Have you ever wondered about curiosity as a core component of human nature? Or whether self-transformation changes you in a fundamental way? Or, perhaps you are driven to understand how biology and the history of food are intertwined?
Broadening Minds, Building Connections
An $8 million gift from The Robert K. Johnson Foundation will enhance integrated studies at Penn Arts & Sciences
Spring 2025
Penn students are engaging with questions just like those as part of the newly named Robert K. Johnson Integrated Studies Program, which offers an immersive, interdisciplinary learning experience for Benjamin Franklin Scholars pursuing degrees in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Launched in the fall of 2011, this residential academic program invites highly motivated students to examine complex themes through the integration of multiple academic disciplines and methodologies. This year, The Robert K. Johnson Foundation contributed $8 million to name and endow the program in perpetuity.
The program is designed around an idea that goes back to Benjamin Franklin: that no single discipline, method, or perspective can solve complex problems and challenges. This generous gift ensures that we will be able to continue fostering intellectual agility in these bright minds for years to come.”Peter Struck, Stephen A. Levin Family Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Vartan Gregorian Professor of Humanities, and founding director of the Robert K. Johnson Integrated Studies Program
Robert K. Johnson Integrated Studies students are taught by Penn’s leading faculty and live together in Hill College House. Students pursue a challenging curriculum molded by theoretical and methodological approaches that encourage the crossing of intellectual boundaries and the integration of diverse ways of knowing. Students are also bolstered by the camaraderie of their fellow RKJ Integrated Studies students, as they work their way through Penn and beyond.
“If Bob Johnson were alive today, he would be the first in line to apply to the Integrated Studies Program at Penn,” adds Anthony Belinkoff, C’85, and member of the Distribution Committee of The Robert K. Johnson Foundation. “Bob’s philosophy was to always broaden one’s mind and to take in the world around oneself.”
