University of Pennsylvania

The University's School of Engineering Diversity and Inclusion page states that "Engineering and STEM disciplines have work to do nationwide with respect to underrepresented minority enrollment. We will continue to increase participation and improve the experience and graduation rates of women and underrepresented minorities including African American/Black, Hispanic/Latino and Native American Pacific Islander students."

On June 29, 2023, UPenn's President and Provost issued a statement in response to the Supreme Court's ruling on affirmative action which reads in part as follows: "For decades, universities like Penn have been permitted to assemble a diverse class by considering an applicant’s race as one factor among many in their holistic admissions review process. Today’s ruling changes this...This decision will require changes in our admissions practices. But our values and beliefs will not change. Bringing together individuals who have wide-ranging experiences that inform their approach to their time at Penn is fundamental to excellent teaching, learning, and research."

The University released a response to the Supreme Court's affirmative action ruling stating, "The university is considering measures permissible under the court’s ruling to help attract a broadly diverse student body, such as increased outreach, and to provide resources for short-term and long-term plans." In the short-term, "The university... made minor adjustments to application essay questions" and "application readers are being trained to review applications in compliance with the ruling and the federal government’s implementation guidelines."

The school's Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty's Diversity page states that "Diversity Search Advisors (DSAs) and faculty members involved in searches are expected to participate in some form of bias education at least once every three years. To meet this requirement, DSAs and search committee members may complete bias training provided by the Provost’s Office as well as bias training offered by Schools, departments, and other organizations."

According to the school's Action Plan for Faculty Excellence and Diversity (2019 Update), the Annenberg School for Communication incorporated "expert-led implicit bias orientation for all faculty into regular fall faculty meetings." The plan also states that "Unconscious bias training is mandated for all recruitment committees, and diversity has been incorporated in all departmental annual reviews" at the Wharton School.

The University's School of Engineering Diversity and Inclusion page states that "all DSAs [Diversity Search Advisors] and department search committees have been trained in recognizing and avoiding implicit bias in faculty hiring."

The Penn Engineering Department states there are ongoing initiatives for "mandatory (DEI) training for all community members."

The Penn Engineering Department's statement on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, states the department "[incorporates] considerations of diversity, equity, and inclusion broadly in all aspects of [its] educational mission."

The school announced in 2022, “Wharton’s Curriculum Innovation and Review Committee (CIRC) voted to approve the introduction of two official curricular designations to the School’s existing fold of robust and renowned educational opportunities: 1) Environmental, Social and Governance Factors for Business (ESGB), and 2) Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). Both ESGB and DEI are available to function as either a concentration at the undergraduate level or a major at the MBA level, and will see its first students graduate in May 2024.”

The University of Pennsylvania has a Cultural Diversity and a Cross-Cultural Analysis course requirement for all undergraduate students.

There is a Cross-Cultural Perspectives 3-course requirement for all Wharton students.

The "Bias Incident Reporting Form" is available for students who may have "been treated in a biased or discriminatory manner."

Faculty and "Diversity Search Advisors" involved in hiring searches are required to "participate in some form of bias education at least once every three years."

The University's Netter Center for Community Partnerships formed an "Anti-Racism Working Group" in 2021 which develops "approaches, strategies, and actions to actively combat and ultimately eradicate racism in all its forms." The Center's objectives include "Creating safe spaces for Netter staff, Penn students, University-Assisted Community School (UACS) youth, families, and partners to engage in social and racial justice conversations" and "Creating opportunities for faculty, undergraduates, graduate students, and K-12 youth to become involved with ABCS and other community-engaged scholarship, focused on anti-racist policy and action."

The Penn Global Department released a statement on "Institutional Racism" stating, "deep structural and institutional racism and inequities [have] existed – and [have] remain embedded – in the United States since its inception." The statement continues, "Among the actions we will focus on are initiatives to make the community safe for Asian and Asian-American students and scholars facing increased discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic, to provide greater access to global opportunities for students of color, and to promote research and awareness of global anti-Black policies and practices and how they can be eradicated."

Extended “Campaign for Community” Research Funding for projects related to “racial justice.”

The school's Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty's "Excellence Through Diversity Fund" supports "various types of projects including implementation of Schools’ strategic plans to diversify and enhance the climate for student and faculty populations, research on topics related to diversity and inclusion, projects that foster and support diversity on campus, and projects that involve collaborations across disciplines or traditional boundaries of academic work."

On June 3, 2020, as part of the University President's statement on the death of George Floyd, the President announced that "Penn will establish a new fund, intended to encourage students, faculty, and staff to design and implement pilot projects based on innovative research that will advance our aim of a more inclusive university and community." The initial fund would be "$2 million—with the possibility of raising additional resources—to support compelling projects and promising proposals."

The University's Office of the Provost announced that grant proposals for the 2022-2023 academic year would be accepted on the following two themes: "Equity and justice matters within the Penn community," and "Equity and justice matters between members of the Penn community and members of our Philadelphia community."

The Center for Teaching and Learning provides a "Racial Equity Course Review" tool for Professors. The questions "encourage instructors to consider how the intellectual substance and design of their courses may or may not contribute to racial equity." Questions include the following: "Do course materials represent a range of racial/ethnic experiences?", "How does the course treat white-normative or racially hostile materials and practices of the field?", "In what ways are considerations of race integrated into the organization and intellectual focus of the class?", and "How does the course facilitate student reflection on race and their own learning about it?".

Undergraduate and graduate students are invited to apply for the annual "Intercultural Leadership Program." Some of the major themes include "intercultural communication and leadership," "exploring identities and self-awareness," "heightening cultural humility, and "power and privilege."

The "Projects for Progress" Initiative is an established fund "intended to encourage students, staff, and faculty to design and implement pilot projects based on innovative research that will advance our aim of a more inclusive society." Proposed projects "should be focused on making progress towards one or more of the following goals:  eradicating systemic racism, achieving educational equity, advancing environmental justice & sustainability, eliminating health disparities based on race, gender, sexual orientation, and/or social determinants of health." Winners will receive up to $100,000 for their project.

The Fueling Business Growth Program is "designed to increase its diversity procurement in Philadelphia." The initiative utilizes "Penn’s purchasing power to support the growth of diverse [local] businesses."

The "Penn Program on Race, Science, and Society" is a part of the School of Arts and Sciences. The program "is devoted to transformative and interdisciplinary approaches to the role of race in scientific research, aiming to contest racism, promote social justice, and dispel the myth that race is a natural division of human beings." The program's most recent project is "Penn Medicine and the Afterlives of Slavery." The project's mission is to "research and document the School of Medicine’s history and its connections to enslavement" and to "[research] and [document] the institution’s use and treatment of African descended people—as patients and as medical practitioners".  

The Wharton School Management Department offers an undergraduate Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Concentration. Required classes include "Economics of Diversity" and "Leading Diversity in Organizations."

The “Projects for Progress” Initiative is an ongoing established fund “intended to encourage students, staff, and faculty to design and implement pilot projects based on innovative research that will advance our aim of a more inclusive society.” Proposed projects “should be focused on making progress towards one or more of the following goals: eradicating systemic racism, achieving educational equity, advancing environmental justice & sustainability, eliminating health disparities based on race, gender, sexual orientation, and/or social determinants of health.” Applications for the 2025 school year are currently open. Winners will receive up to $100,000 for their project.

University Police Officer training includes modules on "Diversity," "Israeli Terrorism Training," "Restorative Justice" and "Diversity/Mental Health Issues" among others.

The University Police Department released a directive on "Bias Based Profiling." The purpose of the directive is to "reaffirm...policy and practice prohibiting the use of bias based profiling against any specific group of persons." Furthermore, "all officers shall receive training on an annual basis relative to the contents of this directive (cultural diversity training)."

University will not officially create an ethnic studies or anti-racism requirement, but students are encouraged to take those classes, if not required to do so by their colleges.

The University created the Office of Social Equity and Community to advance social equity, diversity, and inclusion.

The University's School of Arts and Sciences offers a "Social Difference, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion" Certificate and states that "The events of 2020 have underscored the critical importance of addressing systemic racism, as well as sexism and other forms of prejudice, in every sector. Education clearly holds an important role in this endeavor." The following four classes are required in order to complete the Certificate: "Introduction to Social Difference in American Society," "Cultural Capital and Social Spaces," "Organizational and Institutional Power & Hierarchy," and "Spaces of Creativity and Social Action."

The Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Innovation provides a guide on "Inclusive Teaching Practices & Course Design." The resource recommends instructors "[ask] students to be spokespeople for their racial, ethnic, or cultural group" in the classroom. It also warns instructors against implicit bias, stereotypes, and microaggressions.

The Cultural Resource Centers, which are under the University's Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging division, "[engage] in critical conversations about anti-racism, inclusivity and what it means to create belonging on campus." There are several Cultural Resource Centers, including "The Center for Hispanic Excellence," The Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center," "The Black Cultural Center," and "The Pan-Asian American Community House."

The Intercultural Center offers an "iBelieve: Interfaith Dialogue in Action" program which aims to "[explore] spiritual/ideological identity development, community building, leadership, and examples of interfaith action."

Every year the Provost holds a diversity lecture by a "scholar whose work touches on a matter of great public impact." The latest diversity lecture was "Beyond Inclusion and Reconciliation to Decolonization in Science Technology." Other past diversity lecture topics include "Implicit Bias, Structural Bias, and Implications for Law and Policy," "What Borders Do," and "Race, Protest, and Political Change in America."

On April 19, 2021, the University released a statement “to affirm unequivocally and in the strongest possible terms Penn’s unwavering commitment to advancing racial equity and social justice in our nation.”

The school's Vice President and Police Chief released a message to the community regarding the death of Tyre Nichols and stated, "Penn Police were some of the first officers in Pennsylvania to participate in Active Bystander Training for Law Enforcement (A.B.L.E.) to build a culture that supports and sustains successful peer intervention to prevent harm."

On July 2, 2020, the University's President, Executive Vice President, and Provost announced the formation of a "Campus Iconography Group" which would "engage in broad outreach across our community and advise us on further steps to ensure that the placement and presence of statues and other prominent iconography better reflects our achievements and aspirations to increase the diversity of the Penn community."

On June 3, 2020, the University's President issued a statement in response to "The horrific killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many others" and stated, "We must, as a country and community, resolve to find better ways forward to understand and address systemic racism and closely related economic, educational, political, and social inequities. We must work together to build more hope for the future."

Penn's School of Engineering released a "Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion" statement, which states "Penn Engineering remains strongly committed to initiatives that support the University’s efforts to achieve an educational and employment environment that is diverse in race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, interests, abilities and perspectives."

A statue of Pastor George Whitefield was removed from campus because he was "a supporter of slavery."

"La Casa Latina" Cultural Center hosts a bilingual "Latinx Graduation." The ceremony "is a culturally empowering celebration of graduating students that honors the many traditions that encompass Latinx identities."