Vartan Gregorian

Instinctively I knew he was it. W. While there was no commitment on the part of the university to appoint him president Gregorian did receive assurances that he would be given the opportunity to withdraw his candidacy if the position was not going to be offered to him so that he would not be a liability to whoever was appointed president of the university.

In 2004 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom the highest civilian award in the United States. In 1974 he was appointed UPenn's founding dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and became Provost in 1978. After receiving his dual PhD in history and humanities from Stanford University in 1964 Gregorian served on the faculties at several American universities before joining the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania in 1972 as Tarzian Professor of Armenian and Caucasian History and Professor of South Asian history.