PHILADELPHIA -- Vanda McMurtry, vice president for government and community relations at Cornell University and former chief counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, has been named Penn's new vice president for government and community affairs, Penn President Amy Gutmann has announced. He will assume his new position October 1, 2005.

As one of the University's senior administrators, he will direct Penn's relationship with state, local and federal governments as well as non-governmental groups at the community and national levels.

"Van's background working for federal regulatory agencies and congressional committees, coupled with his health care and higher education experience make him exceptionally well suited for his new role at Penn," Gutmann said.

Prior to his work at Cornell, McMurtry served, for 12 years, as senior vice president for federal government relations for Aetna Inc., where he partnered with federal government officials and congressional committees on issues related to health/ medical care, insurance and financial services.

From 1989 to 1992, McMurtry was staff director and chief counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, at that time led by Senator Lloyd Bentsen of Texas. His Washington career also included five years on the staff of the Joint Economic Committee, where he studied and produced reports on the major economic issues confronting the nation.

McMurtry earned a bachelor's degree, summa cum laude, in philosophy from the University of California, Irvine in 1972. He earned both master's and Ph.D degrees in philosophy from Cornell, a master's degree in public administration from Johns Hopkins University and a law degree from Georgetown University.

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