SENATE From the Senate Office: |
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April 21, 2015, Volume 61, No. 31 |
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 Vicki Hewitt, executive assistant to the Senate Office, either by telephone at (215) 898-6943 or by email at senate@pobox.upenn.edu
Faculty Senate Executive Committee Actions
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Chair’s Report. Faculty Senate Chair Claire Finkelstein gave a brief update on the activities of Faculty Senate Committees. She discussed the President’s Engagement Prizes and reported that the Senate will be attempting to promote and support these prizes by encouraging faculty to engage in mentoring of students. She also mentioned that the Faculty Senate Symposium, entitled Perceptions of Risk: How We Handle Emergencies, was held on April 1 at the Law School. She said that the Senate leadership would be interested in receiving suggestions for next year’s Symposium.
Past-Chair’s Report. Faculty Senate Past-Chair Dwight Jaggard reported that the Academic Planning and Budget Committee has met.
Briefing on Campaign for Community. The inaugural event for the Campaign for Community, which took place on April 14th in the Fitts Auditorium at the Law School, was a town hall conversation with six of Penn’s Deans, entitled Having Difficult Conversations in the Academy. Co-sponsored by the Provost’s Office and the Faculty Senate, the Campaign for Community is an initiative to help address cultural differences with the University.
Discussion of Arts and Culture at Penn. Karen Beckman, Elliot and Roslyn Jaffe Professor of Cinema and Modern Media, Lynn Marsden-Atlass, Director of the Arthur Ross Gallery, Amy Sadao, Daniel Dietrich II Director of the Institute of Contemporary Art, and Julian Siggers, Williams Director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, presented on the activities of their cultural centers at Penn, particularly with regard to educational initiatives involving Penn faculty and students. The visitors then discussed with members of the Faculty Senate different strategies faculty could use for integrating the arts into their teaching, such as the use of object-based learning, as well as ways to promote the arts at Penn. Members of the SEC and the arts leaders would like to work together to further support faculty support for the arts and greater integration of knowledge across disciplines.
Update from the Office of the Vice Provost for Global Initiatives. Zeke Emanuel, Vice Provost for Global Initiatives, updated the Faculty Senate on the Penn Wharton China Center in Beijing, which opened last month. The Center will host a variety of activities, such as research, education, career services, development and alumni relations, recruitment and public relations. There is a Penn China Research and Engagement Fund to support events and research at the Penn Wharton China Center. Construction of the new Perry World House is currently under way. The World House will be used to bring together faculty and experts from Penn to address global interdisciplinary issues, and will be a hub for internationally-oriented research, outreach and student activities. The Perry World House is scheduled to open in the spring of 2016. The Global Innovations Institute is the Perry World House’s initiative to nurture interdisciplinary collaboration and fast-track policy innovation. The initiative will focus on a number of different focal areas over the next few years and will partner with experts on policy-relevant outputs. Penn Global Initiatives will offer embedded travel abroad as part of the Global Seminars Pilot Program 2016.
New Business. By tradition, emeritus faculty do not currently serve on Faculty Senate committees, with the exception of the University Council Benefits Committee. The Faculty Senate discussed the potential for enabling emeritus faculty to serve on Senate committees. SEC may return to this issue when Senate Bylaws are next amended. SEC also considered whether the Tri-Chairs of the Faculty Senate should sit ex officio on the Senate Nominating Committee, as they do on the Senate Committee on Committees, in order to allow greater continuity with ongoing work of the Senate, particularly in selecting members of Senate Committee on the Economic Status of the Faculty (SCESF) and the Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility (SCAFR). |