Dr. Amy Gutmann

Dr. Amy Gutmann became President of the University of Pennsylvania in 2004 where she is also the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Professor of Communication in the Annenberg School for Communication. An internationally renowned political philosopher and leader in higher education, President Gutmann is an advocate for increased access, for innovation based on interdisciplinary collaboration, and for the transformative impact of universities, locally, nationally and globally. Previously, she served as Provost, Dean of the Faculty, and founding Director of the Center for Human Values at Princeton University. An award-winning scholar, President Gutmann has published widely on the value of education and deliberation in democracy, on the importance of access to higher education and healthcare, and the essential role of ethics in public affairs. She is the author of 16 books, including The Spirit of Compromise: Why Governing Demands It and Campaigning Undermines It (with Dennis Thompson).  Her seventeenth book, on Bioethics and the Transformation of American Health Care (with Jonathan Moreno) will be published by W.W. Norton in 2020.  In 2009, President Barack Obama appointed President Gutmann as chair of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, a role in which she served through 2016. President Gutmann is the recipient of numerous honors and awards and in April 2018 Fortune Magazine named her one of the world’s Top 50 Global Leaders.