in West Philadelphia’s University City area and is anchored by College Hall. Among the notable landmarks on campus are Franklin Field, the nation’s first dual-level college football stadium and the oldest NCAA Division I college football stadium still in continuous use, and Houston Hall, the nation’s first modern student union.[14] As a member of the Ivy League conference in NCAA Division I, the university’s athletics program, the Penn Quakers, fields varsity teams in 33 different sports.
Eight signers of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, seven signers of the Constitution, three presidents, three justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, 32 senators, 163 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, 19 U.S. Cabinet Secretaries, 46 governors, 28 State Supreme Court justices, and nine foreign heads of state have all been alumni, trustees, and faculty at Penn since the university’s founding. 39 Nobel laureates, four Turing Award winners, and a Fields Medalist are among the alumni and professors. 32 Rhodes Scholars and 21 Marshall Scholars have graduated from Penn. Among all colleges and universities, Penn has the most undergraduate alumni who are billionaires as of 2022 (17, if one counts only Penn’s four undergraduate schools). At least (a) 81 Olympic medals (26 gold) have been won by 43 different Penn alumni [note 3]. Two Penn alums have been astronauts for NASA, while five Penn alums have received the Medal of Honor.
History
Origins of the college
A group of Philadelphians banded together in 1740 to build a massive preaching hall for George Whitefield, a wandering preacher who preached in public while touring the American colonies. The structure, which attracted thousands of people when it was initially proclaimed, was created and built by Edmund Woolley. At the time, it was the biggest edifice in Philadelphia. The chapel and school were supposed to operate out of the preaching hall as well, but due to financial constraints, those plans had to be shelved.
A group of Philadelphians banded together in 1740 to build a massive preaching hall for George Whitefield, a wandering preacher who preached in public while touring the American colonies. The structure, which attracted thousands of people when it was initially proclaimed, was created and built by Edmund Woolley. At the time, it was the biggest edifice in Philadelphia. The chapel and school were supposed to operate out of the preaching hall as well, but due to financial constraints, those plans had to be shelved.
