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SENATE From the Senate Office
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January 20, 2009, Volume 55, No. 18

The following is published in accordance with the Faculty Senate Rules. Among other purposes, the publication of SEC actions is intended to stimulate discussion among the constituencies and their representatives. Please communicate your comments to Sue White, executive assistant to the Senate Office, either by telephone at (215) 898-6943, or by e-mail at senate@pobox.upenn.edu.

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Actions

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Discussion on the proposed Penn Retirement Community: Jim Saunders, President of the Association of Senior and Emeritus Faculty (ASEF) in the School of Medicine, explained that the Penn Association of Senior and Emeritus Faculty (PASEF) and ASEF sent out a questionnaire last spring to determine the interest in the development of a Penn retirement community. Dr. Saunders reported that 64% of respondents indicated interest in some type of Penn sponsored retirement community. As a result, PASEF and ASEF formed a working group to move forward with this initiative and the group had a good discussion with Executive Vice President, Craig Carnaroli. Dr. Saunders asked SEC members for their support for the working group to continue to move forward with this prospect. After some discussion, SEC members unanimously approved the following resolution:

The University of Pennsylvania Faculty Senate supports the efforts of the Penn Association of Senior and Emeritus Faculty to pursue the possible creation of a Penn Retirement community. 

Chair’s Report:  Faculty Senate Chair Sherri Adams reminded SEC members that the Founder’s Day Symposium: Seeking Sustainability—Penn Explores the Local and Global Challenges will be held this Friday January 16 from 3–5 at the School of Nursing. She asked SEC members to encourage their students to attend. Dr. Adams reported that the February SEC meeting will feature a discussion on diversity, led by a faculty panel and Associate Provost Vincent Price, and will be held in the Amado Room at Irvine Auditorium. 

Past Chair’s Report: Faculty Senate Past-Chair Larry Gladney reported that Academic Planning and Budget discussed budget scenarios for 2010.

Faculty Affairs Update:  Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs Vincent Price outlined five objectives for his office and included a progress report to date and challenges for the future. The first objective is to maintain and create academic personnel policies that support and enhance faculty from recruitment and promotion to retirement. The second objective is to diversify the faculty through effective recruitment and retention of faculty. The third objective is to increase the analytical capability of the office to facilitate understanding of internal and external trends. The fourth objective is to improve communication between the Provost’s office, schools, and departments.  The fifth objective is to increase the operational capacity of the faculty affairs office. Dr. Price reviewed progress on many fronts: work with the Faculty Senate Tri-Chairs on mentoring and sabbatical leaves; better clarification of faculty tracks; brochures on family-friendly and retirement policies; publication of the Minority Equity Report and the Gender Equity Report on a regular cycle; building and refining the Faculty Information System; building a web-system to easily access forms, policies, procedures and run reports; and the launch of a department chair training program.

Safety and Security at Penn: Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush gave a status report on the recent sexual attack and home invasion of two Penn students in December. She reported that there is a $5000 reward for the arrest of the suspect and up-to-date information is available on the Division of Public Safety website: www.publicsafety.upenn.edu/. VP Rush updated SEC members on the following aspects of the Division of Public Safety: the six departments of public safety, the patrol area that public safety encompasses, the diversity model for public safety, the challenges facing the Penn community, the collaborative efforts with the Penn community to resolve high profile incidents, the ways that public safety supports the Penn Compact, diversity activities with community groups, crime statistics, the division of public safety reorganization plan, the status of CCTV cameras and street lighting, UPenn Alert system and UPenn Emergency procedures. 

Ballot: Selection of the 2009 Senate Committee on Committees membership. SEC members voted for 7 SEC members to serve on the 2009 Senate Committee on Committees.

 

 

Almanac - January 20, 2009, Volume 55, No. 18