Every year over my 24 years as a university president, I wrote a letter to the larger campus community expressing appreciation to the city where I was located. Chicago, Anchorage and Phoenix inspired many thanks from this university leader. In fact, I still suggest stealing ideas from those cities. But now that I have returned to Philadelphia, I’m deeply grateful for education and medicine in my hometown.

Old habits die hard. So here is my holiday letter to the city of Philadelphia, highlighting those attributes that make this a leading city in eds and meds.

Dear Philadelphia,

As a longtime university president who has returned home, I’m writing my traditional holiday letter to you. I was born and educated in Philly, grade school through grad school, and our city has always been a point of reference during my odyssey across

U.S. higher education. No city, except maybe Boston, compares to Philadelphia in the variety of higher education choices: community colleges, liberal arts colleges, a state-related university, public university campuses, and major research universities, including our own Ivy League institution. This diversity of institutional type exemplifies one of the distinctive strengths of higher ed in our nation.

In meds, Philadelphia leads the world in research and treatment. My husband and I are grateful for the Philadelphia health professionals we consult and for the state-of-the-art medical and dental treatments available to us. We regret the disparities of access across the country and, unfortunately, in this city as well. We hope for national, state, and local reforms in equitable healthcare.

This year I am particularly appreciative of several noteworthy characteristics and people:

World-class healthcare and research

What about that team at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and Penn Medicine who figured out how to edit genes and save lives with customized CRISPR therapy. One child with a rare genetic disorder has already been successfully treated. This landmark discovery in gene editing technology has the potential to save lives for people with rare diseases that currently have no medical treatment available.

It’s gratifying, but not a surprise that patients with irreversible lung disease are travelling from around the world to Temple University Hospital for lung transplants and a second chance at life.

Philadelphia is proud to be home to Dr. David Fajgenbaum, co-founder of Every Cure, which uses AI to discover new uses for existing drugs to treat rare diseases like his own Castleman disease.

We are lucky to live in the neighborhood of Temple, Penn, Jefferson, and other research hospitals offering state-of-the-art care to Philadelphians. Unfortunately, not every resident has an insurance plan to make life-saving treatments affordable, even less so now with the federal termination of Obamacare subsidies. Philly’s research achievements are also threatened by the Trump administration’s haphazard, vindictive, and irrational withdrawals of research funding, sometimes abandoning patients in the middle of research trials.

Philadelphia has our own hero in combatting the Trump administration’s war on science and expertise. Paul Offit, Director of the Vaccine Education Center and professor of pediatrics in the Division of Infectious Diseases at CHOP, engages in daily battle with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the misguided Secretary of Health and Human Services. Offit’s leadership and his clear, effective explanations of medical science convince many to trust vaccines that save children’s lives. It isn’t easy to combat dangerous CDC recommendations on the hepatitis B vaccine and other long proven lifesaving vaccines, but Paul Offit manages to cut through the falsities and conspiracy theories now dominating our national health agencies.

Penn’s courage and integrity

The University of Pennsylvania has shown courage and integrity in dealing with the federal government’s war on higher education. Penn has cooperated with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (E.E.O.C.) on their investigation into alleged antisemitism. But the university has steadfastly refused to turn over to the government lists of Jewish employees, Jewish student employees and those associated with Jewish organizations, or their personal contact information.

In November the Trump administration asked the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of PA to compel the university to comply with these privacy violations. A wide range of campus groups, including Penn Hillel and MEOR have strongly supported Penn’s decision. The Jewish groups issued a joint statement saying, “Across history, the compelled cataloguing of Jews has been a source of profound danger, and collection of Jews’ private information carries echoes of the very patterns that made Jewish communities vulnerable for centuries.”

Ted Mitchell, President of ACE (American Council on Education) reinforced Penn’s position and efforts, stating, “This is an abuse of power that singles out Jewish employees even as it fails to advance Penn’s strenuous efforts to combat antisemitism.”

Now that the Republican-led House Education and Workforce Committee in Harrisburg has announced an antisemitism probe into the School District of Philadelphia, we can hope that Penn’s courage in resisting inappropriate methods will set up guardrails in this pending investigation.

I’m also grateful for Penn’s bravery in refusing to sign Trump’s Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education. Rather than debating the specific demands in the Compact, Penn rejected the promise of favoritism in grant funding, arguing that merit should be the only reason for taxpayers’ investment in scientific research. Thank you, Penn, for joining MIT and several other of the nine universities in changing the narrative.

Imagination, commitment and resilience on the Avenue of the Arts

I’m deeply appreciative of Temple University and enlightened developers for transforming the ashes of the University of the Arts (UArts) into a phoenix, regenerating art and culture on Broad Street. After the disgraceful sudden closing of the University of the Arts, the Citizen published my post, Keeping Avenue of the Arts for the Arts, expressing the hope that Philly could salvage the arts on S. Broad Street through alliances between higher education and others open to imaginative and practical planning. The idea was to re-establish first-rate instruction in the arts, along with affordable apartments for practicing artists.

Wishes don’t often come true. But this time they did. Lindsey Scannapieco of Scout outmaneuvered a New York City developer for iconic Hamilton Hall (320 S. Broad Street) and the Frank Furness-designed complex connected to it. Hamilton Hall will be used for artist studios, small offices, maker spaces, and artists’ apartments, while the portion of Furness Hall that included dorms are also destined for artists’ apartments.

Thanks during this holiday season for courage and integrity; imagination, commitment, and resilience; affordability; and landmark storytelling. May these qualities light the night during this darkest time of year and illuminate our pathways through the New Year and beyond.

Temple purchased Terra Hall (201-211 S. Broad Street, UArts’ main academic building) to become Temple’s Center City campus. The Inquirer reported Temple president John Fry’s vision “to partner even more with the city’s cultural organizations.” Fry told The Inquirer, “We see ourselves moving into the position UArts occupied and occupied very well before their demise. But the way we want to go about it is through a network of partnerships.”

Some say be careful what you wish for. But not this time. As an educator and supporter of the arts, I am personally grateful to John Fry and Lindsey Scannapieco for making this delicious lemonade out of the UArts rotten lemons. In fact, I think they made limoncello.

College affordability and accessibility for Philadelphia citizens

Thanks to Temple University for making a college education affordable for Philadelphia students through the Temple Promise, offering free tuition and fees to city families whose adjusted gross income is $65,000 or less.

Temple has also launched Temple Future Scholars, an ambitious program to prepare students, starting in middle school, for this opportunity. In partnership with the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) and Heights Philadelphia, students will have early experiences to cultivate their curiosity and prepare them for the intellectual opportunities of higher education.

Penn has also cooperated with Heights and SDP to offer the College App Classroom, available in six Philadelphia high schools. Students participate in 28 lessons during the regular school day to help them demystify college and the pathways for entrance, not only to Penn but to any college of the student’s choice. For those admitted to Penn, students whose families earn up to $200,000 will receive full tuition scholarships under the Quaker Commitment program. Families that make under $75,000 will receive a financial aid package covering all billed expenses (tuition and fees, housing, and dining).

Not new news, but worth mentioning: Drexel University continues to offer a 50 percent tuition discount for Pennsylvania and New Jersey students with associate degrees from accredited community colleges. This plan recognizes the value of community college education and offers an affordable pathway to a four-year undergraduate degree.

In that connection, I want to say thank you for the excellence of the Community College of Philadelphia (CCP). Students can save money by starting there in traditional transfer programs. Those students who want to begin with career/technical skills will find high quality, affordability, and transfer opportunities at CCP, without going into debt for vocational training at for-profit options.

Landmark storytelling from the University of Pennsylvania Press

Not every city hosts a high quality university press, a nonprofit publishing enterprise committed to academic excellence and advancing knowledge. I’m grateful that we have the University of Pennsylvania Press and especially for its recent publication of Greater Philadelphia: A New History for the Twenty-first Century. The three volumes — The Greater Philadelphia Region, Greater Philadelphia and the Nation, Greater Philadelphia and the World — launch Philadelphia’s role in the semiquincentennial.

It’s the right time to reflect on 1776 from a 2026 perspective. Top historians including Charlene Mires and Howard Gillette edited the volumes, which draw on dozens of experts and community voices to tell Philadelphia’s story to a new generation. I’ve long believed that compiling and sharing stories are civic activities. A community is defined by those who know and tell the same stories (a quotation I have used for decades, variously attributed to Kurt Vonnegut and Dell Hymes).

In these polarized times, sharing stories has never been more important. And when history itself is under attack, this monumental work is essential. As I looked through the volumes I recognized much in my personal history. There’s a reference to American Bandstand. I never stood in line outside the WFIL-TV studios at 4548 Market, but many of my Bartram High School classmates did. Thanks to Greater Philadelphia for conjuring memories of dancing in my best friend Joyce’s living room with Dick Clark and the gang as a televised backdrop.

So, thanks during this holiday season for courage and integrity; imagination, commitment, and resilience; affordability; and landmark storytelling. May these qualities light the night during this darkest time of year and illuminate our pathways through the New Year and beyond.

Peaceful, joyous holidays to all,

Elaine

Elaine Maimon, Ph.D., is the author of Leading Academic Change: Vision, Strategy, Transformation. Her long career in higher education has encompassed top executive positions at public universities as well as distinction as a scholar in rhetoric/composition. Her co-authored book, Writing in the Arts and Sciences, has been designated as a landmark text. She is a Distinguished Fellow of the Association for Writing Across the Curriculum.

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