Wendell Pritchett

Wendell Pritchett - Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, Presidential Professor in the Law School, and the Graduate School of Education - is an award-winning scholar, author, lawyer, professor, and civic and academic leader.

He began his tenure at Penn in 2017. Before that, he served from 2009-14 as Chancellor of Rutgers University-Camden, leading unprecedented growth that included graduating classes of record sizes, the first campus doctoral programs, and new health education and science facilities.

In the City of Philadelphia, he has been Deputy Chief of Staff and Director of Policy for Mayor Michael Nutter, Chair of the Redevelopment Authority, member of the School Reform Commission, President of the Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation, Board Chair of the Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, and Executive Director of the district offices of Congressman Thomas Foglietta, among many other board and leadership positions. He has served as President of the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities, a board member of the Campaign for Black Male Achievement, Co-Chair of Mayor Nutter’s Transition Committee, and Co-Chair of Barack Obama’s Urban Policy Task Force.

Provost Pritchett earned a PhD in History from Penn (1997), a JD from Yale Law School (1991), and a BA in Political Science from Brown University (1986).