<p>As they'd say in lolcat: IM IN UR SKOOL, POACHIN UR FACULTYZ</p>
<p>Penn</a> receives $20 million gift | The Daily Pennsylvanian</p>
<p>Weiss cited peer institutions severe financial problems as an additional reason for the timing of the gift, explaining that the donation gives Penn the chance to hire even more extraordinary professors.
When you look at it as a donor, when peers are hurting, we have a change to hire more of the best. Its a once in a century opportunity, he said.</p>
<p>EVIL! lol.</p>
<p>Actually, a pretty smart idea.</p>
<p>I know, I love it. Let’s collect faculty like Pokemon.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, you can’t simply purchase faculty. They have to want to come, and more importantly, they have to want to stay.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be surprised if this inspired a few more of these large PIK (Penn Integrates Knowledge) Professorship gifts in the near future. Weiss is heading up the Making History capital campaign, and the message of his example is clearly to strike while the iron is hot and get maximum leverage from these gifts in the current economy.</p>
<p>I also wouldn’t be surprised if additional funds for faculty recruitment were to come from the estate of Christopher Browne, who died in December after having endowed TEN CHAIRS in the School of Arts and Sciences (including Amy Gutmann’s) while serving as a Penn Trustee, SAS Overseer, and co-chair (with Weiss) of the Making History campaign.</p>
<p>yeah, but Penn shouldn’t really be THAT much of a hard sell for many…</p>
<p>Of course not, but if Penn is interested in our faculty eventually reaching Stanford/Harvard levels across all disciplines, we need to work to recruit a future superstar in math/chemistry/bio/physics/comp sci (although eminent, we still need to close the gap in hard sciences (admittedly our physics is surprisingly good)).</p>
<p>Once we solidify those disciplines, Penn will be an undeniable powerhouse. Right now, it is most respected for its supremacy in the humanities and professional fields (medicine and business = top 3, law = top 10).</p>
<p>Sweet deal going there</p>