H eadlines
Penn President Nominated as Ambassador to Germany
L OCA L
SASHA ROGELBERG | JE STAFF
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN
nominated University of
Pennsylvania President Amy
Gutmann on July 2 to serve as
the United States ambassador
to Germany.

If confirmed, Gutmann,
who is Jewish, would be the
first woman to serve as U.S.

ambassador to Germany, and
she would likely conclude her
18-year tenure in 2022 as Penn’s
longest-serving president.

“As the daughter of a German
Jewish refugee, as a first-gen-
eration college graduate, and
as a university leader devoted
to advancing constitutional
democracy,” Gutmann said
in a statement, “I am grateful
beyond what any words can
adequately express to President
Biden for the faith he has
placed in me to help represent
America’s values and interests
to one of our closest and most
important European allies.”
Gutmann’s father, Kurt
Gutmann, was born in
Nuremberg, Bavaria, and fled
Nazi Germany in 1934 to Bombay,
India, before moving to New York,
where Amy Gutmann was born.

Her father’s refugeedom left
a lasting impact on Gutmann.

“The biggest influences on
me for leading preceded my
Amy Gutmann
Courtesy of University of Pennsylvania
ever even thinking of myself
as a leader — particularly my
father’s experience leaving Nazi
Germany,” Gutmann said in
a 2011 New York Times inter-
view. “To me, those two things
are really important about
leadership, to have courage and
to be farsighted in your vision,
not to be just reacting to the
next small challenge.”
After graduating from
Radcliffe College of Harvard
University in 1971, Gutmann
earned a master’s degree in
political science at the London
School of Economics in 1972
and a doctorate in polit-
ical science from Harvard
University in 1976.

Gutmann’s tenure was
marked by her creation of
the Penn Compact, a series
of initiatives prioritizing
inclusion through the expan-
sion of need-based financial
aid; innovation through the
creation of the Penn Center
for Innovation and the
Pennovation Works industrial
site; and impact, by investing
in projects to build connec-
tions in Philadelphia, the U.S.

and internationally, such as a
$100 million gift to the School
District of Philadelphia.

She also launched the
Making History campaign in
2007, a fundraising effort that
raised $4.3 billion before its
conclusion in 2012.

In total, Penn’s endow-
ment has grown more than
$10 billion during Gutmann’s
tenure, helping to bolster Penn
as Philadelphia’s largest private
employer. However, Gutmann’s actions
as president were not without
criticism, including for refusing
to take a pay cut from her $3.7
million salary during the
pandemic, as several of her Ivy
League peers had done. And after
the Penn Museum’s announce-
ment that it had, for decades, kept
the remains of children killed
in the 1985 MOVE bombing,
protesters gathered outside of
Gutmann’s home.

Gutmann’s appointment as
ambassador requires confir-
mation by the Senate and the
approval of German President
Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Though Gutmann has not
previously held a government
position, she is no stranger
to foreign policy or to her
nominator. Under Gutmann, the Penn
Biden Center for Diplomacy
and Global Engagement was
founded in 2016. It opened in
2018 and has continued Penn’s
focus on diplomacy, foreign
policy and national security.

Gutmann announced
Biden as the Benjamin
Franklin Presidential Practice
Professor at the University of
Pennsylvania, and Biden was
tasked with leading the center.

Should Gutmann become
ambassador, she would replace
Robin Quinville, the chargé
d’Affaires — and de facto ambas-
sador — of the U.S. Embassy
in Germany, who took over for
Ambassador Richard Grenell
after he resigned in June 2020.

Grenell, known as the
“undiplomatic diplomat”
in Germany for his dubious
etiquette, urged Germany to
increase its military defense
spending; he and President
Donald Trump threatened U.S.

military troop withdrawal from
Germany and withdrawal from
NATO. Grenell also advocated
for a ban of Hezbollah in
Germany, which took effect in
April 2020.

As ambassador, Gutmann
would be tasked with
navigating issues such as
Germany’s defense spending
and U.S. sanctions on the $11
billion Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

Gutmann’s appointment
as ambassador would resur-
rect a longstanding tradition of
academics serving as ambas-
sadors. In the 1940s and ’50s,
former Harvard president
James Conant soothed the
U.S.-German relationship after
the war by engaging with local
German universities.

Along with Gutmann, Biden
nominated David Cohen,
former Penn Board of Trustees
chair, to serve as U.S. ambas-
sador to Canada. Scott Bok,
investment banker and CEO of
Greenhill & Co., Inc., replaced
him as chair on July 1.

Bok spoke on behalf of the
board, expressing his support
for Gutmann.

“She is one of the most
highly regarded academic
leaders in the world and has led
the University of Pennsylvania
to new heights of eminence,”
Bok said. “Amy has been a
superb president for Penn, and
we have total confidence that
she will remain fully focused
on advancing Penn’s agenda
until the conclusion of her time
at the university.” l
srogelberg@jewishexponent.com |
215-832-0741 Israeli Baseball Team Coming to Harrisburg
L OCA L
JARRAD SAFFREN | JE STAFF
STEVEN SCHAUDER,
the executive director of the
Jewish Family Service of
Greater Harrisburg, called the
Israeli National Baseball Team
qualifying for the upcoming
Summer Olympics “a modern
miracle.” Maybe not on par
with the creation of the Jewish
state itself, but it’s still a huge
6 JULY 15, 2021
deal, according to Schauder.

So to celebrate the accom-
plishment, and to send the
team off to the Olympics in
style, Schauder and other influ-
ential Harrisburg residents are
hosting the Israeli team at their
local stadium, FNB Field, on
July 16 at 10 a.m.

Team Israel, one of six
baseball participants in the
Tokyo games, will play the
Cal Ripken All-Stars, a group
of semiprofessional players,
in an exhibition game. After
the game, the Israeli players
will hold a meet-and-greet and
luncheon with fans, according
to Dan Schwab, a co-owner
of the Harrisburg Senators,
the Double-A affiliate of the
Washington Nationals that
calls FNB Field home.

“It’s a great opportunity to
rally around Israel, baseball
and Jewish heritage,” said
Schwab, who is Jewish.

The baseball team is the
JEWISH EXPONENT
first representative from
the Jewish state to make the
Olympics since 1976. The team
is predominantly a collection
of American Jews, including
several former Major League
Baseball players like second
baseman Ian Kinsler, third
baseman Danny Valencia and
utility man Ty Kelly, among
others. They are eligible to play
for Team Israel because they
secured Israeli citizenship.

Most of the players are looking
to continue their careers,
honor their heritage and help
establish baseball in the Jewish
state, Schwab said.

Lower Merion native and
former Harriton High School
baseball star Jake Rosenberg
made the Olympic squad
as an outfielder. The son of
Jewish Federation of Greater
Philadelphia Chief Operating
Officer Steve Rosenberg, Jake
was a second team all-state
player in Pennsylvania during
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM