Welcome to a new beginning! As Chair of the University Faculty Senate for 2018-2019, I am honored to be one of the many who extend my best wishes for a productive, healthy, and fulfilling year. It is indeed an honor to serve as an officer of the Senate, along with my fellow Tri-Chairs, Santosh Venkatesh (Past Chair) and Steve Kimbrough (Chair-Elect).

The Senate is comprised of the 2,600 standing faculty across Penn’s 12 Schools and is represented by the Senate Executive Committee (SEC), an elected body that meets monthly during the academic year to discuss issues of relevance to the faculty. The SEC oversees nine committees that work on a series of charges. In regular discussions with the President and the Provost, the Tri-Chairs discuss any issues of special concern and stand ready to respond to new challenges and to support new initiatives and resolutions.

One of the most important new initiatives that has developed over the past year is Penn’s commitment to wellness. President Amy Gutmann and Provost Wendell Pritchett have set the stage to create a culture of wellness on Penn’s campus.  Our own Benoit Dubé, associate professor of clinical psychiatry, has been appointed as the Chief Wellness Officer, a position created to oversee the many changes that will come, including improved access to an expanded portfolio of services to support health and well-being for all.

We must embrace the idea of a commonwealth, a term that originally meant “common well-being,” where the good of all is the central driving principle. Every member of the Penn community, including students, faculty and staff, deserves the opportunity to thrive. A community that thrives must provide the support for the entire spectrum of well-being. At Penn, that includes academic achievement, job fulfillment, and mental and physical health. There are now vast amounts of data to support the powerful impact of the social environment on the health of a population. We can be a model of a thriving community if we use our collective strength, creative ideas, and commitment to care for one another and ourselves in the spirit of a true commonwealth.

As a faculty, we have a key role in this process, and the Senate welcomes your ideas and strategies. We must consider how best to acknowledge the complicated and sometimes threatening world we all inhabit and recognize the challenges and fears we face along with our students and co-workers. We must invite dialogue and support those who struggle. We must tell our own stories—stories of challenges and resilience, stories of success and failure­—and invite our students and co-workers to do the same. If we model healthy and balanced lives in the face of high levels of achievement, we will serve to inspire those around us to live full and healthy lives. If we acknowledge that there is no shame in talking about the struggles we all face at difference moments, we can break down some of the barriers that can stop us from seeking help and support when needed.

So let us live well and embrace a culture of health and well-being in all its many facets.  Let us strive to be a model of a thriving community. I welcome your thoughts and ideas and encourage you to get involved as we work together for the commonwealth of Penn.

Jennifer Pinto-Martin