Overview

PASEF’s members are senior (age 55 and over) and retired standing faculty at Penn. Its mission is to organize programs and activities for its members and encourage them to continue to remain active in the intellectual and social life of the University, and to provide service to the University and the community. A major function of PASEF is to assist senior faculty in their transition to retirement by providing retirement planning seminars and information. PASEF was founded in 2004, and its current membership numbers approximately 900 senior faculty and 600 retired faculty. The Association of Senior and Emeritus Faculty (ASEF–PSOM) is an analogous organization for faculty at the Perelman School of Medicine. The two organizations regularly cooperate in planning joint programs and activities. PASEF is a member organization of the Association of Retirement Organizations in Higher Education (AROHE).

Administration

Governance and administration. PASEF operates under a set of bylaws and is governed by a Council which meets monthly during the academic year. The President, President-Elect and Past President form the Steering Committee. Council members for 2016-2017 are listed in Appendix A. PASEF receives an annual budget from the Provost and reports to Vice Provost for Faculty Anita Allen, who has been especially supportive. During the past year excellent assistance has been provided by members of the Provost’s staff, including Gearline Robinson-Hall, Julie Shuttleworth, and Kathy Swartz.

Facilities. PASEF has an office in Duhring Wing, next to the office of the Faculty Senate. Staff support is provided by a half-time employee, the PASEF coordinator, Sarah Barr. Through the efforts of Vice Provost Allen, PASEF has acquired a room adjacent to its current office. Both the current office and the new space can accommodate meetings of small groups. PASEF’s website is www.upenn.edu/emeritus

Retirement

PASEF and ASEF–PSOM provide resources and give presentations to aid senior faculty in planning the transition to retirement. During the past year four informational events were given, and a reception to recognize newly emeritus faculty was held.

Reception for newly emeritus faculty. Recently between 50 and 60 standing faculty have taken emeritus status each year, and PASEF and ASEF–PSOM co-sponsor a reception in the fall to honor the retirees. This past year’s event was held at the Sweeten Center with Vice Provost Allen as the featured speaker. Tributes for each of the retirees were read. Retirees and their guests attended.

Road to Retirement programs and Hitchhikers Guide. Each spring, PASEF presents two Road to Retirement information programs and, with ASEF–PSOM, partners with Human Resources for a third presentation. In March, senior and retired faculty spoke about their retirement decisions and experiences in emeritus status. In April, Hilary Lopez and Vicki Mulhern, University staff experts on retirement, discussed retirement options and the details of retiree benefits. Representatives from Social Security and Medicare spoke in May at the event organized by Human Resources. A fourth event in March was sponsored by ASEF–PSOM, a presentation by a representative from Vanguard.

In January, PASEF published the tenth edition of its Hitchhiker’s Guide to Faculty Retirement under the editorship of Martin Pring. Sections on financial planning for retirement, transition to emeritus status, and retiree relations with the University are included, and the publication is available on the PASEF and ASEF–PSOM websites.

Activities and Events

Monthly lectures. PASEF sponsors lectures throughout the academic year. These are open to all members of the University community and span a wide range of topics which are of general interest. PASEF’s Program Committee was chaired by Jerry Porter. The Committee arranged eight monthly lectures and a featured lecture each semester. The Fall Lecture, given each year in October in conjunction with the 25-Year Club Dinner, was presented by University Architect David Hollenberg, and the Spring Lecture speaker was David Rudovsky, Senior Fellow at Penn Law. In addition, the Library Committee headed by Vivian Seltzer arranged four lectures on a variety of topics. All of these lectures are listed with their titles in Appendix B on the Almanac and PASEF sites. Links to video recordings of some of the lectures are on the PASEF website.

Spring outing. Each year PASEF schedules a spring outing to a location of cultural or historical interest in the Philadelphia area. This year’s event was a tour of Mural Arts installations in West Philadelphia and Fairmount, reprising a well-received event in 2014. In the interim, since the previous such tour, many new murals were added. After the tour, the group gathered at Belmont Mansion for lunch. This event was jointly sponsored with ASEF–PSOM.

Membership initiatives. The Membership Committee, chaired by Anita Summers, hosted three focus group meetings to seek feedback and suggestions from members. The Committee presented several recommendations which were approved by the Council. These include organization of special events such as attendance at concerts, a special table at the University Club where members can meet for lunch and conversation on a regular schedule, a second annual cultural outing in the fall, and additional planning for retirement presentations. The Committee also recommended a survey be conducted to assess the contributions of retirees to the University and the community. The Committee is constructing the survey questionnaire, and a fall distribution is planned.

Speakers Bureau. With encouragement and funding from Vice Provost Allen, PASEF launched its Speakers Bureau in the spring of 2016. This work was spearheaded by Jack Nagel as chair of the Speakers Bureau Committee. The Bureau enables community groups, including retirement communities, civic and religious organizations, and high schools, to identify and invite PASEF members to speak to audiences in the Philadelphia area. The current roster of speakers numbers 25 and includes both senior and retired Penn faculty from Schools across the University. Information about the Bureau and the speakers and their topics is on the PASEF website.

Library Committee. The Committee, chaired by Vivian Seltzer, presented four lectures during the spring (see Appendix B). In addition, several small-group technology workshops were offered by a Library staff member. These covered the use of computer and internet tools, and software.

Faculty Senate

For the last ten years, PASEF has sent a non-voting representative to the Senate Executive Committee (SEC). After discussions last year, the Senate leadership granted PASEF non-voting membership on four Senate Committees, starting in 2016–2017. The committees are the Senate Committee on Faculty and the Administration; the Senate Committee on Faculty and the Academic Mission; the Senate Committee on Students and Educational Policy; and the Senate Committee on Faculty Development, Diversity, and Equity.

PASEF Annual Election

Joan Goodman chaired this past year’s Nominating Committee. The Committee’s proposed slate was approved by email voting. Lois Evans was named President-Elect, Howard Hurtig Secretary, and Martin Pring the SEC Representative. New at-large Council members who will serve three-year terms are Janet Deatrick, Walter Licht and Ann Mayer. Marc Dichter and Murray Gerstenhaber will fill vacancies as at-large members for one-year terms.

Appendix A: PASEF Council Members, 2016-2017

Roger M.A. Allen, Professor Emeritus, Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations (SAS); President–Elect

David Balamuth, Professor Emeritus, Pysics & Astronomy (SAS); Representative to the University Council Committee on Personnel Benefits

Lois Evans, Professor Emerita, Family & Community Health (Nursing); Secretary

Joan F. Goodman, Professor Emerita, Literacy, Culture & International Education (GSE); Chair, Nominating Committee

Howard I. Hurtig, Professor Emeritus, Neurology (PSOM)

John C. Keene, Professor Emeritus, City & Regional Planning (Design); Representative to the Faculty Senate Committee on Faculty Development, Diversity, and Equity

Lynn Hollen Lees, Professor Emerita, History (SAS)

Roberto S. Mariano, Professor Emeritus, Economics (SAS)

E. Ann Matter, Professor Emerita, Religious Studies (SAS)

Marshall W. Meyer, Professor Emeritus, Management (Wharton); Representative to the Faculty Senate Committee on Faculty and the Administration

Jack H. Nagel, Professor Emeritus, Political Science (SAS); Chair, Speakers Bureau Committee

Gerald J. Porter, Professor Emeritus, Mathematics (SAS); Chair, Program Committee

Martin Pring, Professor Emeritus, Physiology (PSOM); Representative to the Faculty Senate Executive Committee

Gino C. Segrè, Professor Emeritus, Physics & Astronomy (SAS); Representative to the Faculty Senate Committee on Faculty and the Academic Mission

Vivian C. Seltzer, Professor Emerita, Human Development & Behavior (SPP); Chair, Library Committee

Paul Shaman, Professor Emeritus, Statistics (Wharton); President

Anita A. Summers, Professor Emerita, Business Economics & Public Policy (Wharton); Past President; Chair, Membership Committee; Representative to Faculty Senate Committee on Students and Educational Policy

Past Presidents: Rob Roy MacGregor, Benjamin S. P. Shen, Neville E. Strumpf, Ross A. Webber

Appendix B: PASEF Lectures, 2016-2017

Andrew Feiler, Without Regard to Sex, Race or Color: The Past, Present and Future of One Historically Black College

David Hollenberg, Penn Transformed: The Last Ten Years, and What’s to Come (Fall Lecture)

Jerome Singerman, Scholarly Publishing at the Crossroads (Library Committee Lecture)

Yvonne Paterson, Using the Immune System to Fight Cancer

Kermit Roosevelt III, Allegiance

William Noel, Lost and Found: The Archimedes Palimpsest (Library Committee Lecture)

Gino Segrè and Bettina Hoerlin, The Pope of Physics: Enrico Fermi and the Birth of the Atomic Age

Beth Simmons, Human Rights and International Law

Jack Nagel, A Remedy for the Electoral College

Daniel Lee, Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems

Yvonne Paterson, Faculty or Entrepreneur? (Library Committee Lecture)

Bob and Molly Freedman, Jewish Sound Archive (Library Committee Lecture)

David Rudovsky, Criminal Justice Reform and Civil Rights (Spring Lecture)

Amy Gadsden and Rodolfo Altamirano, Immigration Trends and Policy at Penn