In response to the tsunami that devastated the Indian Ocean basin in December 2004, Penn President Amy Gutmann and GSE Dean Susan Fuhrman agreed that the University’s response to the disaster should focus, in part, on helping to rebuild education infrastructure in the region.

As we started education-related development work in the region, we quickly understood that the greatest contribution the University could make would be in providing expertise for long-term improvement projects—not first-response relief.

It was clear to all of us that the challenge of helping to rebuild educational capacity in the tsunami zone would take time, attention, persistence and care—that Penn had to make a serious institutional commitment to this difficult work. 

We were given invaluable support in our work by a generous contribution from Pearson plc, the international media and education company, which made a $125,000 gift to Penn GSE to support some of our early work in the region. In addition, we were gratified to receive numerous contributions from individuals across the Penn community and, for our work in Indonesia, from two educational supply companies: Delta Education and School Specialty.

To date, we have engaged in education development projects in Indonesia and Sri Lanka. To learn more, click on the links below.

In Indonesia
In Sri Lanka
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