The mission of PASEF (the Penn Association for Senior and Emeritus Faculty) is to initiate and coordinate activities that enable retired faculty to easily maintain social and intellectual connections with the University. These activities include lectures, retirement planning sessions, special outings, training on computer techniques, written material on insurance information for new retirees and for spouses of deceased faculty, and, as a service to the Philadelphia community, the availability of retired faculty as speakers.

PASEF membership is extended to the retired and senior (age 55 and over) standing faculty in all of Penn’s Schools. The Association of Senior and Emeritus Faculty (ASEF-PSOM) is an analogous organization in the Perelman School of Medicine. There are several activities that the two organizations hold jointly each year. The Executive Council of PASEF met nine times this year in the Hourglass Room  University Club at the of the Inn at Penn. (Appendix A lists the 2015-2016 members of the Executive Council.)

Activities of The Year

Lectures: The Program Committee, chaired by Jerry Porter, organized eight lectures that took place in the Club’s Hourglass Room at the Inn at Penn at noon, and two special lectures—one at the 25 Year Club celebration, and the other in Irvine Auditorium. (Appendix B lists the speakers and speech titles for the year.)

Attendance varied widely—from 15 to 56. Lunch was available for the regular lectures; wine and buffet food were served after the special lectures. PASEF provided the speaker for the University’s 25 Year Club annual gathering—Jeffrey Rosen, president of the National Constitution Center, who spoke on The Future of the U.S. Constitution.

Guest Speakers at PASEF Council Meetings: Anita Allen, vice provost for faculty affairs, spoke at the March Executive Council meeting. She spoke about (1) the concept of insuring more representation of all the Schools in PASEF; (2) the desirability of more involvement of all the Schools with PASEF: the possibility of a PASEF representative giving a brief talk at one faculty meeting in each School and/or some budget contribution from each School as symbols of interest; and (3) the importance, in all activities, in recognizing that we are one university.

Reed Pyeritz, chair of the Faculty Senate, spoke at the April Executive Council meeting. He spoke about (1) the increased concentration of non-standing faculty and the appropriateness of their representation; (2) the training that 70 faculty will receive to respond to signals of mental health problems and (3) the possible involvement of retired faculty on SEC committees.

Spring Outing: In April, PASEF organized an excursion to the special exhibit at the Brandywine Museum of Art—The Poetry of Nature: A Golden Age of American Landscape Painting. There were 30 participants. Three docents each took a group around, after which lunch was served in the museum restaurant at the edge of the Brandywine River.

Retirement Recognition and Planning: For senior (not yet retired) faculty, PASEF provides a reception and a number of informational resources:

Reception for newly emeritus faculty. Each fall PASEF and ASEF-PSOM jointly organize a reception to honor faculty who have retired in the previous year. This year’s reception on November 4 was held in the Sweeten Alumni Center. There were 17 honorees and 29 guests. Verbal recognition of each was given, Dr. Pyeritz addressed the group and a buffet supper was provided.

PASEF personal contacts. Every three months a personal letter (not email) was sent to standing faculty who announced retirement, and to spouses of faculty who were deceased in the previous three months. The letters describe the access to PASEF and have an attached list of the insurance and benefit issues to think about, and the names, phone numbers and email addresses of the appropriate staff to help with information and advice.

Road to Retirement programs. PASEF sponsors two programs annually: (1) Four retired faculty spoke personally about their decisions to retire, and their experiences in and with retirement. (2) Two of Penn’s experts on retirement and benefits—Vicki Mulhern and Hilary Lopez—explained every aspect of the retirement options, and fielded a large number of questions. About 90 people attended these programs.

Hitchhiker’s Guide. The ninth edition of the annual Hitchhiker’s Guide to Faculty Retirement was issued in early 2016, edited by Martin Pring. Copies were distributed at the Road to Retirement programs, and are available on PASEF’s website.

Library Tech Tools Workshops: Vivian Seltzer, chair of the PASEF Library Committee, has developed a program of small, sometimes single person, training sessions for retired faculty. Anu Vedantham, of the Penn Libraries, is instrumental in providing the programs. Topics include items such as Google tools, PowerPoint, iPad and iPhone usage.

Speakers’ Bureau: The Speakers’ Bureau Committee, chaired by Jack Nagel, was embarked in the late spring. Letters were sent to retirement communities, churches and synagogues, civic organizations and some high schools. They contained a list of names of retired faculty who could be invited to deliver a lecture, their contact information, their areas of expertise and some specific topics they could present. The community organizations can then directly contact a speaker they regard as appropriate. All arrangements are made between the two parties. Several contacts have been made. The information in the letters is also posted on PASEF’s website.

Ad Hoc Committee on Facilities: This Committee was chaired by Joan Goodman. Its objectives, initially, were to obtain information on the facilities available to retired faculty at other peer urban universities, and the range of the activities. The Committee found that there was no clear, one type of organization that emerged. Harvard and Yale clearly had the most elaborate facilities and activities. There were a few major findings: (1) There was a wide range of activities and facilities associated with standing faculty and alumni. (2) There was a wide range of activities involving extensive volunteer work (e.g. Harvard’s and Stanford’s lifelong learning programs are open to the public). (3) Almost all had their retiree organization include more groups than standing faculty, administrators, adjunct professors, etc. (4) Almost all had membership dues. The PASEF Executive Council voted against membership dues, asked for a detailed breakdown of non-standing faculty by school and category, and will have focus groups in the fall to explore retired faculty preferences on the issues raised by the Committee.

Ideas Ahead

At the last Executive Council meeting of the year, some plans for the next academic year were discussed: (1) It was agreed that PASEF will hold focus groups in the fall to get a reading on the type of PASEF lectures that would be regarded as particularly interesting. (2) Detailed information on categories and numbers of faculty in every category in each School will be obtained, in order to inform a discussion on membership criteria for PASEF. (3) The possibility of a semi-annual PASEF newsletter will be considered. (4) Efforts will be made to expand the number of involved PASEF members.

            —Anita A. Summers, President (2015-2016)

Appendix A: PASEF Council Members, 2015-2016

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

David P. Balamuth, Professor Emeritus, Physics (SAS), Representative to the University Council on Personnel Benefits

Janice R. Bellace, Professor, Legal Studies & Business Ethics (Wharton), Chair, Nominating Committee

Lois Evans, Professor Emerita, Nursing (Nursing)

Joan F. Goodman, Professor Emerita (GSE), Chair, Ad Hoc Facilities Committee

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

Lynn Hollen Lees, Professor Emerita, History (SAS)

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

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

Jeanne C. Myers, Professor Emerita, Biochemistry and Biophysics (PSOM), President of ASEF-PSOM

Jack H. Nagel, Professor Emeritus, Political Science (SAS), Past President, Chair of Speakers’ Bureau Committee

David P. Pope, Professor Emeritus, Materials Science & Engineering (SEAS) Secretary

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

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

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

Paul Shaman, Professor Emeritus, Statistics (SAS and Wharton), President-elect, Chair, Retirement Programs Committee

Anita A. Summers, Professor Emerita, Business Economics & Public Policy (Wharton), President

Past Presidents: Rob Roy MacGregor, Vivian Seltzer, Benjamin Shen, Neville E. Strumpf and Ross A. Webber

Appendix B: PASEF Lectures, 2015-2016

Joseph Turow, The Transformation of Retailing in the Digital Age

Jeffrey Rosen, The Future of the U.S. Constitution (25 Year Club Lecture)

Charles L. Nelson, Future Prospects of Hip and Knee Surgery

Guthrie Ramsey, The Amazing Bud Powell: Black Genius, Jazz History and The Challenge of Bebop

Annette Lareau, Unequal Childhoods and Unequal Adulthoods

James H. Lytle, Philadelphia as the Epicenter for K-12 School Reform

Paul Offit, The Philadelphia Measles Epidemic of 1991: Lessons From The Past

Jeremy Siegel, The Economy and The Markets­—What’s Next?

Charles L. Howard and Brian Peterson, Charleston, Freddie Gray and Black Lives Matter

Roger Allen, The Islamic State: Background and Implications