Portal:Philadelphia/Selected article/March 2008

Benjamin Franklin Statue, in front of College Hall.

The University of Pennsylvania is a private university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to the university, it is America's first university and is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. Penn is also a member of the Ivy League and is one of the Colonial Colleges. Benjamin Franklin, Penn's founder, advocated an educational program that focused as much on practical education for commerce and public service as on the classics and theology. Penn was one of the first academic institutions to follow a multidisciplinary model pioneered by several European universities, concentrating several "faculties" (e.g., theology, classics, medicine) into one institution. Penn is acknowledged as a leader in the arts and humanities, the social sciences, architecture, communications and education Penn is particularly noted for its schools of business, law and medicine (see BusinessWeek magazine and U.S. News & World Report). About 4,500 professors serve nearly 10,000 full-time undergraduate and 10,000 graduate and professional students. In FY2007, Penn's academic research programs undertook more than $787 million in research, involving some 4,200 faculty, 870 postdoctoral fellows, 3,800 graduate students, and 5,400 support staff. Much of the funding is provided by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for biomedical research. Penn tops the Ivy League in annual spending, with a projected 2007 budget of $5.18 billion. In 2007, it ranked fourth among U.S. universities in fundraising, bringing in about $392.4 million in private support.