The University Council’s meeting on March 30 took place at Houston Hall’s Bodek Lounge. 

Lizann Boyle Rode, associate vice president in the Office of the University Secretary, began the meeting by summarizing Penn’s responses to topics that had been brought up at last month’s open forum (Almanac March 1, 2022). Most notably, meetings between the administration and Penn ASAP (Abuse and Sexual Assault Prevention) and a coalition of student-athletes have been set up to address those groups’ concerns, and litigation between the tenants of the federally subsidized housing at 40th and Market Streets and the City of Philadelphia is in progress, in efforts to resolve the eviction issue in a manner that is suitable to all parties. 

Vice President of Budget Planning & Analysis Trevor C. Lewis, from the Office of the Executive Vice President, presented on Penn’s budget for FY2022. As the pandemic wanes, Penn is planning for a very successful year, with a budgeted $92 million increase in net assets from operations, boosted by federal stimulus dollars and robust fundraising following the Power of Penn campaign. Penn remains focused on strategic priorities like wellness, COVID-19 prevention, faculty recruitment, remote work/teaching technology, student life improvements, and sustainability initiatives, he said. Penn’s biggest sources of revenue are tuition and grants, and its biggest areas of expenses are compensation and non-compensation expenses such as travel and supplies. Penn also has a $268 million financial aid budget. Mr. Lewis projected a favorable outlook for the future, despite the potential of instability in the global, political, and economic climates, and from new pandemic variants. 

Interim Provost Beth Winkelstein presented the Provost’s Report. To emphasize Penn’s recent progress in faculty diversity, she introduced GSE Centennial Presidential Professor of Education Laura Perna, who lauded Penn’s diverse faculty for building community engagement and inspiring Penn’s diverse student body. Since Penn’s initial investment in the recruitment of a diverse faculty in 2011, almost all of Penn’s schools have started to include higher percentages of women and underrepresented minority faculty. Penn’s schools have used this funding to establish offices of diversity, equity and inclusion; implement bias training; and develop professorships to nurture the professional growth of minority faculty members. Dr. Perna introduced three of Penn’s Presidential Professors, Shaun Ossei-Owusu (Carey Law), Sarah Jackson (Annenberg), and José Bauermeister (Nursing), who spoke about the inclusion and support they have experienced as Presidential Professors. 

Senior Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli, Executive Vice President for the Health System and Dean of the Perelman School of Medicine J. Larry Jameson, and Vice President of Government and Community Affairs Jeffrey Cooper gave the third focus issue presentation of the year on the topic of Penn’s community engagement. Mr. Carnaroli emphasized Penn’s role as the largest employer in the City of Philadelphia, directly responsible for 40,000 jobs and indirectly responsible for 40,000 more (such as construction work, contractors, and vendors), which total over $9 billion yearly or $42 million daily in wages. He discussed Penn’s recent initiative to support local women- and minority-owned businesses and highlighted three such vendors.

Dr. Jameson remarked that in addition to the numbers Mr. Carnaroli had cited, Penn Medicine employs 45,000 people. He outlined the community engagement these employees have undertaken, notably Penn Medicine’s active role in distributing COVID-19 vaccines in accessible and central locations like West Philadelphia churches. He also highlighted the re-opening of HUP Cedar Avenue, a key West Philadelphia hospital that had closed during the pandemic, and the Penn Assist program, which trained local youth in construction-related trades during the building of the Penn Medicine Pavilion. Jeffrey Cooper talked about Penn’s impact on schools in Philadelphia, which ranges from tutoring programs organized by Civic House, Penn Integrates Knowledge (PIK) professorships, and the Netter Center, to Penn’s commitments to fund the Alexander School and the Lea School. He said that student teachers from the Graduate School of Education teach at 135 schools in the School District of Philadelphia, and that the Penn Museum and Penn Libraries also perform valuable outreach to young students. 

In the new business portion of the meeting, co-president of the Transfer Students Association Rebecca Nadler said she believes that Penn is not transparent in disclosing the financial aid it offers to transfer students. She urged Penn to clarify the nature of transfer students’ aid so that transfer students can make informed decisions about their class schedules. 

The next meeting of the University Council will take place on April 27 at Houston Hall’s Bodek Lounge. For more information, visit https://secretary.upenn.edu/univ-council.