At the semester’s final Council meeting last Wednesday, Penn President Amy Gutmann spoke about the statement that had been disseminated via email earlier that day, “Concerning Our DACA and Undocumented Community Members”. Dr. Gutmann stressed that the University is resolute in its commitment and highlighted some of the key points about its advocacy efforts on behalf of undocumented students at Penn.

Provost Vince Price said he shared the president’s commitment. He then introduced the main topic of the meeting: increasing opportunities for student/faculty  innovation and entrepreneurship through numerous initiatives and entities around campus. Vice Provost for Research Dawn Bonnell then gave an overview of how Penn supports innovation with the Pennovation Center and its partners, as well as prizes such as the President’s Innovation Prize and the President’s Engagement Prize. She noted that Penn’s ecosystem of innovation, which includes the Penn Center for Innovation, is robust and dynamic, with competitions, events, education and student clubs. David Hsu, associate faculty director of Weiss Tech House (WTH), spoke about its student-led hub of entrepreneurship and innovation. WTH provides critical seed resources to the Penn community. David Asch, executive director of the Penn Center for Health Care Innovation, spoke about its many projects to make people healthier, reduce the cost of healthcare and enable and accelerate innovation. Karl Ulrich, vice dean of entrepreneurship & innovation at Wharton and professor of mechanical engineering at SEAS, described various programs that are available to any Penn student regardless of major/school affiliation to address important challenges through entrepreneurial thinking.

President Gutmann said that Penn is making innovation one of its highest priorities, and it will be more prominently central to the University’s mission. Provost Price pointed out that next year’s Academic Theme Year will focus on Innovation; he said, “now is the time, this is the place.”

During the Open Forum portion of the meeting, Paul Lewis, E’01, a long-time senior IT support specialist in SAS, encouraged Penn to close on Election Day to allow for more civic engagement; Robert Ashford, MSW’17, president of Peer Recovery, urged Penn to become a collegiate recovery community offering a continuum of services for students like himself who are in long-term recovery from substance use disorders.