University of Pennsylvania | |
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City: | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
Type: | Private |
Sports: | baseball, basketball, fencing, football, football - sprint, golf, lacrosse, rowing (heavy), rowing (light), soccer, squash, swimming, tennis, track, wrestling, Penn Relays, field hockey, softball, volleyball[1] |
Colors: | Red and Blue |
Mascot: | Quakers |
Endowment: | $6.6 billion[2] |
Website: | http://www.upenn.edu/ |
The University of Pennsylvania was Founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1751, and is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It one of only two colleges in the Ivy League that was not founded for the express purpose of training ministers. Benjamin Franklin was influential in the expansion of this school. In 1751, it became an academy with Franklin as president of its board of trustees. In 1755 was named the College and Academy of Philadelphia. Then in 1779 it became officially known as a university.[3]
It has strong graduate programs in business and medicine, and a tradition of emphasizing practical knowledge. Its motto, "Leges Sine Moribus Vanae," means "Laws Without Morals are Useless."
The president of the university from 1948 to 1953 was Harold Stassen, a former Moderate Republican governor of Minnesota. Stassen lived in Philadelphia some time after moving there and ran unsuccessfully for governor of Pennsylvania and mayor of Philadelphia.