University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania ( commonly referred to as Penn or UPenn ) is an American private Ivy League research university located in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , United States . Penn considers itself the fourth - oldest institution of higher education in the United States , as well as the first university in the United States with both undergraduate and graduate studies . It is also one of the Colonial Colleges . Incorporated as " The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania " , Penn is one of 14 founding members of the Association of American Universities . 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 multiple " faculties " ( e . g . , theology , classics , medicine ) into one institution . It was also home to many other educational innovations . The first school of medicine in North America ( Perelman School of Medicine , 1765 ) , the first collegiate business school ( Wharton , 1881 ) and the first student union ( Houston Hall , 1896 ) , were all born at Penn . Penn offers a broad range of academic departments , an extensive research enterprise and a number of community outreach and public service programs . It is particularly well known for its medical school , dental school , school of business , law school , communications school , nursing school , veterinary school , its social sciences and humanities programs , as well as its biomedical teaching and research capabilities . Its undergraduate programs are also among the most selective in the country ( 12 . 3 % acceptance rate ) . One of Penn ' s most well known academic qualities is its emphasis on interdisciplinary education , which it promotes through numerous joint degree programs , research centers and professorships , a unified campus , and the ability for students to take classes from any of Penn ' s schools ( the " One University Policy " ) . All of Penn ' s schools , alone or jointly , exhibit very high research activity . Penn is consistently included among the top five research universities in the United States , and among the top research universities in the world , both in terms of quality and quantity of research . In fiscal year 2011 , Penn topped the Ivy League in academic research spending with an $ 814 million budget , involving some 4 , 000 faculty , 1 , 100 postdoctoral fellows and 5 , 400 support staff / graduate assistants . As one of the most active and prolific research institutions , Penn is associated with several important innovations and discoveries in many fields of science and the humanities . Among them are the first general purpose electronic computer ( ENIAC ) , the Rubella and Hepatitis B vaccines , Retin - A , cognitive therapy , conjoint analysis and others . Penn ' s academic and research programs are led by a large and highly productive faculty . In the last ten years alone 9 Penn faculty members or graduates have won a Nobel Prize . Over its long history the university has also produced many distinguished alumni . These include 12 heads of state ( including one U . S . President ) , 3 United States Supreme Court justices , and supreme court justices of other states , founders of technology companies , international law firms , and global financial institutions , university presidents and 18 living billionaires . History . In 1740 , a group of Philadelphians joined together to erect a great preaching hall for the traveling evangelist George Whitefield , who toured the American colonies delivering open air sermons . The building was designed and built by Edmund Woolley and was the largest building in the city at the time . It was initially planned to serve as a charity school as well ; however , a lack of funds forced plans for the chapel and school to be suspended . In the fall of 1749 , eager to create a school to educate future generations , Benjamin Franklin circulated a pamphlet titled " Proposals for the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania , " his vision for what he called a " Public Academy of Philadelphia . " However , according to Franklin ' s autobiography , it was in 1743 when he first had the idea to establish an academy , " thinking the Rev . Richard Peters a fit person to superintend such an institution . " Unlike the other Colonial colleges that existed in 1743 — Harvard , William and Mary , and Yale — Franklin ' s new school would not focus merely on education for the clergy . He advocated an innovative concept of higher education , one which would teach both the ornamental knowledge of the arts and the practical skills necessary for making a living and doing public service . The proposed program of study could have become the nation ' s first modern liberal arts curriculum , although it was never implemented because provost William Smith preferred a traditional curriculum . Franklin assembled a board of trustees from among the leading citizens of Philadelphia , the first such non - sectarian board in America . At the first meeting of the 24 members of the Board of Trustees ( November 13 , 1749 ) the issue of where to locate the school was a prime concern . Although a lot across Sixth Street from Independence Hall was offered without cost by James Logan , its owner , the Trustees realized that the building erected in 1740 , which was still vacant , would be an even better site . The original sponsors of the dormant building still owed considerable construction debts and asked Franklin ' s group to assume their debts and , accordingly , their inactive trusts . On February 1 , 1750 the new board took over the building and trusts of the old board . On August 13 , 1751 the Academy of Philadelphia , using the great hall at 4th and Arch Streets , took in its first secondary students . A charity school also was opened in accordance with the intentions of the original " New Building " donors , although it lasted only a few years . In 1755 , the College of Philadelphia was chartered , paving the way for the addition of undergraduate instruction . All three schools shared the same Board of Trustees and were considered to be part of the same institution . The institution of higher learning was known as the College of Philadelphia from 1755 to 1779 . In 1779 , not trusting then - provost the Rev . William Smith ' s loyalist tendencies , the revolutionary State Legislature created a University of the State of Pennsylvania . The result was a schism , with Smith continuing to operate an attenuated version of the College of Philadelphia . In 1791 the legislature issued a new charter , merging the two institutions into the University of Pennsylvania with twelve men from each institution on the new board of trustees . Penn has three claims to being the first university in the United States , according to university archives director Mark Frazier Lloyd : the 1765 founding of the first medical school in America made Penn the first institution to offer both " undergraduate " and professional education ; the 1779 charter made it the first American institution of higher learning to take the name of " University " ; and existing colleges were established as seminaries . After being located in downtown Philadelphia for more than a century , the campus was moved across the Schuylkill River to property purchased from the Blockley Almshouse in West Philadelphia in 1872 , where it has since remained in an area now known as University City . Although Penn began operating as an academy or secondary school in 1751 and obtained its collegiate charter in 1755 , it initially designated 1750 as its founding date ; this is the year which appears on the first iteration of the university seal . Sometime later in its early history , Penn began to consider 1749 as its founding date ; this year was referenced for over a century , including at the centennial celebration in 1849 . In 1899 , the board of trustees voted to adjust the founding date earlier again , this time to 1740 , the date of " the creation of the earliest of the many educational trusts the University has taken upon itself . " The board of trustees voted in response to a three - year campaign by Penn ' s General Alumni Society to retroactively revise the university ' s founding date to appear older than Princeton University , which had been chartered in 1746 . Educational innovations . Penn ' s educational innovations include : the nation ' s first medical school in 1765 ; the first university teaching hospital in 1874 ; the Wharton School , the world ' s first collegiate school of business , in 1881 ; the first American student union building , Houston Hall , in 1896 ; the country ' s second school of veterinary medicine ; and the home of ENIAC , the world ' s first electronic , large - scale , general - purpose digital computer in 1946 . Penn is also home to the oldest continuously functioning psychology department in North America and is where the American Medical Association was founded . Penn was also the first university to award a PhD to an African - American woman , Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander , in 1921 ( in economics ) . Motto . Penn ' s motto is based on a line from Horace ’ s III . 24 ( Book 3 , Ode 24 ) , " quid leges sine moribus vanae proficiunt ? " ( " of what avail empty laws without [ good ] morals ? " ) From 1756 to 1898 , the motto read " Sine Moribus Vanae " . When it was pointed out that the motto could be translated as " Loose women without morals , " the university quickly changed the motto to " literae sine moribus vanae " ( " Letters without morals [ are ] useless " ) . In 1932 , all elements of the seal were revised , and as part of the redesign it was decided that the new motto " mutilated " Horace , and it was changed to its present wording , " Leges Sine Moribus Vanae " ( " Laws without morals [ are ] useless " ) . Seal . The official seal of the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania serves as the signature and symbol of authenticity on documents issued by the corporation . A request for one was first recorded in a meeting of the trustees in 1753 during which some of the Trustees “ desired to get a Common Seal engraved for the Use of [ the ] Corporation . ” However , it was not until a meeting in 1756 that “ a public Seal for the College with a proper device and Motto ” was requested to be engraved in silver . The most recent design , a modified version of the original seal , was approved in 1932 , adopted a year later , and is still used for much of the same purposes as the original . The outer ring of the current seal is inscribed with “ Universitas Pennsylvaniensis , ” the Latin name of the University of Pennsylvania . The inside contains seven stacked books on a desk with the titles of what was the common curriculum in 1932 : Theolog , Astronom , Philosoph , Mathemat , Logica , Rhetorica , Grammatica . Between the books and the outer ring is the Latin motto of the University , “ Leges Sine Moribus Vanae . ” Campus . Much of Penn ' s architecture was designed by the Cope & Stewardson firm , whose principal architects combined the Gothic architecture of the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge with the local landscape to establish the Collegiate Gothic style . The present core campus covers over in a contiguous area of West Philadelphia ' s University City district ; the older heart of the campus comprises the University of Pennsylvania Campus Historic District . All of Penn ' s schools and most of its research institutes are located on this campus . The surrounding neighborhood includes several restaurants and pubs , a large upscale grocery store , and a movie theater on the western edge of campus . The Module 6 Utility Plant and Garage at Penn was designed by BLT Architects and completed in 1995 . Module 6 is located at 38th & Walnut and includes spaces for 627 vehicles , of storefront retail operations , a 9 , 500 - ton chiller module and corresponding extension of the campus chilled water loop , and a 4 , 000 - ton ice storage facility . In 2007 , Penn acquired about between the campus and the Schuylkill River ( the former site of the Philadelphia Civic Center and a nearby site owned by the United States Postal Service ) . Dubbed the Postal Lands , the site extends from Market Street on the north to Penn ' s Bower Field on the south , including the former main regional U . S . Postal Building at 30th and Market Streets , now the regional office for the U . S . Internal Revenue Service . Over the next decade , the site will become the home to educational , research , biomedical , and mixed - use facilities . The first phase , a comprising a park and athletic facilities , opened in the fall of 2011 . Penn also plans new connections between the campus and the city , including a pedestrian bridge . In 2010 Penn , in its first significant expansion across the Schuylkill River , purchased 23 acres at the northwest corner of 34th Street and Grays Ferry Avenue from DuPont for storage and office space . In September 2011 Penn completed the construction of the $ 46 . 5 million Penn Park , which features passive and active recreation and athletic components framed and subdivided by canopy trees , lawns , and meadows . It is located east of the Highline Green and stretches from Walnut Street to South Streets . The University also owns the Morris Arboretum in Chestnut Hill in northwestern Philadelphia , the official arboretum of the state of Pennsylvania . Penn also owns the New Bolton Center , the research and large - animal health care center of its Veterinary School . Located near Kennett Square , New Bolton Center received nationwide media attention when Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro underwent surgery at its Widener Hospital for injuries suffered while running in the Preakness Stakes . Penn borders Drexel University and is near the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia . The renowned cancer research center Wistar Institute is also located on campus . In 2014 a new 7 - story glass and steel building will be completed next to the Institute ' s historic 117 - year - old brick building further expanding collaboration between the university and the Wistar Institute . Libraries . Penn ' s library began in 1750 with a donation of books from cartographer Louis Evans . Twelve years later , then - provost William Smith sailed to England to raise additional funds to increase the collection size . More than 250 years later , it has grown into a system of 15 libraries ( 13 are on the contiguous campus ) with 400 full - time equivalent ( FTE ) employees and a total operating budget of more than $ 48 million . The library system holds 6 . 01 million book and serial volumes as well as 4 . 21 million microform items . It subscribes to over 68 , 000 print serials and e - journals . Penn ' s Libraries , with associated school or subject area : Annenberg ( School of Communications ) , located in the Annenberg School ; Biddle ( Law ) , located in the Law School ; Biomedical , located adjacent to the Robert Wood Johnson Pavilion of the Medical School ; Chemistry , located in the 1973 Wing of the Chemistry Building ; Dental Medicine ; Engineering , located on the second floor of the Towne Building in the Engineering School ; Fine Arts , located within the Fisher Fine Arts Library , designed by Frank Furness ; Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies , located on Walnut Street at Washington Square ; Lea Library , located within the Van Pelt Library ; Lippincott ( Wharton School ) , located on the second floor of the Van Pelt - Dietrich Library Center ; Math / Physics / Astronomy , located on the third floor of David Rittenhouse Laboratory ; Museum ( Anthropology ) ; Rare Books and Manuscripts ; Van Pelt - Dietrich Library Center ( Humanities and Social Sciences ) – location of Weigle Information Commons ; Veterinary Medicine , located in Penn Campus and New Bolton Center ; and High Density Storage . The University Museum . Since the University museum was founded in 1887 , it has taken part in 400 research projects worldwide . The museum ' s first project was an excavation of Nippur , a location in current day Iraq . The museum has three gallery floors with artifacts from Egypt , the Middle East , Mesoamerica , Asia , the Mediterranean , Africa , and indigenous artifacts of the Americas . Its most famous object is the goat rearing into the branches of a rosette - leafed plant , from the royal tombs of Ur . The Museum ' s excavations and collections foster a strong research base for graduate students in the Graduate Group in the Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean World . Features of the Beaux - Arts building include a rotunda and gardens that include Egyptian papyrus . The Institute of Contemporary Art , which is based on Penn ' s campus , showcases various art exhibitions throughout the year . Residences . Every College House at the University of Pennsylvania has at least four members of faculty in the roles of House Dean , Faculty Master , and College House Fellows . Within the College Houses , Penn has nearly 40 themed residential programs for students with shared interests such as world cinema or science and technology . Many of the nearby homes and apartments in the area surrounding the campus are often rented by undergraduate students moving off campus after their first year , as well as by graduate and professional students . The College Houses include W . E . B . Du Bois , Fisher Hassenfeld , Gregory , Harnwell , Harrison , Hill , Kings Court English , Riepe , Rodin , Stouffer , and Ware . Fisher Hassenfeld , Ware , and Riepe together make up one building called " The Quad . " Academics . The College of Arts and Sciences is the undergraduate division of the School of Arts and Sciences , which also contains the Graduate Division and the College of Liberal and Professional Studies , Penn ' s division for non - traditional undergraduate and graduate students . Wharton is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania . Other undergraduate schools include the School of Nursing and the School of Engineering and Applied Science ( SEAS ) Penn has a strong focus on interdisciplinary learning and research . It offers joint - degree programs , unique majors , and academic flexibility . Penn ' s " One University " policy allows undergraduates access to courses at all of Penn ' s undergraduate and graduate schools , except the medical , veterinary and dental schools . Undergraduates at Penn may also take courses at Bryn Mawr , Haverford , and Swarthmore , under a reciprocal agreement known as the Quaker Consortium . Coordinated dual - degree and interdisciplinary programs . Penn offers specialized coordinated dual - degree ( CDD ) programs , which award candidates degrees from multiple schools at the University upon completion of graduation criteria of both schools . Undergraduate programs include : Dual - degree programs which lead to the same multiple degrees without participation in the specific above programs are also available . Unlike CDD programs , " dual degree " students fulfill requirements of both programs independently without involvement of another program . Specialized dual - degree programs include Liberal Studies and Technology as well as a Computer and Cognitive Science Program . Both programs award a degree from the College of Arts and Sciences and a degree from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences . In addition , the Vagelos Scholars Program in Molecular Life Sciences allows its students to either double major in the sciences or submatriculate and earn both a B . A . and a M . S . in four years . The most recent Vagelos Integrated Program in Energy Research ( VIPER ) will be first offered for the class of 2016 . A joint program of Penn ’ s School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering and Applied Science , VIPER leads to dual Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science in Engineering degrees by combining majors from each school . For graduate programs , Penn offers many formalized joint - degree graduate degrees such as a joint J . D . / MBA , and maintains a list of interdisciplinary institutions , such as the Institute for Medicine and Engineering , the Joseph H . Lauder Institute for Management and International Studies , and the Institute for Research in Cognitive Science . Academic medical center and biomedical research complex . Penn ' s health - related programs — including the Schools of Nursing , Medicine , Dental Medicine , and Veterinary Medicine , and programs in bioengineering ( School of Engineering ) and health management ( the Wharton School ) — are among the university ' s strongest academic components . The combination of intellectual breadth , research funding ( each of the health sciences schools ranks in the top 5 in annual NIH funding ) , clinical resources and overall scale ranks Penn with only a small handful of peer universities in the U . S . The size of Penn ' s biomedical research organization , however , adds a very capital intensive component to the university ' s operations , and introduces revenue instability due to changing government regulations , reduced federal funding for research , and Medicaid / Medicare program changes . This is a primary reason highlighted in bond rating agencies ' views on Penn ' s overall financial rating , which ranks one notch below its academic peers . Penn has worked to address these issues by pooling its schools ( as well as several hospitals and clinical practices ) into the University of Pennsylvania Health System , thereby pooling resources for greater efficiencies and research impact . Admissions selectivity . The " Princeton Review " ranks Penn as the 6th most selective school in the United States . For the Class of 2015 , entering in the fall of 2011 , the University received a record of 31 , 659 applications and admitted 12 . 26 percent of the applicants ( 9 . 5 % in the regular decision cycle ) , marking Penn ' s most selective admissions cycle in the history of the University . " The Atlantic " also ranked Penn among the 10 most selective schools in the country . At the graduate level , Penn ' s admissions rates , like most universities ' , vary considerably based on school and program . Based on admission statistics from " U . S . News and World Report " , Penn ' s most selective programs include its law school , the health care schools ( medicine , dental medicine , nursing , and veterinary ) , and its business school . Research , innovations , and discoveries . Penn is considered a " very high research activity " university . < ref name = RU / VH > < / ref > Its economic impact on the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for 2010 amounted to $ 14 billion . In 2011 Penn topped the Ivy League in research expenditures with $ 814 million worth of research , of which about 70 % comes from federal support and in the most part from the Department of Health and Human Services . Penn also enjoys strong support from the private sector , which in 2010 contributed almost $ 400 million to Penn , making it the 6th strongest US university in terms of fundraising . In line with its well - known interdisciplinary tradition , Penn ' s research centers often span two or more disciplines . In the 2010 – 11 academic year alone 5 interdisciplinary research centers were created or substantially expanded ; these include the Center for Health - care Financing , the Center for Global Women ’ s Health at the Nursing School , the $ 13 million Morris Arboretum ’ s Horticulture Center , the $ 15 million Jay H . Baker Retailing Center at Wharton , and the $ 13 million Translational Research Center at Penn Medicine . With these additions , Penn now counts 165 research centers hosting a research community of over 4 , 000 faculty and over 1 , 100 postdoctoral fellows , 5 , 400 academic support staff and graduate student trainees . To further assist the advancement of interdisciplinary research President Amy Gutmann established the " Penn Integrates Knowledge " title awarded to selected Penn professors " whose research and teaching exemplify the integration of knowledge . " These professors hold endowed professorships and joint appointments between Penn ' s schools . The most recent of the 13 PIK professors is Ezekiel Emanuel , who started at Penn in September 2011 as the Diane S . Levy and Robert M . Levy University Professor with a joint appointment at the Department of Medical Ethics & Health Policy , which he chairs in the Perelman School of Medicine , and the Department of Health Care Management in the Wharton School . As a powerful research - oriented institution Penn is also among the most prolific and high - quality producers of doctoral students . With 487 PhDs awarded in 2009 , Penn ranks third in the Ivy League , only behind Columbia and Cornell ( Harvard did not report data ) . It also has one of the highest numbers of post - doctoral appointees ( 933 in number for 2004 – 07 ) , ranking third in the Ivy League ( behind Harvard and Yale ) , and tenth nationally . In most disciplines Penn professors ' productivity is among the highest in the nation , and first in the fields of Epidemiology , Business , Communication Studies , Comparative Literature , Languages , Information Science , Criminal Justice and Criminology , Social Sciences and Sociology . According to the National Research Council nearly three - quarters of Penn ’ s 41 assessed programs were placed in ranges including the top 10 rankings in their fields , with more than half of these in ranges including the top 5 rankings in these fields . Penn ' s research tradition has historically been complemented by innovations that shaped higher education . In addition to establishing the first medical school , the first university teaching hospital , the first business school , and the first student union , Penn was also the cradle of other significant developments . In 1852 Penn Law was the first law school in the nation to publish a law journal still in existence ( then called " The American Law Register , " now the " Penn Law Review " , one of the most cited law journals in the world ) . Under the deanship of William Draper Lewis , the law school was also one of the first schools to emphasize legal teaching by full - time professors instead of practitioners , a system that is still followed today . The Wharton School was home to several pioneering developments in business education . It established the first research center in a business school in 1921 and the first center for entrepreneurship center in 1973 , and it regularly introduced novel curricula for which " BusinessWeek " wrote , " Wharton is on the crest of a wave of reinvention and change in management education . " Several major scientific discoveries have also taken place at Penn . The university is probably best well known as the place where the first general - purpose electronic computer ( ENIAC ) was born in 1946 at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering . It was here also where the world ' s first spelling and grammar checkers were created , as well as the popular COBOL programming language . Penn can also boast some of the most important discoveries in the field of medicine . The dialysis machine used as an artificial replacement for lost kidney function was conceived and devised out of a pressure cooker by William Inouye while he was still a student at Penn Med ; the Rubella and Hepatitis B vaccines were developed at Penn ; the discovery of cancer ' s link with genes , cognitive therapy , Retin - A ( the cream used to treat acne ) , and Resistin were all discovered by Penn Med researchers . More recent gene research has led to the discovery of the genes for fragile X syndrome , the most common form of inherited mental retardation , Kennedy ' s disease , a disorder marked by progressive muscle and bulbar atrophy , and Charcot – Marie – Tooth disease , a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects the hands , feet , and limbs . Conductive polymer was also developed at Penn by Alan J . Heeger , Alan MacDiarmid and Hideki Shirakawa , an invention that earned them the Nobel Prize in Chemistry . Ralph L . Brinster , on faculty since 1965 , developed the scientific basis for in vitro fertilization and the transgenic mouse at Penn . The theory of superconductivity was also partly developed at Penn , by then faculty member John Robert Schrieffer ( along with John Bardeen and Leon Cooper ) . The university has also contributed major advancements in the fields of economics and management . Among the many discoveries are conjoint analysis , widely used as a predictive tool especially in market research , Simon Kuznets ' s method of measuring Gross National Product , the Penn effect ( the observation that consumer price levels in richer countries are systematically higher than in poorer ones ) , and the " Wharton Model " developed by Nobel - laurete Lawrence Klein to measure and forecast economic activity . The idea behind Health Maintenance Organization s also belonged to Penn professor Robert Eilers , who put it into practice during then President Nixon ' s health reform in the 1970s . According to " U . S . News & World Report " Penn is currently ranked 8th in the United States ( tied with Duke ) , behind Harvard , Princeton , Yale , Columbia , The University of Chicago , MIT , and Stanford . The eighth position is three spots down compared to 2011 ; the university attributed the drop in " U . S . News " ' new methodology that takes into account the opinions of high school college counselors , who emphasize the benefits of large urban centers like New York . " U . S . News " also includes Penn in its Most Popular National Universities list , and so does " The Princeton Review " in its Dream Colleges list . Rankings . In their latest editions Penn was ranked 12th in the world by the QS World University Rankings , 14th by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University ' s " Academic Ranking of World Universities " , and 15th by the " Times Higher Education " World University Rankings . According to the Shanghai Jiao Tong University ranking Penn is also the 8th and 9th best university in the world for economics / business and social sciences studies , respectively . University of Pennsylvania ranked 12th among 300 Best World Universities in 2012 compiled by Human Resources & Labor Review ( HRLR ) on Measurements of World ' s Top 300 Universities Graduates ' Performance . The Center for Measuring University Performance places Penn in the first tier of the United States ' top research universities ( tied with Columbia , MIT and Stanford ) , based on research expenditures , faculty awards , PhD granted and other academic criteria . Penn was also ranked 9th by the National Science Foundation in terms of R & D expenditures topping all other Ivy League Schools . The High Impact Universities research performance index ranks Penn 8th in the world , whereas the 2010 Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities ( published by the Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan ) ranks Penn 11th in the world for 2010 , 2008 and 2007 , and 9th for 2009 . The Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers measures universities ' research productivity , research impact , and research excellence based on the scientific papers published by their academic staff . The SCImago Institutions Rankings World Report 2012 , which ranks world universities , national institutions and academies in terms of research output , ranks Penn 7th nationally among U . S . universities ( and 2nd in the Ivy League behind Harvard ) and 28th in the world overall ( the first being France ' s Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique ) . The Mines ParisTech International Professional Ranking , which ranks universities on the basis of the number of alumni listed among CEOs in the 500 largest worldwide companies , ranks Penn 11th worldwide , and 2nd nationally behind Harvard . According to a " US News " article in 2010 , Penn is tied for second ( tied with Dartmouth College and Tufts University ) for the number of undergraduate alumni who are current Fortune 100 CEOs . " The Washington Monthly " ranked Penn 27th in National University Rankings ( Social mobility : percentage of , and support for , Pell grant recipients ; Research : total research spending ; PhDs granted in science and engineering ; and Community Service : the number of students in ROTC , Peace Corps , etc . ) . " Forbes " ranked Penn 17th , based on a variety of criteria . Penn ' s arts and science programs are all well regarded , with many departments ranked amongst the nation ' s top 10 . At the undergraduate level , Wharton , Penn ' s business school , and Penn ' s nursing school have maintained their No . 1 , 2 or 3 rankings since " U . S . News " began reviewing such programs . In the School of Engineering , top departments are bioengineering ( typically ranked in the top 5 by " U . S . News " ) , mechanical engineering , chemical engineering and nanotechnology . The school is also strong in some areas of computer science and artificial intelligence . Among its professional schools , the schools of business , communication , dentistry , medicine , nursing , and veterinary medicine rank in the top 5 nationally ( see " U . S . News " and National Research Council ) . Penn ' s Law School is ranked 7th , and its School of Education and School of Social Policy & Practice are ranked in the top 10 ( see " U . S . News " ) . In the 2010 QS Global 200 Business Schools Report , Penn was ranked 2nd in North America . Amy Gutmann ' s salary in 2009 was , placing her as the 20th highest paid college president in the United States . Student life . Demographics . Of those accepted for admission to the Class of 2014 , 40 . 8 percent are Asian , Hispanic , African - American , or Native American . In addition , 51 . 1 % of current students are women . More than 11 % of the first year class are international student s . The composition of international students accepted in the Class of 2014 is : 50 . 2 % from Asia ; 9 . 2 % from Africa and the Middle East ; 17 . 7 % from Europe ; 15 . 5 % from Canada and Mexico ; 4 . 8 % from the Caribbean , Central America , and South America ; 1 . 1 % from Australia and the Pacific Islands . The acceptance rate for international students applying for the class of 2014 was 411 out of 4 , 390 ( 9 . 4 % ) . Selected student organizations . The Philomathean Society , founded in 1813 , is the United States ' oldest continuously existing collegiate literary society . The Mask and Wig Club is the oldest all - male musical comedy troupe in the country . The University of Pennsylvania Glee Club , founded in 1862 , is one of the oldest continually operating collegiate choruses in the United States . Bruce Montgomery , its best - known and longest - serving director , led the club from 1956 until 2000 . The International Affairs Association ( IAA ) was founded in 1963 as an organization to promote international affairs and diplomacy at Penn and beyond . With over 400 members , it is the largest student - funded organization on campus . The IAA serves as an umbrella organization for various conferences ( UPMUNC , ILMUNC , and PIRC ) , as well as a host of other academic and social activities . The University of Pennsylvania Band has been a part of student life since 1897 . The Penn Band performs at football and basketball games as well as university functions ( e . g . commencement and convocation ) throughout the year and was the first college band to perform at Macy ' s Thanksgiving Day Parade . Membership fluctuates between 80 and 100 students . " The Daily Pennsylvanian " . " The Daily Pennsylvanian " is an independent , student - run newspaper , which has been published daily since it was founded in 1885 . The newspaper went unpublished from May 1943 to November 1945 due to World War II . In 1984 , the University lost all editorial and financial control of " The Daily Pennsylvanian " when the newspaper became its own corporation . In 2007 , " The Daily Pennsylvanian " won the Pacemaker Award administered by the Associated Collegiate Press . Sports . Athletics . Penn ' s sports teams are nicknamed the Quakers . They participate in the Ivy League and Division I ( Division I FCS for football ) in the NCAA . In recent decades they often have been league champions in football ( 14 times from 1982 to 2010 ) and basketball ( 22 times from 1970 to 2006 ) . The first athletic team at Penn was its cricket team . Rowing . Rowing at Penn dates back to at least 1854 with the founding of the University Barge Club . The university currently hosts both heavyweight and lightweight men ' s teams and an openweight women ' s team , all of which compete as part of the Eastern Sprints League . Penn Rowing has produced a long list of famous coaches and Olympians , including Susan Francia , John B . Kelly , Jr . , Joe Burk , Rusty Callow , Harry Parker , and Ted Nash . The teams row out of College Boat Club , No . 11 Boathouse Row . The program is currently under the direction of men ' s head coach Greg Myhr . Rugby . The Penn Men ' s Rugby Football Club is recognized as one of the oldest collegiate rugby teams in America . The earliest documentation of its existence comes from a 1910 issue of the " Daily Pennsylvanian . " The team existed on and off during the World War s . The current club has its roots in the 1960s . The University of Pennsylvania rugby teams play in the Ivy Rugby Conference , and have finished as runners - up in both 15s and 7s . Quakers Rugby will play on national TV at the 2013 Collegiate Rugby Championship , a college rugby tournament played every June at PPL Park in Philadelphia and broadcast live on NBC . Football . Penn first fielded a football team against Princeton at the Germantown Cricket Club in Philadelphia on November 11 , 1876 . Penn football made many contributions to the sport in its early days . During the 1890s , Penn ' s famed coach and alumnus George Washington Woodruff introduced the quarterback kick , a forerunner of the forward pass , as well as the place - kick from scrimmage and the delayed pass . In 1894 , 1895 , 1897 , and 1904 , Penn was generally regarded as the national champion of collegiate football . The achievements of two of Penn ' s outstanding players from that era — John Heisman and John Outland — are remembered each year with the presentation of the Heisman Trophy to the most outstanding college football player of the year , and the Outland Trophy to the most outstanding college football interior lineman of the year . In addition , each year the Bednarik Award is given to college football ' s best defensive player . Chuck Bednarik ( Class of 1949 ) was a three - time All - America n center / linebacker who starred on the 1947 team and is generally regarded as Penn ' s all - time finest . In addition to Bednarik , the ' 47 squad boasted four - time All - American tackle George Savitsky and three - time All - American halfback Skip Minisi . All three standouts were subsequently elected to the College Football Hall of Fame , as was their coach , George Munger ( a star running back at Penn in the early ' 30s ) . Bednarik went on to play for 12 years with the Philadelphia Eagles , becoming the NFL ' s last 60 - minute man . He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1969 . During his presidency of the institution from 1948 to 1953 , Harold Stassen attempted to recultivate Penn ' s heyday of big - time college football , but the effort lacked support and was short - lived . ESPN ' s " College GameDay " traveled to Penn to highlight the Harvard - Penn game on November 17 , 2002 , the first time the popular college football show had visited an Ivy League campus . Basketball . Penn basketball is steeped in tradition . Penn made its only ( and the Ivy League ' s second ) Final Four appearance in 1979 , where the Quakers lost to Magic Johnson - led Michigan State in Salt Lake City . ( Dartmouth twice finished second in the tournament in the 1940s , but that was before the beginning of formal League play . ) Penn ' s team is also a member of the Philadelphia Big 5 , along with La Salle , Saint Joseph ' s , Temple , and Villanova . In 2007 , the men ' s team won its third consecutive Ivy League title and then lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Texas A & M . Facilities . Franklin Field is where the Quakers play football , field hockey , lacrosse , sprint football , and track and field ( and formerly soccer ) . It is the oldest stadium still operating for football games and was the first stadium to sport two tiers . It hosted the first commercially televised football game , was once the home field of the Philadelphia Eagles , and was the site of early Army – Navy games . Today it is also used by Penn students for recreation such as intramural and club sports , including touch football and cricket . Franklin Field hosts the annual collegiate track and field event " the Penn Relays . " Penn ' s home court , the Palestra , is an arena used for men ' s and women ' s basketball teams , volleyball teams , wrestling team , and Philadelphia Big Five basketball , as well as high school sporting events . The Palestra has hosted more NCAA Tournament basketball games than any other facility . Penn baseball plays its home games at Meiklejohn Stadium . The Olympic Boycott Games of 1980 were held at the University of Pennsylvania in response to Moscow ' s hosting of the 1980 Summer Olympics following the Soviet incursion in Afghanistan . Twenty - nine of the boycotting nations participated in the Boycott Games . Notable people . Penn has produced many alumni that have distinguished themselves in the sciences , academia , politics , the military , arts and media . The size , quality , and diversity of Penn ' s alumni body has established it as one of the most powerful alumni networks in the United States and internationally . Twelve heads of state or government have attended or graduated from Penn , including former U . S . president William Henry Harrison ; former Prime Minister of the Philippines Cesar Virata ; the first president of Nigeria , Nnamdi Azikiwe ; the first president of Ghana , Kwame Nkrumah ; and the current president of Côte d ' Ivoire , Alassane Ouattara . Other notable politicians who hold a degree from Penn include former ambassador to China and former 2012 presidential candidate Jon Huntsman , Jr . , Mexico ' s current minister of finance , Ernesto J . Cordero , long - serving Pennsylvania senator Arlen Specter , and former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell . The university ' s presence in the judiciary in and outside of the United States is also notable . It has produced three United States Supreme Court justices , William J . Brennan , Owen J . Roberts and James Wilson , Supreme Court justices of foreign states ( e . g . , Ronald Wilson of the High Court of Australia and Ayala Procaccia of the Israel Supreme Court ) , European Court of Human Rights judge Nona Tsotsoria , and founders of international law firms ( e . g . James Harry Covington ( co - founder of Covington & Burling ) , Martin Lipton ( co - founder of Wachtell , Lipton , Rosen , & Katz ) , and George Wharton Pepper ( Senator from Pennsylvania and founder of Pepper Hamilton ) . Penn alumni also have a strong presence in economic life . Penn has educated several governors of central banks including Yasin Anwar ( State Bank of Pakistan ) , Ignazio Visco ( Bank of Italy ) , Kim Choongsoo ( Bank of Korea ) , Zeti Akhtar Aziz ( Central Bank of Malaysia ) , Pridiyathorn Devakula ( Governor , Bank of Thailand , and former Minister of Finance ) , Farouk El Okdah ( Central Bank of Egypt ) , and Alfonso Prat Gay ( Central Bank of Argentina ) , as well as the director of the United States National Economic Council , Gene Sperling . Founders of technology companies include Ralph J . Roberts ( co - founder of Comcast ) , Elon Musk ( founder of Paypal , Tesla Motors , and SpaceX ) , Leonard Bosack ( co - founder of Cisco ) , David Brown ( co - founder of Silicon Graphics ) and Mark Pincus ( founder of Zynga , the company behind Farmville ) . Other notable businessmen and entrepreneurs who attended or graduated from the University of Pennsylvania include William S . Paley ( former president of CBS ) , Warren Buffett ( CEO of Berkshire Hathaway ) , Donald Trump , Donald Trump , Jr . , and Ivanka Trump , Safra Catz ( President and CFO of Oracle Corporation ) , Leonard Lauder ( Chairman Emeritus of Estée Lauder Companies and son of founder Estée Lauder ) , Steven A . Cohen ( founder of SAC Capital Advisors ) , Robert Kapito ( president of BlackRock , the world ' s largest asset manager ) , and P . Roy Vagelos ( former president and CEO of multinational pharmaceutical company Merck & Co . ) . Among other distinguished alumni are the current presidents of Harvard University , Drew Gilpin Faust ; the University of California , Mark Yudof ; and Northwestern University , Morton O . Schapiro ; poets Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams , linguist and political theorist Noam Chomsky , starchitect Louis Kahn , cartoonist Charles Addams , theatrical producer Harold Prince , counter - terrorism expert and author Richard A . Clarke , pollster Frank Luntz , attorney Gloria Allred , journalist Joe Klein , fashion designer Tory Burch , recording artist John Legend , and football athlete and coach John Heisman . Within the ranks of Penn ' s most historic graduates are also eight signers of the Declaration of Independence and nine signers of the Constitution . These include George Clymer , Francis Hopkinson , Thomas McKean , Robert Morris , William Paca , George Ross , Benjamin Rush , James Wilson , Thomas Fitzsimons , Jared Ingersoll , Rufus King , Thomas Mifflin , Gouverneur Morris , and Hugh Williamson . In total , 28 Penn affiliates have won Nobel Prizes , of whom four are current faculty members and nine are alumni . Nine of the Nobel laureates have won the prize in the last decade . Penn also counts 115 members of the United States National Academies , 79 members of the Academy of Arts and Sciences , eight National Medal of Science laureates , 108 Sloan Fellows , 30 members of the American Philosophical Society , and 170 Guggenheim Fellowship s . Controversies . From 1930 to 1966 there were 54 documented Rowbottom riots , a student tradition of rioting which included everything from car smashing to panty raids . After 1966 , there were five more instances of " Rowbottoms " , the latest occurring in 1980 . In 1965 , Penn students learned that the University was sponsoring research projects for the United States ' chemical and biological weapons program . According to Herman and Rutman , the revelation that " CB Projects Spicerack and Summit were directly connected with U . S . military activities in Southeast Asia " , caused students to petition Penn president Gaylord Harnwell to halt the program , citing the project as being , " immoral , inhuman , illegal , and unbefitting of an academic institution . " Members of the faculty believed that an academic university should not be performing classified research and voted to re - examine the University agency which was responsible for the project on November 4 , 1965 . In 1984 , the Head Lab at the University of Pennsylvania was raided by members of the Animal Liberation Front . 60 hours worth of video footage depicting animal cruelty was stolen from the lab . The video footage was released to PETA who edited the tapes and created the documentary " Unnecessary Fuss " . As a result of an investigation called by the Office for Protection from Research Risks , the chief veterinarian was fired and the Head Lab was closed . The school gained notoriety in 1993 for the water buffalo incident in which a student who told a noisy group of black students to " shut up , you water buffalo " was charged with violating the University ' s racial harassment policy .