July 14, 2015 Volume 62 Issue 1

Penn President Amy Gutmann and Provost Vincent Price are pleased to announce the appointment of Michael Platt as the University of Pennsylvania’s sixteenth Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor (PIK), effective July 1. 

Dr. Platt is a world-renowned neuroscientist whose research focuses on how the brain makes decisions. He is now the James S. Riepe University Professor, with appointments across three schools: the department of neuroscience in the Perelman School of Medicine, the department of psychology in the School of Arts & Sciences, and the department of marketing in the Wharton School.

“Michael’s research,” said President Gutmann, “creatively examines some of the most complex, fascinating and fundamental questions regarding individual decision-making and behavior—including why different people make different decisions and how individuals adapt their decision-making under uncertainty and in social situations. He has brought together innovative scholars and researchers from a multitude of relevant disciplines, and his presence at Penn will productively bridge our Perelman School of Medicine, School of Arts & Sciences and Wharton School in pathbreaking areas of neuroscience. Best known for his studies of decision-making, social cognition and attention, Michael exemplifies Penn’s commitment to integrating knowledge in order to address both timely and timeless questions of great societal impact.”

Dr. Platt had been a professor of neurobiology, director of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences and director of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at Duke University, where he taught since 2000. His research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Sloan Foundation, the Klingenstein Foundation, the McDonnell Foundation and the Department of Defense, among many others, and has been featured in such media as the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, ABC, BBC and PBS.

He is the former president of the Society for Neuroeconomics and a pioneer of neuroeconomics, the innovative field that fuses economics, psychology and neuroscience to better understand human decision-making. He began his career with a postdoctoral fellowship in neuroscience at New York University, after earning a PhD (1994) in biological anthropology from Penn and a BA cum laude (1989) in biological anthropology from Yale University.

“A Penn graduate,” said Provost Price, “Michael returns to campus as not only a brilliant, pathbreaking researcher but also a formidable collaborator. He has a striking track record of building productive partnerships at Duke and with scholars around the world. I am confident that he will quickly galvanize alliances both across and beyond our campus, significantly advancing Penn’s global leadership in neuroscience—as well as its connections to some of the most exciting and innovative work being done in psychology and economics.”

The Penn Integrates Knowledge program was launched by President Gutmann in 2005 as a University-wide initiative to recruit exceptional faculty members whose research and teaching exemplify the integration of knowledge across disciplines and who are appointed in at least two Schools at Penn.

The James S. Riepe University Professorship honors James S. Riepe, W’65, WG’67, Hon’10, senior advisor and retired vice chairman of the T. Rowe Price Group, who chaired Penn’s Board of Trustees from 1999-2009 and the Penn Medicine Board from 2009-2011. Before his retirement in 2006, he served as chair of the T. Rowe Price Mutual Funds, oversaw the firm’s global mutual fund and institutional investment activities and played an active

Penn Provost Vincent Price is pleased to announce the appointment of Daniel Lee as the UPS Foundation Professor in Transportation. 

Dr. Lee is a professor of electrical and systems engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science and director of the General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception (GRASP) Lab. He joined the Penn faculty in 2001, after six years in the theoretical physics and biological computation departments of Bell Labs. His research focuses on improving the speed and efficiency with which computers and other artificial systems process information, in part by using biological systems as a model for intelligent robotic systems that can learn from experience.

As director of the GRASP Lab, he leads a $13 million research center that integrates computer science, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering to develop technological innovations.  GRASP researchers have pioneered such vital areas as building autonomous vehicles and robots, developing self-configuring humanoids and making robot swarms a reality. Dr. Lee served from 2008-2011 as the Evan C Thompson Term Professor for Distinguished Teaching and in 2006 received the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, Penn’s highest cross-University teaching award (Almanac April 11, 2006). 

He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and in 2004 received the prestigious Presidential Early Career Award from the National Science Foundation. He earned his PhD in physics (1995) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his AB summa cum laude in physics (1990) from Harvard. 

The UPS Foundation Chair in Transportation, one of three UPS Foundation Chairs at Penn, supports studies of transportation management as enabled by technology.

The UPS Foundation was established in 1951 with a mission to help build stronger and more resilient communities around the world, focusing on:

• diversity, creating opportunities for underrepresented communities;
• volunteerism, promoting volunteerism and building capacity within the nonprofit sector;
• community safety, enhancing community well-being through road safety and humanitarian relief; and
• environment, supporting energy conservation and reforestation. 

The National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has renewed its funding to the Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET) at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine for the next five years. This grant will continue CEET’s work serving the environmental health needs of southeastern Pennsylvania, building on ten years of excellence in environmental health research at Penn. The new grant totals over $8 million. CEET was established in 2004 with a four-year, $4.1 million grant from NIEHS to study the effects of environmental pollutants on human health.

CEET is one of only 20 designated Environmental Health Science Core Centers in the United States and the first in Pennsylvania. It is a partnership between research scientists and communities, and its main charge is to better understand how environmental exposures lead to disease. Understanding these processes can lead to early diagnosis, intervention and prevention strategies.

“This new award allows us to continue to build environmental health research at Penn so that we remain an elite, competitive institution in this area,” said Trevor Penning, CEET director and professor of systems pharmacology and translational therapeutics.

“The synergistic combination of basic and clinician-scientists allows CEET to conduct high-impact, translational environmental health sciences research,” added Reynold Panettieri, CEET deputy director and professor of pulmonary medicine. “This award will allow for better studies in environmental health science and designing precision therapy for vulnerable individuals.”

Through CEET’s Community Outreach and Engagement Core, environmental health questions raised by the community are translated into research questions to be addressed by CEET investigator teams. Using this approach, CEET supports the Penn Superfund Research Center, which studies the remediation, transport and fate of asbestos at the BoRIT superfund site in West Ambler, Pennsylvania, and mechanisms to mediate the adverse health effects of asbestos including mesothelioma.

Using similar approaches, CEET investigators are also tackling the health consequences of hydraulic fracturing and the impact of urban air pollution in Philadelphia.

Overall, CEET provides the tools for faculty to conduct

• Integrative Health Sciences Facility Core for human subject studies
• Translational Biomarker Core to measure biomarkers of exposure and effect
• Informatics Core to integrate genetic and metabolic biological data with the physiological affects of exposure to environmental toxins
• “Affinity” groups—teams of scientists that address environmental health problems. The Lung and Airway Disease Affinity Group addresses diseases associated with poor air quality, ozone, PM2.5 and asbestos exposure; the Oxidative Stress and Oxidative Stress Injury Affinity Group elucidates how environmental exposures exacerbate oxidative stress and inflammation; the Reproduction, Endocrinology & Development Group studies how environmental exposures act at windows of susceptibility to cause defects from conception to adulthood; and the Gene-Environment Interactions Group determines how environmental exposures confer disease risk due to differences in the genome and epigenome.

The University of Pennsylvania Law School recognizes excellence in teaching with five teaching awards for the 2014-2015 academic year. The recipients are: Shyamkrishna Balganesh (A. Leo Levin Award for Excellence in an Introductory Course); R. Polk Wagner (Robert A. Gorman Award for Excellence in Teaching); Joseph Sedlack (Adjunct Teaching Award); Gideon Parchomovsky (inaugural LLM Teaching Award) and Catherine Struve (Harvey Levin Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence).

A. Leo Levin Award for Excellence in an Introductory Course

Shyam Balganesh, professor of law, specializes in intellectual property and innovation policy and focuses on how those fields can benefit from the use of ideas, concepts and structures from different areas of the common law—especially private law. This year, he taught Property, Copyright and Modern American Legal Theory.

Students said, “Professor Balganesh is stellar. This course was everything I was looking for when coming to law school. His style of teaching engaged me and led me to read every single case in full and with a higher level of analysis. His approach to property changed the way that I prepare and read cases, and I am quite pleased with my choice to take property with him.” “He really draws out information from the cases that are ‘hidden’ or buried that I never would’ve spotted.” “This course definitely made me think about law, legal reasoning and judicial opinions in a way that will make me not only a better student, but a better lawyer.”

Robert A. Gorman Award for Excellence in Teaching 

R. Polk Wagner, professor of law, focuses his research on intellectual property law and policy, with a special interest in patent law. This year, a team from his Patent Law Appellate Advocacy course won the AIPLA National Patent Law Moot Court competition. He also taught Intro to Intellectual Property Law and Policy.

Students said, “Prof. Wagner’s really great at asking the class to explore the policy under the law and why the law is the way it is.” “He is great at getting policy discussions going and getting people to speak their minds.” “Professor Wagner’s excitement for the topics really showed through in the course, and his ability to tie in his own research with the subject matter made students think about the unsettled areas of the law.”

Adjunct Teaching Award 

Joseph Sedlack, adjunct professor of law, is a partner at Reed Smith, LLP, where he specializes in corporate, partnership, real estate, mergers, acquisitions, international tax, and estate and tax planning. He is also an adjunct instructor at the Wharton School, where he lectures on the tax aspects of mergers and acquisitions. This year, he taught Corporate Taxation.

Students said, “Extremely engaging and capable professor. Easily one of my favorite law school classes.” “Professor Sedlack does a fantastic job of bringing the material to life by using examples, problems, and telling stories about his experiences as a tax lawyer.” “Professor Sedlack is one of the best professors I’ve had in law school. He is extremely engaging and explains complicated concepts very well.”

LLM Teaching Award

Gideon Parchomovsky, the Robert G. Fuller, Jr. Professor of Law, specializes in intellectual property, property law and cyber law and has written numerous articles for major law reviews on property and liability rules, insider trading, trademarks, domain names and patents. Since joining the Law School in 2002, he has received the A. Leo Levin Award for Excellence in an Introductory Course. This year, he taught Copyright and Trademarks.

Students said, “Prof. Parchomovsky was incredibly motivating and passionate about his material! He also asked very thought provoking questions.” “He’s definitely interested in the material—it’s all up to date, relevant and real world applicable. That sort of interest and energy really rubs off in class and makes you want to learn more.” “Professor Parchomovksy is very passionate about this subject and inspires that same passion in his students.”

Harvey Levin Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence 

By democratic vote, the Penn Law 2015 graduating class selected Catherine Struve, professor of law, to receive the Harvey Levin Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence. She joined the Law School in 2005 and teaches and researches in the fields of civil procedure and federal courts. She also serves as reporter to the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules and as reporter to a Third Circuit task force that has prepared model jury instructions in civil cases. This is her third time receiving the Harvey Levin Award, having also received the award in 2003 and 2009. This year, she taught Civil Procedure, Federal Indian Law and Advanced Problems in Federal Procedure.

Students said, “Professor Struve is the best—respectful in class, accessible outside of class, and always helpful.” “Professor Struve is a wonderful discussion facilitator. Because of the small class size, we were often able to discuss interesting topics that were not part of the core material to be covered—but Professor Struve also made sure not to compromise any of the core material either.” “Professor Struve is one of the best teachers at the law school.”

Penn Dental Medicine faculty members were honored for excellence in teaching at the School’s Senior Farewell in May at the Hyatt at the Bellevue. Each year, the graduating class recognizes members of the faculty with teaching awards at an event celebrating the passage of students to professional dentistry and welcoming them into the Penn Dental Medicine Alumni Society.

The awards and recipients included the following:

Senior Outstanding Teaching Award

This award is presented to a faculty member who has gone beyond the scope of his/her responsibilities to significantly impact the class’s education at Penn Dental Medicine. This year, the Senior Outstanding Teaching Award was presented to Mel Mupparapu, professor of oral medicine and director of radiology. Dr. Mupparapu, who has been part the School’s faculty since 1996, is the course director for two freshman radiology courses, one sophomore radiology course and two clinical radiology courses at Penn Dental Medicine. He also directs the radiology fellowship program and radiology honors program at the School.

The Joseph L. T. Appleton Award

This award is presented to a part-time faculty member for excellence in clinical teaching. This year’s recipient is Thomas R. Berardi, clinical associate professor of oral medicine. Dr. Berardi, who has been a member of the Penn Dental Medicine faculty since 2008, is a clinical instructor/attending in the Oral Diagnosis Admissions and Emergency Care Clinics, teaching students in all four years of their dental school experience. He focuses his instruction on the medical management of the dental patient and conducts small-group, patient-centered medical seminars. The Appleton Award is named in honor of Joseph Appleton, a 1914 alumnus of Penn Dental Medicine, who served as dean of the School from 1941 to 1951. The award was founded in 1979 by Abram Cohen, a member of the Class of 1923 and father of Dean Emeritus D. Walter Cohen, Class of 1950.

The Basic Science Award

This award is presented for excellence in teaching within the basic sciences. This year’s recipient is Michael S. Speirs, lecturer in the department of anatomy & cell biology. Dr. Speirs has been teaching at Penn Dental Medicine since 2006 and a member of the Penn faculty since 1996. He is course director of both the Gross Anatomy and Cadaveric Anatomy courses taken by first-year dental students. He has directed the didactic course for the past four years and the lab course for the last nine.

The Earle Bank Hoyt Award

This award is presented for excellence in teaching to a Penn Dental Medicine graduate who is a full-time faculty member. The award was established by a grateful patient in honor of Dr. Hoyt, a distinguished clinician and educator and member of the Class of 1918. This year’s recipient is David C. Appleby, clinical professor of restorative dentistry and a 1974 graduate of Penn Dental Medicine. Dr. Appleby, who has been a member of the School’s faculty since 2012, teaches within the clinic and also teaches Quality Assurance in Removable Prosthodontics. Dr. Appleby is a Diplomate of the American Board of Prosthodontics, a Fellow of the American College of Prosthodontists, a member of the OKU dental honor society and professor emeritus at the Kornberg School of Dentistry at Temple University.

The Robert E. DeRevere Award

This award is presented for excellence in preclinical teaching by a part-time faculty member. The award is named in honor of Dr. DeRevere, a member of the Penn Dental Medicine Class of 1945 who served on the School’s faculty. This year’s recipient is Yi-Tai Jou, director of the predoctoral endodontic program. Since 1996, he has been teaching pre-doctoral clinical and preclinical endodontics at the School as well as postdoctoral endodontics.

We have received the report of the Consultative Review Committee on the Reappointment of Denis Kinane as Dean of the School of Dental Medicine, and we are delighted to recommend to the Trustees the reappointment of Dean Kinane for a second term, to run through June 30, 2021.

The Consultative Committee conducted a comprehensive review of Dean Kinane’s first term as Dean and identified the major challenges and opportunities facing Dean Kinane and the School of Dental Medicine in the years ahead. We concur with the Committee’s conclusion that Dean Kinane’s first term was marked by a commitment to reenergizing and rebuilding the School across its missions and in a wide array of domains. With an ambitious vision and through a series of bold moves, the Dean has realized significant change in virtually every aspect of the School’s programs and operations.

Penn Dental today—its stature, scholarship, clinics, finances and facilities-—is considerably stronger and better positioned than it was just six years ago. Dean Kinane’s five key priorities for Penn Dental Medicine—institutional effectiveness, educational programs, faculty and staff, patient care and research—have helped advance, in his words, an impressive and broad-based commitment to “pre-eminence and sustainability” at the School.

While important progress has been made during Dean Kinane’s first term, important work remains to be done. The Dean’s second term will present an opportunity to bring strategies and plans to fruition and to further strengthen and deepen relationships with stakeholders and friends across the School, the Penn campus, the profession and the community.

Dean Kinane has performed exceptionally well in his first term, and we are confident that he is the academic leader best able to work with the School’s faculty and the University administration to articulate a future vision for the School and to develop and implement the plans necessary to realize it. We look forward to working closely with him in the months and years ahead as the School of Dental Medicine continues along its ambitious and exciting path.

—Amy Gutmann, President
—Vincent Price, Provost

In January 2015, Provost Vincent Price convened a consultative committee to advise him on the appointment of a Vice Provost for Education. Its members were:

• Dwight Jaggard, Professor of Electrical and Systems Engineering, School of Engineering & Applied Science; Past Chair, Faculty Senate (Chair)
• Marisa Bartolomei, Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, Perelman School of Medicine
• Patricia D’Antonio, Killebrew-Censits Professor in Undergraduate Education; Chair, Department of Family and Community Health, School of Nursing
• Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, Associate Professor and Undergraduate Chair, Department of the History of Art, School of Arts & Sciences
• Marybeth Gasman, Professor, Graduate School of Education
• Larry Gladney, Associate Dean for Natural Sciences; Kahn Professor for Faculty Excellence; Professor of Physics and Astronomy, School of Arts & Sciences
• Robert Inman, Mellon Professor of Finance, Wharton School
• Joshua Chilcote, Vice President, Undergraduate Assembly
• Justine Sefcik, 2014-2015 Chair, Graduate and Professional Student Assembly
• Lynne Hunter, Assistant Provost (Staff)

The Vice Provost for Education reports directly to the Provost and is a member of his senior leadership team for academic and strategic planning. He or she has primary responsibility for undergraduate and graduate education at Penn, developing and implementing policies that promote academic excellence, innovative teaching and learning, and interdisciplinary knowledge across the University. The Vice Provost for Education chairs the Council of Undergraduate Deans, the Council of Graduate Deans, the Council of Professional Master’s Degree Deans, the Graduate Council of the Faculties and the Faculty Advisory Council for Access and Academic Support Initiatives and works closely with the wide range of student services and resources overseen by the Vice Provost for University Life. College Houses and Academic Services, the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships, the Center for Teaching and Learning, the Graduate Student Center and the Office of Student Conduct all report to the Vice Provost for Education. 

The Committee sought nominations of and applications from currently tenured faculty members at Penn with demonstrated administrative skills and experience, extensive knowledge of the University and its policies and practices and experience addressing sensitive issues in an effective and principled manner, handling confidential information tactfully and discreetly and working well with faculty, staff, deans and department chairs in negotiating difficult situations.

Nominations and applications were solicited through an email to all faculty members and an announcement in Almanac. 

Thirty-eight faculty members were nominated or applied, of whom 16 were women and five were members of historically underrepresented groups. The Committee interviewed 10 candidates, of whom four were women and one was a member of a historically underrepresented group, and recommended six candidates to the Provost. From this list, Beth Winkelstein, professor of bioengineering and associate dean for undergraduate education in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, was appointed by the Provost as Vice Provost for Education, effective July 1, 2015. 

In April 2015, we announced the launch of the Campaign for Community, which aims to strengthen our Penn community by finding ways to discuss and understand key issues that are too often avoided because they appear to be difficult or intractable. I am now pleased to announce the formation of the Campaign for Community Steering Committee, which will guide the Campaign’s work and administer grants for Campaign events. The procedures for applying for these grants will be announced early in the fall semester. The Steering Committee welcomes input from all members of the Penn community at any time at c4c@exchange.upenn.edu

The members of the Campaign for Community Steering Committee are:

Co-Chairs

Claire Finkelstein
      Past Chair, Faculty Senate
      Algernon Biddle Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy

Valarie Swain-Cade McCoullum
      Vice Provost for University Life

Beth Winkelstein
      Vice Provost for Education
      Professor of Bioengineering

Members

Herman Beavers
      Associate Professor of English and Africana Studies

M. Grace Calhoun
      Director of Recreation and Intercollegiate Athletics

Ray Clark, C’16
      Undergraduate Assembly, College of Arts & Sciences Representative

William Gipson
      Associate Vice Provost for Equity and Access

Daniel Kessler
      Associate Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology

Lisa Lewis
      Associate Professor of Nursing

Abel McDaniels, C’16

Samantha Miller, Law’16
      2015-2016 Chair, Graduate and Professional Student Assembly

Kathy Peiss
      Roy F. and Jeannette P. Nichols Professor of American History

Julian Siggers
      Williams Director, Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

Administrative Support

Monica Yant Kinney
      Executive Director of Communications and External Affairs, Office of the Vice Provost for University Life

Rob Nelson
      Executive Director of Education and Academic Planning, Office of the Provost

—Vincent Price, Provost

Student Registration and Financial Services (SRFS) announces the appointment of Jane E. Gilbert to the newly created position of Senior Director for Student Systems in SRFS.

Ms. Gilbert serves as the project owner for the implementation of the Banner/Pennant student systems supporting student accounts, academic records and registration and financial aid. This project requires her to collaborate with many University constituents including but not limited to the 12 schools and centers within the University, the Provost’s Office, the Office of the Vice President for Finance and Treasurer and the Office of Information Systems and Computing.

In addition, Ms. Gilbert assumes the role of primary leader for all SRFS systems development and operation, and is responsible for systems-related planning, decision-making, project management and support. She manages a staff of directors, team leaders, analysts and technicians who are responsible for the NGSS Project, the mainframe systems and advanced networking and desktop technology. 

Before joining Penn, Ms. Gilbert was executive director of administrative systems and programs at LaSalle University. While at LaSalle, she led institution-wide improvement efforts as they related to Banner and internal web application development and implemented other projects such as a Luminis V portal, an online Freshmen Checklist portal, a Board of Trustees portal, online-course evaluation tools and a mobile application platform.

Ms. Gilbert reports to Michelle Brown-Nevers, associate vice president for student registration and financial services, who stated: “I am excited to have this opportunity to work with Jane. She is knowledgeable, connected and collaborative. Her experience on both the technical and functional side of administration is what we need in this position.”

Edward E. Morrisey, professor of cell and developmental biology, is the inaugural director of the Penn Center for Pulmonary Biology, a new center bridging basic and translational research programs on airway health at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Dr. Morrisey is also the scientific director of the Penn Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

“In addition to the strengths of the Pulmonary Medicine Divisions at Penn and CHOP, the Penn Center for Pulmonary Biology will help promote pulmonary research in several notable areas of excellence, including cardiovascular, pediatric, immunology and cancer research,” Dr. Morrisey said. “The ultimate goal is to build a world-class center that will have an important impact on human health.”

“I am confident that under Ed’s leadership, the Penn Center for Pulmonary Biology will become the nation’s leading research program focused in the area of basic and translational lung biology,” said Michael S. Parmacek, chair of the department of medicine. Throughout his career, he has incorporated evolving technologies in his research, including iPS cells and genome editing.”

Dr. Morrisey’s lab at Penn focuses on the molecular pathways that regulate heart and lung development. His seminal discoveries include the identification of a multipotent cardiopulmonary progenitor cell, transcriptional programs that direct lung epithelial cell differentiation, and molecular pathways that govern lung repair and development.

Dr. Morrisey holds a PhD in molecular biology from Northwestern University. His work has been published in more than 100 academic journals, including Nature, Science, Nature Medicine, Nature Genetics, PNAS, Genes and Development, Developmental Cell and Science Translational Medicine.

The University of Pennsylvania announced a partnership with leading nonprofit online learning platform edX, expanding the University’s open learning course offerings to reach millions of additional learners worldwide.

“Expanding access to higher education remains the highest priority at Penn and is the foremost goal of the Open Learning Initiative. Penn is thrilled to partner with edX, which will allow us to share our high-quality learning opportunities with edX’s group of online learners,” said Edward Rock, director of Open Learning Initiatives and Saul A. Fox Distinguished Professor of Business Law at Penn.

Penn was among the first universities in the world to use MOOCs, or Massive Open Online Courses, to open its doors to online learners, as one of the four founding university partners of the Coursera platform. The University will continue to add to its online offerings via both Coursera and edX.

Offering free online Penn faculty-led courses across a wide range of disciplines, Penn’s Open Learning Initiative has to date reached more than two million learners in nearly 200 countries. The partnership with edX will further extend Penn’s reach, exploration and innovation.

Under the name PennX, the first courses expected to launch on edX in the coming months include “Analyzing Global Trends for Business and Society” taught by Mauro Guillén, the Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management & International Studies Professor in the Wharton School at Penn; “Intellectual Property Law and Policy” taught by R. Polk Wagner, professor of law, Penn Law; and “Going Out on a Limb: The Anatomy of the Upper Limb” with James White, adjunct associate professor in the Perelman School of Medicine at Penn.

“We are honored to welcome Penn to the edX platform,” said Anant Agarwal, edX CEO and a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “As a pioneer in online learning, Penn offers a quality, engaging student experience, and we believe their courses will be a tremendous draw for the more than four million edX learners around the world.”

“We selected edX to expand our MOOC offerings specifically because of their open source platform,” said Professor Rock. “With open source experimentation, innovation and flexibility, Penn will be able to explore different ways of presenting content online and continue to improve the learning experience. We expect the innovative features of the edX platform to be valuable for our teaching on campus, as we further integrate technology in teaching.”

Additional information on Penn’s Open Learning Initiative is available at openlearning.upenn.edu

The Provost’s Office periodically issues guidelines for addressing academic issues of students with disabilities. These are intended to remind the University community of our obligation and commitment to provide reasonable accommodations to students with disabilities and to describe relevant resources and procedures. The Guidelines that follow were updated by the VPUL Office of Student Disabilities Services (SDS).

The Guidelines have been reviewed and approved by the Council of Undergraduate Deans, the Council of Graduate Deans and the Council of Professional Master’s Program Deans.

—Vincent Price, Provost

Policy Statement

The University of Pennsylvania is committed to providing access and equal educational opportunities to all students, including students with disabilities. Penn does not discriminate against students with disabilities. The University provides reasonable accommodation to a student’s known disability in order to afford that student an equal opportunity to participate in all University-sponsored academic and extracurricular programs, activities and services.

Reason for Policy Guidance

This guidance, known as the Provost’s Memorandum, serves two purposes:

• to provide guidance to faculty and staff so that they may reasonably accommodate and support students with disabilities without compromising academic standards and requirements;
• to assure students with disabilities that the University will provide access to all University-sponsored programs, benefits and activities through reasonable accommodation and program accessibility as required under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended (“ADA”).

Protection from Discrimination

The Rehabilitation Act and the ADA prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities by institutions like Penn that receive or benefit from federal financial assistance. These and other laws require that reasonable accommodations be provided to otherwise qualified individuals with a disability.

Some Key Definitions

Disability–A person with a disability is defined as an individual who (1) has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, (2) has a record of such an impairment, or (3) is regarded as having such an impairment. Examples of recognized disabilities include, but are not limited to, blindness, deafness, paralysis, diabetes, epilepsy, lupus, bipolar disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, HIV/AIDS, specific learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Reasonable Accommodation–A reasonable accommodation is a modification or adjustment that enables an otherwise qualified individual with a disability full access to participation in University-sponsored programs. These modifications should not fundamentally alter the purpose or requirements of the course or program. Reasonable accommodations are determined on an individual basis and take into account the functional limitations of the impairment. Accommodations may vary from class to class depending upon course content and format. They are intended to be effective and reasonable; they may not be exactly what the student wishes or requests.

Appropriate Documentation–Appropriate documentation is a written evaluation or report provided by a clinician in a specific profession or area of expertise who is considered qualified to make the diagnosis. The documentation must be current and comprehensive and may include clinical and social histories from parents, counselors and specialists. A diagnosis must be included. Documentation must identify the student’s specific functional limitations within the academic setting and must show substantial limitation compared to most people. The documentation should conform to well-established practices in the specific area(s)/field(s). For more information, see Documentation Guidelines on the Student Disabilities Services website at the following link: https://www.vpul.upenn.edu/lrc/sds/ps_documentation_guidelines.php

Responsible University Office

Students with disabilities and temporary conditions are served by the Office of Student Disabilities Services (SDS). The office is located in the Weingarten Learning Resources Center (WLRC), a department under the Office of the Vice Provost of University Life. SDS is responsible for assessing all student requests for accommodations and determining reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities.

The Office of Student Disabilities Services is available to assist faculty and professional staff with the provision of academic accommodations and for consultation regarding students with disabilities.

Phone:  (215) 573-9235 
TTY: (215) 746-6320
Fax: (215) 746-6326  
Email: sdmail@zimbra.upenn.edu

Accommodation Procedures

Responsibilities of Students

Students with disabilities who seek accommodation at Penn are responsible for self-identifying with SDS. Identification may take place upon admission or at any time during the student’s course of study.

Students requesting accommodations are responsible for providing documentation, at their own expense, according to the guidelines published on the SDS website: http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/lrc/sds SDS may request additional information if the documentation provided does not support the existence of a disability or the need for the accommodations requested.

The SDS Documentation Review Committee thoroughly reviews the documentation and accommodations are determined through an interactive process with input from the student. Consultation with faculty may be important in determining how to best accommodate a student in a specific course. A determination from the Committee may take four to six weeks, or longer if additional information is needed. For examples of reasonable accommodations, please see the SDS website: http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/lrc/sds

Students who are approved for accommodations must authorize SDS to inform professors about their approved accommodations. They must also make online requests to SDS for individual exam accommodations each semester. Students are encouraged to introduce themselves to professors to initiate a dialogue about their particular needs.

Responsibilities of Faculty and Staff

Faculty and staff are responsible for ensuring equity and access in their programs and classrooms. The SDS approved accommodations should not fundamentally alter the academic requirements essential to a course or program of study or to licensing prerequisites. It is also important to recognize that students with disabilities must reach the same performance standards to fulfill degree requirements as their non-disabled peers. Accommodations provide students with disabilities equal access, not an unfair advantage.

Instructors are required to accommodate students only after receiving an email from SDS indicating the accommodations that have been approved.

A statement about services for students with disabilities should be included in the syllabus for each course. Below is a sample syllabus statement:

Sample Syllabus Statement

The University of Pennsylvania provides reasonable accommodations to students with disabilities who have self-identified and received approval from the Office of Student Disabilities Services (SDS). If SDS has approved your request for accommodations, please make an appointment to meet with me as soon as possible in order to discuss the arrangements for your accommodations.

If you have not yet contacted Student Disabilities Services, and would like to request accommodations or have questions, you can make an appointment by calling (215) 573-9235. The office is located in the Weingarten Learning Resources Center at Stouffer Commons, 3702 Spruce Street, Suite 300. Please visit the SDS website at http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/lrc/sds/index.php

SDS services are free and confidential.

Accommodated Exams

In order to effectively manage the logistics of exam accommodations, instructors are expected to respond promptly to SDS emails requesting information about exam accommodations. Although the exam may not be written until shortly before the exam date, other details are needed by the SDS accommodations staff as early as possible in order to arrange for exam administration and inform students of the arrangements. Professors are encouraged to provide SDS with exams as early as possible prior to the exam to allow SDS time to prepare exam materials. Exams are locked in a secure location until the exams are being administered.

In the event that questions arise during the administration of the exam at SDS, it is important that SDS has contact information for the instructor or TA (phone, text and/or email).

The Standards for Accommodating Exams for Students with Disabilities is available on the SDS website: http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/lrc/sds/StandardsforAccommodatingExams.php This document provides guidelines for accommodated exams that are administered by faculty or their designees.

Note-taking Announcements

Faculty may be asked to assist SDS by identifying note-takers through an announcement or email to the class and referring interested note-takers to SDS. A template for the email will be included when SDS contacts faculty regarding note-taker accommodations.

Accessibility of Information and Course Materials

Faculty should collaborate with their department offices and SDS to ensure that their course materials, presentations, audio-visual materials and exams are available in an accessible format for students with sensory and print disabilities.

Confidentiality

All disability documentation provided by the student is confidential and remains in the Office of Student Disabilities Services for the purpose of determining reasonable accommodations. Students may not request accommodations from faculty that have not been approved by SDS. If documentation is provided to the instructor, it should be returned to the student and the student should be referred to SDS.

Faculty should refrain from discussing a student’s disabilities and accommodations in front of the class, in the presence of other students or to faculty or staff not directly involved in the accommodation process.

Reconsideration Process

Students may request reconsideration of the SDS accommodation determination through the SDS Reconsideration Process found on the website at: https://www.vpul.upenn.edu/lrc/sds/reconsiderationprocess.php

Concerns and Complaints

The Office of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Programs is responsible for overseeing the University’s implementation of its equal opportunity and nondiscrimination obligations arising under Federal, Commonwealth and local laws. Any concerns or complaints should be addressed to the Office of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Programs, Sansom Place East, 3600 Chestnut Street, Suite 228, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6106 or (215) 898-6993 (voice) or (215) 746-7088 (fax) or http://www.upenn.edu/affirm-action/discrimination.html

Additional Information

Related policies and procedures are available on the SDS website (http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/lrc/sds/) in the section for Faculty and Staff.

This Memorandum is available in alternate format upon request.

Student Disabilities Services
Weingarten Learning Resources Center
3702 Spruce Street, Suite 300, Stouffer Commons
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6027
(215) 573-9235

Morton Botel, Ed’46, GEd’48, Gr’53, emeritus professor of education and child development in Penn’s Graduate School of Education (GSE) and founder of GSE’s Penn Literacy Network, died on July 6 in Ireland. He was 90 years old.

Dr. Botel was born in Philadelphia, where he attended John Bartram High School. He briefly studied naval air communications at Harvard University, then attended Penn, where he earned his undergraduate degree in education in 1946. He earned his master’s degree in education from Penn’s evening program while teaching high school math, then returned to Penn for his doctorate, which he completed in 1953 following just two years of study.

In 1955, he became the supervisor of reading and English in the Bucks County, Pennsylvania school system, where he instituted a five-year plan called “Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum.” He also taught at Penn and in 1966 was invited to overhaul GSE’s program in remedial reading, soon renamed the Reading and Language Arts program.

In 1976, Dr. Botel and several of his colleagues at Penn GSE established the Center for Research in Literacy Communication (Almanac February 3, 1976). In 1978, he received the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching (Almanac October 13, 1987).

From 1980 until becoming emeritus in 2004 he held the William T. Carter Research Chair as Professor of Education and Child Development at GSE.

In 1981, he founded the Penn Literacy Network (PLN), which offers long-term professional development and continuing education seminars to help teachers of all subjects and grade levels make literacy an integral part of their instruction. By 2015, more than 35,000 educators throughout the country had enrolled in one or more of these courses.

In 1992, Dr. Botel left PLN to focus on other projects, while his daughter, Bonnie Botel-Sheppard, CGS’74, GEd’76, GrEd’81, GEd’99, assumed leadership. At the time of his death, the elder Dr. Botel was serving as PLN’s senior advisor. 

He authored more than 200 publications for children, teachers, literacy professionals, school leaders and parents in the areas of literacy education, English, reading, math, spelling, study skills and assessment. He was presented with honorary doctorates at Rider University in New Jersey and Holy Family University in Philadelphia.

Dr. Botel is survived by his wife, Penny; his children, Neil Botel, Bonnie (Bob) Botel-Sheppard, Mikel (Beverly Landstrom) Botel, Abby (Ian) Wynne, Mark (Niamh) Feldman and Gail Weston; two brothers, Gene (Julie) and Max (Nina) Botel; one sister, Kathy (Ed) Musarra-Hertzoff; his grandchildren, Lara, GEd’06 (Todd) Paparo, Adam (Maureen) Sheppard, Anna Botel-Sheppard and Gavin Botel, Megan, Joshua, Mya and Sian Wynne and Brooke Feldman; and three great-grandchildren, Gianna, Blake and Callum.

Contributions in his memory may be made to Doctors Without Borders, 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001-5004 or to American Friends Of Magen David Adom, 352 Seventh Avenue, Suite 400, New York, NY 10001.

The body of Timothy Hamlett, a junior and track athlete at the University of Pennsylvania, was found on May 29 in New York’s Hudson River. He was 20 years old.

Mr. Hamlett was born in New York City. He attended Don Bosco Preparatory High School in Ramsey, New Jersey, where he was a member of the varsity basketball and track & field teams. He then attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he majored in philosophy and was a member of the track & field and mid-distance teams.

Mr. Hamlett had been missing since December 26, 2014, when he left his family’s Teaneck, New Jersey home and said he had plans to visit a friend in New York City.

He is survived by his parents, Archibald and Katherine; his grandmother, Irene; his aunts, Charlotte Frink-Paynes and Veronica Hamlett; his uncles, Aaron Frink, Jr. and John Paynes; his cousins, Nakia Benjamin, Michelle Paynes, and Paul and Aaron Frink; and Christopher, Ayanni and Akinde Hanna.

Donations in Mr. Hamlett’s memory may be made to the Timothy Akil Hamlett Fund in support of the Summer Law Institute at the New York University School of Law.

Anastasia Lyalenko, C’14, a research specialist in the department of psychology at Penn, died on June 15 after a brief illness; she was 22.

Ms. Lyalenko grew up in Wexford, Pennsylvania. She attended Penn, where she majored in the biological basis of behavior and graduated summa cum laude. Upon earning her degree, she joined the department of psychology as a research specialist with the Restoring Active Memory (RAM) team. In this position, she traveled the country to train many of the team members at RAM clinical sites and was a key player in conducting patient testing at Penn and Jefferson Hospitals. According to Michael J. Kahana and Daniel S. Rizzuto, directors of the Computational Memory Lab, Ms. Lyalenko dreamed of becoming a physician and planned to attend medical school. 

She is survived by her mother, Victoria Rennison; her sister, Jamie Walker; her stepfather, Robert Rennison; her grandmother, Inna Liashenko; her uncle, Alex Liashenko; cousins, Alexander and Daniel Liashenko; her aunt, Nadezhda Liashenko; her significant other, Colleen Kase and many friends.

Irving “Moon” Mondschein, an Olympian and legendary former Penn track coach of more than two decades, died on June 5 at an assisted-living facility in Hershey, Pennsylvania. He was 91 years old.

Mr. Mondschein attended NYU, where he was a track and football star. After his freshman year, he served in the US Army, then returned to NYU. He was a three-time Amateur Athletic Union decathlon champion and a two-time National Collegiate Athletic Association high-jump champion. He competed in the decathlon at the 1948 London Olympics, finishing in eighth place.

He coached the United States track and field team that competed in the 1950 Maccabiah Games, the Jewish Olympics, in Israel. He then coached Israel’s first Olympic track & field team at the 1952 Helsinki Games.

Mr. Mondschein was a head coach at Lincoln University before joining Penn as an assistant coach in 1965. Upon Penn Athletics Hall of Fame coach Jim “Tupp” Tuppeny’s retirement, Mr. Mondschein became Penn’s head track & field coach in 1979. He left Penn in 1987 and was an assistant coach for the 1988 U.S. Olympic team competing in Seoul, South Korea. He was a volunteer coach at Haverford College into his late 80s.

In 2014, in front of a large crowd of Mr. Mondschein’s family, friends and former athletes, Penn named its brand new, state-of-the-art throwing venue, the Irv “Moon” Mondschein Throwing Complex, in honor of one of the school’s most beloved track & field coaches.

Mr. Mondschein was inducted into the US Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame as well as into the NYU Athletics Hall of Fame, the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, the New York Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

He is survived by his wife, Momoe; two sons, Brian and Mark; a daughter, Ilana; a sister, Roslyn Lampert; a brother-in-law, Stanley Lampert; two grandsons and one great-grandchild.
 

Ralph J. Roberts, W’41, Hon’05, the founder of Comcast and longtime supporter of Penn, died of natural causes on June 18 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He was 95 years old.

Mr. Roberts was born in New York City and grew up in New Rochelle, New York. He attended Germantown High School in Philadelphia and went on to graduate from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1941. He also served in the US Navy.

He founded Comcast Corporation with the purchase of a 1,200-subscriber cable television system in Tupelo, Mississippi in 1963. He was chairman of the company’s board of directors from 1969 to 2002. He handed off the presidency in 1990 to his son, Brian L. Roberts, W’81. At the time of his death, the elder Mr. Roberts was past president and chairman emeritus of the board of directors.

Mr. Roberts shared his wisdom for many years as a member of the Penn Medicine Board. He and his family were instrumental in establishing the Roberts Proton Therapy Center at the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine (Almanac December 12, 2006). The most extensive and advanced cancer treatment facility of its kind in the world, the Center has treated as many as 200 patients a day since opening in 2010.

Among his myriad awards and honorary degrees, Mr. Roberts received Penn’s Joseph P. Wharton Award for Lifetime Achievement (Almanac December 22, 2009) and a Doctor of Laws degree honoris causa (Almanac March 29, 2005).

Mr. Roberts is survived by his wife of more than 70 years, Suzanne; four of his children, Catherine, Lisa, Ralph, Jr. and Brian; and eight grandchildren. Another son, Douglas, died in September of 2011.

Contributions may be made to the Germantown Boys & Girls Club, 25 W. Penn St., Philadelphia, PA 19144, or to the United Way of Greater Philadelphia & Southern New Jersey, 1709 Ben Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19103 or http://unitedforimpact.org/ways-to-give

Tom Schneider, a former Penn basketball coach, died of atherosclerotic heart disease on March 17. He was 68.

Mr. Schneider was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Bucknell University, where he was also a member of the basketball team. He then earned his master’s degree in history from Georgetown University. During his time at Georgetown, he began coaching basketball at American University.

Mr. Schneider came to Penn as an assistant coach in 1979 and held the position until 1983, when he became head coach at Lehigh University. He returned to Penn as head coach in 1985 and led the Quakers through four seasons before resigning in 1989 to become head coach at Loyola College (now Loyola University Maryland).

Mr. Schneider later coached basketball and taught history and economics at the high school level. For the last ten years, he taught history at Polk State Lakeland Collegiate High School in Lakeland, Florida.

Mr. Schneider is survived by his daughter, Leslie Schneider Boen, C’92, and two grandchildren. His wife, Carol, died 12 days prior to his own passing.

Donations may be made to Polk State College Foundation, 999 Avenue H, Northeast, Winter Haven, FL 33881-4299, ATTN: Thomas Schneider/Lakeland Collegiate High School.

To Report a Death

Almanac appreciates being informed of the deaths of current and former faculty and staff members, students and other members of the University community. Call (215) 898-5274 or email almanac@upenn.edu.

However, notices of alumni deaths should be directed to the Alumni Records Office at Room 517, Franklin Building, (215) 898-8136 or email record@ben.dev.upenn.edu.

At the Annual Stated Meeting of the University of Pennsylvania Board of Trustees on June 19, Trustee Chair David L. Cohen announced that Ralph Roberts, chairman emeritus of Comcast, W’41, Hon’05, passed away at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania at age 95. President Amy Gutmann described Mr. Roberts as “a cherished member of the Penn family” who was always generous with his time and talents; the Roberts Proton Therapy Center was established at Penn (Almanac December 8, 2009). In 2005, he received an honorary degree from Penn.

Memorial resolutions were passed for two trustees, H. Samuel Greenawalt (Almanac April 7, 2015) and Shaun F. O’Malley (Almanac March 17, 2015). A resolution to amend the statutes of the Trustees specifies new membership and term limits and removes the Special Trustee classification. Another resolution appoints the investment board as fiduciary for defined benefit and retiree medical plans.

Mr. Cohen was re-elected as chair for another year; Andrea Mitchell and David M. Silfen were re-elected as vice chairs for another year.

The Executive Committee was elected: Mr. Cohen, Lee Spelman Doty, Perry Golkin, President Gutmann, Janet Haas, Andrew R. Heyer, Robert M. Levy, Ms. Mitchell, Egbert L. J. Perry, Julie Beren Platt, Andrew S. Rachleff and Mark O. Winkelman. Mr. Silfen was elected to the committee until February 26, 2016.
The following were elected to the Investment Board: Mr. Cohen, Judith Bollinger, Mr. Golkin, President Gutmann, Robert S. Kapito, Mr. Levy, Marc F. McMorris and Mr. Rachleff.

Richard C. Perry and Mr. Rachleff were elected Charter Trustees.

Dr. Haas, Krishna P. Singh and Carol Elizabeth Ware were re-elected as Term Trustees and Michael J. Price and Richard W. Vague were elected as Term Trustees.

In May, Alumni Weekend had a record-breaking attendance with more than 11,570 alumni and guests on campus.

President Gutmann presented a resolution of appreciation for Eduardo Glandt for his four decades at Penn Engineering where he served as the Nemirovsky Family Dean since 1999. He was designated dean emeritus of SEAS.

Then, she presented a resolution to appoint Vijay Kumar as the new engineering dean (Almanac March 17, 2015) and another to appoint Theodore Ruger as the new law dean (Almanac February 24, 2015).

Provost Vincent Price announced that Beth Winkelstein is the new vice provost for education (Almanac May 26, 2015) succeeding Andrew Binns who served for nine years in that role.

Stephen Golding gave the financial report, noting that the FY15 forecast is a strong one, both for the academic component that outperformed budget, and the health system that successfully relocated the Trauma Center to the Penn Presbyterian site in February and signed an agreement with Lancaster General Health. UPHS has also improved the mortality rate, resulting in an increasing number of lives saved. The FY16 budget has an operating surplus due to projected endowment returns but cash is expected to decrease due to planned construction. One project is the renovation of the Larry Robbins House of the Jerome Fisher Program in Management & Technology at 3537 Locust Walk. It will be expanded and modernized.

Dean of Admissions Eric Furda reported that the Class of 2019—hailing from all 50 states as well as Puerto Rico and Washington, DC—was selected from the largest pool of applicants in Penn’s history; 10% of 37,268 were accepted with a 65% yield. It includes the third cohort of KIPP scholars. First generation college students represent 12% of the applicants.

Audit and Compliance Committee chair Jay Fishman noted the retirement of  May Lee Brown, associate vice president for audit, compliance & privacy as of the end of June.

A master of science in design was approved, allowing the School of Design to offer advanced professional training in architecture to post-graduate students.

Penn’s operating budget for FY16 will be $3.367 billion; the capital plan includes estimated project costs of $434.1 million. $200 million  from Penn’s Century Bond program is directed towards energy efficiency upgrades and deferred maintenance including lighing upgrades in dozens of buildings and HVAC improvements in nine major building projects. 

The FY16 operating budget and capital budget for UPHS were also approved. UPHS has several large capital projects including the Penn Medicine at Radnor expansion, the Penn Tower demolition, the Penn Hall construction and a practice in Cherry Hill. 

Both the Dental School’s Evans Building Centennial renovation project and HVAC upgrade ($37 million) and the Library’s Kislak Special Collections Center renovation phase 3 ($6.2 million) were approved.

Tcera, Inc., a start-up to develop immunotherapies to enhance patients’ immune systems led by Carl June’s team, will be pursued by the Trustees in collaboration with Novartis.

Numerous appointments and reappointments to Penn Medicine, Boards of Overseers and other boards were approved.

Committee Charge

For nearly half a century, the University of Pennsylvania’s Guidelines on Open Expression have upheld and protected “[t]he freedom to experiment, to present and examine alternative data and theories; the freedom to hear, express and debate various views; and the freedom to voice criticism of existing practices and values [as] fundamental rights” (Guidelines on Open Expression, I.A). These rights are so foundational to the University’s mission that they “shall take precedence” over any “other University policies” that conflict with them (I.A). In order to safeguard these rights, the Guidelines created the Committee on Open Expression as a standing committee of the University Council (I.C). Its standing charge and “major tasks [are]: [1] participating in the resolution of conflicts that may arise from incidents or disturbances implicating these Guidelines; [2] mediating among the parties to prevent conflicts and violations of these Guidelines; [3] interpreting these Guidelines; [4] advising administrative officers when appropriate; and [5] recommending policies and procedures for the improvement of all levels of communication” (I.C).

Meetings

While Penn has an admirable commitment to and culture of open expression, maintaining that culture requires vigilance and continued efforts to strengthen and improve it, both by responding to recent situations and by taking proactive measures to prevent problems that have arisen at other universities. Fulfilling that responsibility, the Committee was more active than it had been in recent years. It held eight meetings of the full Committee, plus two meetings of a subcommittee considering issues of open expression in cyberspace and new technologies, plus one public hearing soliciting comments on an interpretive rule. In addition, the chair and members of the Committee consulted widely with Penn administrators, faculty, staff, students and student groups across campus in an effort to understand the state of open expression at Penn and solicit areas for improvement and suggestions for reform.

Major Issues Addressed by the Committee

The Committee spent most of the year considering possible measures to address two issues: first, at a number of universities, invited speakers have recently been disinvited or withdrawn under pressure, jeopardizing students’ and others’ ability to hear and debate a wide range of viewpoints and perspectives. Second, since the Guidelines were last amended 22 years ago, email, the internet, social media and a wide range of new information technologies have become important venues for and means of open expression.

The Committee decided to address both issues by adopting two “rules to interpret or give more specific meaning to the Guidelines” (IV.B.1). Accordingly, the Committee proposed two rules in the March 3, 2015 issue (and again in the March 17, 2015 issue) of Almanac. On March 26, it held a series of three “open hearing[s] on the proposed rule[s] [to] receive the views of individuals or groups,” receiving written and oral testimony from two Penn faculty members, one administrator and four leaders of student organizations, all of whom supported the proposed rules as written. The Committee, at its final meeting, then unanimously adopted the two rules as proposed by a vote of 13-0. The rules thus satisfied all of the Guidelines’ requirements for adopting interpretive rules, and the Guidelines’ procedures for adopting them take precedence over any “other University policies” (I.D).

Under the Guidelines on Open Expression, “[t]he University shall publish [such validly adopted interpretive] rules...at least once each academic year in a manner that brings them to the attention of members of the University Community” (III.A.1). The University Council Steering Committee will consider in the fall of 2015 whether to incorporate these interpretive rules into the PennBook as a means of complying with the Guidelines’ annual-publication requirement.

The speaker-invitation rule underscores Penn’s history of never having disinvited a commencement speaker based upon the speaker’s views or controversial nature. It forbids exerting any duress upon an event organizer or speaker to withdraw from speaking. The Guidelines already require consulting with the Committee before denying a room reservation for any other reason than a prior reservation (III.A.2.d), and the interpretive rule extends that procedure to denials of authorization for events or provision of logistical support. Finally, the speaker-invitation rule encourages bringing any complaints or alleged violations to the Office of the Vice Provost for University Life and the Committee. 

The electronic-media rule notes that open expression in electronic media is “equally protected to the same extent, under the same principles and subject to the same limitations as non-digital forms of communication.” The full text of both rules, as proposed and adopted, is at www.upenn.edu/almanac/volumes/v61/n25/open-expression.html

Topics to Address During the 2015-2016 Academic Year

Several topics warrant further study and possible improvements next year:

1. improving communication across Penn’s various schools and departments, where open expression and the equal availability of room reservations may be issues;
2. increasing students’ and others’ correct awareness of the Guidelines, the new interpretive rules and the roles of the Committee on Open Expression and the Office of the Vice Provost for University Life;
3. improving means of learning about potential open-expression problems earlier, so that the Office of the Vice Provost for University Life and the Committee can mediate and resolve or defuse them at earlier stages;
4. clarifying and communicating more effectively to persons outside of Penn, especially abroad, when speakers speak only for themselves and not for Penn as an institution, and the relationship of that understanding to Penn’s international and foreign outreach, centers and institutions; and
5. incorporating the values of free speech and open expression into Penn’s New Student Orientation programming, including a possible web-orientation module, Penn Reading Project book and speaker events (perhaps in conjunction with the National Constitution Center).

2014-2015 Committee on Open Expression Members

Chair: Stephanos Bibas; Administrative Liaisons: Karu Kozuma, Katie Hanlon Bonner; Faculty: Stefan Both, J. Margo Brooks Carthon, Bruce Giantonio, Saurabh Jha, Lauren Ristvet, Bernard Shapiro, Jim Sykes; Graduate Students: Sai Lohith Gali Ramesh, Eleanor R. Marchant, Changru Tu; Undergraduate Students: Jane Meyer, Aaron Senior, Mikayla Vague; Staff: Donna Gladstone, Eisha Moore.

Ed. Note: The other University Council year-end reports for 2014-2015 were published in a supplement to Almanac May 5, 2015.

The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) awarded 2015 ACLS Fellowships to two Penn faculty members and 2015 Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowships to three Penn doctoral students in May.

Penn Integrates Knowledge (PIK) Professor Dorothy Roberts will use her fellowship to work on a book project, Interracial Marriage and Racial Equality in Chicago, 1937–1967, which examines the lives of black-white couples to investigate the relationship between interracial marriage and racial equality. She is Penn’s 14th PIK professor, as well as the George A. Weiss University Professor of Law and Sociology, the Raymond Pace and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Professor of Civil Rights and a professor of Africana studies.

Kathy Peiss, Jeannette P. Nichols Professor of American History, will also use her fellowship to work on a book project, The Collecting Missions of World War II, which explores the impact of World War II on American policies and practices toward information, knowledge and culture.

Whitney Laemmli, a doctoral candidate in the history & sociology of science department, will use her ACLS grant for a project titled The Choreography of Everyday Life: Rudolf Laban and the Analysis of Modern Movement. 

Kelly Mee Rich, a doctoral candidate in the English department, is working on a project titled States of Repair: Institutions of Private Life in the Postwar British Novel.

Emily Warner, a doctoral candidate in the history of art department, is working on a project titled Painting the Abstract Environment: Abstract Murals in New York, 1935-55.

In May, the 2015 Jury of Fellows from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) elevated 147 AIA members to its prestigious College of Fellows, including PennDesign lecturers in architecture Neil Denari, Scott Erdy and David McHenry, as well as alumni Marc Marguiles, C’75, M.Arch’79, Harry A. Mark, M.Arch’95, and Daniel K. McCoubrey, C’75, M.Arch’81.

Of a total AIA membership of over 85,000, approximately 3,200 members are distinguished with this honor, which recognizes the achievements of architects as individuals and their significant contribution to architecture and society on a national level.

Stephen Avery, assistant professor of radiation and oncology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania who has served as the director of Penn’s Master of Medical Physics program from 2010-2015, was named a Fellow of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) in May. This honor recognizes Dr. Avery’s distinguished leadership, especially in regard to his dedication to the education of medical physicists.

Danielle S. Bassett, Skirkanich Assistant Professor of Innovation in the departments of bioengineering and electrical systems engineering, was named a 2015 Young Investigator by the Department of the Navy in April. This year’s winners represent 31 academic institutions from across the country and will collectively receive $18.8 million in grants to fund research efforts to advance naval technology.

Cristina Bicchieri, the S. J. P. Harvie Professor of Philosophy and Psychology and director of the Philosophy, Politics and Economics Program (PPE), has been awarded an Honorary Fellowship at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge. She is also the recipient of the Pufendorf Medal and has been invited to hold the Pufendorf Lectures at Lund University in Sweden. Dr. Bicchieri was invited because of her outstanding interdisciplinary research on social norms, combining subtle philosophical analysis with psychological empirical work of high quality.

Dr. Bicchieri has published six books and scores of articles. She has worked on problems in the philosophy of social science, rational choice and game theory. More recently, her work has focused on the nature and evolution of social norms, and the design of behavioral experiments to test under which conditions norms will be followed. She is a leader in the field of behavioral ethics and is the director of the Behavioral Ethics Lab (BeLab) at the University of Pennsylvania. She gives international lectures regularly on social norms and leads an annual two-week training on social norms and social change for UNICEF.

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania announced that student team Bungalow Insurance won the $30,000 Perlman Grand Prize of the 2015 Wharton Business Plan Competition. The prize was awarded at the Wharton School’s annual Venture Finals in April, where student finalists received more than $128,000 in combined cash prizes and in-kind legal/accounting services.

Bungalow Insurance, founded by Tom Austin, WG’15, and Zack Stiefler, WG’15, is using data and design to create an insurance experience that meets the needs, habits and expectations of millennial consumers. Bungalow Insurance has built an easy-to-use online renters insurance buying platform designed for millennials and is partnering with affiliates to distribute the product to tenants, dramatically lowering customer acquisition expenditures.

Abrina L. Hyatt, C’15, received the John Edgar Wideman Prize in Africana Studies, awarded for the best undergraduate essay in literature or the arts. She also received the Raymond Pace Alexander Prize in Africana Studies, awarded to an Africana studies major or minor who has distinguished him- or herself academically, intellectually and in the area of leadership.

Melanie Y. White, C’15, received the W.E.B. Du Bois Prize in Africana Studies, awarded for the best undergraduate essay in history or the social sciences. She also received the Sadie Tanner Alexander Prize in Africana Studies, awarded for a senior honors thesis of exceptional merit.

Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine and the Penn Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) were among the 2015 recipients of the prestigious Clinical Research Achievement Award for their personalized gene therapy work in HIV. The team included Carl H. June of pathology and laboratory medicine; Bruce L. Levine, director of the Clinical Cell and Vaccine Production Facility; and Pablo Tebas, director of the AIDS Clinical Trials Unit at the Penn CFAR.

In April, the Clinical Research Forum recognized the year’s 10 most outstanding research papers written by teams from across the nation. The Penn team’s work, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in March 2014, was the first successful clinical test of any gene editing approach in humans.

Nader Engheta, H. Nedwill Ramsey Professor of Electrical and Systems Engineering, is the recipient of the 2015 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Antennas and Propagation Society (AP-S) Distinguished Achievement Award for “seminal contributions in the theory, application and demonstration of metamaterials, plasmonic optics and chiral and omega media.” The award will be presented on July 21.

Dr. Engheta’s research interests span the fields of nanooptics and nanophotonics, metamaterials and plasmonics, and optical nanostructure modeling, including nanoantennas, nanocircuits and nanosystems. He is also investigating bio-inspired sensing and imaging, as well as physics and reverse-engineering of polarization vision in nature. He and his group have been developing the concept of optical lumped nanocircuits based on material nanostructures, with the goal of opening the possibility of nanoelectronics with light.

C. Neill Epperson, professor of psychiatry and obstetrics and gynecology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and director of the Penn Center for Women’s Behavioral Wellness, recently graduated from the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) program at Drexel University’s College of Medicine.

ELAM is a year-long, part-time fellowship for women faculty in schools of medicine, dentistry and public health. Fellows complete an institution action project that provides practical experience in building leadership skills and benefits their home institution. Dr. Epperson’s institution action plan focuses on creating a Center for the Study of Sex and Gender in Health.

Penn honored its graduate student leaders with the following awards in May.

The President’s and Provost’s Citation for Exceptional Commitment to Graduate and Professional Student Life:

• Cheyenne Alexis Anthony (GSE)
• Vicky Vi Thuy Doan-Nguyen (SEAS)

The Andy Binns Impact Award for Outstanding Service to Graduate and Professional Student Life:

• Rachel Apanewicz-Delgado (SAS/Organizational Dynamics)
• Suzanne Bratt (SAS/Music)
• Desmond Martin Diggs (GSE)
• Katherine Gibson (SEAS)
• Priya Hattay (SEAS)
• Steven Lin (Dental Medicine)
• Vinayak Mathur (SAS/Biology)
• Sibel Ozcelik (SP2/Law)

 

Judith Green-McKenzie, associate professor of emergency medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and chief of the division of occupational medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, was honored by the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) with the Kehoe Award for Excellence in Education or Research in Occupational and Environmental Medicine in May.

Cleveland State University (CSU) presented Ira Harkavy, associate vice president and founding director of the Barbara and Edward Netter Center for Community Partnerships at Penn, with an Honorary Doctor of Urban Studies in May. The CSU Board of Trustees and faculty voted to award this degree in recognition of Dr. Harkavy’s outstanding leadership in building university-community-school partnerships in urban areas.  

Also in May, a resolution introduced by Philadelphia City Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell honored Dr. Harkavy’s lifetime of accomplishments and the Netter Center’s dedication to community service, as well as their significant contributions to West Philadelphia. 

Annenberg Public Policy Center director Kathleen Hall Jamieson delivered the Henry and Bryna David Endowment Lecture on “Communicating the Value and Values of Science” before the National Academy of Sciences in April. She examined the roles of the scientific and journalistic communities, using examples of successes and failures in science communication in cases such as the false link between autism and vaccines, stem cell research, climate change, last winter’s erroneous warnings of a New York City “Snowmageddon,” genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and the hole in the ozone layer.

Monica Yant Kinney, executive director of communications and external affairs for the Vice Provost for University Life, has been awarded the Beverly Edwards Award for Leadership Excellence by her peers in Cohort 4 of the Division of Human Resources Leadership@Penn program. This award recognizes one member of each cohort for his or her personal leadership as well as contributions towards helping program colleagues enhance their knowledge and practice of leadership.

Tom Sontag, executive director of Learning & Education noted that “throughout the program, she added her honest perspective and insight, actively committing to advancing her own leadership attributes as well as those around her. A true journalist at her core, she was never content with the status quo. As a result, she has challenged her colleagues to think and act differently for the good of the University at large. She has the additional gift of delivering her point in engaging, humorous and disarming ways, often with stories conveying some personal experience. In doing this, she cultivated deeper connections with others, continuously expanding her network of people. She often took a leadership role in workgroups, actively listening to others, facilitating exchanges and helping to summarize for the cohort. A seasoned professional, she accomplishes tasks by considering all involved. She shows concern for everyone’s interest and ensures a positive outcome for students, VPUL and the Penn community.”

The award is named in memory of Beverly Edwards, who joined HR as an executive director in 1999 and was responsible for Learning and Education and HR Communications until she passed away (Almanac March 1, 2011). During her time at Penn she was an ardent supporter of leadership development and a champion for the Leadership@Penn program. Program participants are nominated by their senior leaders and required to submit an application and letters of recommendation. Leadership@Penn requires a year-long commitment to assessment, coaching, and training sessions. Dr. Edwards is remembered for her sense of humor, passion for learning and for teaching, willingness to help others, desire to make a difference and drive to excel. These are qualities to which all leaders aspire.

Penn’s Basser Research Center for BRCA awarded the second annual Basser Global Prize to human genetics researcher and expert Mary-Claire King, the American Cancer Society Research Professor of Genetics and Medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle. Dr. King is a pioneer in the development of experimental and bioinformatics genomics tools to study common, complex human diseases and health conditions. As part of the award, she gave the keynote address at the Center’s annual symposium in May. She received $200,000 in unrestricted support of her BRCA1/2-related research efforts, the Basser Trophy and a personal $10,000 cash prize.

In 1990, Dr. King demonstrated that a single gene on chromosome 17q21, which she named BRCA1, was responsible for breast and ovarian cancer in many families. Her discovery of BRCA1 revolutionized the study of numerous other common inherited diseases. Dr. King’s current research focuses on identifying and characterizing critical genes—and their interaction with environmental influences—that play a role in the development of conditions such as breast and ovarian cancer, schizophrenia and hearing loss.

The Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies (SIMS) and the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies announced the first recipient of the combined SIMS-Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies Fellowship in Jewish Manuscript Studies and the David B. Ruderman Distinguished Scholar Fellowship in April. Y. Tzvi Langermann, professor of Arabic at Bar-Ilan University in Israel and an internationally recognized authority on Hebrew and Arabic medicine and the study of scientific manuscripts, is currently in residence at Penn to research and catalog a 15th-century Sicilian medical miscellany containing texts and notes written in Judeo-Arabic, Hebrew and Arabic. The manuscript is a recent addition to the Penn Libraries’ extensive collection of medieval and early modern scientific manuscripts. Professor Langermann will share his discoveries at a public lecture in the fall of 2015.

Five emerging artists were named 2015 fellows by the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund for the Performing and Visual Arts, which awards $50,000 a year for up to two years to artists who have demonstrated great talent and are on the cusp of a professional breakthrough. Fellowships totaling $300,000 were awarded to soprano Julia Bullock; pianist Sean Chen; visual artist Caitlin Cherry; actor, writer and filmmaker McKenzie Chinn; and American Ballet Theatre soloist Joseph Gorak.

In addition, nine public elementary schools in Florida, New York, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia will each receive grants of $50,000 or more from the Leonore Annenberg School Fund for Children, which provides educational resources to underfunded schools in urban and rural communities. The Leonore Annenberg School Fund’s 2015 grants total more than $500,000 for resources such as interactive whiteboards and playground equipment, programs to increase proficiency in math and science and an initiative using the arts to improve reading skills.

Both programs are administered by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at Penn.

The American Academy in Rome named Christopher Marcinkoski, assistant professor in landscape architecture at PennDesign, among 29 winners of the 2015-2016 Rome Prize Fellowship. Professor Marcinkoski’s proposal, titled “Rome, Empire Building and The City That Never Was,” was awarded the Rolland Rome Prize in the category of Landscape Architecture. The prize includes a stipend, a study or studio and room and board for a period of six months to two years in Rome, Italy. 

“I am very honored to join the ranks of these scholars and have the opportunity to continue ongoing research related to the increasing proliferation of foreign-motivated speculative urbanization activities on the African continent, reflecting on them as a kind of soft empire building,” Professor Marcinkoski said. He will depart for Rome to begin the fellowship in January of 2016. 

In May, U.S. President Barack Obama announced the launch of the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance (“MBK Alliance”), which aims to make the American Dream available to all boys and young men of color by eliminating gaps in their opportunities and outcomes. Penn Graduate School of Education (GSE) professor Shaun R. Harper was appointed to the MBK Alliance Advisory Council, along with Penn alumnus and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter. Penn alumnus John Legend was named Honorary Chairman of the Alliance.

Dr. Harper is the founding director of Penn GSE’s Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education. He has dedicated his career to studying the patterns that have allowed disadvantaged Black and Latino males to succeed, and searching for ways to expand those pathways to success. He also co-directs the new RISE for Boys and Men of Color initiative (Almanac February 24, 2015).

Dorothy Cheney, professor of biology at Penn, and Abraham Nitzan, professor of chemistry at Penn, have been elected members of the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Cheney’s research focuses on communication and social behavior in non-human primates. Since 1992, she has conducted long-term observational field studies of baboons in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, making insights into how social relationships and behavior relate to reproductive success. She has also studied vervet monkeys in Kenya and mountain gorillas in Rwanda.

Dr. Nitzan joined Penn’s faculty in July. His research focuses on theoretical aspects of chemical dynamics, the branch of chemistry that describes the nature of physical and chemical processes that underlie the progress of chemical reactions. In particular, his studies deal with chemical processes involving interactions between light and matter, chemical reactions in condensed phases and at interfaces, and transport phenomena in complex systems.

Joan Ockman, lecturer and Distinguished Senior Fellow in the department of architecture at PennDesign, received a Graham Foundation award in the category of publications for Architecture among Other Things, which gathers 25 essays and occasional pieces written by the author over the course of her career as an architectural critic, historian and educator. Treating a wide range of topics—from Tafuri to Times Square, Gehry to Ground Zero, the Seagram Building to the Seattle Library—the collection reflects on architecture’s adjacency to other things, on architecture as a thing, on the relationship between intellectual and material work, on the need for imagination and on the necessity of architectural criticism today. The Graham Foundation will award over $490,000 to support 63 outstanding projects.

George J. Pappas, Joseph Moore Professor and chair in the department of electrical and systems engineering, is the recipient of the 2014-2015 George H. Heilmeier Faculty Award for Excellence in Research for “fundamental contributions to embedded, hybrid and networked control systems.”

The Heilmeier Award honors a Penn Engineering faculty member whose work is scientifically meritorious and has high technological impact and visibility. Dr. Pappas’s current research interests include control theory and, in particular, hybrid systems, embedded and cyber-physical systems and hierarchical and distributed control systems, with applications to unmanned aerial vehicles, distributed robotics, green buildings and biomolecular networks.

Six Penn Medicine researchers will be awarded nearly $30 million in research funding contracts by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI):

Justin Bekelman, assistant professor of radiation oncology and medical ethics and health policy and senior fellow in the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, will receive $11.9 million for a five-year study comparing the effectiveness of proton radiation therapy vs. traditional photon radiation therapy in treating breast cancer patients, while monitoring collateral damage of healthy tissue.

Mark Neuman, assistant professor of anesthesiology and critical care and senior fellow in the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, will receive $11.9 million to compare functional and survival outcomes among older adults receiving spinal versus general anesthesia for surgery to treat hip fractures.

George E. Woody, professor of psychiatry, will receive $2.05 million to study the use of an XR-NTX, a drug used to treat opiate addiction, and its effectiveness when given to prisoners before and after re-entry.

Benjamin Abella, clinical research director at the Center for Resuscitation Science, will receive $1.87 million for a study that will compare two methods—an app vs. a video—of instructing family members of cardiac patients on how to perform CPR.

Richard Aplenc, associate professor of pediatrics, will receive $1.99 million to compare outcomes such as risk for infection, quality of life and delays in treatment associated with in-hospital stays vs. discharge to home among children receiving chemotherapy.

James Guevara, associate professor of pediatrics, will receive $2.11 million to assess how effective a care manager is when helping a patient use a portal for ADHD care.

Two studies from faculty in the Perelman School of Medicine’s department of pediatrics who practice at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia will also be funded by PCORI.

George Bridges, the current president of Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, has been selected as the next president of the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. Dr. Bridges received his master’s in criminology (1973) and his doctorate (1979) in sociology from Penn. He is slated to start at Evergreen on October 1.

Mark C. Reed, who recently served as senior vice president for administration and chief of staff at Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut, became president of St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 1. He received his doctorate in higher education management from Penn in 2008. At age 40, Dr. Reed will be the university’s youngest president since at least 1927.

The Porch at 30th Street Station was one of 12 recipients of the 2015 Achievement Award from the American Planning Association (APA). The awards were given to organizations that served as examples of strong planning. For the Porch, University City District (UCD) was selected specifically as an example of a best practice for its publication, Realizing the Potential of the Porch: A Case Study in Data-Driven Placemaking. The report was prepared by Interface Studio based on research and analysis by UCD’s policy and research manager, Seth Budick. 

Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF) awarded four of its 22 Pediatric Oncology Student Training (POST) Program grants to Penn students. Funded by these grants, all four students are currently training under research mentors at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia:

William Fix, MD’18: FLT3 Receptor-Redirected Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cells for AML and ALL

Michael Randall, MD’18: Cytotoxic Activity of an Anti-CD56 Antibody-Drug Conjugate, ab906-PBD, in Neuroblastoma

Milan Savani, C’17: Replicating Cells are Vulnerable to Mutations Induced by APOBEC3 Enzymes

Melanie Weingart, MD’18: Investigating the Role of LIN28B in Mediating Stemness/Self-renewal in Neuroblastoma

Amos B. Smith, III, William Warren Rhodes-Robert J. Thompson Professor of Chemistry in Penn’s School of Arts & Sciences, received the 2015 Perkin Prize for Organic Chemistry from the Royal Society of Chemistry for his continued outstanding contributions to new organic reaction development, complex natural product total synthesis and new small molecules for medicinal chemistry.

Dr. Smith’s research encompasses three diverse areas: development of innovative synthetic methods with wide application, demonstration of the utility of these synthetic tactics for the rapid construction of complex natural and unnatural products with significant bio-regulatory properties and novel bio-organic/medicinal chemistry programs. In each area, he and his collaborators exploit the power of organic synthesis to improve human health.

Joseph Subotnik, associate professor of chemistry in Penn Arts & Sciences, received a 2015 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award in May. The award provides an unrestricted research grant of $75,000.

Dr. Subotnik also received the 2015 The Journal of Physical Chemistry B Lectureship Award. His award encompasses biophysical chemistry, biomaterials, liquids and soft matter. One of three winners for 2015, Dr. Subotnik will deliver a lecture at the American Chemical Society Fall National Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts in August.

His work involves the dynamics of electron and energy transfer, particularly in the case of solar energy. He seeks to understand how the energy is captured, stored and used efficiently, versus wasted by producing heat, and has developed models that resolve many of the ambiguities in previous theories.

The Center for Jewish History announced that its Academic Advisory Council has elected Beth S. Wenger, professor and chair of Penn’s department of history, as its new chair. The Academic Advisory Council serves as a bridge between the institution and scholars at all career levels who make use of the vast collections of research materials available within the Center’s partner institutions. “On behalf of the Center for Jewish History and its five partners, I congratulate Beth on this very well-deserved appointment,” said Joel Levy, president and CEO, of the Center. “Through Beth’s leadership, the Center can continue to promote meaningful engagement with our collections among scholars, historians, and members of the public.”

Dr. Wenger is the author of History Lessons: The Creation of American Jewish Heritage, The Jewish Americans: Three Centuries of Jewish Voices in America and New York Jews and the Great Depression: Uncertain Promise.

The Inn at Penn has achieved a four-diamond rating from the American Automobile Association (AAA). This superior rating from AAA categorizes hotels as refined and stylish with upscale physical attributes, extensive amenities and a high degree of hospitality, service and attention to detail. The Inn at Penn, a Hilton Property, has achieved this status for its 15th consecutive year. Being an AAA four-diamond property showcases the Inn at Penn’s dedication to all areas of hotel and travel services. 

(above) Lynn Marsden-Atlass joined Dean Denis F. Kinane and a likeness of Dr. Evans at the School of Dental Medicine’s unveiling of the restored antique carriage, which was returned to Penn after having been on loan to a museum in France since 1993. Dr. Evans used his four-seat carriage to enable Empress Eugénie, the wife of Napoleon III, to flee Paris in 1870 in the Battle of Sedan during the Franco-Prussian War, after the Emperor’s capture and imprisonment. Gift of Thomas W. Evans.

Grandiose scale, sumptuous surfaces and superb craftsmanship will be featured in this exhibition of artworks from the collection of Thomas W. Evans (1823-1897). As the American-born dentist who spent most of his life in France where he served as dentist and confidant to the French court of Napoleon III, Dr. Evans—a West Philadelphian—assembled a premier collection of paintings, sculpture and decorative arts. He willed his estate and his parents’ home (at 40th and Spruce streets) to Penn to create a “world class dental school.” This exhibition offers an exclusive look at highlights from the Evans Collection—with some 130 items on display—for the first time in over 30 years.

While celebrating the splendors of 19th century artistry, the exhibition also tells the fascinating story of Dr. Evans and his life among European heads of state. Paintings by Henri-Louis Dupray and Gustave Neymark illustrate political and military scenes from the Second Empire in France. Portraits and cabinet card photographs document Dr. Evans’ own family and aristocratic contacts. Engraved tankards and other decorative metals commemorate Dr. Evans’ courtly relationships. Exquisite ceramics represent the period taste for spectacular and exotic decoration. This eclectic collection of treasures promises to delight the eye and captivate the imagination.

Courtly Treasures, drawn from the University Art Collection, is co-curated by the Arthur Ross Gallery and the Office of the Curator and celebrates the centennial anniversary of the School of Dental Medicine’s Thomas W. Evans Building, the construction of which was made possible through Dr. Evans’ estate. An illustrated catalogue of scholarly essays accompanies the exhibition, with contributions by Dean Denis Kinane of the School of Dental Medicine; Lynn Marsden-Atlass, director of the Arthur Ross Gallery and University curator; André Dombrowski, associate professor, history of art; Heather Gibson Moqtaderi, art collections manager and associate curator; Amy Ogata, professor of art history, University of Southern California; and Lindsay Grant, PhD candidate, history of art.

(above) Portraits by George Peter Alexander Healy, c. 1853, oils on canvas, of Thomas W. Evans and Mrs. Agnes Doyle Evans.  Dr. Evans. The dentist was the first to use vulcanized rubber as a base for dentures and nitrous oxide as an anesthetic. He was a friend to royal households of Europe and the School of Dental Medicine’s first benefactor (Almanac October 11, 1983).
(above) Secretary Desk, maker unknown, c. 1860, boulle work in brass and tortoise shell. Gift of Thomas W. Evans.	(above) Henri-Louis Dupray, Disturbance in Paris, 1883, oil on canvas. Gift of Thomas W. Evans.

The University of Pennsylvania Police Department Community Crime Report

About the Crime Report: Below are all Crimes Against Persons, Property and Crimes Against Society from the campus report for June 29-July 5, 2015. View prior weeks' reports. —Ed.

This summary is prepared by the Division of Public Safety and includes all criminal incidents reported and made known to the University Police Department between the dates of June 29-July 5, 2015. The University Police actively patrol from Market Street to Baltimore Avenue and from the Schuylkill River to 43rd Street in conjunction with the Philadelphia Police. In this effort to provide you with a thorough and accurate report on public safety concerns, we hope that your increased awareness will lessen the opportunity for crime. For any concerns or suggestions regarding this report, please call the Division of Public Safety at (215) 898-4482.

18th District Report

Below are the Crimes Against Persons from the 18th District: 4 incidents with 1 arrests (3 aggravated assaults and 1 assault) were reported between June 29-July 5, 2015 by the 18th District covering the Schuylkill River to 49th Street & Market Street to Woodland Avenue.

The Penn Children’s Center, located on the University of Pennsylvania’s campus, offers child care for children ages three months to five years. Accredited by the National Association of the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the Children’s Center is open to all members of the University and surrounding communities with preference given to faculty, staff and students of the University.

The Children’s Center accepts applications year round and enrollment is subject to availability. Assisted rates are available to University faculty and staff who meet eligibility requirements, subject to space availability and funding. Part-time slots and sibling discounts are also available. Below you will find the FY 2016 tuition rate schedule.

The weekly tuition fees are in effect from July 6, 2015 to July 1, 2016. The Penn Rate is available to Penn faculty, staff, students and UPHS employees. Assisted A Rates are for University faculty and staff with combined family annual income below $55,000. Assisted B rates are for University faculty and staff with combined family annual income below $65,000. 

Please contact the Penn Children’s Center at (215) 898-5268 for additional information or to arrange a tour, or visit the Center’s website at www.upenn.edu/childcare  

The 3401 Walnut Data Center will be off-line on Saturday, August 1 from 11 p.m. until noon on Sunday, August 2 for preventive maintenance of electrical systems. In preparation for maintenance, application shutdown procedures will begin at 8 p.m. This means most administrative and business applications and services will not be available after that time.

The 3401 Walnut Data Center Outage was first announced in Almanac on May 12.

For a list of affected applications and services that will not be available during the outage, or to register to attend an information session about the outage on either July 14 or 16, please see https://www.isc.upenn.edu/alerts-outages/planned-3401-walnut-data-center-outage-812015-822015

If you have any questions or concerns about the applications you use, please contact your regular application support resource or Local Support Provider.

—Tom Murphy, Vice President of Information Technology & University Chief Information Officer, Information Systems & Computing

If you have an unused balance in your Health Care or Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account (FSA), you need to be aware of some important IRS regulations and deadlines. The money you contribute to your FSA during each plan year can only be used for expenses incurred within certain dates, as listed below. Keep in mind the expenses must be incurred while you’re actively participating in the accounts. For more details on FSAs, including listings of eligible expenses and instructions on how to file a claim, visit https://www.hr.upenn.edu/myhr/benefits/health/fsa

Health Care FSA: All claims for expenses incurred through June 30, 2015 must be submitted by September 30, 2015. If you have a balance in your Health Care FSA after September 30, up to $500 of those unused funds will automatically roll over to the 2015-2016 plan year. Any balance above $500 will be forfeited.

Dependent Care FSA: If you have a balance in your Dependent Care FSA, make sure you use it—or you’ll lose it. IRS regulations require you to use the full balance in your account each plan year, otherwise you’ll lose that unused money. You have an extended period of time to use up your balance each plan year. Expenses incurred through September 15, 2015 can still be applied to your 2014-2015 plan year balance, as long as the claims are submitted by September 30, 2015.

—Division of Human Resources

Prospective homeowners interested in learning more about the home purchasing process are encouraged to attend First Time Home Buying 101. This instructive workshop is ideal for individuals who are considering buying their first home, as the session provides the information needed to demystify the process.

First Time Home Buying 101 will be held on Tuesday, August 4 from 12:30-1:30 p.m. at Learning and Development at 3624 Market Street, Suite 1A South. Santander, one of Penn Home Ownership Services’s preferred lending partners, will be in there to address questions. For more information or to register, please visit www.upenn.edu/homeownership

—Business Services

The Hilton Inn at Penn and Sheraton Philadelphia University City hotels would like to thank the University community for its patronage over the last year. This year’s Special Penn Rates (available for rooms booked using a Penn Budget Code) are as follows:

• Hilton Inn at Penn: $250/night from July 1-December 31, 2015
• Sheraton Philadelphia University City: $194/night from July 1, 2015-June 30, 2016 

Visit the Inn at Penn and the Sheraton websites to learn more about these properties and the amenities offered to their guests.

—Business Services

Almanac will resume weekly publication with the next issue, which will be published in print and online on Tuesday, August 25. Breaking news will be posted in the Almanac Between Issues section of the Almanac website and sent out to Express Almanac subscribers. To subscribe, see www.upenn.edu/almanac/express.html