Trustees' Fall Meeting Coverage

At the Trustees' Fall Stated Meeting on Friday, there were dozens of graduate students who sat silently throughout the meeting, wearing the Get-Up t-shirts to make the Trustees aware of their cause to unionize. Prior to the meeting at the Inn at Penn, some of the grad students marched and chanted outside, at the entrance.

Chairman James Riepe presented a Memorial Resolution for Natalie I. Koether, C '61, L '65, who passed away on October 3, 2003 (Almanac October 14, 2003). She not only served as a trustee, but was the longest-serving chair of the SAS Board of Overseers and was only the second person to be designated chair emerita when she resigned from that position after nine years. The resolution conveyed the Trustees' sorrow, and shared "their appreciation and affection with the family of one of Penn's most beloved and esteemed alumnae."

A Resolution of Appreciation for Leonard A. Lauder --who has been a Penn trustee since 1977--expressed "profound gratitude" for his "many dazzling contributions to Penn" by electing his an emeritus trustee.

A Resolution of Appreciation for David Montgomery, president and CEO of the Phillies Baseball--an alumni trustee since 1999--noted gratitude to him for "always going to bat for Penn, for being a "Whiz Kid" with numbers and with people, and for consistently standing out as one of Penn's most valuable players."

 There was also a Resolution of Appreciation to the Executive Committee of the 125 Years of Women at Penn, chaired by Judith Roth Berkowitz, for the celebration which spanned two days during Homecoming 2002, and stretches across 38th Street in the form of the renovated generational bridge, and now reaches across Hill Square with inscriptions by and about women lining the walk and covering the benches.

Alan M. Hassenfeld, who is completing his term as an Alumni Trustee, was elected as a Term Trustee effective January 1, 2004 on the expiration of his current term. Three other Term Trustees were reelected to a five-year term: Mitchell J. Blutt, C '78, M '82, WG '87; Mitchell I. Quain, EE '73; David M. Silfen, C '66.

President Judith Rodin noted how especially pleased she was to be dedicating a sculpture honoring 125 years of women at Penn, since when she was Provost at Yale she dedicated one for 20 years of women there. Dr. Rodin described the recently held conference "From the Ground Up" on university-assisted schools; Penn's efforts are seen as the model by other educators. She noted how proud she is of Dr. Sarah  Kagan who recently won a MacArthur "genius" Award (Almanac October 7, 2003). The Urban Land Institute has recently bestowed on Penn one of its 2003 awards for the many enhancements to the area such as the Left Bank, the Inn at Penn, Bookstore, FreshGrocer, The Bridge, among the many projects.

Dr. Rodin also mentioned the dedication of Hillel's new home, Steinhardt  Hall,(Almanac October 28, 2003) and of Weiss Tech House last month as well as the groundbreaking for Skirkanich Hall and the Life Sciences Building. The Quad dedication--part of Homecoming weekend--will recognize those who made the renovation and restoration of the historic dorms possible. The School of Veterinary Medicine's new building, south of the Old Vet building in the planning stages with plans for a fall 2006 occupancy.

Provost Robert Barchi said that this week was a homecoming for Dr. Perry Molinoff, the new Vice Provost for Research (Almanac November 4, 2003). Dr. Barchi said that the SAS Center for Writing (Almanac January 21, 2003) recently opened, led by Dr. Al Filreis. The Pilot Curriculum is in the fourth year of the five-year experiment and the progress of the interdisciplinary courses is being assessed.

Craig Carnaroli gave Penn's financial report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2003. He said, during FY 03, the consolidated University achieved positive financial performance despite the uncertain economic climate. The University's revenue increased $245.8 million to over $3.58 billion. The Health System constituted 49% of this overall growth in revenue. Total  gifts and pledges approached $247 million and operating contributions grew $7.7 million over FY 02 level. There was a positive increase in net assets from operating activities of $21.6 million. For the third consecutive year, the Health System generated positive net income from operations.

Dr. Arthur Rubenstein gave the Penn Medicine Report; he mentioned a review of centers and institutes; web-based teaching evaluations and peer awards for faculty that were presented recently.

Thomas Ehrlich, chair of Academic Policy Committee, reported on plans to establish a University-wide Urban Institute at Penn that would involve several schools. A new Master of Science program in Translational Research-- research that makes important contributions to patient care and medical education--will be established in the School of Medicine.

Approval was given for design and construction of major renovations to Bennett Hall to provide programmatically efficient and updated academic spaces for English and Music in the historic building, which was constructed in 1924 as the College for Women. The resolution authorized $16.4 million to upgrade the infrastructure of the building, some 66,500 gross square feet of space.

The Learning Resource Center will be getting new quarters in the upper floor of Stouffer where it will be able to expand to assist the increasing number of students with physical, learning, and psychiatric disabilities. The trustees authorized $2.043 million for this project.

Michael Tarnopol, the Development Committee chair, reported that FY 04 is off to a good start and cash receipts are ahead of projections.

Leonard Lauder gave the External Affairs Committee report including an update on the Penn Branding of athletic merchandise, which is concerned with consistency and quality. Penn in the news most often pertains to Penn Medicine; He noted that Penn has been in the New York Times almost as much as Harvard has recently.

William Mack, chair of Facilities and Campus  Planning, reported on the architects' presentations his committee saw, one for SEAS and the other for Vet Medicine. The Skirkanich Hall fa‚ade will be discussed again. The presentation of the plans for the Vet School building were well received, he said. 

Paul Williams gave the Penn Alumni Report; the James Brister Society is celebrating its 10th anniversary.

New Overseers were appointed to Boards including: Dr.  Rosemary Mazanet to Penn Medicine; Peter Shedd Reed and Richard Rosan to School of Design; Dr. Linda Gilliam to Dental Medicine; Jeffrey Seltzer to University Libraries; Ronnie Friedman Wiener to ICA; Paul Greenberg and Dr. David Magerman to SEAS;  Pamela Craven to Law, Michael Kuritzkes to Annenberg Center; and Dr. Susan Taylor and David  Sweet to WXPN Policy Board.