Judith Rodin, CW’66
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The 2004 Distinguished Alumni Award was presented to Penn President Judith Rodin, CW’66.
In 1994, Dr. Judith Rodin became the first woman to be named to the presidency of an Ivy League institution. During nearly a decade of service, Rodin guided the University through a period of unprecedented growth and development that transformed Penn's academic core and dramatically enhanced the quality of life on campus and in the surrounding community. Under her leadership, Penn invigorated its resources, doubling its research funding and tripling both its annual fundraising and the size of its endowment; launched a comprehensive and widely acclaimed neighborhood revitalization program; attracted record numbers of undergraduate applicants, creating Penn's most selective classes ever; and risen in the U.S. News & World Report rankings of top national research universities from 16th in 1994 to 5th in 2003. Dr. Rodin's presidency also marked the largest capital construction period in Penn's history, with more than $1 billion invested in new buildings, renovations and restorations.
In addition to being the first woman to be named to the presidency of an Ivy League institution, Dr. Rodin was also the first Penn alumna to serve as president. She holds faculty appointments as a professor of psychology in the School of Arts and Sciences and as a professor of medicine and psychiatry in the School of Medicine. She returned to Penn after 22 years on the faculty of Yale University, where she served as provost from 1992 through 1994.
Rodin served on President Clinton's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology and co-chaired the transition team of Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street. She also served from 1994-95 on a Presidential panel to review security at the White House.
Rodin has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.
After completing her Ph.D. at Columbia University in 1970, Rodin joined the faculty of New York University as an assistant professor of psychology. She moved to Yale in 1972, was promoted to associate professor in 1975, named a full professor of psychology in 1979, and added the title of professor of medicine and psychiatry in 1985. Prior to her appointment as Yale's provost in 1992, she served two years as chair of the department of psychology and one year as dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. From 1983 to 1993, she chaired an international research network studying health and behavior for the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Renowned for her work on the relationship between psychological
and biological processes in human health and behavior, Rodin
has published more than 200 articles and chapters in academic
publications and authored or co-authored ten books.