COUNCIL
University Council Meeting Coverage
At the September 28 University Council meeting, President Amy Gutmann appointed Dr. James English, chair of the English department, to be the Moderator again this year. Dr. Gutmann also announced the appointment of Mark Frazier Lloyd, director of the University Archives, to serve as the Parliamentarian, a role in which he has served “with great distinction” for 14 years.
President Gutmann thanked the entire community for the way it rallied to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. She said there will be a Penn-led conference on Risk and Recovery in the Aftermath, organized by Provost Ron Daniels, with one session in D.C. and another here on campus.
Dr. Gutmann noted that Vice President for Government and Community Affairs Van McMurtry will begin October 3.
Although 140 new undergraduate scholarships were established last year, and Penn surpassed its funding goals, Dr. Gutmann said it is important to continue to focus on financial aid for undergraduate and graduate students. This year, Penn is beginning a “quiet phase” of a major campaign. The Campus Development Planning Committee (Almanac April 5, 2005)—which will articulate a long-term vision for Penn in keeping with the Penn Compact, will be seeking input from the Penn community, President Gutmann said. The Task Force for Global Engagement (Almanac September 27, 2005) will be identifying a couple of major initiatives advancing the globalization agenda.
Provost Ron Daniels was welcomed to his first Council meeting.
Steering Chair Dr. Neville Strumpf initiated the discussion ranking the focus issues for the academic year. She explained that it is the intention of the Steering Committee to continue the trend of using Council meetings for substantive discussions rather than having the majority of time spent hearing about committee reports that are published in Almanac. She said that some discussions would be timed to coincide with the completion of task force and committee reports.
Council members were reminded that it is not a difficult process to get an item on the agenda for an upcoming Open Forum; simply send an e-mail to the Steering Chair at strumpf@nursing.upenn.edu by October 12 for the November meeting.
Note: Prior to the Council meetings, reports of the President, Provost, and Chair of UA, GAPSA, WPSA and PPSA are usually distributed to Council members. These brief status reports regarding key programs and projects they are working on will be available after each meeting on the Council’s website www.upenn.edu/secretary/council/ so that constituencies-at-large can be better informed.
Almanac, Vol. 52, No. 6, October 4, 2005
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