Amy Gutmann, Chair of President Obama's Bioethics Council

President Obama appointed Amy Gutmann, President of the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) as chair of his Bioethics Council in November 2009.

She serves on the Boards of the Carnegie Corporation, the Vanguard Corporation, the Board of Trustees of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia and the Schuylkill River Development Corporation.

Gutmann has been the president of the Penn since 2004. She is also the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science in the School of Arts and Sciences with a secondary faculty appointments in Philosophy, the Annenberg School for Communication and the Graduate School of Education.

Born in 1949, Gutmann's experience is firmly rooted in academics. She was class valedictorian at Monroe-Woodbury High School. She graduated with a B.A. (magna cum laude) from Harvard-Radcliffe College, an M.Sc. In Political Science from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard. She taught for eight years at Princeton University before becoming president of Penn

Her book "Democratic Education" (Princeton University Press, revised edition, 1999) tackles the political theory of education focusing on such issues as multiculturalism in democratic education, patriotism and how a democratic society should make decisions about education.

Gutmann also collaborated with Harvard political scientist Dennis Thompson on "Democracy and Disagreement" (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1998). A book which called for more reasoned argument in everyday politics, "Democracy and Disagreement" has been praised as a remedy for polarized politics and panned as being impractical.

In all, Gutmann has penned over 100 articles and essays and authored and edited fifteen books.

When she became president of Penn, Gutmann hit the ground running. At the starting gate, during her inaugural address, Gutmann shared her vision for making Penn a global leader in teaching, research and professional practice. Known as the Penn Compact, Gutmann's initiative had three major goals:

1. Increasing access for exceptional students, regardless of economic status;
2. Recruiting and retaining the highest-standard faculty members;
3. Magnifying Penn's intellectual and institutional impact

She spearheaded Penn Connects to boost the economic, educational and social capacity of Philadelphia. Penn Connects will transform twenty-four acres into a mixed-use neighborhood and urban park overlooking the Schuylkill River. The plan also includes a state-of-the-art medical complex to house the Ruth and Raymond Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, the Roberts Proton Therapy Center and the Fisher Translational Research Center.

Gutmann's vision for Penn included making education more accessible for students with financial need. Gutmann innovatively had Penn substitute grants for loans for economically-disadvantaged students. Students from families with less than $40,000 in income pay no tuition, fees, room or board. Those whose families make less than $90,000 pay no tuition or fees.

Gutmann is a founding member of the Association of Practical and Professional Ethics. This organization encourages and supports the broad spectrum of interdisciplinary scholarship and teaching in practical and professional ethics. [1]

While at Princeton, she was also the founding Director of the University Center for Human Values which supports inquiry into important ethical issues and the teaching, research and discussion of ethics and human values. [2]

Gutmann was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society and is a W.E.B. DuBois Fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. She served as Academic Advisor to the President from 1997-1998 and received the President's Distinguished Teaching Award from Princeton University in 2000.

Sources:

[1] Indiana University
[2] Princeton University
The University of Pennsylvania (Penn)