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Eric Tchetgen Tchetgen: Inaugural Luddy Family President’s Distinguished Professor at the Wharton School

caption: Eric Tchetgen TchetgenEric Tchetgen Tchetgen has been named the inaugural Luddy Family President’s Distinguished Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Thomas M. Luddy, WG’76, and Janice Hotra Luddy, WG’77, generously endowed the Luddy Family President’s Distinguished Professorship for faculty appointments at the Wharton School with a gift of $3 million.

The appointment, announced by Penn President Amy Gutmann and Wharton Dean Geoff Garrett, was effective January 1, 2018.

Dr. Tchetgen Tchetgen came to the University of Pennsylvania in January from Harvard University, where he had served since 2008 as professor of biostatistics and epidemiologic methods with joint appointments in the departments of biostatistics and epidemiology at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He researches infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS, and the role of genetic and social factors in the patterns, causes and effects of public health. Dr.  Tchetgen Tchetgen has received grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control. He earned his PhD in 2006 at Harvard University and his BS in 1999 at Yale University.

“Professor Eric Tchetgen Tchetgen is a leader in his field, with a distinguished record of engagement in public service,” said President Gutmann. “I am profoundly thankful for Tom and Janice Luddy and their gift to establish the Luddy Family President’s Distinguished Professorship. It has allowed us to recruit an eminent faculty member in Professor Tchetgen Tchetgen to do important work across disciplines. His innovative research and teaching will tackle pressing challenges in public health and advance Penn’s commitment to put knowledge in service to the world.”

“I am delighted to welcome Professor Eric Tchetgen Tchetgen to Wharton and immensely grateful to Tom and Janice for making this stellar appointment possible,” said Dean Garrett. “With Wharton’s newly expanded focus on data analytics, this is the ideal time for Professor Tchetgen Tchetgen’s biostatistical research to empower effective decision making on public health for the benefit of society.”

Mr. Luddy said, “Janice and I were thrilled to make this gift in support of Wharton’s outstanding faculty, and even happier to know that Professor Tchetgen Tchetgen will make such important contributions to improve public health through data analytics.”

Mr. Luddy has worked for 42 years at J.P.Morgan Chase & Co., holding numerous key positions in the firm, including managing director, J.P.Morgan Asset Management; global head of equity; head of equity research; and chief investment officer. Mr. and Mrs. Luddy are Wharton alumni and parents and have generously supported The Wharton Fund for four decades.

President’s Distinguished Professorships enable the University of Pennsylvania to recruit and retain eminent faculty members with research and teaching expertise in areas identified by the president as high priorities for the Penn Compact 2020.

Tony Pantev: Class of 1939 Professor of Mathematics in SAS

caption: Tony PantevTony Pantev, professor of mathematics in the School of Arts & Sciences, has been appointed Class of 1939 Professor of Mathematics. Dr. Pantev is a leading scholar of algebraic and differential geometry, Hodge theory and mathematical physics. 

He is the director of the Simons Collaboration on Homological Mirror Symmetry, a large project that includes faculty from Penn, Harvard, the University of California at Berkeley, the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics, IHES France, Columbia, Brandeis and the University of Miami.

At Penn, Dr. Pantev has served in many roles, including Undergraduate Chair and Graduate Group Chair, and as a member of the Personnel Committee of Mathematics.  

He serves on the editorial boards of Advances in Mathematics, European Journal of Mathematics, and Research in Mathematical Sciences.  Dr. Pantev has held visiting positions at the Isaac Newton Institute in Cambridge, England; the Centro de Investigación en Matemáticas in Guanajuato, Mexico; Ohio State University; and the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton.

The Class of 1939 Professorship was established in 1989 in conjunction with the Class of 1939’s 50th reunion, to support a distinguished professor in Penn Arts & Sciences. The members of this class were the first reunion class at Penn to endow a chair because they believed that great professors make great universities.

$3 Million Gift to Penn Law to Expand Public Interest Programs, Establish Toll Public Service Corps

 caption: Jane and Robert TollThe University of Pennsylvania Law School has received a $3 million gift from Robert Toll, L’66, and Jane Toll, GSE’66, to create and launch the new Toll Public Service Corps, while expanding the Toll Public Interest Scholars program, and funding additional financial and career support for alumni through loan forgiveness.

 The new Toll Public Service Corps will be a cadre of students who aspire to advance equity and justice as public interest lawyers. The Toll Service Corps will include an expanded number of Toll Public Interest Scholars, JD students who upon admission to Penn Law receive full tuition scholarships. The gift will also fund new scholarships for second- and third-year students who plan to dedicate their careers to public service.  

“This generous gift from the Tolls further increases access for Penn Law students to pursue impactful public service careers,” said Ted Ruger, dean of the Law School and Bernard G. Segal Professor of Law. “The Law School prides itself on its public service ethos, and this gift supports us in strengthening that commitment.”

The Tolls’ gift will also establish Alumni Impact Awards, which will recognize Penn Law graduates for their exceptional work in the public interest, and will complement the existing Toll Loan Repayment and Assistance Program (TollLRAP) for alumni working in public interest and public service who are paying off student debt.

“With these new and expanded programs, even more Penn Law graduates will have the opportunity to serve and advocate on behalf of those with the most need,” said Mr. Toll.

“Our students and alumni are making such a powerful impact on the lives of low-income clients and marginalized communities,” said Arlene Rivera Finkelstein, associate dean for Public Interest Programs and executive director of the Toll Public Interest Center. “Their advocacy as members of nonprofit organizations, in government service and as pro bono volunteers is expanding the capacity of all to respond to the increased poverty and inequality we face locally, nationally and globally. We are deeply grateful for the Tolls’ ongoing support for public service so that we can continue to expand our programs to train and support the next generation of public interest lawyers.”

Penn Law’s public interest program was founded in 1989 and was renamed the Toll Public Interest Center (TPIC) in 2006 in recognition of a $10 million gift from the Tolls, which significantly expanded TPIC’s activities. Since then, the continuing generosity of the Tolls has allowed for the growth and expansion of TPIC’s activities. TPIC is now a hub of wide-ranging service at Penn Law. TPIC oversees the Penn Law pro bono program, facilitating a wide array of pro bono and public service opportunities through which all law students engage in impactful service while honing critical legal skills.

 As a result of this program, each graduating class dedicates approximately 30,000 hours of pro bono legal service. In addition to administering the pro bono program, TPIC is home to all of Penn Law’s public interest programming, including the Toll Public Interest Scholars program and the Penn Law Postgraduate Fellowship Program, which launches graduates into impactful careers in service.

Mr. Toll is the Executive Chairman of the Board of Toll Brothers, Inc., and has been a member of the Law School’s Board of Overseers since 1992. He is a former member of the Penn Board of Trustees and currently serves on the board of directors of the Cornell Real Estate School; Seeds of Peace, which he and his wife Jane co-founded; Beth Shalom Synagogue; and the Metropolitan Opera.

Penn’s Grad School Rankings 2019

Each year, U.S. News & World Report ranks graduate and professional schools in business, medicine, education, law, engineering and nursing. Five of Penn’s schools are in the top 10 list. In the lastest rankings (2019) U.S. News also ranked the School of Social Policy & Practice as well as several disciplines within SAS. Those in the top 20 are below; for more, see www.usnews.com

  2018 2019
Wharton School 1 3
Finance  1 1
Executive MBA 1 2
Accounting 2 2
Marketing 2 2
International 3 3
Production/Operations 4 4
Management 4 5
Information Systems 6 6
Entrepreneurship 7 6
Supply Chain/Logistics - 12
Graduate School of Education 3 4
Education Policy 7 6
Higher Education Administration 2 9
Administration/Supervision - 18
School of Nursing 3 4
Administration  1 1
Nurse Practitioner     
   Pediatric, Primary Care 1 1
   Adult/Gerontology, Primary Care 1 2
   Adult/Gerontology, Acute Care 3 3
   Psychiatric/Mental Health/Lifespan 1 3
   Family 2 4
Perelman School of Medicine 5 6
Pediatrics 1 1
Psychiatry - 3
Surgery - 3
Internal Medicine 4 4
Anesthesiology - 4
Radiology - 4
Ob/Gyn - 5
Medical-Primary Care 8 8
Law School 7 7
Intellectual Property Law 12 16
International Law - 18
Engineering & Applied Science 19 18
Biomedical/Bioengineering 8 4
Mechanical - 16
Chemical - 17
Computer - 17
Materials - 17
Elect./Electronic/Communications - 18
School of Social Policy & Practice - 11
School of Arts & Sciences    
Criminology - 11
Statistics - 12
Physics - 14
   Condensed Matter - 13
   Elem. Particles/String Theory - 9
Mathematics - 16
   Geometry - 10
Chemistry - 19
   Inorganic - 13
   Organic - 13
Computer Science - 19
   Artificial Intelligence - 13
   Programming Language - 7
(-) Indicates not ranked in last year's edition    

Deaths

Stanislawa Nowicki, Architecture

caption: Siasia NowickiStanislawa (Siasia) Sandecka Nowicki, an emeritus professor of architecture in what was the School of Fine Arts, now the School of Design, died in Alexandria, Virginia, on February 18. She was 105 years old. 

She was born in Pultusk, Poland, and worked on the Polish Pavilion at the 1937 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris, where her work was part of the contribution to the Polish entry that won the Gold Medal for Graphics. She also worked for a year in Paris with famed Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier on the photomontage for the Temps Nouveaux and on a model for a stadium.

She earned a master’s degree in architecture from Warsaw Polytechnic Institute in 1938. She then married architect Maciej (Matthew) Nowicki. After World War II, she co-authored a plan for the rebuilding of Warsaw. She and her husband moved to the U.S. in 1946, and in 1948 Ms. Nowicki began teaching at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.  In 1951, a year after her husband was killed in a plane crash, Ms. Nowicki was hired as an associate professor in Penn’s department of architecture in what was then called the School of Fine Arts, and she moved to Pennsylvania. She was recruited by the school’s dean, G. Holmes Perkins, well respected for his role in the redevelopment of Philadelphia and advancing the school at Penn, as a leader of the core curriculum: “Getting her was a coup; she could well have been the best teacher we had.” 

She taught the first-year classes, introducing students to design and basic building technique and was one of the two first female faculty appointed to the School (Almanac March 28, 2017). In 1958 she became a full professor; she was the first female full professor of architecture in the country. She remained at Penn (aside from one year spent at the University of Southern California) until her retirement in 1977; at that time she was named an emerita professor.

In 1978, Ms. Nowicki received the AIA Medal from the American Institute of Architects (Almanac March 7, 1978) in recognition of her contributions and influence on the architectural profession. The AIA recognized her “… for an outstanding career in architecture education. Respecting her students as individuals, she consistently demanded the best that each could produce. Her emphasis on the quality of architecture, its aesthetic values, and its social meaning, have had a profound influence on all who have been privileged to know her as teacher or as colleague.”

In 1987, The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture awarded Ms. Nowicki the title of distinguished professor for sustained creative achievement in the advancement of architectural education. In 2017, the Polish government awarded her the highest distinction for culture and the arts, the Gloria Artis gold medal, in recognition of her being an inspiration to the younger generation of designers and architects.

She is survived by her son Peter, five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. 

Governance

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Actions Wednesday, March 14, 2018

The following is published in accordance with the Faculty Senate Rules. Among other purposes, the publication of SEC actions is intended to stimulate discussion among the constituencies and their representatives. Please communicate your comments to Patrick Walsh, executive assistant to the Senate Office, either by telephone at (215) 898-6943 or by email at senate@pobox.upenn.edu

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Actions

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Chair’s Report. Faculty Senate Chair Santosh Venkatesh reminded SEC members of the Teach-In, to be held March 18-22, 2018. More than 30 events have been planned across campus, with participation from all 12 of Penn’s schools.  Recent coverage has included an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer A full schedule can be found at the Teach-In website:  www.upenn.edu/teachin  All events are free to attend and open to the public, and students are particularly encouraged to get involved.

Past Chair’s Report. Prof. Venkatesh reported on behalf of Faculty Senate Past Chair Laura Perna that the University Council Committee on Diversity and Equity (UCCDE), in conjunction with the Faculty Senate, the Penn Forum for Women Faculty, and the Office of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity, convened a second “Listening to Diversity” open forum event that was held at the same time as this SEC meeting.  Prof. Perna attended the event on the Tri-Chairs’ behalf.  The event will be summarized in a report that will be shared with various stakeholder offices on campus, including the school deans, and will be published as part of the UCCDE report in Almanac.

Update from the Office of the Executive Vice President. Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli and Vice President for Human Resources Jack Heuer reported on a variety of matters. A number of new buildings are being constructed or revitalized, including New College House–West that will provide additional undergraduate housing opportunities on-campus; a new patient pavilion at HUP that will include at least 450 private beds and is slated to open in 2021; a revitalized Wharton Academic and Research Building; and a revitalized Perelman Center for Political Science and Economics.  The Human Capital Management Transformation Initiative continues, and the Penn Employee Solution Center was launched in January. A new Undergraduate Course Catalogue was launched in May 2017. The Climate Action Plan 2.0 Progress Report was published in February 2018. The 2018 Models of Excellence Program ceremony and reception will be held on April 4, and all Penn community members are invited.  Faculty Retiree Benefits programs and information were discussed at length, and all faculty members (regardless of their proximity to retirement) were encouraged to begin the retirement planning process early. The University has partnered with the Penn Association of Senior and Emeritus Faculty (PASEF) on the 12th edition of the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to Faculty Retirement,” which all faculty are encouraged to review.  An upcoming retirement information session will be held on April 25 at 3:30 p.m. in Van Pelt-Dietrich Library; more information can be found at the PASEF website. The Health Advocate service was discussed; this service is available to anyone who receives health insurance through Penn, as well as to members of their families (including elderly parents), and aims to help individuals navigate “the healthcare and insurance maze.”

Update from the Office of the Provost.  Provost Wendell Pritchett reported on planned updates to the policy on Consensual Sexual Relations Between Faculty and Students. The policy will be revised to prohibit sexual relations between faculty (of which the definition will be broadly defined and further clarified in the policy update) and undergraduate students.  It will also clarify (but not change) the existing policy as it applies to relationships between faculty and graduate or professional students. The policies on sexual violence and sexual harassment are currently under review to ensure that they reflect best practices. Provost Pritchett invited comments concerning Penn’s procedures specifically related to sexual harassment, how those procedures could be made more effective and equitable, and what best practices exist among our peer universities. Comments will be accepted through April 6 to provost-comments@upenn.edu All comments will be held in confidence and will not be attributed to an individual.

Call for PPSA Board and Committee Nominations: April 20

The Penn Professional Staff Assembly (PPSA), a voluntary organization comprised of professional (monthly-exempt) staff members, is accepting nominations for the Executive Board and University Committees for the 2018-2019 term year. The mission of PPSA is to support and focus staff engagement and collaboration within the University of Pennsylvania community and to act as a productive resource for all of our members. Being a member of PPSA allows you to network with your colleagues through numerous workshops and events that enhance your professional development and work life at Penn.

PPSA:

  • Provides a forum through which staff can engage in dialogue about issues facing the University and higher education;
  • Participates and collaborates in University governance through University Council and other committees and task forces;
  • Serves as an informational network to promote seminars and programs that enrich the quality of experience and work life for professional staff;
  • Provides a supportive network to assist the University in achieving its goals and objectives.  

For more information on PPSA go to: http://penn-ppsa.org/

If you are not a member of PPSA and are a monthly-paid employee, please consider joining by going to our webpage at http://penn-ppsa.org/  If you are a member, please consider nominating yourself or a colleague for a Board or Committee position. Board members attend monthly meetings and assist with program development and coordination. Committee members meet monthly and are expected to report to the Executive Board twice a year. Although there is a time commitment, the experience is rewarding and enjoyable. It is a wonderful opportunity to meet colleagues from across the University who will help to enrich your association with Penn.

Executive Committee Nominations

To nominate, visit the PPSA website: http://penn-ppsa.org/

The following positions on the PPSA Executive Board will be available for the coming year:

Chair-Elect: The Chair is the principal executive officer who calls meetings, prepares agendas, presides over meetings and provides leadership and representation at the University Council and other meetings. After one year, the Chair-Elect automatically succeeds to the office of Chair for one year. Following that, the Chair will serve one year as Past Chair.

Members at Large (Four positions are available, each for a two-year term): The Members at Large participate in Executive Board meetings, take on special projects and serve on other University committees.

University monthly-paid professional employees are welcome to self-nominate or submit names for consideration no later than Friday, April 20. All Executive Committee individuals nominated will receive information on completing a candidate bio and personal statement. A list of candidates will be prepared and distributed to the PPSA membership prior to the election.

The 2018-2019 election for officers will occur after the annual meeting, which will take place on Wednesday, May 16, 2018 at noon (location TBD). The election meeting speakers are James Pawelski from the Penn Positive Psychology Center and his wife, and co-author, Suzann Pileggi Pawelski.

University Committee Nominations

To nominate, visit the PPSA website: http://penn-ppsa.org/

PPSA invites you to nominate yourself or others for service on the 2018-2019 University Council Committees. Council Committees serve as advisory bodies in shaping academic/administrative policy. Please consider taking advantage of this opportunity to learn about the administrative structure of the University and have input into its decision-making.

Membership on the committees listed is open to all monthly-paid staff. For more information on University Committees go to https://secure.www.upenn.edu/secretary/council/committees.html. Committee members will be selected by the Tri-Chairs following the Executive Committee Election.

Questions on the nominating and election process can be directed to ppsa@exchange.upenn.edu

—PPSA Executive Board

Policies

OF RECORD: Penn’s Alcohol and Drug Policy and Antihazing Regulations

In 2017, the Task Force on a Safe and Responsible Campus Community recommended updating Penn’s Alcohol and Drug Policy and Antihazing Regulations. These policies were established in the 1980s and have been reviewed and updated periodically. The updated policies were developed by the Offices of Alcohol and Other Drugs, Fraternity and Sorority Life, Student Affairs, Student Conduct and others.

 The proposed changes were published in Almanac on October 24, 2017 For Comment by members of the Penn community. They have also been reviewed by the Academic Planning and Budget Committee, Council of Graduate Deans, Council of Professional Masters Deans, Council of Undergraduate Deans, Graduate and Professional Student Assembly, and Undergraduate Assembly. 

 The new policies have now been adopted and published in the Pennbook. 

               —Wendell Pritchett, Provost

Honors

Gustavo D. Aguirre: American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow

caption: Gustavo D. AguirreGustavo D. Aguirre, professor of medical genetics and ophthalmology at Penn Vet, was formally recognized as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) on February 17 at the Fellows Forum at the AAAS Annual Meeting. The AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science.

Dr. Aguirre was selected for “distinguished contributions to the field of inherited blindness, particularly for the identification of blindness-causing genes and development of gene therapy to treat blindness.” His research has investigated the genetic basis of a variety of inherited vision disorders, including Leber’s congenital amaurosis, Best disease, achromatopsia and retinitis pigmentosa. His work on novel gene therapy approaches to treatment, which deliver to the eye a functional copy of a gene that is otherwise lacking, has restored vision in animal models of X-linked retinitis pigmentosa and Leber’s congential amaurosis. The Leber congenital amaurosis therapy is now commercialized after successful completion of human clinical trials.

Michael Bruchas: Mahoney Institute Rising Star Award

caption: Michael BruchasMichael R. Bruchas, the Henry E. Mallinckrodt professor in anesthesiology and neuroscience at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, is the recipient of the inaugural Rising Star Award in neuroscience research, awarded by The Mahoney Institute for Neurosciences (MINS) at Penn. To highlight the Year of Addiction Research on Penn’s campus, the 2018 award honors a young researcher for outstanding contributions to addiction research. The award will be given annually to highlight a particular field of neuroscience research.  He will receive $10,000 and deliver a presentation at the MINS 34th annual retreat and symposium on April 11.

Dr. Bruchas’s research interests include the neurobiology underlying drug use and abuse, with a focus on the central and peripheral nervous system. He is working to discover how GPCR receptor systems function in the context of addiction and treatment. He has identified new pathways that might ultimately influence positive and negative behavioral responses that contribute to substance-abuse disorders.

Kevin Chen: Churchill Scholarship

​​​​​​​Penn senior Kevin Chen of Fremont, California, has been selected for a Churchill Scholarship from the Winston Churchill Foundation, which will allow him to study abroad for a year at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge in the U.K.

A Vagelos Scholar and Goldwater Scholar, Mr. Chen has been working in Yale E. Goldman’s lab in Penn’s department of physiology since 2015. He developed optical devices for sensing single molecules in biochemical reactions and used the technique to study the mechanisms of drugs that treat genetic disease.

Sarah Schneider Kavanagh: McDonnell Foundation Grant

caption: Sarah Schneider KavanaghSarah Schneider Kavanagh, research assistant professor in the Graduate School of Education, and a cross-institutional team of researchers have recently been awarded a $2.5 million grant from the James S. McDonnell Foundation to conduct a research study investigating how teachers learn to support disciplinary argumentation when facilitating classroom discussions. Focusing on understanding how instructional tools influence how teachers make sense of their practice as discussion facilitators, the study will be conducted across five years as a collaboration between researchers at four institutions: The University of Pennsylvania, the University of Wisconsin, The University of Colorado, and The University of Washington.

Thomas Sollecito: 2018 Pennsylvania Dental Association Recognition Award

caption: Thomas SollecitoThomas Sollecito, professor and chair of the department of oral medicine in Penn’s School of Dental Medicine, was recently honored by the Pennsylvania Dental Association (PDA) with the 2018 PDA Recognition Award, which recognizes his clinical care, research and teaching in the areas of oral mucosal diseases, head and neck tumors/cancer TMD and HIV dental treatment. The award will be presented at a ceremony on April 13.

An educator for more than 25 years, Dr. Sollecito joined the Penn Dental Medicine faculty after completing his oral medicine residency here in 1991. He has the led the Department of Oral Medicine since 2009.

Jonathan A. Supovitz: Nellie Mae Education Foundation Grant

Jonathan A. Supovitz, professor in the Graduate School of Education and director of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE), has received an award of $450,000 from Nellie Mae Education Foundation for the project, The Study of Teacher Leadership in the United States. The project first scans the teacher leadership program environment in the U.S. and then identifies two promising programs for an in-depth, mixed-method investigation of their implementation and impacts on teacher leaders, teachers and students.

Master of Applied Positive Psychology: "Friend of the ROCK" Award

The LPS Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) program in the School of Arts & Sciences is the recipient of the “Friend of the ROCK” award in recognition of the service learning projects students in the program have done with The ROCK Center for Youth Development, a non-profit that serves teens in Michigan.

“This has been a mutually beneficial relationship for MAPP,” says Leona Brandwene, associate director of MAPP. “While our contributions have provided support to the organization as they develop their programs, The ROCK has also served as a virtual classroom for our students who are learning to apply research-informed positive psychology applications in the real world.”

The MAPP program was the first in the world to offer a degree in positive psychology.

Penn Language Center: NEH Digital Humanities Advancement Grant

The Penn Language Center (PLC) has been awarded an NEH Digital Humanities Advancement Grant entitled Digital Humanities from an Indigenous Perspective, which will be administered by EPIC (Educational Partnerships with Indigenous Communities). The grant will study how Native American tribes are using digital technology to revitalize their language and culture. The partnership will include four Native American partners and four major archives. The archives will digitally repatriate photographs, stories, songs, and language materials to the tribal partners to build digital archives in each community. The tribes will work with the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Museum, Price Lab for Digital Humanities and the Native American and Indigenous Studies program to create digital exhibits to illustrate the unique ways Indigenous communities are utilizing technology for language instruction and the preservation of traditional knowledge.

Penn Electric Racing: Philadelphia Auto Show

REV 3, a car from Penn Electric Racing, a club run by Penn students that designs and creates their own electric vehicles, was featured at the 117th Philadelphia Auto Show from January 27 to February 4. The car, REV 3, won first place overall at the Formula North Electric and Formula SAE competitions last year. 

2018 Penn Fellows

Penn Provost Wendell Pritchett and Vice Provost for Faculty Anita Allen are pleased to announce the appointment of the tenth cohort of Penn Fellows.

The Penn Fellows Program provides leadership development to select Penn faculty in their mid-career. Begun in 2009, it includes opportunities to build alliances across the University, meet distinguished academic leaders, think strategically about University governance and consult with Penn’s senior administrators.

This year’s cohort:

Benjamin Abella, professor of emergency medicine and director of the Center for Resuscitation Science in the Perelman School of Medicine, studies sudden cardiac arrest, a leading cause of death that claims over 300,000 lives each year in the United States.

Ritesh Agarwal, professor of materials science and engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, is developing techniques for the rational synthesis of functional nanostructural materials for applications in nanophotonic and electronic devices.

José A. Bauermeister, Presidential Associate Professor of Nursing in the School of Nursing, researches comprehensive HIV/STI prevention and care programs for high-risk adolescents and young adults, including young gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (YGBMSM); perinatally HIV-infected and HIV-affected youth; and racial/ethnic minorities living in urban centers. 

Elizabeth Brannon, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Professor in the Natural Sciences in the School of Arts and Sciences, researches the evolution and development of quantitative cognition, studying how adult humans, infants, young children and nonhuman animals without language represent numbers.

Samantha Butts, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology in the Perelman School of Medicine, is a reproductive epidemiologist who has made research contributions toward developing a better understanding of how key micronutrients and environmental chemicals affect reproductive health in women and their offspring.

André Dombrowski, associate professor of history of art in the School of Arts and Sciences, focuses his research and teaching on the arts and material cultures of France and Germany, and their empires, in the mid- to late-nineteenth century.

Zahra Fakhraai, associate professor of chemistry in the School of Arts and Sciences, focuses on understanding the influence of surfaces and interfaces on the properties of amorphous materials at nanometer length scales.

Tulia Falleti, Class of 1965 Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Latin American and Latino Studies Program in the School of Arts and Sciences, is a scholar of comparative politics with a focus on Latin America.

Autumn Fiester, assistant professor of medical ethics in the Perelman School of Medicine, is director of the Penn Program in Clinical Conflict Management, which promotes conflict resolution training for formal clinical ethics consultations and ethics conflicts at the bedside.

Michael Hanchard, professor of Africana studies in the School of Arts and Sciences, is a scholar of comparative politics specializing in nationalism, social movements, racial hierarchy and citizenship.

Jennifer Kogan, professor of medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine, focuses her research on assessment in medical education, particularly feedback, competency assessment and developing and assessing the effectiveness of new approaches for faculty development in workplace-based assessment.

Serguei Netessine, professor of operations, information and decisions in the Wharton School, focuses his research on business model innovation and operational excellence while using a broad set of econometric tools to analyze data that focuses on strategic customer behavior in operational settings.

Rose Nolen-Walston, associate professor of medicine in the School of Veterinary Medicine, has a clinical specialty in large animal medicine with a research focus on equine encephalitis, equine endotoxemia/sepsis models, equine pulmonary function, histamine bronchoprovocation and large animal emergency.

Melissa Sanchez, associate professor of English and comparative literature in the School of Arts and Sciences, studies and teaches sixteenth- and seventeenth-century literature, with a particular focus on gender, sexuality, and constitutional and religious history.

Eric Stoopler, associate professor of oral medicine in the School of Dental Medicine, focuses on the advancement of oral medicine as an integral component of health education and clinical care through the development of postdoctoral oral medicine education.

Deborah Thomas, R. Jean Brownlee Professor of Anthropology in the School of Arts and Sciences, is a cultural anthropologist with a focus on the Caribbean whose research interests include political anthropology, the afterlives of imperialism, transnationalism and diaspora, race and gender and culture and political economy.

Tess Wilkinson-Ryan, professor of law and psychology in Penn Law, studies the psychology of legal decision-making, addressing the role of moral judgment with a particular focus on private contracts and negotiations.

Penn’s Eight 2018 Thouron Award Winners

Six University of Pennsylvania seniors and two alumni have received 2018 Thouron Awards to pursue graduate studies in the United Kingdom. Each scholarship winner receives tuition and stipends for up to two years to earn a graduate degree. The recipients are:

Alexis Montouris Ciambotti from Warren, New Jersey, is majoring in political science with a concentration in international relations in the School of Arts and Sciences. A 2018 Dean’s Scholar, she is a former Perry World House Student Fellow and a former Fellow of the Penn Program on Democracy, Citizenship and Constitutionalism, now the Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy. She previously served as a John Thouron Summer Scholar at the University of Cambridge.

Isabella Cuan from Sparta, New Jersey, is majoring in the biological basis of behavior and minoring in the history of art in the School of Arts and Sciences. A 2016 Thouron Summer Prize recipient, she has conducted research in cognitive decision-making, health services, digital photography and narrative medicine. She volunteers at the United Community Clinic in Philadelphia, and as a writing tutor at the Marks Family Writing Center at Penn. She also contributes to the Perelman School of Medicine-based platform Doctors Who Create.

Gina Liu from Charleston, Illinois, is in the Roy and Diana Vagelos Program in Life Sciences & Management, studying biology and business with concentrations in computational biology and statistics. A research assistant in Penn’s department of biostatistics, epidemiology and informatics, her interests lie in injury and violence prevention. She’s also a computer science teaching assistant, a board member of Penn Boxing and a volunteer at the Penn Wissahickon Hospice.

Ashley Marcus from Golden Beach, Florida, is majoring in communication with a concentration in political communication, in the Annenberg School for Communication. An NCAA athlete and Student-Athlete Advisory Committee member, she also works as an anti-violence educator and advocate, giving presentations on sexual violence and bystander intervention and encouraging Penn athletes to take the “It’s on Us” pledge to recognize and take action against sexual assault.

Nicholas Stiansen from Saratoga Springs, New York, studies bioengineering with a focus on medical devices. At Penn, he works as an undergraduate research assistant in Beth Winkelsein’s Spine Pain Research Laboratory, studying cervical spine biomechanics. He’s also a teaching assistant for a junior-level bioengineering lab course and has served as the president of the Engineering Deans’ Advisory Board and as the treasurer of the Biomedical Engineering Society.

Justin Hopkins from Glendale, California, will graduate with a bachelor’s degree with honors in political science in May. A Civic Scholar and previous recipient of the Thouron Summer Prize, he is studying the extent to which automation influences right-wing populist movements. He co-founded a non-profit organization, The Locus Initiative, which connects and mobilizes millennials around charitable giving.

John Paul Hagan, a 2016 graduate, majored in psychology with minors in the biological basis of behavior and political science from the School of Arts and Sciences. At Penn, he researched the neuropsychological processes behind economic decisions and how cognitive processes influence moral judgments. Building on that research, he plans to study topics related to normative judgment and decision-making, an interdisciplinary field that bridges psychology, philosophy and policy.

Emily Zinselmeier, a 2017 graduate, majored in materials science and engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and also majored in architecture with a minor in Hispanic studies from the School of Arts and Sciences. She co-founded Penn’s chapter of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists, led fundraising efforts for the Global Architecture Brigades and worked with the Center for Analyzing Evolved Structures as Optimized Products to explore biometric composite systems and their potential applications.

Established and supported through gifts from Sir John Thouron and Esther du Pont, Lady Thouron, the Thouron Award is a graduate-exchange program between the University of Pennsylvania and British universities that aims to improve relations between the United States and the United Kingdom.

The Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships serves as Penn’s primary information hub and support office for students and alumni applying for major grants and fellowships, such as the Thouron Award. Penn seniors, current graduate or professional students and recent graduates who are U.S. citizens are eligible to apply.

Features

Penn Library to Digitize Thousands of Items in Marian Anderson Collection

caption: Earliest extant program, Philadelphia, PA, April 6, 1916. Handwritten note on upper left corner stating that $55 in tickets were sold. The program’s description of her: “[Marian] E. Anderson, of Philadelphia, Contralo, is a young singer of great promise and has a rich contralto voice of large range and volume. She is a pupil of one of the best teachers in the city, and has made remarkable strides in a short time.”

A new grant will allow the Penn Libraries to digitize portions of the personal diaries, programs, scrapbooks, personal interviews and home studio performances that the world-renowned singer and Philadelphia native Marian Anderson bequeathed to Penn.

An estimated 5,000 individual items, spanning most of Ms. Anderson’s life as a singer and social justice advocate, will be included in the project. The collection has 1,200 recital and performance programs, 146 notebooks and diaries, 34 scrapbooks, 34 interview transcriptions and 277 hours of recordings.

The newly digitized items will be hosted on OPenn, the Penn Libraries’ platform for openly published and digitized cultural heritage materials. The digitization, to be started in June 2018 and completed by May 2019, will be conducted by the Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text and Image, said David McKnight, director of the Rare Book and Manuscript Library in the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts.

“This will enable scholars and students who are interested in Marian Anderson to have access to materials that no one really has had access to,” said Mr. McKnight.

The grant is through the innovative program, Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives: Enabling New Scholarship through Increasing Access to Unique Materials, supported by the Council on Library and Information Resources and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Born in Philadelphia in 1897, Ms. Anderson was one of the most celebrated singers of the 20th century, with an international performance career that spanned nearly 50 years. In April 1939, she gave an iconic, open-air performance at the Lincoln Memorial after the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to let her sing in Constitution Hall because she was black.

“Marian Anderson was truly an artist on the world stage,” said Liza Vick, head of Otto E. Albrecht Music Library & Eugene Ormandy Music & Media Center at the Penn Libraries. “Materials digitized under this grant will make documentation of her groundbreaking career available to a wider audience and will enhance scholarship in African-American music at a critical juncture.”

In 1996, with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Penn Libraries created a finding aid, to the archival collection. Although most intellectual property rights were transferred to Penn, many commercial recordings and printed materials are still protected by U.S. copyright law, and the librarians must be careful about what they make available through this new project grant, Mr. McKnight said.

Mr. McKnight, Ms. Vick and Richard Griscom, associate University librarian for collections and liaison services, are the principal investigators on the grant.

The diaries will be of great interest, Mr. McKnight speculates, because they detail Ms. Anderson’s thoughts during tours throughout the United States, Europe and beyond. Ms. Anderson often suffered racial injustices but was not outspoken about her personal views, and researchers hope to get a deeper insight into her experiences, Ms. Vick said.

“The diaries represent her interior world, and the scrapbooks and programs will represent the external world of her career,” Mr. McKnight says. The scrapbooks were made annually by her management agency, with photographs, letters, testimonials and newspaper clippings.

caption: A photo  from the scrapbook, Madras, India, 1957. Marian Anderson arriving at the concert at Annamali Hall, Madras, India.

“These really have not been viewed by the public before,” said Mr. Mc Knight. The programs will be of particular interest, too, he said, and provide geographical information about where Anderson performed, the scope of her performances and the repertoire.

The sound recordings have not been widely available to researchers, as they are on fragile cassette and reel-to-reel tapes, Ms. Vick said.

“They are unique materials, not commercial recordings,” she said. The cassette tape recordings are the oral interviews for Ms. Anderson’s autobiography, My Lord, What a Morning.

Ms. Anderson made her first donation of materials to Penn in 1977 (Almanac April 12, 1977), and she continued depositing materials until her death in 1993 at the age of 96 (Almanac April 13, 1993). Her decision was made in consultation with her nephew, the late conductor James DePreist, who earned his undergraduate degree from the Wharton School and his master’s degree from the Annenberg School for Communication. The more than 4,000 photographs in the Marian Anderson collection were digitized through a previous grant and are available on the Libraries’ website. In 2005, Ms. Anderson was featured on a U.S. Postal Service Black Heritage commemorative stamp based on a photograph in the Penn Library collection.

The exhibit Marian Anderson on the World Stage (Almanac October 4, 2016), on display just outside the Marian Anderson Study Center of the Music Library at the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center, showcases of selected photographs, programs, correspondence and other materials from her international performances.

The Libraries and the Music Department are planning a Marian Anderson symposium at Penn in October that will celebrate her life’s work with scholarly panels and performances, marking the 25th anniversary of her death.

The U.S. postage stamp depicting Phildelphia native Marian Anderson shows an oil painting by Albert Slark of Ajax, Ontario, Canada. A 1934 black & white photograph of Marian Anderson, taken in Stockholm, Sweden by Moise Benkow, is one of the thousands of images in Pennʼs collection and the one which inspired the artist who painted the portrait on the stamp. The first-day-of issue ceremonies were held on January 27, 2005 at the DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. That was the venue where, in 1939, the contralto singer had been denied the opportunity to sing because of the color of her skin. She then sang before thousands at the Lincoln Memorial. She performed at Constitution Hall in a 1942 concert to aid WWII relief efforts and began her farewell tour there in 1964 (Almanac February 1, 2005).

Events

Update: March AT PENN

Special Event

23    Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon; bring your laptop for the communal updating of art and feminism entries; noon-4 p.m.; Davis Seminar Room, Fisher Fine Arts Library; RSVP: libcal.library.upenn.edu/event/3976807 (Penn Libraries).

Talks

[CANCELED] 21    Unapologetically Femme: Queering Black Genders in Beyonce’s “Sorry; Omise’eke Natasha Tinsley, University of Texas at Austin; 5:30 p.m.; Africana Studies Seminar Room 330A, 3401 Walnut St.; RSVP: www.africanafc2.eventbrite.com (Africana Studies).

22    Black Aesthetics: Expression and Interiority; Laurie Lambert, Fordham College at Lincoln Center; Kevin Quashie, Smith College; Brandi Summers, Virginia Commonwealth University; 3 p.m.; Africana Studies Seminar Room 330A, 3401 Walnut St.; RSVP: www.gradcollo.eventbrite.com (Africana Studies).

28    What the University is Collecting; Mark Frazier Lloyd, University Archives and Records Center; 1 p.m.; Class of 1978 Pavilion, Van Pelt-Dietrich Library; RSVP: pasef@pobox.upenn.edu (PASEF).

AT PENN Deadlines

The March AT PENN calendar is now online. The April AT PENN calendar will be published Tuesday, March 27.

Power Down Challenge

Penn Sustainability’s annual Power Down Challenge is this week through March 23.  There are a ton of great events happening, including: 

MOD 6 Tour, one of Penn’s chilled water plants, which provides cooling to campus buildings (RSVP required); Mar­ch 20, noon-1 p.m.

Sculpture Tour led by University Curator Lynn Marsden-Atlass (RSVP required); March 21, noon-1 p.m.

Energy Reduction Challenge; March 21, all day. Savings will be donated to the Center for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships (CURF) to support undergraduate environmental research.

Visit the Penn Sustainability website  at https://www.sustainability.upenn.edu/participate/penn-community/power-down-challenge

[Canceled] Whispering: Lecture by Artist Jaume Plensa

caption: Endless III, 2010, by sculptor Jaume Plensa. Courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania Art Collection

Update: This event has been canceled due to inclement weather. It will be rescheduled in April.

The Arthur Ross Gallery welcomes Jaume Plensa, Spanish artist and sculptor, who will present the second annual Susan T. Marx Distinguished Lecture, Whispering, on March 21 at 5:30 p.m. at A1 in David Rittenhouse Laboratry (DRL).

Mr. Plensa is a renowned contemporary artist working in the public realm and his art is driven by a desire to emphasize the possibilities of communication brought about through sculpture and place. His sculpture in Penn’s Art Collection, Endless III, 2010 is composed of interwoven letters and symbols that capture the light and create a metaphorical language that connects all people. It is located in the Singh Center for Nanotechnology.

Through this annual lecture series, Susan T. Marx (CW’66) and the Arthur Ross Gallery seek to inspire Penn students across disciplines to develop an interest in or a passion for art and to attract a regional and national audience. Funding for the Susan T. Marx Distinguished Lecture Series is provided by a gift to the University of Pennsylvania from Susan T. Marx (Almanac May 31, 2016).

For more information and to RSVP, email sabrady@upenn.edu

Egyptomania! at the Penn Museum: March 24

caption: Belly dancer and dance scholar Habiba and company showcase folkloric Egyptian dances. Photograph by Penn Museum.

Mummies and pyramids. Magic wands. Heart scarabs. Hieroglyphs and papyrus paper. Canopic jars and Shabti figurines.

The Penn Museum will spotlight all things Egyptian on Saturday, March 24, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., for Egyptomania! The family-friendly day, set in and around the Museum’s world-renowned ancient Egyptian galleries, features a mummification workshop, ancient Egyptian hieroglyph classes, belly dancing, a talk by an Egyptian archaeologist, storytelling, craft making and a scavenger hunt.

Spotlight on the Sphinx

Big changes are coming to the Penn Museum in the months and years ahead, and Egyptomania! provides a special occasion for guests to visit the popular Sphinx in the Egypt (Sphinx) Gallery before the gallery closes July 8 for extensive renovations. The 13-ton granite Sphinx, the largest in the Western Hemisphere, is surrounded by architectural elements from the 1200 BCE palace of the Pharaoh Merenptah.  In 2015, Egyptologist curators Josef Wegner and Jennifer Houser Wegner co-authored a book about the iconic artifact, The Sphinx That Traveled to Philadelphia: The Story of the Colossal Sphinx in the Penn Museum; guests will have an opportunity to purchase the book, and get it signed by one of the authors at 2:30 p.m.

Hieroglyphs, Belly Dancing and Mummy Making

At Egyptomania!, guests are invited to become mummification experts, with a Mummy Makers workshop offered at 11:30 a.m. This science-rich experience, drawn from the Museum’s “Unpacking the Past” programs for Philadelphia middle school students, invites participants to assist Museum educators as they demonstrate the mummification process on a custom-made dummy mummy. Activities include brain removal, evisceration, desiccation, and the weighing of the heart ceremony.

An introductory Egyptian hieroglyph workshop at 12:30 p.m. and again at 3 p.m. invites guests to explore the distinctive script that ancient Egyptians used for nearly 4,000 years—whether inscribed on papyrus, carved in stone on tomb and temple walls, or used to decorate objects for daily life. The 1799 discovery of the Rosetta Stone finally offered a key to the modern understanding of this script.

Archaeologist and Egyptologist Josef Wegner, associate curator of the Museum’s Egyptian Section, has led excavations at the site of Abydos, Egypt, since 1994. He shares some of his most recent discoveries at a 1 p.m. talk.  His team’s excavations in the area of South Abydos have revealed a thriving royal cult center that developed around the subterranean tomb of Pharaoh Senwosret III. A recently discovered boat burial is about 65 meters east of the front of the tomb enclosure of Pharaoh Senwosret III.

Belly dancer and dance scholar Habiba showcases folkloric Egyptian dances at a performance and workshop at 2:30 p.m. Her repertoire includes the Raks al Assaya (Cane Dance) from Upper Egypt and Ballass Dance (Water Jug Dance) from the Nile delta.

Throughout the afternoon, visitors may stop by a craft station to create scarab necklaces and masks to take home.

The Museum’s Pepper Mill Café offers Egyptian-inspired entrée options, while the Museum Shop highlights its Egyptian arts, crafts and other gift items for sale.

For those inspired to delve deeper, Angelina Conti, director of Digital Learning, Arts & Sciences Online Learning at Penn, will be on hand from noon to 2 p.m., sharing information about two free online courses developed by the University and offered through Coursera: Introduction to Ancient Egypt and Its Civilization and Wonders of Ancient Egypt. Featuring the Penn Museum’s Egyptian Collection and taught by world-renowned Egyptologist David Silverman, Museum curator and Penn professor, the online courses offer Ancient Egypt enthusiasts a chance to study with one of the world’s foremost scholars on the subject. To date, more than 50,000 learners around the world have enrolled!

Signature Galleries

Penn Museum has a long history of archaeological research in Egypt, as well as a renowned Egyptian collection. There are more than 42,000 artifacts in the Penn Museum’s Egyptian Section, one of the largest collections of Egyptian and Nubian material in the United States, spanning an extraordinary 5,000 years of ancient Egyptian history. The sphinx and monumental architectural elements from the 1200 BCE palace of the Pharaoh Memeptah grace the Egypt (Sphinx) Gallery. The Museum’s finest examples of Egyptian sculpture are exhibited in the third floor Egyptian Gallery, where guests can enter the popular exhibition, The Egyptian Mummy: Secrets and Science. The material on display in the Egypt Galleries, including carved relief, stone coffins, and exquisite three-dimensional sculpture, testifies to the superb craftsmanship of Egyptian artists and sculptors throughout Egypt’s long history.

Egyptomania!, one of the Museum’s World Culture Day programs, is free with admission:  $15 general; $13 seniors [65+]; $10 children [6-17] and full-time students [with ID]; $2 ACCESS Card holders; free to children under 5, members, active U.S. Military, STAMP and PennCard holders.

Schedule

11:30 a.m.: Mummy Makers Workshop

12-2 p.m.: Online Learning with Coursera: Ancient Egypt information station

12:30 p.m.: Hieroglyph Class

1 p.m.: Archaeologist’s Update – Report from Abydos

1:30 p.m.: Egyptian Storytime

2:30 p.m.: Booksigning: The Sphinx that Traveled to Philadelphia

2:30 p.m.: Belly Dance Workshop with Habiba Studio

3 p.m.: Hieroglyph Class

All Day

Craft Station: Make a scarab necklace

Egyptian scavenger hunt

Craft Station: Mask making

Pepper Mill Café Egypt-inspired entrée options

Egyptian arts, crafts, jewelry, and more in the Museum Shop

Crimes

Weekly Crime Reports

The University of Pennsylvania Police Department Community Crime Report

Below are the Crimes Against Persons, Crimes Against Society, and Crimes Against Property from the campus report for March 5-11, 2018View 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 March 5-11, 2018. The University Police actively patrol from Market St to Baltimore Ave 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.

3/6/18            3:46 AM           3744 Spruce St.                      Robbery after brandishing a knife and taking cigarettes/Arrest

3/6/18            5:31 AM          108 S 38th St.                          Unsecured package taken from porch

3/6/18            8:51 AM           3400 Spruce St.                      Threatening phone calls

3/7/18            2:51 AM           200 S 38th St                          Offender arrested on active warrant

3/7/18            3:32 PM           10 N 38th St.                           Handtruck taken from vehicle

3/8/18          12:55 PM           3737 Market St.                       Failure to  Appear/Arrest

3/9/18            1:53 AM           119 S 39th St.                          Male causing disturbance/Arrest

3/9/18            7:40 AM           4244 Pine St.                           Package theft and probation violation/Arrest

3/9/18          12:39 PM           3600 Civic Center Blvd.           Sugar poured into gas tank by drunk person

3/9/18            7:34 PM           3701 Walnut St.                       Unsecure items taken from locker

3/10/18          2:08 PM           220 S 40th St.                         Probation violation/Arrest

3/11/18          3:36 PM           3901 Chestnut St.                   Female wanted on warrant/Arrest

18th District

Below are the Crimes Against Persons from the 18th District: 5 incidents (1 robbery) with 1 arrest were reported between March 5-11, 2018 by the 18th District covering the Schuylkill River to 49th St & Market St to Woodland Ave.

3/6/18            4:21 AM           3744 Spruce St.                       Robbery/Arrest

Bulletins

Update: W-4 Withholding Status

Following the enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in December 2017, the IRS has released a new version of the Form W-4 to more fully reflect the new law. The IRS has also updated its withholding tax calculator on IRS.gov, which will help you determine if you need to update your withholding in response to the new law or other changes in your personal circumstances in 2018.

What does this mean to you?

The IRS, in its Frequently Asked Questions, has indicated that the 2018 income tax withholding tables are designed to minimize taxpayer burden as much as possible and will work with employees’ current Forms W-4.

That being said, the IRS encourages individuals to check their withholding and will help educate taxpayers about the new withholding guidelines and the tax calculator. This effort is designed to help workers ensure that they are not having too much or too little tax taken out of their pay. Please note that the IRS recommends that you not include yourself as an exemption on your W-4.

To view your current Tax Status and Exemptions, click on “My Pay” in the My Pay section of the U@Penn portal and enter your PennKey and Password. If you determine that your Tax Status and Exemptions need to be updated, print and complete the Form W-4 and send to the Payroll Office, Room 310 Franklin Building, 3451 Walnut Street, or contact the Payroll Office at (215) 898-6301.

­—Tax and International Operations

One Step Ahead: It’s important to keep your personal and professional data separate

Technology has given us the ability to perform professional and personal tasks from anywhere at any time. As a result, people often have personal data on University-owned devices and systems and vice-versa. When a person leaves Penn, this mixing of data is problematic for both the University and individuals. Departments may find themselves losing data that is vital to ongoing business operations. Individuals often discover they have lost personal data stored on University-owned devices and systems. 

It is best to always keep personal and professional data separate. Maintain separate email and data storage for personal use and only use Penn email and data storage for University data. When creating accounts for personal use, it’s best to use a personal email account instead of your University email address.  

Prior to leaving Penn, here are a few things to keep in mind: 

  • Do not assume any personal data on University systems will remain accessible or be retained indefinitely.
  • Your access to virtually all University applications will end when you leave Penn and you will no longer be able to access any data in those applications.
  • Remove any personal emails from a University email account by exporting them to your personal computer or transferring them to a personal email account.
  • You should consult the IT support staff in your school or center well in advance of your separation.
  • With few exceptions, your University email account will be disabled and eventually deleted.
  • Your PennKey will not be authorized to access most University resources such as Penn+Box.

For more information on how to separate your personal and professional data or to prepare for leaving the University, contact the IT support staff of your school or center.  If you are unsure who to contact, see: http://isc.upenn.edu/get-it-help

For additional tips, see the One Step Ahead link on the Information Security website: www.upenn.edu/computing/security/

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