Global Colloquium of University Presidents

March 13-14, 2013

Penn President Amy Gutmann attended the seventh annual meeting of the Global Colloquium of University Presidents at New York University on March 13-14, 2013. Twenty-six research university presidents from around the world, each accompanied by a faculty expert, met with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to discuss the role of global public health in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), originally adopted in 2001 and up for review/revision in 2015. President Gutmann co-chaired with NYU President and Colloquium host John Sexton the President's Session on the role of universities in advancing the global health goals, and she also led the concluding plenary discussion of the Colloquium’s recommendations.

The Global Colloquium is an annual invitation-only meeting of some 25-30 research university presidents from around the world, sponsored by the presidents of Columbia University, New York University, Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University, on behalf of and with the participation of the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The Global Colloquium has evolved into a robust network of university presidents and research institutions which contribute – through research, teaching, and other activities – to a wide range of global public policy issues of interest and concern to the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Previous Global Colloquia have focused on topics such as academic freedom, the empowerment of women, world poverty, global climate change, and the effects of the global youth population bulge. President Gutmann hosted the fifth Global Colloquium on the Penn campus in 2011 where the topic was "Empowering Women to Change the World: What Universities and the UN Can Do."