February 2, 2016 Volume 62 Issue 21

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is delighted to announce a $10 million commitment from Anne Welsh McNulty (Wharton MBA Class of 1979), which will drive the expansion and global reach of the current Wharton Leadership Program, building on a foundation of over 20 years of innovation and impact in leadership development. In recognition of this transformative gift, the Wharton Leadership Program will be renamed the Anne and John McNulty Leadership Program at the Wharton School.

“We are honored to be able to announce Anne’s amazing gift to the McNulty Leadership Program,” said Wharton Dean Geoff Garrett. “Anne and John have shaped the history of Wharton and made a lasting impact on students by preparing them to lead and change the world. Wharton is deeply grateful for this gift, which embodies the McNulty family’s steadfast commitment to leadership.”

The McNulty Leadership Program at Wharton memorializes Mr. McNulty’s legacy of bold impact and the McNultys’ sustained passion for preparing individuals to lead in their fields and communities. Under its new name, the McNulty Leadership Program at the Wharton School will elevate the School’s approach to leadership learning and development. The Program maintains a holistic approach to coursework, coaching, mentoring and experiential learning for students of all ages, instilling in them the tools needed to adapt their leadership styles through action, reflection and experience and to become global leaders of diverse workforces.

“This inspired gift from Anne and the McNulty Foundation gets to the core of what we do at the University of Pennsylvania,” said Penn President Amy Gutmann. “Penn inspires enormously talented students along with many members of our University community, encourages them to challenge themselves to make a positive difference in the world and provides an environment where they can take risks and grow to become their best possible selves. Anne will continue to change lives through her generosity and the Anne and John McNulty Leadership Program at the Wharton School.”

“I believe in the transformative power of developing each individual’s leadership capacity. Wharton’s Leadership Program is uniquely poised to make a real impact that will multiply from its students to businesses and communities and beyond,” said Mrs. McNulty. “Wharton was a turning point in our lives,” she reflected on their experience at the School. “It challenged us to think differently and taught us to be more thoughtful and more ambitious. Our time at Wharton motivated us to be active leaders, not only in running businesses, but also in our communities. It is a pleasure for me to support future students so that they may have a similar experience, so that they may reach their potential and so that they may change the world through the lessons they learn at Wharton.”

This gift marks a new chapter in the McNulty family’s legacy of leadership at the Wharton School, throughout Philadelphia and across the globe. The McNulty Foundation is investing generously in higher education and leadership development in the Philadelphia region, including grants to Villanova University and St. Joseph’s University in addition to the University of Pennsylvania. The Foundation awards the annual the John P. McNulty Prize to young leaders pioneering creative, sustainable market solutions to seemingly intractable problems in communities around the world.

“This major investment will accelerate and expand the impact of Wharton’s premier leadership development initiative by providing support for new program development and the adaptation of popular programs—like the Wharton Leadership Ventures and the Executive Coaching and Feedback Program—to new student audiences and the general public. We’re so grateful to enlist Anne and the McNulty Foundation as both a supporter and a partner in this next phase,” said Jeff Klein, executive director of the newly named McNulty Leadership Program at Wharton.

Prior to his untimely passing, Mr. McNulty was a historic figure at Goldman Sachs. He rose through the ranks, named first as a partner and then as co-head of the Asset Management Division, and later leading its newly created Investment Management Division. Throughout, he was a dedicated mentor to young associates, many of whom have since risen to leadership positions in the industry. He served on Wharton’s Graduate Executive Board, on the Board of Trustees at Saint Joseph’s University and as a board member of the New York University Child Study Center. He earned his undergraduate degree from Saint Joseph’s University and his MBA (in 1979) from the Wharton School.

Mrs. McNulty is the co-founder and managing partner of JBK Partners, with businesses ranging from investment management to a private philanthropic foundation. She was previously a managing director at Goldman Sachs and a senior executive of the Goldman Sachs Hedge Fund Strategies Group. She is a current member of the Board of Overseers at the Wharton School, a member of the Wharton Leadership Advisory Board and a past member of the Undergraduate Executive Board. In addition to her leadership engagements at Wharton, she serves as a trustee of the Aspen Institute and the Metropolitan Opera of New York, and a member of the Boards of Directors of both the Child Mind Institute in New York and the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia. She is a former trustee at Villanova University, where she was valedictorian of her class.

Penn President Amy Gutmann and Provost Vincent Price announced the appointment of Aviv Nevo as the University of Pennsylvania’s seventeenth Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor, effective July 1, 2016.   

A pioneer in the use of empirical data to analyze consumer behavior, Dr. Nevo will be the George A. Weiss and Lydia Bravo Weiss University Professor, with appointments in the department of economics in the School of Arts & Sciences and the department of marketing in the Wharton School.

“Aviv Nevo is one of the world’s leading scholars of industrial organization, whose innovative use of data in analyzing consumer behavior has helped revolutionize economics and marketing,” said President Gutmann. “Aviv is a superb teacher and path-breaking econometrician whose work in the academy and in government truly exemplifies Penn’s commitment to harnessing the tools and perspectives of multiple disciplines to understand and address pressing real-world questions.”

Dr. Nevo is currently the Robert E. and Emily King Professor in Business Institutions in the department of economics and professor of marketing in the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where he has taught since 2004. In 2013-2014, he served as deputy assistant attorney general for Economic Analysis in the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice. A fellow of the Econometric Society, a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and an international research fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies in London, he is a global leader in the fields of industrial organization and econometrics. His research focuses on estimating the demand for consumer packaged goods and the implications for price competition, mergers and marketing. He has also done research in the areas of health economics, health care, telecom and real estate.

He currently serves as a director of the Center for the Study of Industrial Organization at Northwestern; a Senior Distinguished Fellow of the Searle Center on Law, Regulation and Economic Growth; and as a co-editor of the RAND Journal of Economics, the leading academic journal in industrial organization. His work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, including a prestigious Faculty Early Career Award, and he has taught at both MIT and the University of California-Berkeley. He earned a PhD (1997) and AM (1994) in economics from Harvard University and a BSc with Special Honors in mathematics and economics from Tel Aviv University (1991).

“Aviv Nevo’s pioneering work,” said Provost Price, “embodies the ideals of the Penn Integrates Knowledge Professorship: bringing together the methodologies of multiple disciplines to create essential new knowledge at the frontiers of academic research. I am confident that he will be a galvanizing presence on campus and an inspiring mentor to generations of students and colleagues.”

The Penn Integrates Knowledge (PIK) 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 George A. Weiss and Lydia Bravo Weiss University Professorship is a gift of George A. Weiss, a 1965 graduate of the Wharton School of the University. Mr. Weiss is an emeritus Trustee of the University, former chair of Making History: The Campaign for Penn, a member of the Executive Committee of Penn Medicine and an emeritus member of the Athletics Board of Overseers. He is chief executive officer and chairman of Weiss Multi-Strategy Advisers LLC, a next generation boutique investment management firm with a nearly 40-year history.

The Trustees’ Council of Penn Women (TCPW) is an international network of Penn alumnae. By power of their example, these leaders support, foster and promote the advancement of women and women’s issues within the University, thus enriching the University community as a whole.

Beginning in 2012, to mark the organization’s quarter-century milestone, the TCPW 25th Anniversary Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising was established to recognize undergraduate faculty advisors who have distinguished themselves in providing assistance and advice to their advisee students and who have made a significant impact on the academic experience of these students.

Nominations of standing faculty may be made by an undergraduate or any member of Penn’s community for someone other than oneself and must be submitted together with an essay—not to exceed 250 words in length—supporting the nomination. The deadline for these nominations will be at 5 p.m. on March 2, 2016.

The nomination form is available at https://provost.upenn.edu/education/teaching-at-penn/tcpw-award The two winners of this award will receive $2,500 each and will be celebrated at the Fall TCPW Conference, to be held on October 27-28, 2016.

The Vice Provost for Education and the Center for Teaching and Learning invite faculty to submit proposals for course development grants to support the creation of Structured, Active, In-class Learning (SAIL) classes.

SAIL classes emphasize the active engagement of students in class through structured work, guided by the instructor. They build upon the premise that students benefit from learning by doing and that class time should be used to help students learn to work with material. To that end, class time is built around highly structured activities, in which students work to solve problems, interpret data or evidence or otherwise engage in real practices in the discipline. This work is frequently done in groups, with instructors circulating and guiding the process. Although a SAIL class may include some mini-lectures or full-class discussion, the exercises that students engage with are at the heart of the class. In preparation for that in-class work, instructors usually provide out-of-class materials or assignments for students to process prior to class.

These grants provide support for faculty interested in transforming an existing course into a SAIL class or developing a new one. SAIL grants will provide faculty with a $5,000 research fund for their preparation time or for assistance in the process of developing in-class exercises, any out-of-class materials or assignments and assessments. Since the purpose of the SAIL grants is to aid faculty who are interested in successfully replacing lectures with active learning and practice in the discipline, proposals to reimagine courses that are often taught as lecture classes are particularly welcome, as are proposals for introductory level classes.

Proposals must include: the proposed course’s name, number and expected enrollment; faculty’s CV; either a current syllabus annotated with proposed changes or (for new courses) a preliminary syllabus; and department chair’s signature indicating approval. Successful proposals will explain how the course will make use of SAIL techniques, and include the following:

• Thoughts on why you want to teach this class as a SAIL class

• Explanation of the in-class exercises to be developed and used

• Discussion of how any other teaching methods—out-of-class materials or assignments, for instance—will contribute to the course aims

• Estimate of the amount of class time that will be spent on structured activities and how much time will be devoted to other techniques, such as mini-lectures

• Reflection on goals for what students should learn from this course

• TA support for the course, both currently and in proposed version

• Where the course fits into the curriculum of the department

Proposals should not exceed three pages (not including CV and syllabus), and will be reviewed by a faculty committee.

Faculty are encouraged to consult with the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) in developing their courses. See http://www.upenn.edu/ctl/resources/teaching_a_sail_class for more information. Additionally, CTL can provide training for TAs supporting SAIL classes.

Submit proposals to CTL’s Sara DeMucci at sdemucci@upenn.edu by Monday, February 29, 2016.

The Online Learning Initiative (OLI) announces a new call for digital learning proposals. Over the past four years, the University of Pennsylvania has produced more than 80 massive open online courses (MOOCs) that have been streamed through partnerships with Coursera and edX. Additionally, OLI has partnered with Penn schools to produce six digital content projects in the past year.

Faculty members are invited to submit proposals for development of a MOOC, a series of MOOCs (a Coursera Specialization or edX XSeries) or a digital content project. Courses may resemble an existing course or be an entirely new course and may be taught individually or jointly with additional faculty members. According to our partner platforms, high demand areas for MOOCs and MOOC series include: computer science, statistics/mathematics, business administration, language learning, design, music, writing, animal science/care and professional/personal development. Faculty are also encouraged to propose digital content projects, including the development of video content, simulations, other forms of technology-enhanced teaching and learning methods for existing on-campus courses, or other experiments that faculty would like to pilot with the intention of improving the on-campus learning experience.

Funding is provided by the Office of the Provost in partnership with the relevant School. Support is available for expenses such as faculty preparation time, teaching assistance, recording of videos, software development, copyright licensing and other production costs. For new MOOCs, funding ranges between $25,000-$35,000 total, and for digital content projects, funding is usually between $5,000-$25,000. Funding for Specializations or XSeries varies depending on the number of courses and faculty involvement. Course funding can be supplemented by outside grants at the discretion of the faculty member(s) or the School.

Proposals are due no later than March 15, 2016 and must be completed using the templates provided in the Instructor Resources section of the Online Learning Initiative’s website: http://onlinelearning.upenn.edu/resources/instructor-resources/resources-mooc-development-delivery/

Proposals must have the approval of each faculty member’s dean and department chair and be submitted to the Online Learning Initiative at: online_learning@upenn.edu

The Online Learning Initiative will host an Open House on Monday, February 29 from 3-5:30 p.m., suite 211, Sansom Place East, to provide more information on the initiative and answer any proposal questions. The OLI team is always available to meet with faculty members to discuss ideas and assist in proposal preparation. Contact Lauren Owens at lowens@upenn.edu if you would like to attend the Open House or schedule an individual consultation with the Online Learning team.

For additional information and resources, visit: onlinelearning.upenn.edu www.upenn.edu/ctl and wic.library.upenn.edu

Anil K. Rustgi, chief of gastroenterology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, is once again the recipient of a Research Professor Award from the American Cancer Society (ACS), the organization’s most prestigious national award. It comes with a grant of five years to enable Dr. Rustgi to continue to provide leadership in his research on the genetics and biology of gastrointestinal cancers, including those arising from the colon and pancreas. His group has provided innovative scientific contributions in the development of 3D culture systems, mouse models and bridging the preclinical arena and clinical domains.

The Rustgi lab has long focused on how preneoplastic cells become neoplastic and the tumor microenvironment. With the ACS grant and other efforts, the lab is increasingly interested in GI cancer metastasis biology and avenues to target metastatic lesions in patients.

Dr. Rustgi is one of only 25 active ACS Research Professors in the country. He was first awarded an ACS professorship award in 2010. This is a one-time, five-year renewal.

Stephen “Kyle” Wilshusen, a first-year Ph.D. student in computer science at Penn’s School of Engineering & Applied Science, died in Philadelphia on December 31. He was 25 years old.

Mr. Wilshusen grew up in Boulder, Colorado. He attended Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas, where he earned his bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in math and computer science in 2015. He received an honorable mention in the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program in 2014, as well as Hendrix College’s Robert C. Eslinger Computer Science Award in 2015.

A summer internship in robotics at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh turned into a yearlong position working in vineyards and orchards with a team learning how to better estimate crop yields. He co-authored an article entitled “Automated visual yield estimation in vineyards,” published in 2014 in the Journal of Field Robotics.

Mr. Wilshusen came to Penn in 2015 and began his dissertation work in agricultural robotics. He worked in Penn’s General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception (GRASP) lab.

He is survived by his parents, Richard Wilshusen and Virginia Pool; his grandfather; two great aunts; five aunts; three uncles and 12 first cousins. A Memorial Meeting will take place on February 6 at 2 p.m. at Crest View Elementary School, 1897 Sumac Avenue, Boulder.

His parents ask that in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to Growing Gardens (http://www.growinggardens.org) or the Second Wind Fund (http://www.thesecondwindfund.org).

Richard “Buz” Cooper, a hematologist/oncologist, founder of Penn’s Cancer Center and senior fellow at Penn’s Leonard Davis Institute (LDI) of Health Economics, died in New York City on January 15 from complications from pancreatic cancer. He was 79 years old.

Dr. Cooper grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his medical degree from Washington University in St. Louis, then did an internship, residency and fellowship in hematology at what was then Harvard Medical Services of Boston City Hospital. In 1963, he held a fellowship at the National Cancer Institute and then became an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School.

In 1971, he joined the University of Pennsylvania. He founded Penn Medicine’s Cancer Center (later renamed the Abramson Cancer Center), which he directed from 1977-1985. He was a member of the Senate Advisory Committee (Almanac November 11, 1975) and the Senate Committee on Administrative Structure (Almanac January 17, 1978).

He was dean of the Medical College of Wisconsin from 1985-1994, then founded and directed the school’s Health Policy Institute, now the Institute for Health and Society, from 1994-2004.

In 2005, he returned to Penn as a senior fellow in the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics. During this time, he challenged the Dartmouth Atlas view that the waste and inefficiencies of physicians and healthcare systems were responsible for the large geographical variation in healthcare costs in the US. Dr. Cooper contended that the variation stemmed from poverty, as large segments of the population are unable to obtain routine healthcare over a lifetime, resulting in massive numbers of advanced morbidities later in life that are expensive to treat.

At LDI, he also researched the question of whether or not the country would have enough future physicians, and advocated for a full scope of practice for advanced practice nurses.

In 2011, Dr. Cooper became director of the Center for the Future of the Healthcare Workforce at New York Institute of Technology. Shortly before his death, he completed a book on the effect of income inequality on poor healthcare outcomes and high healthcare spending. The book, titled Poverty and the Myths of Health Care Reform, is scheduled to be published this summer by Johns Hopkins University Press.

Dr. Cooper is survived by his wife, Barrie Cassileth; one daughter, Stephanie (David) Cooper Cornelius; one son, Jonathan (Eileen Harris); three grandchildren, Jordan, Matthew and Halle; and Andrea Pastor. A memorial event commemorating Dr. Cooper’s life and contributions is being planned for family, friends and colleagues at a future date. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Cooper Family Research Fund, care of the University of Pennsylvania Abramson Cancer Center Development Office, 3535 Market Street, Ste. 750, Philadelphia, PA 19104.

Walter Graham Arader, W’42, honorary Trustee of the University of Pennsylvania and former Pennsylvania state official, died at home in Radnor, Pennsylvania on January 18. He was 95 years old.

Mr. Arader earned his BS in economics from the Wharton School and was a member of Penn’s first Naval ROTC Unit. He served in the Navy during World War II and achieved the rank of Commander in the Naval Reserve in 1958.

His career spanned fields such as fundraising, printing, education, government and management consulting. After his military service, he worked in Penn’s Development Office. Years later, he was a key volunteer during the Program for the Eighties fundraising campaign at Penn.

He joined the printing firm of Edward Stern & Company in Philadelphia in 1952 and assumed financial and managerial control in 1959. He served as president of the Graphic Arts Association of Philadelphia in 1964. He effected the merger of Stern with Majestic Press in 1965 and served as president of the combined operations. He also operated a consulting firm that specialized in mergers and acquisitions for small to medium sized companies on the East Coast.

In 1971, he was appointed as Pennsylvania’s secretary of commerce. He later served as commissioner of the Pennsylvania Securities Commission from 1974 to 1980.

In 1974, he guided a bill through the state legislature proposing that the state purchase the papers of Louis I. Kahn on behalf of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. The purchase was finalized in 1976, and the following year, the Commission placed the Louis I. Kahn Collection on permanent loan to the University of Pennsylvania (Almanac October 22, 1991).

Mr. Arader was elected to Penn’s Board of Trustees in 1979 (Almanac January 23, 1979) and participated on the Executive, Budget & Finance and External Affairs Committees, as well as the Facilities & Campus Planning Committee, which he chaired. At Penn, he was also a founding member of the Commonwealth Relations Committee, a board member of the Wharton Alumni Association, chairman of the American Civilization Advisory Council and a member of the American Selection Committee for the Thouron Scholarship Program. The Morris Arboretum, the Penn Museum and the Penn Fund benefitted from his support.

Mr. Arader is survived by four children, W. Graham Arader, III (Bo-In), Georgeann Arader Berkinshaw, C’74 (Edwin R. Berkinshaw), Christopher, C’75, and Alexander, WG’82 (Adrienne Carhartt Arader), 14 grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and one sister, Josephine H. Hueber.

Donations in his memory may be made to Harriton House, 500 Harriton Road, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010, where a beekeepers’ club that Mr. Arader started still exists.

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Agenda

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

3-5 p.m. Room 205, College Hall

1. Approval of the Minutes of January 20, 2016 (1 minute)

2. Chair’s Report (5 minutes)

3. Past-Chair’s Report on Academic Planning and Budget, Capital Council and Campaign for Community (5 minutes

4. Update from the Office of the President (45 minutes)
Discussion with Amy Gutmann, President

5. Update from the Office of Information Systems and Computing (30 minutes)
Discussion with Tom Murphy, Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Technology Officer

6. New Business (15 minutes)

Next SEC Meeting: March 16, 2016, 3-5 p.m.

Special Location: Division of Public Safety, 4040 Chestnut Street

At the January 27 University Council meeting, there was a discussion of Penn’s protocols for bringing and responding to complaints about sexual assault or misconduct and other Title IX issues. The discussion began with comments from a panel of five Penn people whose offices provide resources and services.

Sam Starks, the executive director of the Office of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity, spoke first and pointed out that he is also the University’s Title IX coordinator. As such, he is responsible for coordinating Penn’s efforts to comply with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX), which prohibits sex discrimination in education programs and activities. See http://www.upenn.edu/affirm-action/titleix.html

Jessica Mertz, director of Sexual Violence Prevention and Education (Almanac September 16, 2014), explained that the position she has held since 2014 was created as a result of the Commission on Student Safety, Alcohol and Campus Life (Almanac February 18, 2014). Previously she had chaired the University-wide Penn Violence Prevention Committee. She listed numerous prevention efforts such as Thrive at Penn, Speak About It, SAVA (student anti-violence training), PAVE (peer educators), the It’s On Us campaign, MARS, Vagina Monologues and advisory groups. There is also an array of various resources on campus to respond to those in need of help, such as SART (sexual assault response team), PWC (Penn Women’s Center), CAPS (Counseling and Psychological Services) and the Chaplain’s Office, among others. She said it is essential to help students understand how to be an active bystander and how to intervene. Students do not need to make a report to get support and use resources. See https://secure.www.upenn.edu/vpul/pvp/

Patricia Brennan, director of Special Services in the Division of Public Safety, stressed that her primary function is to provide confidential ‘options counseling’ 24/7, for not only students, but for faculty and staff, with no geographic boundaries and support for those who have been a victim of interpersonal violence. Her unit is not part of the Penn Police, and can provide support for those who wish to remain anonymous but can also take formal police reports. See https://www.publicsafety.upenn.edu/about/special-services/sensitive-crimes/

Deborah Harley, Penn’s new sexual violence investigative officer (Almanac December 1, 2015), gave an overview of the process that would be followed by her office if one enrolled Penn student were filing a complaint about another: both parties would be interviewed, a full investigation would be followed by a report and a determination of whether or not a Penn policy has been violated and what sanctions, if any, should be imposed. The burden of proof is a preponderance of evidence. Either party could still request a hearing. See http://www.upenn.edu/svio/

Karu Kozuma, associate vice provost for student affairs, said that it is important to educate all members of the Penn community about the many resources available and to empower everyone to grapple with these complex problems that can have complex solutions.

President Amy Gutmann pointed out that a fact that surfaced from the AAU Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Sexual Misconduct (Almanac September 29, 2015) is that a great many Penn students reported that they do not know where to turn in a crisis in spite of the many options available. Dr. Gutmann stressed that if in doubt about which office might be useful, the Penn community needs to remember only one phone number—for the Penn Helpline: (215) 898-HELP. That number is now on the new contact-less PennCards.

Provost Vincent Price added that in situations that involve faculty, they would currently go through the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty, Anita Allen, but eventually all cases will probably go through the Office of the Sexual Violence Investigative Officer.

Resources that are available for Penn faculty and staff include not only those of the Special Services Unit and Affirmative Action/Title IX Officer, but also the Employee Assistance Program through Human Resources that provides free, confidential counseling and referral services. Call Penn Behavioral Health 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1 (888) 321-4433 or visit http://www.pennbehavioralhealth.org/resources.aspx

The deadline to sign up for the next Open Forum at Council’s February 17 meeting is February 8. Email ucouncil@pobox.upenn.edu

See Almanac (January 26, 2016) for details.

Murray Grossman, a professor of neurology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and director of Penn’s Frontotemporal Degeneration (FTD) Center, received the Legal Clinic for the Disabled’s Special Recognition Award, the organization’s highest honor, for his lifetime commitment to the disability community.

Dr. Grossman is recognized for his impact on the disability community through his research, writing and the care of patients with FTD and related disorders.

He is also president of the Katie Samson Foundation, a local foundation providing funding for promising research and rehabilitation treatments and programs that afford patients with spinal cord injuries independence and quality of life.

Penn Medicine’s Gary Lichtenstein, professor of medicine, and Gary Wu, the Ferdinand G. Weisbrod Professor in Gastroenterology, received 2015 Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Scientific Achievement Awards from the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA). The awards were given at the CCFA’s annual Advances in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Conference in Orlando, Florida in December.

Dr. Lichtenstein was awarded the Scientific Achievement in IBD Clinical Research Award. He has led Penn’s Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center for 22 years. He currently researches investigational therapies for ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease treatments. He has served as the principal investigator in trials evaluating novel agents in the treatment of UC and Crohn’s disease.

Dr. Wu won the Scientific Achievement in Basic IBD Research Award. He serves as associate chief for research in gastroenterology, co-director of the Penn-CHOP Microbiome Program and associate director of Penn’s Center for Molecular Studies in Digestive and Liver Disease. He is also an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians.

The University of Pennsylvania Prevention Research Center has received $1.4 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for three new special interest projects

The first project is a two-year initiative that aims to build community health leadership in West Philadelphia to prevent chronic disease. Frances Barg, a medical anthropologist and associate professor in the department of family medicine & community health, is the principal investigator. Co-investigators are Heather Klusaritz, Peter Cronholm, Chyke Doubeni and Karen Glanz.

The second is a three-year project led by Christine Hill-Kayser, assistant professor of radiation oncology, and Lisa Schwartz, assistant professor of clinical psychology in pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. They will test the impact of a technology-based intervention to provide customized care plans and a mobile health application to help adolescents and young adults who are childhood cancer survivors take a greater role in managing their health. Co-investigators are Lamia Barakat, Lauren Daniel, Linda Fleisher, Jill Ginsberg, Wendy Hobbie, Linda Jacobs, Yimei Li and Dava Szalda.

The third is a two-year effort that will compare the economic impact and health-related quality of life outcomes among children with cancer who were treated in phase III clinical trials to those who received non-trial standard treatment. The principal investigator is Marilyn Schapira, associate professor of medicine at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veteran’s Administration Medical Center and co-leader of the Cancer Control Research Program at the Abramson Cancer Center. Co-investigators are Lamia Barakat, Charles Bailey and Jeffrey Silber.

Pennsylvania Hospital (PAH) achieved Magnet® status, the highest institutional honor awarded for nursing excellence, from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). PAH’s achievement was granted unanimously by the ANCC’s Commission on Magnet®.

Magnet® status is one of the highest achievements a hospital can obtain in professional nursing. Less than 7% of healthcare organizations in the United States have achieved the designation. All five Penn Medicine acute care facilities—PAH, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital and Lancaster General Health—are now among the 27 Magnet® hospitals in Pennsylvania.

Thomas Tartaron, associate professor of classical studies, won the Archaeological Institute of America’s (AIA) James R. Wiseman Book Award for best archaeological book of the year for Maritime Networks in the Mycenaean World, which takes a new look at maritime life among the Mycenaean Greeks from 1600-1100 B.C. While the Greeks’ long-distance trade with Egypt and Cyprus has been substantially studied, local maritime networks have been largely ignored and the locations of Mycenaean harbors are virtually unknown. In his book, Dr. Tartaron provides concepts and methods for recovering lost harbors and short-range maritime networks using information from ship construction, coastal paleoenvironments, oral histories, Homer and other ancient texts, archaeological fieldwork and network theory.

Julia Verkholantsev, associate professor of Slavic languages and literatures, received the Early Slavic Studies Association Book Prize for The Slavic Letters of St. Jerome: The History of the Legend and Its Legacy, or, How the Translator of the Vulgate Became an Apostle of the Slavs. The book explores the history of the medieval belief that fourth-century church father and biblical translator St. Jerome was a Slav and the inventor of the Slavic (Glagolitic) alphabet and Roman Slavonic rite, and investigates this belief’s spread from Dalmatia to Bohemia and Poland. Now largely forgotten, this legend was used by political and religious leaders from Rome to Bohemia and beyond for nearly 500 years until it was debunked in the 18th century. Dr. Verkholantsev examines the belief within the wider context of European historical and theological thought and shows that its effects reached far beyond the Slavic world.

As part of Penn’s Power Down Challenge, the University’s Green Campus Partnership is administering a campus-wide survey to measure the Penn community’s knowledge of energy issues, personal energy behaviors and perceptions of the University’s energy reduction efforts by students, staff and faculty. Take the brief three-minute survey about energy conservation at https://wharton.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3DZmztKQaWFPSXb for a chance to win Penn apparel. The answers will help the Green Campus Partnership build a more sustainable and energy-efficient university.

Box a: Employee’s social security number. This is your Social Security Number. It should match the number on your Social Security Card. If the number is incorrect, please provide your Social Security Card to the Tax Department. The Tax Department will update and issue a corrected W-2 form.

Box b: Employer identification number (EIN). This is your employer’s unique tax identification number.

Box c: Employer’s name, address and ZIP code. This identifies the name, address, city, state and zip code of your employer.

Box d: Control number. This is a code that identifies this unique W-2 form in your employer’s records. It is an optional field and may be left blank.

Box e: Employee’s name. This identifies your full name (first name, middle initial and last name). Your name must match the name on your Social Security Card. If the name is incorrect, please provide a copy of the Social Security Card to the Tax Department. The Tax Department will update and issue a corrected W-2 form.

Box f: Employee’s address. This identifies your address, city, state and zip code.

Numbered Boxes on W-2 form:

Box 1: Wages, tips, other compensation. Box 1 reports your total taxable wages or salary for federal income tax purposes. This figure includes your wages, salary, tips, reported bonuses and other taxable compensation. Any taxable fringe benefits (such as group term life insurance) are also included in your Box 1 wages. Box 1 does not include any pre-tax benefits such as savings contributions to a 401(k) plan, 403(b) plan, health insurance or other types of pre-tax benefits.

Box 2: Federal income tax withheld. Box 2 reports the total amount withheld from your paychecks for federal income taxes. This represents the amount of federal taxes you have paid-in throughout the year.

Box 3: Social security wages. Box 3 reports the total amount of wages subject to the Social Security tax for 2015. The Social Security tax is assessed on wages up to $118,500. This limit is called the Social Security wage base.

Box 4: Social security tax withheld. Box 4 reports the total amount of Social Security taxes withheld from your paychecks. The Social Security tax is a flat tax rate of 6.2% on your wage income, up to a maximum wage base of $118,500 (for 2015). Wages above the Social Security wage base are not subject to the Social Security tax. Accordingly, the maximum figure shown in Box 4 should be $7,347 ($118,500 maximum wage bases times 6.2%).

If you have two or more jobs during the year and your total Social Security wages (Box 3) exceed $118,500, you may have paid-in more Social Security tax than is required. You claim the excess Social Security tax withholding as a refundable credit on your Form 1040.

Box 5: Medicare wages and tips. Box 5 reports the amount of wages subject to the Medicare tax. There is no maximum wage base for Medicare taxes.

Box 6: Medicare tax withheld. Box 6 reports the amount of taxes withheld from your paycheck for the Medicare tax. The Medicare tax is a flat tax rate of 1.45% on your total Medicare wage under $200,000. Employees whose Medicare wages are over $200,000 will be subject to an additional withholding for the additional Medicare tax at a rate of 0.9% on Medicare wages over the $200,000. This is a rate of 2.35% on all Medicare wages over $200,000.

Box 10: Dependent Care benefits. Box 10 reports any dependent care benefits paid under a qualified plan (Section 125 cafeteria plan). It may also include the amount of benefits paid by the employer to the daycare facility or reimbursed to the employee to subsidize the benefit. Amounts up to $5,000 are non-taxable benefits. Any amount in excess of $5,000 is reported as taxable wages in Boxes 1, 3 and 5.

Complete Form 2441, Child and Dependent Care Expenses, to compute any taxable and non-taxable amounts.

Box 12: Deferred Compensation and Other Compensations. There are several types of compensation and benefits that can be reported in Box 12. Box 12 will report a single letter or double letter code followed by a dollar amount. A complete list of the codes can be found on the box instructions on the W-2 form. These are the most common codes found on Penn’s W-2 form:

Code C: Taxable cost of group-term life insurance over $50,000. This amount is included as part of your taxable wages in Boxes 1, 3 and 5.

Code E: Non-taxable elective alary deferrals to a 403(b) retirement plan.

Code G: Non-taxable elective salary deferrals and employer contributions (including non-elective deferrals) to a Section 457(b) retirement plan.

Code M: Uncollected Social Security or RRTA tax on taxable group-term life insurance over $50,000.

Code N: Uncollected Medicare tax on taxable group-term life insurance over $50,000.

Code P: Excludable moving expense reimbursements paid directly to employee (not included in Box 1, 3, or 5).

Code T: Employer-paid adoption benefits. This amount is not included in Box 1 wages. Use form 8839 to calculate the taxable and non-taxable portion of these adoption benefits.

Code W: Employer and employee contributions to a Health Savings Account. Report this amount on Form 8889, Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).

Code Y: Salary deferrals under a Section 409A non-qualified deferred compensation plan.

Code Z: Income received under 409A non-qualified deferred compensation plan. This amount is included in taxable wages in Box 1. This amount is subject to an additional tax reported on the employee’s Form 1040.

Code BB: After-tax contributions to a Roth 403(b) retirement plan.

Code DD: Reports the cost of employer-sponsored health coverage. The amount reported with Code DD is not taxable.

Box 13: Check boxes. There are three check boxes in Box 13. The only box that may be checked off that applies to you as an employee of the University is the Retirement Plan.

Retirement plan means that you participated in your employer’s retirement plan.

If the “Retirement plan” box is checked, special limits may apply to the amount of traditional IRA contributions you may deduct. See Pub. 590, Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs).

Box 14: Other Tax Information. Your employer may report additional tax information in Box 14. If any amounts are reported, they will have a brief description of what the amounts are for. For example, SUT represents the amount of State Unemployment tax that was withheld from your earnings during the year.

Box 15: State and State Employer’s Identification. Box 15 reports your employer’s state and state tax identification number.

Box 16: State wages. Box 16 reports the total amount of taxable wages earned in that state.

Box 17: State income tax withheld. Box 17 reports the total amount of state income taxes withheld from your paychecks for the wages reported in Box 16.

Box 18: Local wages. Box 18 reports the total amount of wages subject to local income taxes.

Box 19: Local income tax withheld. Box 19 reports the total amount of taxes withheld from your paychecks for local income taxes.

Box 20: Locality name. Box 20 provides a brief description of the local tax being paid.

—Victor Adams, Tax and International Operations

This story is related to 2016 Payroll Tax Updates

Federal Taxes: The federal withholding tax tables for 2016 can be found in the IRS Publication 15 at: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p15.pdf

Social Security Wage Rate: The 2016 Social Security wage base will remain at $118,500.

Social Security Tax Rate: The 2016 tax rate remains at 6.2% and the maximum tax that an employee would pay will be $7,347.

Supplemental Pay Withholding: Withholding on payments less than $1 million in a calendar year remains at 25% for 2016 and withholding for payments in excess of $1 million in a calendar year remain at 39.6%.

Medicare Tax Rate: The Medicare tax rate remains at 1.45% in 2016 for wages under $200,000. Wages in excess of $200,000 are taxed at 2.35%.

PA State Unemployment Insurance Employee Rate: The tax rates remains at 0.07% for 2016.

PA State: The tax rate for 2016 remains at 3.07%.

Philadelphia City: As of July 1, 2015, the Resident Rate is 3.9102% and Non-Resident Rate is 3.4828% and remains the same for the beginning of 2016.

This article is related to W-2 Form for Calendar Year 2015

In the island chain called the Lesser Antilles, stretching from the Virgin Islands south to Trinidad and Tobago, a team of researchers led by Theodore Schurr, an anthropology professor in the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Arts & Sciences, is solving a generations-old mystery: do indigenous communities still exist in the Caribbean region today?

“We’re really trying to connect the dots and understand the migration, the flow of people in and out of the region,” said Dr. Schurr, who has worked in the area since 2012 and on similar genetics projects for more than two decades. “Each island seems to have its distinct history.”

Dr. Schurr and his team, which includes Jill Bennett Gaieski of Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, Miguel Vilar, a Penn postdoc at the time of the research and now at the National Geographic Society and Jada Benn Torres of Notre Dame University, focused their research on DNA samples from 88 participants in the First Peoples Community in Trinidad and the Garifuna people in St. Vincent. By looking at mitochondrial DNA, Y-chromosomes and autosomal markers, three parts of the genome known for containing what Dr. Schurr described as “signals” of indigenous ancestry, the researchers eventually detected 42% indigenous ancestry from the maternal side, 28% from the paternal side.

Mitochondrial DNA comes from the mother only, regardless of the number of generations considered. The Y-chromosome is the paternal correlate, or the complement to mitochondrial DNA, passed from fathers to sons. Autosomes, only recently included in this area of research, do not reveal specific details about maternal and paternal lineage but give an overall picture of the genetic contributions from ancestors traced through both the mother’s and father’s sides of the family. “In the case of the mitochondrial DNA and the Y-chromosome,” Dr. Schurr said, “we know the markers that define those lineages commonly seen in indigenous populations of the Americas.”

During the past three years, he and his colleagues have done fieldwork in St. Vincent and Trinidad. “These communities are not passive in this whole process; they’re actively exploring their own ancestry,” he added. “They’re also trying to establish the fact that they have indigenous ancestry, that they are the descendants of the original inhabitants. They’re reclaiming that history.”

The work began as part of the Genographic Project, which was started and initially funded by the National Geographic Society. It is a multi-institutional endeavor with the goal of mapping the globe genetically. A dozen research labs around the world analyzed DNA samples from indigenous and traditional communities, and a public participation component of the project allowed anyone to submit DNA for analysis in the database. Dr. Schurr’s contribution involved indigenous communities of the Americas.

Expanding into parts of the Caribbean made sense. “It was an opportunity to actually add new information about an area that is relatively well described archaeologically, but not so much so genetically,” he said.

Dr. Schurr has already completed a similar study in Puerto Rico and recently began a larger project in the Dominican Republic.

Research for the Genographic Project has been taking place since 2005. The first phase, funded by the National Geographic Society, IBM and the Waitt Family Foundation, ended in 2012 after completion of significant field research and laboratory analysis around the world. The second phase, supported by the University of Pennsylvania, the Institute for Scholarship and Learning at Notre Dame and the National Geographic Society, has allowed for targeted field research and the expanded use of autosomal markers to help elucidate the genetic history of human populations.

Dr. Schurr and his collaborators published their recent work about genetic diversity in the Lesser Antilles in the journal PLOS ONE.

Data from a study authored by Eileen T. Lake, the Jessie M. Scott Endowed Term Chair in Nursing and Health Policy and associate professor of sociology and associate director of Penn’s Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR), was used in a recent investigation published in the International Journal of Nursing Studies (IJNS), which found that breastfeeding support by nurses and better work environments for nurses increase rates of babies in neonatal intensive care units (NICU) being discharged home on breast milk rather than formula. Dr. Lake’s study was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Interdisciplinary Nursing Quality Research Initiative (INQRI).

The IJNS study also revealed that nurses with higher education levels (at least a BSN) and those who work in units that are adequately staffed discharge more babies on breast milk. NICUs with better work environments that allow nurses time and resources, have more supportive nurse managers and encourage more collaborative working relationships between nurses and doctors further enhance nurses’ ability to provide breastfeeding support, which significantly increases the percentage of infants who receive breast milk.

The IJNS study was led by Sunny Hallowell, currently an assistant professor at Villanova University’s School of Nursing. Dr. Hallowell was a postdoctoral fellow at CHOPR. The research team conducted secondary analysis of INQRI-funded nurse survey data from 5,614 nurses and breast milk discharge rates in 97 NICUs. These units cared for 6,997 infants with very low birth weights (between 501 and 1500 grams at birth). The NICUs were part of the Vermont Oxford Network, a NICU quality improvement collaborative. Several other factors, including the presence of lactation consultants, did not have a significant impact on the proportion of infants discharged on breast milk.

“Breastfeeding support by registered nurses had the largest impact on whether infants were receiving breast milk at discharge. However, nursing unit factors—notably education levels and good work environment—also produced higher rates of breast milk at discharge,” said Dr. Lake. “Our findings speak to the importance of hospitals investing in better work environments and better educated nurses to increase the rate of infants discharged on breast milk, which provides them with the best nutritional care and the healthiest start in life.”

Other members of the research team were Jeannette Rogowski, university professor in health economics in the department of health systems & policy at the Rutgers School of Public Health; Diane Spatz, professor of perinatal nursing and Helen M. Shearer Term Professor of Nutrition at Penn; Alexandra Hanlon, research professor of nursing at Penn; and Michael Kenny, public health analyst in the Vermont Department of Health.

City living is back. After half a century of relentless population decline and several false starts at revitalization, residential investment in America’s urban centers began to pick up in the mid-1990s. In the ten years between the 2000 and 2010 decennial censuses, the housing stock in America’s 50 largest central cities grew by 1.5 million dwelling units, or 8.3%. As the Environmental Protection Agency has documented in a series of reports, this “back-to-the-city” construction trend continued even through the Great Recession.

According to John D. Landis, the Crossways Professor of City & Regional Planning in the School of Design at Penn, multiple factors underlie this boomlet. Members of the millennial generation (those born between 1982 and 2004) proved themselves less interested than prior generations in getting married, having children and moving to the suburbs. Urban crime rates fell significantly. Suburban highways became as congested as their urban counterparts. Pushed by successive presidential administrations and Congress, low-cost mortgage money grew more available to moderate-income and minority residents of older neighborhoods, enabling many of them to become homeowners. Between 2000 and 2008, the number of homeowners in America’s 50 largest central cities rose by 0.6 million, pushing the homeownership rate to an all-time high of just under 50%.

Dr. Landis noted in his White Paper that not everyone greeted these changes favorably. Newspaper articles appeared in city after city citing the rising incidence of gentrification—a form of neighborhood change wherein developers and higher-income households buy up residential properties in low-income neighborhoods for the purpose of inhabiting them, upgrading them, renting them out at a higher rent, or, in some cases, just flipping them. The purported end result is the displacement of long-time and usually poorer residents.

Residential upgrading was hardly limited to urban cores. Homebuilders were also hard at work in suburban communities and at the peri-urban edge building millions of large single-family homes. These “McMansions,” as they were known, were typically larger than 3,000 square feet and included garage space for three cars. Just as urban upgrading was drawing popular criticism as gentrification, suburban upgrading was drawing comparable attacks for being unsustainable and contributing to sprawl.

Of course, not everyone was lucky enough to live in an improving or even stable neighborhood. Behind the newspaper headlines and websites protesting gentrification and McMansion development, large numbers of urban and suburban residents continued living in neighborhoods where public and private investment had failed to keep pace with the ravages of time, depopulation or economic decline. Not until the subprime mortgage bubble finally popped in 2008 did the vulnerability of both urban and suburban neighborhoods to macro-economic forces and financial policies finally become clear.

The Penn IUR Policy Brief is at http://penniur.upenn.edu/uploads/media/PennIUR-Policy-Brief-Landis.pdf

Conference

5    Carbon Histories & Post-Carbon Futures; roundtable discussion about the historic negotiations in Paris and what to expect in the wake of COP21; Brian Black, Penn State Altoona; Pouné Saberi, Philadelphia VA Medical Center & Physicians for Social Responsibility; Peter DeCarlo, Drexel; John Conley, SolarCity; Sarah Wu, City of Philadelphia’s Office of Sustainability; David Masur, PennEnvironment; 4 p.m.; Rainey Auditorium, Penn Museum; registration: https://www.phf.upenn.edu/ (Penn Program in Environmental

Humanities).

Fitness & Learning

20     Rape Aggression Defense (RAD) Classes; 9 a.m.-3 p.m.; DPS, 4040 Chestnut St.; for female students, staff and faculty at Penn; RSVP: (215) 898-4481 (Public Safety). Continues February 27.

On Stage

5    PENNaach Presents NAACHFLIX; watch the ladies of PENNaach dance through all of your favorite TV shows and movies; 8 p.m.; Iron Gate Theatre; $10, $8/on the walk & presale, $7/for groups of 7 or more; tickets: http://tinyurl.com/gnut6gt Also February 6.

Talks

3    Careers in Entertainment; Rich Ross, C’83, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet & Science; 4:30 p.m.; rm. G17, Claudia Cohen Hall; RSVP: http://bit.ly/1OPtrix (Career Services).

10     The Presidential Race—What do Iowa and New Hampshire Tell Us?; Marc Meredith, Matt Levendusky, Daniel Gillion and Michele Francine Margolis, political science; noon; Amado Recital Hall, Irvine Auditorium (Knowledge by the Slice).

On February 1, the Green Campus Partnership kicked off its annual month-long Power Down Challenge. Throughout the month of February, they are working with diverse campus partners to host a wide range of events and running a social media campaign to inform the Penn community about energy issues affecting the University. It all builds up to a single-day, campus-wide Energy Reduction Challenge on February 24. On this day, they will be measuring energy usage in all campus buildings and asking the entire Penn community to conserve energy. See their website at http://www.upenn.edu/sustainability/power-down-challenge/energy-reduction-challenge for a full list of Power Down “happenings,” tips on how to conserve energy and more information about the campaign.

On Monday, February 22, from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. in Houston Hall’s Reading Room (next to Bodek Lounge), the Green Campus Partnership will hold a Space Heater “Amnesty” Day.

Although space heaters are technically prohibited on campus, many Penn staff and faculty use them to stay warm during cold winter months. Not only are space heaters considered fire hazards, but they consume a large amount of electricity. Join Penn’s energy conservation efforts during the Power Down Challenge by participating in Space Heater “Amnesty” Day: http://www.upenn.edu/sustainability/sites/default/files/PDF_posters/Space%20Heater%20Amnesty%20Day_0.pdf

Trade in your old space heater for an energy-efficient CozyToes™ heated foot pad. CozyToes™ heated foot pads are a new alternative to space heaters, and only use 75 watts and up to 95% less energy than conventional space heaters. Fill out this form: http://bit.ly/201pM8C by Monday, February 8 to receive a free CozyToes™. Instructions are included on the form.

Questions? Email sustainability@upenn.edu

This February, the Penn Museum, recognized as a WeddingWire Couples’ Choice winner for the third year in a row, invites friends and fiancés to celebrate Valentine’s Day through music, Museum Quickies (5-7 minute lectures) and an exhibition, SEX: A History in 30 Objects. For families, there’s a hieroglyphic Valentine’s Day make-and-take workshop.

For the most updated info on the Museum’s programs and for online pre-registration (required for some programs), visit: www.penn.museum/calendar

• Sunday, February 14, 1-4 p.m.,
Second Sunday Family Workshop: Destination Egypt: Hieroglyphic Valentines;
Happy Valentine’s Day! Guests are invited to show their love to mummy, daddy, a sibling or a friend. Work with mixed media to create a valentine, complete with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Free with Museum admission.

• Friday, February 12, noon,
Pop Up Concert in the Galleries: Penn Flutes: Romance in the Air;
Penn Flutes, an all-flute ensemble directed by Michele Kelly, “pops up” for a special lunchtime Valentine’s themed concert that reverberates in the galleries. This ensemble of Penn students and other members of Philadelphia’s music community presents widely throughout the region, often featuring new works for flute ensembles. Free with Museum admission.

• Wednesday, February 17, 6 p.m.
P.M. @ Penn Museum Evening Event: What’s Love Got to Do With It?
The Greeks did it, the gods did it, even birds and bees do it. Visitors can explore the history of sex and sexuality through Ancient Lust gallery tours and the special exhibition, SEX: A History in 30 Objects. Each object has a story of its own. Visitors are invited to meet the exhibit’s curator, Lauren Ristvet, associate curator of the Near East section. The evening includes Museum Quickies (5-7 minute lectures), a burlesque show by Philadelphia Burlesque Festival and a make-and-take chocolate treat station. P.M. @ Penn Museum, supported by the Young Friends of the Penn Museum, is a great way to network with other young professionals and get a jumpstart on the weekend. Admission: $20; $15, Penn Museum members and PennCard holders (includes one free drink for guests 21 and older).

The University of Pennsylvania Police Department Community Crime Report

About the Crime Report: Below are the Crimes Against Persons, Crimes Against Society and Crimes Against Property from the campus report for January 18-24, 2016. 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 January 18-24, 2016. The University Police actively patrol from Market St to Baltimore and from the Schuylkill River to 43rd St 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.

01/28/2016 3:45 PM         3800 Chestnut St      Complainant punched by known offender

01/30/2016 2:06 PM         4018 Market St         Complainant robbed by male with gun

01/31/2016 2:41 AM         3600 Spruce St         Confidential

18th District

Below are the Crimes Against Persons from the 18th District: 8 incidents with 3 arrests (5 robberies, 2 assaults, 1 rape) were reported between January 18-24, 2016 by the 18th District covering the Schuylkill River to 49th Street & Market Street to Woodland Avenue.

01/25/2016 8:58 AM         4000 Baltimore Ave             Robbery/Arrest

01/25/2016 9:32 AM         3800 Woodland Walk          Robbery/Arrest

01/28/2016 7:28 PM         1100 S 45th St                     Robbery

01/28/2016 7:51 PM         200 S 46th St                       Assault

01/29/2016 10:25 AM       47th and Locust Sts            Assault

01/30/2016 2:07 PM         4018 Market St                   Robbery

01/31/2016 4:49 AM         3700 Block Spruce St         Rape

01/31/2016 1:55 PM         4700 Sansom St                 Robbery/Arrest

The PPSA Board approved the appointment of an ad-hoc committee on Bylaws in November 2015. The committee reviewed the existing Bylaws, which have been in effect since July 1, 2007, and made thoughtful revisions that were then voted on unanimously by the PPSA Board.  The final version is now available on the PPSA website for your review at http://pennppsa.org/meetings/ppsa_by-laws_rev-20060327/

A majority vote of the general membership is required for final approval of the Bylaws. Please go to the link below and vote ‘yes’ to accept the new version or vote ‘no’ and provide your commentary. The ballot closes February 11. 

Please vote at https://wharton.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_9ny2hyYfRhcKVmZ

Penn First is a new campus organization for students who identify as first generation and/or who come from a low-socioeconomic background. These student leaders seek to build connections with each other, and with faculty and staff.

If you would like to be a supportive resource for Penn First, especially if you identify as the first member of your family to attend college or were a low-income student, please complete this brief survey:

http://tinyurl.com/jbwt7wj