Provost John L. Jackson, Jr. and Deputy Provost Beth A. Winkelstein invite applications from and nominations of standing faculty members to be faculty co-director of Penn First Plus, beginning July 1, 2024.  

Penn First Plus, founded in 2018, is the University’s hub of resources, support, and mentorship for first-generation-to-college and limited-income undergraduate students. It helps students with navigating finances and academics at Penn; collaborates with the four undergraduate schools to advance inclusive pedagogy, accessible curricula, and holistic advising; partners with Student Registration and Financial Services to enhance access to financial resources; and cultivates targeted programming with units across Penn to make academic, professional, and extracurricular opportunities easier to navigate.

The resources and programs of Penn First Plus include the Shleifer Family Penn First Plus Center in College Hall; the College Achievement Program, which provides dedicated support for a select group of academically talented undergraduates; the Pre-First Year Program, a four-week, credit-bearing academic bridge program preceding New Student Orientation; and the Gateway Student Mentorship Program, which connects incoming students with faculty members and upper-level undergraduates who share the experiences of being first-generation students.

The current Penn First Plus faculty co-directors are Russell J. Composto, a professor and the Howell Family Faculty Fellow in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, who began his term on July 1, 2023; and Camille Charles, the Annenberg Professor in the Social Sciences in the School of Arts & Sciences, who has served as a faculty co-director since the program’s launch and will step down from this role at the end of June 2024.

Applications/expressions of interest and nominations are encouraged from and of standing faculty members at Penn who have experience in and a strong commitment to teaching and mentoring undergraduates, especially students from communities that historically encounter structural barriers to an equitable education, including but not limited to first-generation-to-college and limited-income undergraduates. Inquiries and nominations can be sent to Deputy Provost Beth A. Winkelstein at Deputy-Provost@upenn.edu by April 19, 2024.