List of presidents of the University of Pennsylvania

The following is a list of the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania, which began operating in 1751 as a secondary school, the Academy of Philadelphia, and added an institution of higher learning in 1755, the College of Philadelphia.

A 1777 portrait of Benjamin Franklin, Penn's founder, by Jean-Baptiste Greuze.
The Rev. John Andrews, D.D., Provost 1810-1813
Provost [note 1]Birth–deathYears as provostName of institutionNotes
1The Reverend George Whitefield[note 2]1714–17701740–1749Unnamed Charity School [note 3]
2Benjamin Franklin[note 4]1706–17901749–1754Academy of Philadelphia
3The Reverend William Smith1727–18031754–1779College of PhiladelphiaAmerican Revolution
4The Reverend John Ewing1732–18021779–1802University of PennsylvaniaAmerican Revolution
5The Reverend William Smith1751–18201802–1806University of Pennsylvania
6The Reverend John McDowell1732–18021807–1810University of Pennsylvania
7The Reverend John Andrews1746–18131810–1813University of Pennsylvania
8The Reverend Frederick Beasley1777–18451813–1828University of Pennsylvania
9The Right Reverend William Heathcote DeLancey1797–18651828–1834University of Pennsylvania
10The Reverend John Ludlow1793–18571834–1852University of Pennsylvania
11The Reverend Henry Vethake1790–18661853–1859University of Pennsylvania
13The Reverend Daniel Raynes Goodwin1811–18901860–1868University of Pennsylvania
14Charles Janeway Stillé1819–18991868–1880University of Pennsylvania
15William Pepper1843–18981881–1894University of Pennsylvania
16Charles Custis Harrison1844–19291894–1910University of Pennsylvania
17Edgar Fahs Smith1854–19281910–1920University of Pennsylvania
18Josiah Harmar Penniman1868–19401923–1930University of Pennsylvania
Presidents of the University of PennsylvaniaYears as president
1Thomas Sovereign Gates1930–1944
2George William McClelland1944–1948
3Harold Edward Stassen1948–1953
-William Hagan DuBarry1953–1953, Acting President
4Gaylord Probasco Harnwell1953–1970
5Martin Meyerson1970–1981
6Sheldon Hackney1981–1993
-Claire Fagin1993–1994, Interim President
7Judith Rodin1994–2004
8Amy Gutmann2004–present

Notes

  1. ↑ Penn became a degree-granting institution of higher learning in 1755. In preparation for this expansion in mission, William Smith was hired in 1754 to become the new provost. Neither George Whitefield nor Benjamin Franklin formally held this title.
  2. ↑ Benjamin Franklin is the founder of the institution which grew to become the University of Pennsylvania. Franklin first convened a board of trustees for an organizational meeting on November 13, 1749. They opened a secondary school, the Academy of Philadelphia, in 1751. A collegiate charter was obtained for the College of Philadelphia in 1755 and post-secondary instruction began shortly thereafter. It was the College of Philadelphia which ultimately was renamed the University of Pennsylvania in 1791. Penn considered 1749 to be its founding date until 1899, when the board of trustees voted to retroactively revise its founding date to 1740 in order to make the university older than Princeton University, which had been chartered in 1746. The 1740 date was selected because, in that year, a group of Philadelphians joined together to build a large preaching hall for the use of traveling evangelist George Whitefield who toured the American colonies delivering well attended open air sermons. The grand building was erected but, due to a shortage of funding, the interior was not furnished and the hall sat unused until Franklin's group purchased it in 1750. Thus, Whitefield himself was not involved in the school which eventually became Penn, but is listed here as a placeholder to signify the period that the preaching hall raised by his followers sat dormant between 1740 and 1750.
  3. ↑ As described in more detail in the appended notes, a charity school was planned by followers of George Whitefield but it never opened before the building was purchased by Benjamin Franklin's group in 1750. The structure itself was known as the "New Building" but the associated educational trust itself was never named.
  4. ↑ Franklin's formal title was president of the board of trustees, first of the "Academy and Charitable School in the Province of Pennsylvania" until the college was founded, and then of the "College, Academy and Charity School of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania."
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