The University of Pennsylvania Board of Trustees held their annual stated meeting at the Inn at Penn on June 14. They amended the Statutes to recognize the recently changed name of the School of Design, now the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design (Almanac March 12, 2019).

The Trustees re-elected David L. Cohen as chair and Robert M. Levy as vice chair of the Board of Trustees, and they elected the executive committee and investment board.

A resolution of appreciation was passed for Robert S. Kapito, who has served as a Penn trustee since 2009 and prior to that was one of the founders of the Debt Subcommittee, providing leadership on 21 debt issuances totaling $4.6 billion.

President Amy Gutmann presented a resolution of appreciation, which was passed with a standing ovation, for Leslie Laird Kruhly, who was appointed secretary of the University in 2000. She served as vice president and secretary since 2011 and is now retiring.

Medha Narvekar was appointed vice president and secretary of the University effective July 1. She has been at DAR for over 30 years and has an MBA from Wharton. She will continue to provide leadership to DAR by serving as a liaison from Development to the President’s Office (Almanac March 12, 2019).

President Gutmann said that the Power of Penn campaign came full circle with a gala at The Met in Philadelphia this spring (Almanac April 2, 2019). She also noted that Geoffrey Garrett, “a spectacular Dean of Wharton,” would be leaving Penn at the end of the upcoming academic year (see article), and a search committee will be formed soon to find his successor.

Provost Wendell Pritchett mentioned two recent appointments: Rachel Werner as executive director of LDI and Martine Haas as the Anthony L. Davis Director of the Lauder Institute (Almanac May 28, 2019).

EVP Craig Carnaroli gave the financial report with forecasted results for the FY ending June 30, 2019: total net assets for the consolidated University are forecasted to increase $458 million to $19 billion due to strong operating performance. For the upcoming FY, total net assets are budgeted to increase $884 million to $20 billion ($13.7 billion academic component and $6.3 billion health system).

Dean Larry Jameson gave the Penn Medicine report, announcing that a Penn/CHOP team has shown that in utero editing could be a promising new approach for treating lung diseases before birth. Amicus Therapeutics and the Perelman School of Medicine recently announced a major expansion to their collaboration with rights to pursue collaborative research and development of novel gene therapies for lysosomal disorders and 12 additional rare diseases (see article). Dean Jameson also noted that Penn’s new Beckman Center for Cyro-EM (Cryogenic Electron Microscopy) held its ribbon cutting and inaugural symposium in late May.

Dean of Admissions Eric Furda gave the admissions report for the Class of 2023: There were more than 44,000 applicants with a 7.7% admit rate from all 50 states and Puerto Rico. The incoming class has 144 students from Philadelphia; one in eight students are first generation. There are also 116 transfer students.

The Trustees passed a resolution for the School of Dental Medicine to establish a department of basic and translational sciences by consolidating existing departments of anatomy and cell biology, biochemistry, microbiology and pathology, to foster interdisciplinary collaboration.

The annual resolutions concerning the budget were passed authorizing the FY 2020 operating budgets for the University ($4 billion on an RCM basis) and the Health System ($7.4 billion), the Capital Plan for the University ($377 million) and the Health System ($538.3 million), the spending rule for endowments (5.5% for financial aid endowments and 5% for non-aid endowments).

Other resolutions passed, including: authorization to design and construct the Pennovation Works Main Lab Building ($35 million); Lauder Institute renovations, phase 2 ($6.5 million); design, development and construction of the Interventional Support Center, formerly called the Sterile Processing Facility ($40 million); design, development and construction of a single room proton therapy unit at the Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute of Lancaster General Hospital ($48.2 million); increased equity interest in Good Shepherd Penn Partners joint venture ($10 million); a long-term lease of 3801 Market Street for Health System ($15 million).

There were numerous appointments to Penn Medicine, overseer and other boards.