Philanthropy touches every part of the University. Through the support of our engaged and generous donors, Penn is able to inspire impact locally and globally. Here is a small sample of recent gifts that are fueling the University’s drive to advance knowledge for good.
Giving Highlights
A selection of recent gifts inspiring impact across the University
Winter 2024
Jonathan Flitter, L’73; Paul Haaga, L’74, WG’74; and George Westervelt, L’73, gave $350,000 to establish a scholarship at Penn Carey Law in honor of the Class of 1973’s 50th Reunion.
Victor Limjoco, WG’18, gave $8,250 as part of a three-year commitment to the Penn Performing Arts Initiative at Penn Live Arts, supporting performing arts activities across campus. With this gift, Limjoco also joined the Penn Performing Arts Regional Council of New York.
Neil Steven Silverman, M’84, and Jeffrey Scott Rapp, M’88, committed $70,000 to support their named fellowship fund—for OB/GYN and Internal Medicine residents doing work in Africa—and the Penn Access Summer Scholars (PASS) Program at the Perelman School of Medicine. This builds upon their previous commitment to the School through an endowed named scholarship: the first established at PSOM by an LGBTQ+ couple.
Wendy Blank Chaikin, C’98, and Lee D. Chaikin, W’95, made a gift of $250,000 to the Wendy and Lee Chaikin Netter Center Term Fund and a gift of $5,000 to the Penn Arts & Sciences Annual Fund.
The Panda CommUnity Fund, a corporate giving fund of Panda Express, has made a generous gift to name the Panda Express Postdoctoral Fellowship in Asian American Studies at Penn Arts & Sciences.
Suzanne McGraw gave $5 million to create a concentration in early childhood education and family studies at Penn GSE and to provide scholarships for students who pursue the new concentration.
Janet S. Klein, ED’51, PAR’77, gave $75,000 to support the Morris Arboretum & Garden’s Hill and Cloud Garden, an elegant, contemplative, and historic feature at the Morris that dates back to the garden’s Victorian era.
Ayana Colbert Machen, WG’99, PAR’26, and Ronald C. Machen, Jr., PAR’26, made a $100,000 gift to support the Wharton Coalition for Equity and Opportunity (CEO) and the Wharton Fund. The mission of Wharton CEO is to equip current and future leaders with the critical skills needed—through the lenses of race, gender, and socioeconomics—to design equitable organizations, create positive outcomes in the business sector, grow wealth creation opportunities, and impact broader society.
More than 20 donors collectively pledged $1.4 million to establish the Verle and Moses Grossman Endowed Scholarship Fund and to name a space in Penn GSE’s new capital expansion in honor of departing dean Pam Grossman. The scholarship is named for Dean Grossman’s parents, who she says were her first teachers.
Nicole Davison Fox, W’01, and Michael C. Fox, W’02, gave $220,000 to support the Wharton Undergraduate Wellness Fund to make mental health services and overall wellness more accessible to students.
Jacqueline Maurice Jenkins, WG’96, made the first gift to the Penn Museum’s Community Collaborations Fund, which was created to provide financial support to the Museum’s programs and initiatives focused on culturally responsive engagement with diverse audiences. She also made a commitment to the Museum’s Annual Fund.
Sanjiv H. Naidu, M’88, GR’99, PAR’17, PAR’18, generously established a scholarship in honor of his thesis advisor and mentor, Campbell Laird, Professor Emeritus of Materials Science and Engineering. The gift is in recognition of the lasting impact Professor Laird had on the countless students he inspired.
Paul Shih, W’00, and Catherine Shih established a generous President’s Men and Women of Pennsylvania Challenge Fund. Their fund will provide matching gifts to inspire increased support for undergraduate financial aid.
Mark L. Gardner, GAr’00, made a gift of $20,600 to the Julian Abele Fellowship Fund, which provides financial support to a graduate student in the architecture department at the Stuart Weitzman School of Design and supports the University’s educational policy of promoting student body diversity. The fund is in honor of Julian Abele, the first African American graduate of the School.
David Shen, D’79, GD’81, made a $150,000 gift to create an endowment fund that will support loan repayment resources for junior faculty in the Department of Orthodontics at Penn Dental Medicine.
Beth-Ann Blatnick, L’79, WG’79, has made additional gifts to the Penn Libraries to support the continued growth of an endowed fund in honor of her parents, which helps the Libraries acquire rare and special materials. Recent acquisitions from this endowed fund include 14 manuscripts from the Himalayas, Summary of Income and Expenditure of the Famous Roman People from 1604, and the Japanese Sütra of Perfect Wisdom from 1410—the oldest printed book in the collection.
Kennard Hirsch, W’50, and Janis Hirsch funded a Charitable Gift Annuity and made a bequest to endow a named scholarship.
Karen Miura, CW’68, made a gift of a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) from her IRA to support the Penn Vet Good Samaritan Fund and funded a Charitable Gift Annuity with a QCD, which will support Ryan Veterinary Hospital.
Caroline Fearey Schimmel, CW’67, gave $300,000 to support the processing of the Caroline Schimmel Collection of Women in the American Wilderness and the Jean-François Vilain and Roger S. Wieck Collection of Private Presses, Ephemera & Related References. The Schimmel Collection includes 1,700 reference books and over 9,000 works of fiction: novels, short stories, folklore, and poetry by white, Black, and Indigenous women, for adults and children, set on uncharted lands—the deserts, forests, jungles, and ice-clad poles of the Americas. Schimmel donated the fiction portion of her collection to Penn Libraries in 2014 and has continued to supplement it ever since.
