Amy Gutmann is the U.S. Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany. From 2004 to 2022, she served as President of the University of Pennsylvania, as well as the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science in the School of Arts and Sciences at Penn with secondary appointments in Philosophy, the Annenberg School for Communication, and the Graduate School of Education.
Before arriving at the University of Pennsylvania, Gutmann was Provost at Princeton University from 2001-2004 and served as the Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Politics and was the founding Director of the University Center for Human values, a position she held from 1990-2004. She was President of the American Society of Political and Legal Philosophy from 2001 to 2004. Dr. Gutmann’s teaching and research interests include moral and political philosophy, practical ethics, education, and public affairs. She received her B.A. magna cum laude from Harvard-Radcliffe College, her M.Sc. from the London School of Economics, and Ph.D. from Harvard University.
Dr. Gutmann’s major publications include the widely cited Democratic Education (Princeton University Press, 1987), Liberal Equality (Cambridge University Press, 1980), Color Conscious (Princeton University Press, 1997) with Anthony Appiahand, and Democracy and Disagreement (Harvard University Press, 1996) with Dennis Thompson. Her more recent books are Why Deliberative Democracy (Princeton University Press, 2004), also written with Dennis Thompson, and Identity in Democracy (Princeton University Press, 2004), winner of the Association of American Publishers Government and Political Science Professional/Scholarly Award. She is editor of many books, including Freedom of Association, Multiculturalism: Examining the Politics of Recognition, Democracy and the Welfare State, and Ethics and Politics (with Dennis Thompson).
Dr. Gutmann served on the Board of Directors of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Vanguard Corporation, and the Schuylkill River Development Corporation, and served on the Board of Trustees at the National Constitutional Center in Philadelphia. In 2005, Dr. Gutmann was appointed to the National Security Higher Education Advisory Board, a committee that advises the FBI on national security issues relating to academia. She also was among the leaders of a select group of presidents of research universities from around the world who advise the U.N. Secretary General on a range of global issues, including academic freedom, mass migration, international development, and the social responsibilities of universities. She was also a member of the Global University Leaders Forum (GULF), which meets at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. In 2009, President Barack Obama named Gutmann as chair of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues.
Dr. Gutmann has served as president of the American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy and is a founding member of the executive committee of the Association of Practical and Professional Ethics. She is a member of the American Philosophical Society, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Education. In 2003, Dr. Gutmann was awarded the Centennial Medal by Harvard University for graduate alumni who have made exceptional contributions to society. In 2005, she was awarded honorary doctorates by the University of Rochester and by Wesleyan University, where she delivered the commencement address. In 2006, she received the Alumnae Recognition Award from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard for her outstanding contributions to liberal arts education. She received the Carnegie Corporation Academic Leadership Award in 2009 for her success in realizing the goals of the Penn Compact.
