[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 83 (Wednesday, June 16, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6877-S6878]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO DR. JUDITH RODIN

  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I have sought recognition to pay tribute 
to Dr. Judith Rodin, who on June 30, 2004, will complete a remarkable 
10-year presidency of the University of Pennsylvania, my alma mater.
  When she came to the University of Pennsylvania in 1994, Dr. Rodin 
became the first woman president of an Ivy League school. During her 
tenure, she has led the University of Pennsylvania through a period of 
growth and development that has transformed the University academically 
and greatly improved the quality of life on campus and in surrounding 
West Philadelphia.
  Since 1994, the University of Pennsylvania has doubled its research 
funding, tripled both its annual fundraising and endowment and 
attracted record numbers of undergraduate applicants. However, Dr. 
Rodin's greatest legacy will be her response to the challenge the 
University of Pennsylvania faces as a citizen of West Philadelphia.
  From her first days as President of the University of Pennsylvania, 
Dr. Rodin made clear that one of her core beliefs was that a great 
research university must also be a great neighbor.
  Dr. Rodin established the West Philadelphia Initiatives--a multi-
faceted urban-planning and community-development program which has 
reduced crime and blight, increased job opportunities and improved the 
quality of life in West Philadelphia. This program in turn has 
reinforced the University's ability to attract the best students, 
faculty, staff and research opportunities.
  The success of the West Philadelphia Initiatives in bringing 
employment, investment and quality-of-life improvements to West 
Philadelphia has become a model for collaboration between universities 
and urban communities throughout the United States. Key to the success 
of the program has been Dr. Rodin's acute understanding of the problems 
facing the West Philadelphia community, as a native Philadelphian.
  Dr. Rodin was born in Philadelphia and attended Girls' High School, 
where she was a Mayor's Scholar. As an undergraduate at the University 
of Pennsylvania, she showed great talent both in the classroom and in 
politics, where, as president of the women's student government, she 
helped to lay the groundwork for a merger with the men's student 
government.
  Dr. Rodin later earned a doctorate in psychology at Columbia 
University, and spent two decades on the faculty at Yale University, 
where she worked tirelessly to research and explain the biological and 
psychological factors that lead to obesity--a critical health issue 
facing our country today.
  She also helped launch the women's health movement, and expanded our 
understanding of aging by demonstrating that elderly people who are 
empowered lead more active, healthier, and longer lives than those who 
are consigned to helplessness. It is a true testament to Dr. Rodin that 
she brought with her to the University this same resolve and tremendous 
passion to serve the students of the University of Pennsylvania and the 
less fortunate of the West Philadelphia community.
  As a graduate of Penn, I am pleased to be able to honor Dr. Judith 
Rodin today, as a great Philadelphian, Pennsylvanian, and American, and 
perhaps most important, a great University of Pennsylvania Quaker.
  I thank her for her service and wish her the best in the future.

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