University of Pennsylvania
private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Chartered in 1755 by its first president Benjamin Franklin, who advocated for an educational institution that trained leaders in academia, commerce, and public service, it is one of nine colonial colleges in the country.
The university has 4 undergraduate schools and 12 graduate and professional schools. Schools enrolling undergraduates include the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the Wharton School, and the School of Nursing. Among its graduate schools are its law school, whose first professor, James Wilson, helped write the U.S. Constitution, and its medical school, the first in North America.
In fiscal year 2024, Penn reported $2.172 billion in research expenditures, ranking second among U.S. universities in the National Science Foundation's Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) survey. As of June 30, 2025, Penn's endowment was $24.808 billion. The main campus is in the University City neighborhood of West Philadelphia, centered around College Hall. Campus landmarks include Houston Hall, described as the first student union building in the United States, and Franklin Field, which has hosted college football since 1895 and was expanded into a two-tier stadium in 1922. The university's athletics program, the Penn Quakers, fields varsity teams in 33 sports as a member of NCAA Division I's Ivy League conference.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “University of Pennsylvania” as private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the history & society register because the source frames it as private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q49117. VIAF identifies the subject as 267632219. The Library of Congress control number is n79065482. Authority coordinates are 39.952, -75.194. 4 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1755, 2024, 2025 and 1895.
Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “University of Pennsylvania” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.