'Judith Rodin' (born
1944) Ph.D., is the first female president of an
Ivy League university. She served as the seventh president of the
University of Pennsylvania from 1994-2004 and in 2005 was named president of the
Rockefeller Foundation. A Penn alumna, she received her Ph.D. from
Columbia University in
1970.
Rodin is credited with expanding and improving the University and significantly changing the character of much of the area surrounding campus. During her tenure at Penn, the University rose from 16th to 4th in the
U.S. News & World Report college ranking and tripled its
endowment.
[1] Rodin is credited as the critical figure in the revitalization of
University City.
[2] Capitalizing upon her influence, Rodin brought
Bono, of the rock group
U2, to address the University during the
2004 commencement ceremonies.
[3] In her final year at Penn, Rodin's salary was $986,915.
[4] At one time, she was the highest paid university president in the country.
[5]
Professional Highlights
Rodin became president of the
Rockefeller Foundation in March 2005.
She is currently on the the
Board of Directors of
Citigroup,
AMR Corporation (the parent company of
American Airlines), and
Comcast Corporation where she served as the presiding director until 2006.
[6] Rodin has also served on the Board of Directors for corporations such as
Aetna,
Electronic Data Systems (EDS) and
BlackRock.
[7]
She continues to serve as a
trustee of the
Brookings Institution.
Academic
She was
Provost of
Yale University from 1992 to 1994, when she moved to Penn.
[8] She held various professorial and other positions at Yale from 1972 to 1994, including Dean of the
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and Chair of the Department of
Psychology. Rodin has published more than 200 articles and chapters in academic publications and authored or co-authored eleven books.
[9] Her most recent book is ''Public Discourse in America'' (2003).
Commencement Speeches & Honorary Degrees
2007
★
Dartmouth College [1]
2006
★
University of Pittsburgh [2]
★
Franklin & Marshall [3]
★
Yeshiva University [4]
2004
★
New York University [5]
★
University of Pennsylvania [6]
★
Brown University [7]
Awards & Honors
In 2003, Rodin was presented with the Philadelphia Award, recognizing "citizen[s] of the region who [have] done the most to advance the best and largest interest of the community."
[10]
Political
In
2004 Rodin was touted as one of Pennsylvania’s best Democratic candidates for the
United States Senate.
[11] During the lead up to the
2006 United States Senate election, one which would eventually result in the ousting of incumbent Sen. Rick Santorum, Judith Rodin was again listed among the Democrats' short list favorites.
[12]
Personal
Rodin is married to 'Paul R. Verkuil'
[13], a former President of the
College of William and Mary and the
American Automobile Association.
[14] Verkuil is a professor at the
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where he served previously as dean.
[14]
Judith Rodin has one child, Alex Niejelow,
[16] who is a student at the
University of Pennsylvania Law School.
[17]
Outsourcing, Sweatshops and Graduate Student Unionization Efforts at Penn
While Rodin was president, the University of Pennsylvania
outsourced a number of services previously run by the university. Building services were handed to
Trammell Crow, an arrangement ended after four years.
[18] The move had resulted in
layoffs that led to protests and a lawsuit by angered students and staff. Another set of protests stemmed from the layoff of Faculty Club employees when the Club was moved and the University contracted with
DoubleTree to operate the Club.
[19] [20] In
2000,
Penn Students Against Sweatshops protested outside Rodin's office after she refused to meet with the group to discuss university purchase of apparel made in sweatshops. After a two week sit-in, Rodin agreed to withdraw from the
Fair Labor Association.
During Rodin's presidency, the Penn administration resisted efforts by graduate students to form a
labor union.
[21] The
National Labor Relations Board initially ruled that graduate students were entitled to hold union elections, yet upon appeal, the NLRB reversed the earlier opinion and held that graduate students were not entitled organize a union.
[22] [23] In response, there was a protest by the graduate student group leading the unionization effort on campus when Rodin's 2003 book ''Public Discourse in America'' was released.
[24]
References
1. http://www.upenn.edu/almanac/between/2003/rodin_resigns.html
2. http://www.apa.org/monitor/nov05/reborn.html
3. http://u2log.com/archive/penngrad13-thumb.jpg
4. http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/2005/10/14/News/In.Final.Year.Compensation.For.Former.Pres.Neared.1m-2147223.shtml
5. http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/2000/11/21/News/Rodins.Pay.Tops.For.Universities-2162138.shtml?norewrite200609232358&sourcedomain=www.dailypennsylvanian.com
6. http://www.forbes.com/finance/mktguideapps/personinfo/FromPersonIdPersonTearsheet.jhtml?passedPersonId=939664]
7. http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/1998/05/15/Resources/Rodin.Juggles.Corporate.Govt.Duties-2168610.shtml?norewrite200609232359&sourcedomain=www.dailypennsylvanian.com
8. http://www.sas.upenn.edu/home/views/rodin.html
9. http://www.rockfound.org/docs/OfficersAndDirectors/Biography_of_Judith_Rodin.pdf
10. http://www.whyy.org/about/pressroom/judith_rodin.html
11. http://www.politicspa.com/features/shortlist04.htm
12. http://www.politicspa.com/FEATURES/shortlist06sen.htm
13. http://www.rockfound.org/Library/Dr._Judith_Rodin_Named_Rockefeller_Foundation_President.pdf#search=%22verkuil%20rodin%22
14. http://www.cardozo.yu.edu/faculty_staff/fulltime_QZ.asp
15. http://www.cardozo.yu.edu/faculty_staff/fulltime_QZ.asp
16. http://www.mail-archive.com/univcity@list.purple.com/msg10380.html
17. https://www.nationalmssociety.org/PAE/event/event_page.asp?p=35532&e=6491
18. http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/2002/08/29/News/Trammell.Crow.Contract.Ended-2157352.shtml?norewrite200609250036&sourcedomain=www.dailypennsylvanian.com
19. http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/1999/01/18/Resources/U.Lays.Off.35.Faculty.Club.Employees-2164062.shtml?norewrite200609250030&sourcedomain=www.dailypennsylvanian.com
20. http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/1999/02/16/Resources/U.Faculty.Club.Union.Make.No.Progress.In.Talks-2164320.shtml?norewrite200609250030&sourcedomain=www.dailypennsylvanian.com
21. http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/news/2002/01/09/News/Grad-Students.Go.To.Court.For.The.Right.To.Unionize-2158939.shtml
22. http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/news/2002/11/22/News/Grad-Students.Win.Right.To.Unionize-2156330.shtml
23. http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/news/2002/12/06/News/University.Challenges.Nlrb.Ruling.On.Grad.Union-2156210.shtml
24. http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/2003/10/27/News/Graduate.Students.Protest.Rodin.Book.Signing-2153493.shtml
External links
Other Biographical Summaries
★
Biography from the Rockefeller Foundation
★
Profile at Sourcewatch.org
Reviews of Rodin's Tenure at Penn
★
"Rodin legacy" at Penn
★
Critical Review of Rodin's Tenure at Penn
★
Daily Pennsylvanian editorial board Evaluation of Rodin's era
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