The University recently announced two separate $10 million gifts to create a pair of new interdisciplinary centers and initiatives.
A $10 million gift from Alp Ercil EAS’95 W’95 will establish the Penn Climate Sustainability Initiative, which will be a University-wide effort to address climate change and sustainability across all 12 schools on campus, as well as interdisciplinary programs like the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy. The Penn Climate Sustainability Initiative will also accelerate Penn’s Climate and Sustainability Action Plan, which outlines steps toward a 100 percent carbon-neutral campus by 2042 [“Gazetteer,” Jan|Feb 2020].
“Penn has the key pieces in place to make a significant contribution to the urgent issue of climate change,” said Ercil, an active Penn volunteer and donor, and the founder of the investment management firm Asia Research and Capital Management. “I am thrilled to help advance this work, accelerate innovation, and strengthen Penn’s role at the forefront of this field.”
Another $10 million in funding—$5 million from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, as well as an additional $5 million from Penn Engineering, Penn Arts & Sciences, the Annenberg School for Communication, Wharton, Penn Carey Law, the School of Social Policy & Practice, and the Annenberg Public Policy Center—has been earmarked for a new Center for Media, Technology, and Democracy, which will be housed in Penn Engineering’s new Amy Gutmann Hall and operate in partnership with five other schools at Penn.
The hope is that the center can become a global hub for researchers, private sector leaders, and policymakers to gather and share data across the fields of media, data science, AI, and more, while providing a clear view of the current media landscape.
“This pioneering research center will develop new programs, support new opportunities, and coalesce many different data sets so that they are available for others to use,” Penn Provost John L. Jackson Jr. said in a statement. “In these ways, it will vividly reaffirm Penn’s leadership in the interconnected study of global media, technology, and democracy.”
