July 17, 2018 Volume 65 Issue 1

On July 1, Joseph S. Francisco joined Penn as the President’s Distinguished Professor of Earth and Environmental Science, with a secondary appointment in the department of chemistry. Having served as the Elmer H. and Ruby M. Cordes Chair in Chemistry and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Dr. Francisco is an internationally recognized scholar of atmospheric chemistry and chemical kinetics. His work extends across chemical, earth and environmental sciences.

Dr. Francisco has served as atmospheric and ocean science editor for Pure and Applied Geophysics, and as a member of the editorial advisory boards of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Journal of Physical Chemistry, Journal of Molecular Structure Theochem, Spectrochemica Acta Part A and Theoretical Chemistry Accounts. He is the co-author of the fundamental textbook, Chemical Kinetics and Dynamics, as well as more than 600 peer-reviewed publications in the fields of atmospheric chemistry, chemical kinetics, quantum chemistry, laser photochemistry and spectroscopy.

Dr. Francisco is a fellow of the American Chemical Society, the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He was elected President of the American Chemical Society for 2010. Dr. Francisco was appointed a member of the President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science by former President Barack Obama and is a former member of the Naval Research Advisory Committee for the Department of the Navy. He is a past president of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers. Among his other distinguished honors are the Alexander von Humboldt U.S. Senior Scientist Award, John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship and five honorary degrees.

The President’s Distinguished Professorship was established anonymously in 2017 to support a faculty member in the School of Arts and Sciences whose teaching and research is focused on global topics.

Professor of political science John Lapinski was named the Robert A. Fox Leadership Professor of Political Science and the director of the Robert A. Fox Leadership Program effective July 1. A renowned expert on national elections, survey research and Congress, Dr. Lapinski is also Director of the Elections Unit at NBC News and analyzes and produces election-related stories through exit polls for NBC News, MSNBC, CNBC, Telemundo and all of NBC’s digital properties. In addition, he is the founding faculty director of Penn’s Program for Opinion Research and Election Studies (PORES), which trains undergraduates in public policy, elections research and data analytics. He also currently serves as the associate faculty director of the Fox Program and the faculty director of the Fels Executive Master of Public Administration Program.

John DiIulio, the Frederic Fox Leadership Professor of Politics, Religion and Civil Society and current director of the Fox Leadership Program, noted that “John Lapinski has brilliantly mentored numerous Fox-supported undergraduate fellows while helping greatly to expand fellowships from 50 in 2012 to more than 150 in each of the last two years. His exciting vision for both PORES and Fox is all about equipping and empowering students and recent alumni for 21st century leadership challenges.”

“We are delighted,” said Penn Arts and Sciences Dean Steven J. Fluharty, “to have John Lapinski take the helm of the outstanding program that Bob and Penny Fox have so generously endowed, and that his predecessor, John DiIulio, did so much to make a crowning success.”  Dr. Lapinski, he added, “is a major force in national media affairs and through his expertise and dedicated service he has enriched the School and the educational experiences of our students in many ways.

Robert A. Fox Leadership Professor Dennis DeTurck, the former Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, added that “John’s outstanding contributions to Penn include his service as chairperson of the undergraduate program in political science,” and Nora Lewis, Vice Dean of the College of Liberal and Professional Studies (LPS) commented that “Professor Lapinski has served in a leadership role on the LPS faculty oversight committee for many years, providing invaluable support to advance the LPS mission of promoting access and innovation in educational programming. We are grateful for his vision and commitment.”

Established in 1999, the Fox Program has received more than $32 million in support from Robert A. Fox, C’52, and Penny Grossman Fox, Ed’53. Past holders of the Robert A. Fox Leadership chair have included former Penn President Judith N. Rodin, who served as acting faculty director of the Fox Program in 2001, and Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology Martin E.P. Seligman.

President Amy Gutmann and EVP Craig Carnaroli announced the promotion of Gregory (Greg) J. Pellicano to Vice President for Audit, Compliance and Privacy which was effective June 22  from his prior role as the Associate Vice President. Mr. Pellicano, along with his 33-member professional staff, provide assurance and advisory services and oversee the compliance and privacy programs for both the University and Penn Medicine.

Since joining Penn in October 2015, Mr. Pellicano has overseen and provided strategic direction to this important function. During his tenure, he reshaped the audit work plan to focus on higher level, strategic risks. More specifically, he has worked collaboratively across the University to address risks in the areas of information security, research compliance and clinical trials management. In addition, Mr. Pellicano has called attention to the risks related to third-party outsourcing arrangements.

Mr. Pellicano has refined the risk-based internal audit planning methodology, yielding a 20% efficiency by creating enhanced capacity. In the area of privacy, he has furthered Penn’s strong reputation by enhancing both the monitoring and investigatory functions at multiple sites at the Health System. In addition, he has worked to integrate the comparable functions of Penn’s recently acquired hospitals with his Office. Finally, he restructured the institutional compliance function to enhance its effectiveness.

Prior to joining Penn, he served as Vice President and Deputy Chief Compliance Officer at Shire Pharmaceuticals. He has also held various senior level risk and assurance positions at several Fortune 500 companies during his 33-year professional career. His appointment was approved by the Trustees in June.

After a wide-ranging search, Mark Kocent, was appointed as the University Architect effective July 2.

Mr. Kocent has served as Penn’s Principal Planner for the past 14 years, supporting the Office of the University Architect in all aspects of architect selection, design review, campus planning and community engagement. He has served on the Boards of AIA Philadelphia, the Penn Design Alumni Association, and as a member of the Steering Committee of the Schuylkill River Development Corporation. He also represents Penn in multiple local and regional planning initiatives and in speaking engagements at local and national AIA, AICP and Society for College and University Planning conferences.

Mr. Kocent managed the creation of the University’s award-winning Penn Connects campus master plan and its subsequent 2.0 and soon to be released 3.0 updates. This 30-year vision guides the development framework of the University’s 300-acre West Philadelphia campus with a focus on eastern expansion opportunities along the Schuylkill River, the evolution of the 40th Street corridor and the emerging Pennovation Works tech transfer hub. From 2006-2017 these plans have produced over 6 million square feet of new development, 2.7 million  square feet of renovated space and 30 additional acres of open space, with a total of $3.8 billion of capital investment in University City.

Mr. Kocent holds an undergraduate degree in the design of the environment and a master’s in city planning and urban design from PennDesign as well as a bachelor of architecture from Drexel. His professional experience includes 20 years of architectural and planning practice in Philadelphia, including eight years with Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates. His 40-year relationship with Penn includes his design of the Class of 1982 Ivy Day stone located on Fagin Hall http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/pennhistory/ivystones/ivystones.html

The G. Holmes Perkins Teaching Awards are presented annually, based on the input of students at PennDesign, to recognize distinguished teaching and innovation in the classroom, seminar or studio. These awards were named in honor of the architect and longtime faculty member who served as dean of the School 1951-1971 and were presented at the school’s awards ceremony by Frederick Steiner, dean of the School of Design and Paley Professor.

G. Holmes Perkins Distinguished Teaching Award for Standing Faculty

 Sharon Hayes, associate professor of fine arts, is this year’s recipient. She is an artist whose work engages multiple media, including video, performance and installation, in an ongoing investigation into specific intersections between history, politics and speech. Ms. Hayes has had solo exhibitions at Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York; Tanya Leighton Gallery, Berlin; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid. Her work was included in the 2013 Venice Biennale, as well as exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; and numerous museums and venues in Europe and the Americas. Ms. Hayes is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship (2014), the Alpert Award in Visual Arts (2013), an Anonymous Was a Woman Award (2013), and a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Fellowship (2007) among other awards. She earned master of fine arts from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a bachelor of the arts from Bowdoin College. Ms. Hayes also attended the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program. Ms. Hayes teaches both graduate and undergraduate studio courses, including video and performance, as well as interdisciplinary courses such as Across Forms: Art & Writing.

One student said, “Sharon Hayes is a brilliant artist and a deeply committed and thoughtful teacher. Her syllabus is incredibly inclusive and opens up the field of performance and conceptual art while remaining deeply rigorous. She takes her students work very seriously and gives attention and feedback so generously. What an honor to get to study with her!” Another student said, “Sharon has continually gone above and beyond as an educator. The amount of time and work she puts into her classes, studio visits, one-on-one meetings and critiques is endlessly inspiring (not even accounting for how much labor goes into her own artistic practice). She is simultaneously thoughtful, critical, generous, supportive, kind and challenging. I’ve continually witnessed her take more and more onto her plate, without sacrificing us as students.”

G. Holmes Perkins Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award

 Eric Bellin, lecturer and PhD candidate in architecture, is this year’s recipient of the award for underegraduate teaching. This award rotates each year between architecture and fine arts.

Eric Bellin’s research deals primarily with 19th through 20th century histories and theories of architectural detailing in France, Britain and America. Other research interests include: histories of construction, architectural technology, post-war ‘humanism’ in architecture, and design education. He earned a master of science in architectural pedagogy and a master of architecture from the University of Florida, where he also earned a bachelor of design. He teaches both graduate and undergraduate architecture courses, including a recent graduate research studio entitled Drifting Symmetries: Towards a new botanic infrastructure.

A student said, “Eric’s mentoring in the architecture studio so far has been transformative to how I approach the discipline. His emphasis on rigor and process combined with an eye for the individual style and strength of each student and their goals has been inspiring for me. I feel challenged every day in studio but deeply motivated to work my hardest for every meeting —each crit with him feels like an opportunity for real personal growth. I can’t overstate my satisfaction with how he pushes us to get the most out of our studios.” Another student said, “Eric has consistently pushed me to create the best work. He was always available outside of class time and by email. He even went so far as to send me resources and inspiration on his own time and volition.”

G. Holmes Perkins Distinguished Teaching Award, Non-Standing Faculty

 Ben Krone, a lecturer in architecture, is this year’s recipient. He is the founder of Gradient, a design studio whose work focuses on procedural approaches to manipulating surface systems and bridging the gap between architecture, product design and graphic art. His past achievements include an installation for the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, collaborations with several acclaimed artists and multiple award-winning residential and commercial projects. Currently Gradient is working on a number of larger projects including boutique hotel in Brooklyn and a large residential tower in Jersey City. Mr. Krone earned his bachelor of architecture from the University of Florida. He received his master’s degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, where he was the recipient of the McKim Prize for Excellence in design and the Sol Kaplan Traveling Fellowship. He teaches graduate studio courses, including recent design studios entitled Co/Habitation and Perpetual Motion. He also teaches in the Integrated Product Design program at Penn.

A student said, “Ben was invested in each individual project and encouraged and pushed each student to go above and beyond in each project. Through him, we learned the strength of a potent design concept and how this gets translated into a building’s form and use. This skill and the methodology of Ben’s approach is something that will be remembered and carried throughout my design career.” Another student said, “Excellent architecture professor, probably one of the best professors I’ve ever had. Very encouraging, insightful and involved in making sure each student succeeds.”

Important research undertaken by undergraduate students in the Penn Slavery Project independent study supervised by Penn Professor Kathleen M. Brown, the David Boies Professor of History in the School of Arts and Sciences, has given us a clearer understanding of the depth and breadth of Penn’s connections to slavery. This was a profoundly painful and odious part of our nation’s history. No segment of American society or institution founded during the 18th century, including the University of Pennsylvania, escaped its scourge. Far from it.

Members of the Penn Slavery Project reported their findings at the end of the fall 2017 semester. As a result of their work and additional research undertaken by the University, I charged Provost Wendell Pritchett, who holds a PhD in history from Penn, with leading a Working Group to help outline the contours of additional research that should be pursued and to recommend next steps. The Working Group included Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer Joann Mitchell; Kathleen Brown, the Boies Professor and director of gender, sexuality and women’s studies; Heather A. Williams, Presidential Professor and professor of Africana studies; and Dorothy Roberts, Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor and the George A. Weiss University Professor of Law and Sociology, the Raymond Pace and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Professor of Civil Rights, and professor of Africana studies. This exemplary team received research support from Arielle Brown, a program manager in Penn’s Museum of Archeology and Anthropology, and Alexis Neumann, a doctoral candidate in the department of history. The Working Group has now provided me with its report.

We now know that no fewer than 75 of the University’s early trustees owned at least one enslaved person, including Penn’s first Provost, William Smith. For 13 years, from 1757 to 1770, the University’s trustees reimbursed Ebenezer Kinnersley, Penn’s first professor of English and Oratory who also was a dormitory steward, for the work of an enslaved man that he owned. In this and other ways, the labor of enslaved people was used to support and care for Penn faculty and students. We know that the medical school’s first faculty member, Dr. John Morgan, owned at least one slave, and that he traveled to Jamaica for fundraising from prominent slaveholding families. We also learned that the medical school’s faculty, under the leadership of Dean William Horner, played pivotal roles in the development of racial pseudoscience based on the research of faculty members such as Professor Samuel Morton and Professor Charles Caldwell as well as medical school alumnus Dr. Samuel Cartwright.  

Penn faculty and alumni were actively involved in framing the Constitution to support slavery and in administering state slavery laws.  Alumnus and professor of mathematics Hugh Williamson was instrumental in arguing for the insertion of the three-fifths clause into the U.S. Constitution, which counted enslaved persons as three-fifths of a person for the purposes of Congressional representation. Penn alumnus and Trustee, Judge William Tilghman, was a conservative interpreter of Pennsylvania’s gradual manumission laws. Several alumni who owned enslaved people were prominent leaders or supporters of the Confederacy.  

As an academic institution dedicated to uncovering and conveying the truth, the University is committed to advancing research that will enable us to more fully understand Penn’s linkages to slavery. On behalf of the University, I thank the Working Group, accept its recommendations, and charge Provost Wendell Pritchett and Senior Vice President Joann Mitchell to partner with the Deans of the appropriate Schools to continue to illuminate the University’s connections to slavery and its implications for the present and future. Specifically, for the near term, working collaboratively with our relevant Schools, Penn will:

• Support the ongoing research of the Penn Slavery Project under the leadership of Professor Kathleen Brown;

• Support research—under the leadership of Professor Dorothy Roberts and the Penn Program on Race, Science and Society—on the impact of the medical school’s pedagogy, research and medical practices on alumni and its lingering effects on medicine;

• Develop a University website to serve as a portal for and repository of research findings and other information;

• Join the Universities Studying Slavery consortium to collaborate with and learn from peer institutions; and

• Encourage Penn Schools and departments to offer educational and cultural programming that will inform our community about our past and foster opportunities for learning on campus and beyond.

We are grateful to Professor Brown and deeply proud of the work of the students in the Penn Slavery Project for their outstanding scholarship. Their work has advanced our understanding of the ways that Penn’s early trustees, faculty, administrators, alumni and students participated in and benefitted from the exploitation of enslaved people. Penn will continue this effort to learn still more about its past, disseminate our findings, grapple with the implications for our present and work to secure an ever more inclusive future. The power of knowledge advances our common good; it enables us to be stronger and wiser; and it is essential to our moving forward together.

—Amy Gutmann, President

The Wolf Humanities Center (formerly Penn Humanities Forum) awards five one-year Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowships each academic year to junior scholars in the humanities who are no more than eight years out of their doctorate and who are not yet tenured (may not be tenured during the fellowship year). Scholars are required to spend the year (late August–May) in residence at Penn.

For the 2019-2020 academic year, our topic will be Kinship The Fellowship carries a stipend of $56,225 plus single-coverage health insurance (fellows are responsible for coverage for any dependents) and a $3,000 research fund. Fellows teach one undergraduate course in either the fall or the spring semester in addition to conducting their research.

The PhD is the only eligible terminal degree, and applicants must be humanists or those in such allied fields as anthropology or history of science. Ineligible categories include an MFA or any other doctorate such as EdD, social scientists, scholars in educational curriculum building and performing artists (note: scholars of performance are eligible).

The fellowship is open to all scholars, national and international, who meet application terms.

Visa eligibility: International scholars outside of North America are appointed under a J-1 visa (Research Scholar status). Scholars seeking to hold an H-1B visa during the fellowship year at Penn are ineligible (no exceptions can be made). The Wolf Humanities Center reserves the right to cancel awards if the recipient is unable to meet this condition. Applicants should consult the international programs office at their current university to confirm eligibility before applying for this fellowship.

2019-2020 Call for Applications

Application Deadline: October 15, 2018

NOTE: Applications must be submitted online through the Center’s secure webform only. Postal and email submissions will not be accepted. Decisions will be announced in late December 2018, when applicants will be notified by email.

The programs of the Center are conceived through yearly topics that invite broad interdisciplinary collaboration. For the 2019–2020 academic year, we have set Kinship as the topic.

Scholars who received or will receive their PhD between December 2010 and December 2018 are eligible to apply. You must have your degree in hand or have passed your defense no later than December 2018 to be eligible. Your application will not be considered unless this condition is met (i.e., you are ineligible to apply if you will defend or otherwise submit your dissertation anytime in 2019).

During their year in residence, fellows pursue their proposed research, are required to teach one undergraduate seminar during the year and must also participate in the Center’s weekly Mellon Research Seminar (Tuesdays, noon–1:50 p.m.), presenting their research at one of those seminars.
 

In selecting fellows, the Wolf Humanities Center aims for a balanced mix of recent PhDs and more seasoned tenure-track faculty who do not yet have tenure. Preference will be given to candidates whose proposals are interdisciplinary, who have not previously enjoyed use of the resources of the University of Pennsylvania and who would particularly benefit from and contribute to Penn’s intellectual life.

Penn Arts and Sciences has announced the 2018 funded projects for the “Making a Difference in Diverse Communities” initiative, which encourages faculty to explore innovative ways of applying their expertise. Through a combination of coursework, research and service, the projects address issues of diversity and inequality at the local, national and international level.

The researchers belong to fields as wide-ranging as public health and policy, community education, environmental studies, and film and media studies. The projects cover the entire spectrum of humanities, social science and natural science and include collaborators from other Penn schools.

In announcing the grant awards, Steven J. Fluharty, dean of Penn Arts and Sciences, said that these projects “combine the type of innovation and excellence that forms the intellectual core of Penn Arts and Sciences.” He added that he was “especially inspired by how the projects involve students in research and outreach efforts. The combination of students and faculty, working together in the classroom and in communities, can have powerful results.”

The grant recipients are:

Penn-in-Havana: Visual Culture and Public Art in Cuba: This project, led by Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, associate professor and undergraduate chair in the history of art department, introduced Penn students to the vibrant NGO community arts scene of contemporary Cuba through support of and participation in the activities of the Cayo Hueso art collective in Havana. On the trip, Dr. Shaw was assisted by the U.S. representative for the Callejón de Hamel collective and professor of Latin American studies at Norfolk State University Geoffroy de Laforcade, who provided background lectures and on-location guidance. Students also worked directly with artist Salvador González Escalona, who first began to alter the urban landscape in Central Havana through public art, performance and cultural exchange opportunities in the 1980s. Co-faculty project director includes William Schmenner, lecturer in cinema studies.

Increasing Turnout in Off-Cycle Elections in the City of Philadelphia: This project, helmed by Daniel J. Hopkins, associate professor of political science, looks to increase voter turnout in non-presidential elections in Philadelphia. The team will generate and test novel direct-mail communications designed to heighten voter turnout in off-cycle elections by making social norms related to voting more salient. In doing so, the project will draw upon and contribute to a growing research literature on voter mobilization. The project also seeks to bolster the study of official, government-sponsored efforts to increase voter turnout, as well as close well-known gaps in political participation along racial, economic and income lines.

Philosophy for the Young: This project, led by Karen Detlefsen, professor of philosophy and education, will build on existing partnerships with Philadelphia Futures, Benjamin B. Comegys School and Penn Alexander School, and will cultivate new partnerships with schools across Philadelphia to bring philosophy to students in kindergarten through 12th grade. This initiative will take two forms: classes and clubs where philosophy is taught as a self-standing subject, as well as the integration of philosophy into existing curricula and lessons as teachers see fit. The project will include Penn undergraduates from ABCS courses, as well Penn graduate students who are already teaching philosophy to middle and high school students. Co-faculty project directors include Eli Lesser, executive director of educational innovation in the School of Social Policy and Practice, and Janine Remillard, associate professor in the teaching, learning and leadership division in the Graduate School of Education. The project is in collaboration with the Netter Center for Community Partnerships.

LAVA: Laboratorio para apreciar la vida y el ambiente (continuation of “Community Ecology in the Galapagos Archipelago”): This effort, helmed by Michael Weisberg, professor and chair of philosophy, will build upon previous project, “Community-Based Ecology in the Galapagos Archipelago,” by growing community science initiatives, such as the flagship observational study of sea lions, to include additional high school students and put more emphasis on helping them to understand the data they are collecting. In addition, the project will pilot a second community science initiative with local women, which will involve teaching them to monitor the marine reserve. The team will also move to the production phase on their Galapaguefio documentary projects. Co-faculty project directors include Susan Lindee, Janice and Julian Bers Professor of the History and Sociology of Science; Erol Akçay, assistant professor of biology; Tim Linksvayer, associate professor of biology; Deena Skolnick Weisberg, a senior fellow in the psychology department; Howard Neukrug, professor of practice; and Karen M’Closkey, associate professor of landscape architecture in the School of Design.

Using Virtual Reality and Digital Video to Document the Post-Hurricane Maria Recovery Efforts in Puerto Rico: This project, led by Peter Decherney, professor of English and cinema studies, will visit Puerto Rico nine months after hurricane Maria hit in order to re-create the experience of individuals who have worked in different circumstances to rebuild their environments and lives after the hurricane. The team will use virtual reality and video to capture these narratives. This will continue work Dr. Decherney and his students completed in Kenya, where they used similar techniques to document the refugee experience. Dr. Decherney hopes the project will also communicate the situation on the ground and the need for increased aid to policymakers, non-governmental organization leaders, and anyone who can’t travel to the island.

The “Making a Difference in Diverse Communities” initiative is a key component of the School’s commitment to advance research and teaching around issues of diversity, inequality and human well-being.

The Dean’s Global Inquiries Fund, an initiative that encourages the collective investigation of global topics across the liberal arts, recently awarded its second round of grants.

Dean Steven J. Fluharty established the fund to advance the School’s commitment to driving global change, a key priority in the Power of Penn Arts and Sciences fundraising campaign.

Dean Fluharty says that the funded projects “typify the global reach of our faculty. These awardees demonstrate how Penn Arts and Sciences faculty are moving their fields forward by creating avenues for international collaboration and knowledge-sharing.”

The following projects were selected to receive up to $50,000 to support a variety of activities including research, conferences, workshops, film screenings and course development. These projects are inherently collaborative, forward-thinking and interdisciplinary and use the tools of the social and natural sciences and humanities.

Trauma and the Arts, South Africa in Dialogue with Philadelphia: Led by Carol Muller, professor of music, this project brings together faculty and leaders in Philadelphia community organizations and schools as well as South African educators and artists. The goal is to create a culture of trauma-informed learning and instruction using drawing, dancing, singing, acting and storytelling as a vehicle for the emotional and psychological effects of trauma. In addition to building an online resource for knowledge-sharing, the project will include a three-day conference for all stakeholders. Involved Penn faculty include Herman Beavers, professor of English and Africana studies, and James Pawelski, professor of practice and director of education in the Positive Psychology Center.

Shared Practices, Common Legacies: Ottoman Science from a Global Perspective: This project, led by Harun Küçük, assistant professor of history and sociology of science, will organize an international workshop focused on Ottoman scientific texts. The workshop will initiate an international collaborative project to translate sourcebooks of Ottoman scientific texts from a variety of languages, religious backgrounds, and geographical areas. This endeavor addresses the lack of Ottoman sources currently in translation and applies global history, a progressive methodology that sees beyond current national or linguistic barriers. Oscar Aguirre-Mandujano, an incoming assistant professor of Ottoman history, will join the project.

Undergraduate Seminar on Comparative Ancient Epics: Peter Struck, professor and chair of Classical studies, will develop an undergraduate seminar in collaboration with Yale-NUS, based in Singapore, on five ancient texts: Gilgamesh, Iliad, Odyssey, Ramayana, and Aeneid. Dr. Struck and Mira Seo, associate professor of humanities, Yale-NUS, will teach the course on their respective campuses in spring 2019. As part of the course, Yale-NUS students will visit Philadelphia and Penn students will go to the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and travel to Singapore for classes and visits to the  Asian Civilizations Museum in Singapore.

Urban Sea: Living in Anthropogenic Waters: Nikhil Anand, assistant professor of anthropology, will lead 14 months of field research in Mumbai, focusing on the daily practices of fishers and dockworkers, the research practices of coastal scientists at sea, and ideological and material work of urban engineers building along the coast. By examining the life of coastal megacities from their waters, Urban Sea will examine how these spaces are inhabited in a time of extreme ecological flux. Bethany Wiggin, associate professor of Germanic languages and literatures and founding director of Penn Program in Environmental Humanities, and Anuradha Mathur, professor of landscape architecture at PennDesign, will be part of this project.

Religion and the Global Future: This project is led by Steven Weitzman, Abraham M. Ellis Professor of Hebrew and Semitic Languages and Literature and Ella Darivoff, director of the Katz Center of Advanced Judaic Studies. It is an effort to create a new kind of learning experience for students interested in the role that religion plays in international conflict, global environmental concerns and human rights issues. Dr. Weitzman will develop an undergraduate course and symposium that will include global speakers from the fields of religious studies, international relations, and public policy. Ultimately, this project will lay the groundwork to create a network of scholars who study the public policy impacts of religious studies.

Active Coating Technologies (ACT) to Mitigate the Global Water Crisis: Zahra Fakhraai, associate professor of chemistry, will lead this effort to form an international faculty working group to develop coatings that can redirect, harvest, and purify water in environments that lack access to safe water. In addition to building collaborative relationships with researchers from around the world, this project will support summer internships, located in Korea, for chemistry and engineering graduate students interested in developing reliable materials for water management. Involved Penn faculty include Daeyeon Lee, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, and Russell J. Composto, professor of materials science and engineering, bioengineering, and chemical and biomolecular engineering.

The Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded a $2 million grant over the next five years to the Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM) Residency Program in the department of emergency medicine at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine. This grant will help train the next generation of OEM physicians.

“The Occupational and Environmental Medicine Residency program at Penn helps address a national need: the shortage of residency trained Occupational and Environmental Medicine physicians in the United States,” said Judith McKenzie, professor of emergency medicine and OEM Residency Program Director and Division Chief. “This funding will provide critical support in helping us to continue to train OEM physicians, with specific aims to further diversify the workforce and help alleviate the national shortage.”

OEM physicians are devoted to the conservation and restoration of the health of the workforce and promotion of worker health, productivity and well-being. They diagnose, treat and prevent occupational and environmental injury and disease, are experts in prevention, exposure assessment, work fitness and disability evaluations, and hazard recognition, evaluation and control. OEM specialists are also versed in toxicology and disaster preparedness and emergency management. These physicians work in various settings such as corporations, government and academia.

Since the program’s inception in 1997, Penn has graduated 125 OEM residents. Dr. McKenzie and her team plan to train 30 more residents over the next five years.

Sharon Smith, Executive Director of Student Intervention Services, has been named Associate Vice Provost for University Life. Since June 19, she has been a member of VPUL’s Central Resource Management Team (CRMT) reporting directly to Vice Provost Valarie Swain-Cade McCoullum.

“Sharon works tirelessly across campus on behalf of undergraduate, graduate and professional students facing complex personal, academic, familial and health challenges,” Dr. McCoullum said. “I am so pleased to recognize the depth and breadth of her commitment with this expanded leadership position.”

“I am honored to take on these new responsibilities,” Ms. Smith added. “Crisis intervention is true collaboration, and I am privileged to work with so many caring and compassionate people in VPUL and across campus.”

Ms. Smith has worked at Penn since 1987 serving in leadership positions in PENNCAP, New Student Orientation and Open Expression. She helped create the mission and framework of Student Intervention Services (SIS) and in 2002 she became SIS’ founding director. SIS leads the University’s response to emergencies and critical incidents involving students.

SIS works closely with the Offices of Counseling and Psychology Services (CAPS), Student Health Service, the Chaplain’s Office, Special Services in the Division of Public Safety, and 12 schools on short-term and long-term case management of critical situations. In this role, Ms. Smith has consulted with senior administrators, Deans, faculty, staff, alumni, families and community members in a shared mission to serve students in crisis.

The Student Intervention Services team has grown in recent years in response to the complexity of individual emergencies and institutional responses. Ms. Smith will continue to oversee her three-person team of an Associate Director, Case Manager and Outreach Coordinator.

Barbara Hewitt has been named Executive Director of Career Services. Dr. Hewitt, currently Senior Associate Director, will assume her new position in August after the retirement of longtime Career Services Director Patricia Rose.

“Barb demonstrated clearly that she has the experience and vision to lead Career Services through this important transition,” said Vice Provost for University Life Valarie Swain-Cade McCoullum. “Her extensive relationships with employers and the campus community make her a valuable asset for Penn.”

“I’m incredibly excited to continue to work with Penn students, alumni, staff and faculty in my new role,” Dr. Hewitt added. “I look forward to further building upon the already strong services provided by the office in the future.”

Dr. Hewitt has worked for Career Services since 1998, being promoted from a Career Counselor in the College of Arts and Sciences to Senior Associate Director overseeing placements for Wharton undergraduates. She oversaw a campus recruiting program with 400 employers and 13,000 interviews a year, and helped implement innovative technology to aid and streamline students’ job searches.

Prior to Penn, Dr. Hewitt worked in career centers at Dickinson College, the College of Wooster and Shippensburg University.

Dr. Hewitt earned her Doctor of Education in Higher Education Administration from Penn, writing her dissertation on the Effects of Academic Achievement, Extracurricular Involvement, and Work Experience on Entry-Level Employment of College Graduates. She holds a Master of Science in counseling from Shippensburg and a bachelor’s in psychology and Spanish from Dickinson.

Jazmyn S. Pulley was named Director of the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life at Penn effective July 9. A longtime member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. and the former associate director of fraternity and sorority life at Columbia University, Ms. Pulley has national leadership experience in the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors.

“Jazmyn comes to us as a colleague passionate about the nurturing of community in university sororities and fraternities” said Dr. Valarie Swain-Cade McCoullum, Vice Provost for University Life.  “She is looking forward to working with our vibrant Penn Greek student and alumni community members to ever further promote access, inclusion and service.  We are delighted to welcome her to Penn and to VPUL!”

“I am very excited to be joining the Fraternity and Sorority Life staff at the University of Pennsylvania,” Ms. Pulley added. “I have worked many years to be able to do this work and I am elated to have the opportunity to work with Penn staff, faculty, alumni and most importantly, students to make the institution and surrounding community a better place.”

Penn’s fraternity and sorority system is comprised of 49 recognized chapters with 2,900 members and 32 chapter houses—including 24 owned and operated by the University in conjunction with Campus Apartments. The Greek system includes three governing councils: Intercultural Greek Council (seven male and seven female chapters, average of 13 members/chapter); Interfraternity Council (25 male chapters, two co-ed chapters, average of 51 members/chapter), and the Panhellenic Council (eight female chapters, average of 175 members/chapter).

At Columbia, Ms. Pulley oversaw advising, recruitment, and programming for 1,800 students in 28 chapters. She led a staff restructuring, oversaw a strategic planning process and guided a review of Greek policies. Ms. Pulley previously served as assistant director of fraternity and sorority life at Pennsylvania State University and assistant director for student activities at East Stroudsburg University. She began her career working in Greek Life at Lehigh University and Temple University.

Ms. Pulley frequently presents at regional and national Greek life events on risk management, hazing and sexual assault prevention. She received both a master of arts in counseling in higher education and bachelor’s in political science and sociology from the University of Delaware.

The Wharton School and the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania announced the launch of The Ripple Project at Penn. This joint-school effort is supported by the blockchain-based global payments leader Ripple under its recently announced University Blockchain Research Initiative. The goal of this strategic collaboration is to support academic research, technical development and innovation in blockchain, cryptocurrency and distributed ledger technology.

Ripple’s financial donation to the University will support cross-disciplinary faculty research, financial aid for graduate students and a broad range of educational programs. The Ripple Project will enable faculty research at both Wharton and Penn Engineering to unlock the full potential of blockchain to inform the creation of truly valuable solutions in the marketplace.

As the field emerging around blockchain has grown, so has the demand for professionals with an understanding of the technology and its applications. The Ripple Fellowship will support select MBA-MS candidates each year in a newly established Wharton-Engineering dual-degree program, prioritizing students working on blockchain or cryptocurrency.

“Here at Penn, there is tremendous excitement and initiative around blockchain among faculty and students,” said Vijay Kumar, the Nemirovsky Family Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science. “By collaborating with Ripple, we will answer crucial questions about blockchain’s capabilities, applications and security, and we will develop a deeper understanding of the many emerging protocols built over blockchain. This level of knowledge is key to the technology’s future success.”

“Blockchain represents the fusion of technology and finance spanning schools and disciplines well beyond Wharton,” said Geoffrey Garrett, Dean of the Wharton School. “The Ripple Project will transform the way our students and faculty look at blockchain and its potential to change the world. We are thrilled to welcome Ripple’s collaboration as we prepare future leaders who will shape the future of how this dynamic technology is developed to transform fields as diverse as finance, logistics and healthcare.”

To harness the initiative of students, the insights of new research and the power of the Penn network in this field, the Ripple Project will also provide learning opportunities both inside and outside of the classroom. Ripple will support student-organized events, such as the Penn Blockchain Conference, which brings together the Penn and Philadelphia blockchain communities; the development of new curricular offerings that bridge business and technology; and events, workshops and lectures that promote engagement between industry, students and faculty.

“Blockchain is a major point of intersection between business and engineering. We plan to research a broad range of topics in in this field, ranging from privacy to smart contract design to regulatory questions to creating trust in decentralized environments,” said Kevin Werbach, associate professor of legal studies and business ethics at the Wharton School.

Penn is among the 17 initial leading global universities engaging with Ripple through its University Blockchain Research Initiative, which was launched to prepare the next generation of leaders in fintech. Each university determines its own research topics and areas of focus. In addition to financial resources, Ripple has also committed to collaborating with university partners by providing strategic guidance and technical resources to the University as needed. Demand for learning, research and project-based experience is at an all-time high among University faculty and students, and the partnership between Ripple, the Wharton School and Penn Engineering makes major strides in fulfilling that demand.

“Academia has traditionally been a critical driver of technical innovation. The University Blockchain Research Initiative is an acknowledgment of the vital importance of the unique role universities will play in advancing our understanding and application of cryptography and blockchain technology. It also speaks to the reality that university graduates will fuel a continually evolving and maturing financial marketplace and workforce,” said Eric van Miltenburg, SVP of Global Operations at Ripple. “Much of the enthusiasm and activity to date around blockchain is disconnected from real use cases that result in clear benefits to businesses or civil society. While Ripple won’t dictate research parameters, we are excited to play a role in helping to support faculty and student-led projects that explore increasingly useful applications of blockchain and cryptocurrencies.”

Ripple and Penn are hopeful that the partnership will engage students and faculty from a wide range of academic fields and backgrounds to produce interesting research and technical developments that will add value to the global blockchain ecosystem.

Ripple provides one frictionless experience to send money globally using the power of blockchain. By joining Ripple’s growing, global network, financial institutions can process their customers’ payments anywhere in the world instantly, reliably and cost-effectively. Banks and payment providers can use the digital asset XRP to further reduce their costs and access new markets. With offices in San Francisco, New York, London, Luxembourg, Mumbai, Singapore and Sydney, Ripple has more than 100 customers around the world.

 The University of Pennsylvania is pleased to announce a gift of $1 million from Johnson & Johnson to the School of Nursing and the Wharton School. This investment launches the Nursing/Wharton Impact Scholars Loan Program, a program that will increase the number of health care leaders with expertise in both business and clinical care by offering financial aid and providing underserved communities with greater access to health professionals.

The Nursing/Wharton Impact Scholars Loan Program will provide forgivable loans to students pursuing the rigorous five-year dual degree through the Nursing and Health Care Management (NHCM) program, which awards undergraduate degrees from Penn Nursing and the Wharton School. NHCM students complete a demanding schedule of clinical placements and academic classes, which prepares them to become transformative practitioners and leaders. Limited financial aid beyond the standard fourth year of study can prevent completion of the program. 

As part of its ongoing commitment to advancing health and wellbeing, Johnson & Johnson saw an opportunity to devote resources to these future leaders and impact the future of health care. The Impact Scholars Loan, for fifth-year students, is forgivable in exchange for graduates working with underserved communities or populations for a one- to two-year period. Twenty-five NHCM students will receive this initial distribution of financial aid over the next seven years.

“Healthcare is personal—it impacts all of us. And we believe we have a responsibility to advocate for this dynamic profession. We need more people with a passion to serve others, a spirit of ingenuity and a relentless drive for innovation. They’re out there, and this scholarship will help Penn find them and continue to nurture and support them,” said Alex Gorsky, WG ’96, Chairman and CEO, Johnson & Johnson. “Our students are tomorrow’s leaders. And by investing in them, we will continue to improve human health.”

There are currently about 3,960 federally-designated Health Professional Shortage Areas across the U.S. with approximately 46 million residents. Medically underserved communities and populations, both adults and children, typically suffer higher health disparities than those with access to health professionals.

Antonia M. Villarruel, the Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing said, “Johnson & Johnson has been a critical supporter of Penn Nursing and the nursing profession for many years, and their latest investment demonstrates how strategically they think about their role in improving health care. These students are future leaders who will advance science and deliver solutions, shape policy and practice and engage communities to promote health, particularly in medically underserved communities.”

“We are so pleased that Johnson & Johnson has provided this fantastic opportunity to Wharton and Penn Nursing,” said Wharton Dean Geoffrey Garrett. “Alex Gorksy’s vision and commitment, both to our exceptional students and to communities without adequate health services, is a real inspiration. The Impact Scholars Loan will empower us to attract and retain even more of the best and brightest nursing business leaders, each of whom will make a huge difference to public health throughout their careers.”

The University of Pennsylvania Law School and the London School of Economics and Political Science Law Department have signed an Agreement that will facilitate a program for Penn Law JD students to spend the fall semester of their third year enrolled in LSE Law’s LLM (Master of Laws) program.

The Study Abroad Program agreement, signed by Penn Law Dean Ted Ruger and head of LSE’s Law Department Jeremy Horder, was facilitated by Rangita de Silva de Alwis, Penn’s associate dean for international programs, and states that each year Penn Law will send up to three law students to LSE Law, where they will complete the Michaelmas term between September and December.

The LSE courses in which Penn Law students will participate will be in a broad range of fields including arbitration, human rights, international law, corporate, commercial and financial law.

“Students selected to study at LSE Law will have the opportunity to build global peer networks while studying at one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the UK, in the heart of London,” said Dean Ruger. “This agreement offers students a course of study in law from different perspectives, jurisdictions, and disciplines, while providing an unique opportunity for our students to engage with peers from all over the world and a faculty with a well-deserved global reputation for excellence.”

Jeremy Horder, Head of the Law Department and Professor of Criminal Law wrote: “This is a historic agreement for the LSE Law department. We are delighted to be entering into partnership with the world-renowned Penn Law. We anticipate a long and fruitful relationship, furthering excellence in both research and study abroad.”

“Penn Law students will enjoy an unparalleled intellectual experience at LSE Law and will remain inspired throughout their legal careers by LSE scholars,” said Dr. de Silva de Alwis. “Through these Penn Law students LSE Law will influence the legal profession, government and academia in the U.S. This agreement is forged at a time when these transnational partnerships are more important now than ever before.”

Professor Conor Gearty, professor of human rights law at LSE and director of its LLM programme, welcomed the new partnership, saying “There is an excellent fit between our two law schools and I look forward to many years of mutual co-operation between our two institutions. We especially look forward to seeing the first of the Program’s Penn students at LSE where we can assure them a very warm welcome.”

Apart from the partnership with LSE, Penn Law offers opportunities for study abroad at Hong Kong University, Waseda, Tsinghua, Sciences Po and ESADE, providing students who choose this path a deeper knowledge of foreign law and developing comparative strength.

Located in the heart of London, LSE Law’s LLM offers the highest quality of teaching in small group seminar settings provided by leading international and UK academics. Their approach to the teaching of law combines views and experiences from different disciplinary traditions and jurisdictions, ensuring that what students learn at LSE Law is relevant to legal study and practice in any jurisdiction.

Penn Law traces its history to 1790 when James Wilson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, framer of the Constitution, and member of the first U.S. Supreme Court, delivered first lectures in law at what is now the University of Pennsylvania to President George Washington and members of his Cabinet. Today the hallmarks of the Penn Law experience are a cross-disciplinary, globally-focused legal education and vibrant intellectual community. Penn Law prepares graduates to navigate an increasingly complex world as leaders and influential decision-makers in the law and related fields.

The newly launched Water Center at Penn, led by Professor of Practice Howard Neukrug, aims to open an innovation pipeline focused on water.

Bridging the gap between researchers and practitioners, the Water Center aims to serve as a regional hub of water expertise.

With utility costs on the rise, many low-income families struggle to pay their bills, often making difficult choices about where to allot their limited funds. Though not typically seen as social-service agencies, city-run utilities are contending with how to ensure customers have access to crucial resources, such as water, while continuing to operate sustainably.

In July 2017, Philadelphia became the first city in the country to offer an income-based Tiered Assistance Program, whereby low-income residents pay a reduced water bill and, in some cases, receive forgiveness for past-due bills. But places like Detroit and Flint, Michigan, as well as well as many other U.S. cities, face ongoing challenges when it comes to access to clean, fresh, affordable water.

At  a conference held at Penn in May, stakeholders came together to unpack the challenges still faced when it comes to affordable water. Former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, as well as community leaders from around the nation, spoke at this event, one of the initial efforts of the Water Center at Penn. It is an initiative launched by Penn Professor of Practice Howard Neukrug, the Center’s inaugural director and the former commissioner and CEO of the Philadelphia Water Department.

“There is a lot of discussion right now around the idea of a human right to water,” Mr. Neukrug says. At the conference, they had  people representing disadvantaged communities from Philadelphia, Detroit, Flint, and elsewhere, all coming together with water utility managers and politicians to ask what we can do to address these issues.

The focus of the gathering, organized in conjunction with the Mayors Innovation Project, Clean Water for All, and American Rivers, is a crucial one, but Mr. Neukrug has many other irons in the fire. After “retiring” from nearly four decades in the water utility sector, he joined Penn’s faculty and began teaching courses on the 21st-century water sector and on water and urban sustainability. He quickly saw the potential to do more to leverage the expertise of Penn’s faculty—and the enthusiasm of its students—to effect change and innovation when it came to water. Thus the idea for the Water Center was born.

Now, the Center has two paid staff in addition to Mr. Neukrug, two volunteers, and a slew of partnerships with organizations across the globe. The Center marked a soft launch in early May with a meeting focused on coastal resilience that brought together individuals from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and local and regional coastal managers. Several Penn faculty and students joined in the discussions.

“I learned so much about where things stand,” Mr. Neukrug said. “It’s clear that there’s a need to apply the work that so many schools at Penn are conducting in terms of coastal resilience, climate change, infrastructure financing and urban planning.”

Penn is not the first institution to create a water center—the University of Michigan and Columbia University, among others, have well-established entities—but Mr. Neukrug sees a unique opportunity for Penn to create a regional hub of expertise on water issues.

“I see the Water Center as something of a think tank, forming a connection between the practitioners in the applied field of water and the technology and science and global interests of the students and faculty at Penn,” he said.

Currently, the Center staff are reaching out to faculty and students whose work already intersects with water in some way to create a compendium showcasing the University’s strengths and areas for growth. Already, Mr. Neukrug is making use of his considerable network in the water sector to identify partnerships and opportunities for learning. 

Working with Penn’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships and the City of Philadelphia, the Water Center is helping establish a STEM curriculum at Cobbs Creek Environmental Education Center, where new laboratory space as well as the site’s stream and constructed wetland offer opportunities for high school and perhaps also college students to test newfound water expertise. Building on Mr. Neukrug’s consulting work in Pittsburgh and the Lower Susquehanna River, the Water Center will look for ways to improve watershed health and sustainability, from both an environmental and financial point of view. And emerging partnerships on two projects based at Bartram’s Garden in Philadelphia and led by scientists and engineers from organizations, The Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, a freshwater mussel hatchery, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a floating science lab, are shaping up as opportunities for Penn students to engage with the Water Center’s work.

As summer began, the Center began gearing up for October’s American Water Summit, to be held in Philadelphia for the first time. The meeting, with a theme “Inspiring Innovation,” will bring together the world’s experts and top leaders in the water industry to touch on a variety of issues, including the water-energy nexus, improving infrastructure, and planning for future challenges, such as climate change. A key partner in the conference is the Global Water Leaders Group, for which Mr. Neukrug serves as senior advisor. 

“The idea for the group is that the best innovators in the world should be working together to create new innovations,” Mr. Neukrug said. “And I see a lot of opportunity, working with our colleagues throughout the School of Arts and Sciences, as well as the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the School of Design, Wharton and the Perelman School of Medicine to start talking about how to meet some of these needs and create some of these ‘uninvented technologies.’”

Part of the beauty, and the challenge, of the Water Center’s mission, is the vast reach of the water sector, encompassing everything from the technology that makes drinking water safe to consume to the societal values that govern where a city should spend its tax revenue. 

But Mr. Neukrug said Penn is up to the challenge. “Everywhere I go and everyone I talk to on campus, the concept of having a water center has a different meaning,” Mr. Neukrug said. “It’s going to take a lot of interaction, different researchers working on different pieces and then coming back together to connect. I’m excited.”

University City Science Center: Ignite Innovation Campaign; Support from Penn and Wexford Science &Technology

The University City Science Center launched a $3 million Ignite Innovation campaign, as it prepares to move into new headquarters at 3675 Market Street. The campaign is off to a strong start with support totaling $1.1 million from the University of Pennsylvania and Wexford Science & Technology, LLC.

Such support helps the Science Center continue to inspire ideas, innovators and early-stage companies through the expansion of programming in its new location. Ignite Innovation funding will directly support the Science Center’s ability to scale and impact the entrepreneurial ecosystem through Quorum, Greater Philadelphia’s gathering space for the innovation ecosystem, and FirstHand, the Science Center’s STEM program for middle and high school students. Funding will allow Quorum to continue to offer its free signature programming that the start-up community has relied on as a “go-to” source for thought leadership, advice and connections. And FirstHand will be able to expand its nationally-recognized STEM-focused programming to more students at more schools in Philadelphia.

“Thanks to Wexford and the University of Pennsylvania’s support, we are able to equip scientists, innovators, entrepreneurs and students with the resources they need to spur innovation in Greater Philadelphia—and continue making a positive impact in the world,” said Curtis M. Hess, Interim President and CEO of the Science Center.

“The University of Pennsylvania is proud to support the Science Center. By fostering a fertile and thriving innovation ecosystem, the Science Center plays an integral part in driving economic activity in our region,” said Craig R. Carnaroli, Penn’s EVP and chairman of the Board of the Science Center. “The growth and development of the Science Center’s programs will help retain talented students and researchers in Philadelphia, enabling start-ups to grow, scale and contribute to the vitality of our region.”

“Supporting Quorum, the largest gathering space in Philadelphia dedicated to promoting collaboration and entrepreneurship in the region’s innovation ecosystem, is essential to the success and continued growth of uCity Square. We are delighted to make this philanthropic investment in the Science Center,” said James Berens, Founder and CEO, Wexford Science & Technology.

Additional support for the Ignite Innovation campaign comes from Knoll and their dealer partner CFI, recognized as Quorum’s furniture sponsor.

D. Walter Cohen, dean emeritus of the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, died June 29 at the age of 91.

Born in Philadelphia, Dr. Cohen earned his undergraduate degree at Penn and his DDS from Penn’s School of Dental Medicine in 1950.

After a research fellowship in pathology and periodontics at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, he returned to Penn in 1951 as an assistant instructor. He became an assistant professor and then a  full professor in 1963, the same year that he established the school’s department of periodontics and became its first chairman. In 1966, he was elected president of the American Society of Periodontists. By the time he was named dean in 1972, he had been associate dean for two years and he was already a nationally known investigator in periodontal disease (Almanac December 21, 1971). He served as dean until 1983.

In 1972, the School of Dental Medicine launched a new program to prepare those with PhDs in biological, physical and engineering sciences for careers as dentists; it culminated in the DMD degree. It was the first such program in the country to be financed by federal funds (Almanac September 19, 1972).

When Dr. Cohen outlined progress and plans for the School (Almanac July 1973) as it related to the future of the University, he described many interdisciplinary interactions and affiliations across the campus including engineering, education, anthropology, medicine, veterinary medicine as well as the MBA program at Wharton. He was honored with membership in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science in 1980. For many years he also had a dental practice in Center City.

“Dean Cohen not only shaped the future of Penn’s School of Dental Medicine, but he shaped the dentistry practice worldwide . . . he related periodontal disease to restorative dentistry, worked to enhance the outcomes of patient oral health and changed the face of dental education. He served humanity worldwide with service to universities and patients throughout the world, including close relationships with schools in Israel and Europe,” said Mark S. Wolff, the new Morton Amsterdam Dean of the School of Dental Medicine. “Individuals affecting generational changes touch us so rarely, but the Penn Dental community has the privilege of having been touched by Walter,” Dr. Wolff added.

He helped create the Executive Leadership Program for Women in Academic Medicine and Dentistry (ELAM). Over a 16-year period, more than 700 women graduated from the program, many advancing to leadership roles in dental schools around the country.

He spearheaded the Penn Experiment, which is detailed in his 1985 book, Educating the Dentists of the Future: The Pennsylvania Experiment.

Dean Cohen’s father, Abram Cohen, D’23, established the Joseph L. T. Appleton Award in 1979. It is presented annually to a part-time faculty member for excellence in clinical teaching and is named in honor of Dr. Appleton, D’14, who served as dean of the School 1941-1951.

Dean Cohen became president of the Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1986, and chancellor in 1993. He was later named chancellor emeritus of the Drexel University College of Medicine, and a former president and chancellor of the Medical College of Pennsylvania.

In 1997, Dr. Cohen established the D. Walter Cohen Middle East Center for Dental Education at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, which offered an exchange program between dental students at Hebrew University and Palestinian students at the Al-Quds School of Dentistry in Jerusalem, the Dental Tribune reported in 2010.

Dr. Cohen received the French government’s Legion of Merit, was chair of the Pennsylvania Diabetes Academy and president of the National Museum of American Jewish History. He received eight honorary doctorates from universities around the world including the University of Bucharest in Romania and the University of Athens in Greece.

Dr. Cohen was chosen as the recipient of the 2005 Paul Goldhaber Award, given by the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. The award—given to dental scientists and educators—is in honor of Harvard’s former dental school dean. Dr. Cohen was honored for his outstanding national and international contribution to dental education and the dental profession.

In 2011, he received the Isador Hirschfeld Award from the Northeastern Society of Periodontists in New York for his contributions to the advancement of periodontology. In addition, the American Academy of Periodontology established the D. Walter Cohen Teaching Award for periodontal postgraduate students entering careers in education.

In celebration of the 35th anniversary of its founding, the National Disease Research Interchange established the D. Walter Cohen, DDS Service to Science Award in 2015; he was the inaugural recipient. In subsequent years, the Award has been presented to an individual whose career exemplifies a commitment of service to science.

He served on the boards of the Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia University, Gratz College, the National Disease Research Interchange, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Philly Pops and the Hadassah Medical Organization.

Dr. Cohen’s wife, Betty Ann Axelrod Cohen, preceded him in death. He is survived by three daughters, Jane E. Millner, Amy Cohen and Dr. Joanne Cohen Katz; five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

The Penn School of Dental Medicine is planning a celebration of Dr. Cohen’s life in the fall; details will be announced when they are available.

Debbie Dawson, a cashier in the Cashier’s Office since 2006 and a Penn employee for 16 years, died June 30 from breast cancer. She was 55.

Ms. Dawson started as a temporary employee in Financial Services in September 2002 and was promoted to cashier in January 2006.

She is survived by her son, Richard and her daughter, Hannah.

Harold Lewis Dibble, archeologist and the Francis E. Johnston Endowed Term Professor of Anthropology (Almanac September 5, 2017), died on June 10 from complications due to cancer. He was 66.

Dr. Dibble earned his undergraduate degree in 1971 and his PhD in 1981, both from the University of Arizona. He worked at the Arizona State Museum before coming to Penn as a lecturer in 1982. In 1985, he was hired as an assistant professor in the anthropology department, later becoming an associate professor in 1990 and a full professor in 1995. He studied the origins and evolution of human culture and cognition in the Near East, North Africa and Western Europe during the Paleolithic era.

He was among the first to use a total station (combining a theodolite, an electronic distance measuring device and computer software) for accurate 3-D spatial recording of site topography, archaeological layers and artifacts. Dr. Dibble (collaborating with Shannon McPherron) also wrote the software for an early version of GIS (Geographic Information Systems), a program allowing data to be viewed on a computer as individual layers that can then be superimposed with other layers, providing visualization of, for instance, artifact distribution or the stratigraphy of a site.

In June 2011, National Geographic channel’s “World’s Oldest Child” focused on his team’s discovery of a child’s skull and parts of the skeleton in Smuggler’s Cave (Grotte des Contrebandiers) dated to 108,000 years ago.

Dr. Dibble served as the curator-in-charge of European archaeology section at the Penn Museum and as the deputy director for curatorial affairs. He directed Paleolithic excavations at Pech de l’Azé IV and La Ferrassie, both in France, and was the director of the Laboratory for the Study of Ancient Technology at Penn. Dr. Dibble chaired the Penn Museum Laboratory Committee and the Penn Arts and Sciences Committee on Undergraduate Academic Standing and served as a member of the SAS Personnel Committee.

Dr. Dibble was a recipient of the Society for American Archaeology’s 2014 Award for Excellence in Archaeological Analysis and was a 2015 Fellow of the Center for Archaeological Science, University of Wollongong, Australia.

He co-authored numerous books, including Using Computers in Archaeology: A Practical Guide, The Middle Paleolithic Site of Pech de l’Azé IV, Préhistoire de la Région de Rabat-Témara, The Cave of Fontéchevade and Handbook of Paleolithic Typology.

He is survived by his wife, Lee; two sons, Chip (Lauren Shandelman) and Flint (Jonida Martini); and a sister, Christine Burke. The family plans to hold a celebration of Dr. Dibble’s  life at the Penn Museum sometime in the fall with details to be announced at a later date.

Memorial donations can be made to Penn’s anthropology department at https://giving.apps.upenn.edu/fund?program=SAS&fund=630074 The donations will be used to help students and colleagues attend Paleoanthropology Society meetings and for student archaeological research at the University of Pennsylvania.

Peter G. Earle, professor emeritus of Romance languages, died on June 6. He was 95.

Dr. Earle came to Penn in 1963 as a teacher in romance languages. A professor of Spanish, he was concerned with Spanish-American literature and thought of the 19th and 20th centuries. He also studied and wrote about the novels. While he was an associate professor of Romance languages, Dr. Earle conducted research in Salamanca, Spain, in preparation for a book to be entitled Unamuno and the 19th Century.

He served on various committees at the University, including on the Library Committee, the Faculty Grievance Commision and Student Fulbright Awards. In 1990, he was inducted into Phi Beta Delta, the U.S.-based honor society for international scholarship.

In 1991, he became a professor in the College of General Studies (now the College of Liberal and Professional Studies), earning emeritus status at his early retirement in 1993.

Survivors include his wife, Rebeca (nee Orozco); children, Peter G. (Sandra H.), Rebeca E. (Andrew) Matter, and Thomas; sister, Nancy Fortini; seven grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

Robert (Bob) M. Engman, sculptor and professor emeritus of fine arts, died on July 4 of respiratory failure. He was 91.

A native of Arlington, Massachusetts, Mr. Engman’s father died when he was two years old. He learned metal-working skills from his stepfather, who was a blacksmith and toolmaker. He joined the Navy at the age of 15, serving in WWII in the Pacific. Though he did not complete high school, he went on to graduate from Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA, and then received his MFA in painting and sculpture from Yale.

After serving as the director of Yale’s sculpture program for several years, and acting as a visiting critic at Penn, 1961-1962, Mr. Engman left Yale for Penn in 1963 at the invitation from then-Dean Holmes Perkins. From 1965 to 1983, Mr. Engman served as co-chair of the department of fine arts, and he was also the chair of the graduate studies program in sculpture, a position he held until his retirement to his workshop in Haverford in 1992.

Mr. Engman’s perhaps best-known sculpture is Triune, which was installed across from City Hall in Center City Philadelphia in 1975. Standing 20 feet high at the southwest corner on 15th Street, it took him 18 months to create.

Also well known are his trio of sculptures created in honor of Indian yoga master B.K.S. Iyengar, After Iyengar, and two copies of After B.K.S. Iyenger, which feature interlocking disks whose solid surfaces have been cut, stretched and molded into arcs, angles and twisting planes of metal. After Iyenger,  a cast aluminum mobile is in Penn’s Chemistry Building; a bronze After B.K.S. Iyenger can be seen at Morris Arboretum (Almanac September 13, 1988) and a copy is in the Hirschhorn Collection in Washington, D.C.

In 1967, he collaborated with Penn students on the creation of The Peace Symbol, which stands 13 feet tall in front of Van Pelt-Dietrich Library. Other sculptures of Mr. Engman’s can be found inside the main lobby of Vagelos Labs, in Miller Plaza at HUP and in the backyard of Penn’s President’s House (Almanac January 18, 2000).

Mr. Engman designed the President’s Medal, inaugurated by Penn President Martin Meyerson, by crafting a three-dimensional expression of the mathematical symbol infinity at the center (Almanac September 9, 1980). It has been awarded to nobelist Lawrence Klein and Walter and Leonore Annenberg.

He became a member of Penn’s  25 Year Club in 1989; in 1992 he earned emeritus status.

Mr. Engman is survived by his wife, Nancy Porter; children, Anders, Kerstin, Allyn, Bevin and Kelsey; four grandchildren and one great-grandchild; and ex-wife Margaret Engman.

John Upman Farley, former director of Wharton’s Lauder Institute and emeritus professor of marketing, died on April 30 from dementia. He was 82.

Born in Grove City, PA, Mr. Farley received his undergraduate degree in Russian civilization from Dartmouth before going on to attend Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business.

From 1990 to 1994, he served as the director of the Lauder Institute, and he was a professor of marketing at Wharton from 1991 until his early retirement in 1995, at which time he earned emeritus status.

Before coming to Penn, Mr. Farley had taught at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and spent 20 years on the faculty of Columbia University. He served as the executive director of the Marketing Science Institute, an industry-supported research and think tank, from 1985 to 1987. In the late 1980s, he joined Greenwich Associates as a partner to deliver statistical research. In retirement, he received a courtesy appointment at the Tuck School, continuing his research on the study of firms in China and Russia.

Mr. Farley is survived by his partner, Catherine Cannan; his daughters, Marilyn and Pamela; and his grandchildren, Connor and Carly Drooff. 

A celebration of his life will be held on Saturday, October 13, at the Andover Inn, Andover, Massachusetts. For more information on this event contact member2486@aol.com

Vance Patrick, a 33 year-old doctoral student in the School of Social Policy and Practice, died on June 19. Mr. Patrick attended Penn from 2013 to 2016 and had been on leave pending completion of his dissertation. He lived in Mays Landing, New Jersey. While at Penn, he taught two classes in the master of social work (MSW) program:  American Racism, and Understanding Social Change: Issues of Race and Gender. He had previously worked as a social worker with the New Jersey Department of Children and Families.

Philip Roth, renowned novelist and former adjunct professor of English at Penn, died in Manhattan on May 22 from congestive heart failure. He was 85.

Mr. Roth was born in Newark,  New Jersey. He attended Bucknell for his undergraduate degree and then received his master’s degree in English from the University of Chicago. He was known for exploring themes around what it means to be human, American and Jewish in his works. Goodbye, Columbus, his first book, published in 1959, earned him a National Book Award. Portnoy’s Complaint, American Pastoral, and The Human Stain are among his other works.

In 1970, Mr. Roth was hired as a lecturer at Penn, becoming an adjunct professor in the mid-1970s. He taught English for more than a decade at the University of Pennsylvania.  Joel Conarroe, former SAS dean, President Emeritus of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, and chair of Penn’s undergraduate English department during Mr. Roth’s tenure, recalled, “Philip’s classes . . . were much in demand and highly regarded. Students would start lining up at 4:30 a.m. during registration periods in hopes of getting into his class. Those who may have expected a stand-up comic discovered instead a serious man of letters who introduced them to Flaubert, Kafka, Dostoevsky and Colette, among others. He also introduced them—and his departmental colleagues—to writers from “The Other Europe,” eastern bloc novelists such as Milan Kundera and Bruno Schulz whose work he [was] responsible for bringing to the attention of American readers.”

Mr. Roth won two National Book Awards, two National Book Critics Circle awards, three PEN/Faulkner Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Man Booker International Prize.

Seymour Irving Toll, who had taught at Penn’s Law School, died on June 5. He was 93.

A Philadelphia native, Mr. Toll graduated from Central High School and worked on a dairy farm before serving in the U.S. Army as a combat infantryman. He was injured during the Battle of the Bulge, honorably discharged and awarded a Purple Heart and Combat Infantryman’s Badge. He received his bachelor’s and law degrees from Yale, and went on to work at several firms before co-founding his own firm.

From 1978 to 1986, Mr. Toll taught trial advocacy at Penn’s Law School He published more than 100 editorials and articles, many  in the Inquirer and wrote two books.

Mr. Toll is survived by his daughters, Emily (Stephen Pershing); Elizabeth (Adam Pallant); Martha (Daniel Becker), and Connie; and his siblings/in-laws Lee Toll, Zelda Edelson and Charlotte Thurschwell; and eight grandchildren.

Thomas Waldman, former staff member at the School of Arts and Sciences and adjunct associate professor in the department of history, died on July 1 at age 79.

Dr. Waldman was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Columbia University. He earned a DPhil from Lincoln College, University of Oxford.

A fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a distinguished medieval scholar, he specialized in 12th-century France, in particular on the Abbey of St. Denis in Paris and its abbot, Suger. In 1983, he received a Research Foundation Award from Penn for his research on An examination of manuscripts from the Library of the Abbey of St. Denis.

He began his Penn career in 1971 as a bibliographer of rare books and manuscripts and an adjunct associate professor of history. He soon discovered his affinity for fundraising and, in 1975, joined the staff of Development and Alumni Relations. In his role as director of Corporate and Foundation Relations for the School of Arts and Sciences, he oversaw the raising of gifts that contributed enormously to the establishment of scholarships, the advancement of research and the creation of innovative community-service programs. He retired from his fundraising role in 2007 and continued as a visiting scholar in teaching  medieval history.

Dr. Waldman was a co-founder of the Delaware Valley Medieval Association and helped secure a grant from the Lily Foundation that enabled it to flourish. He served as the associate director of the Lilly/Pennsylvania Program.

He is survived by his brother, Ronald and sister-in-law, Lee; his two nieces, Elizabeth Haspiel (Joseph) and Margot Waldman (Tim Lemmon); and five grandnieces and nephews, Sarah Novack, Jacob Haspiel, Giles and George and Giselle Lemmon.

A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, September 22 at noon at the Church of St. Luke and the Epiphany, 330 South 13th Street, in Philadelphia.

The University of Pennsylvania Trustees’ annual meeting was held on June 22. David L. Cohen was again re-elected as chair for the coming year, through June 30, 2019. Mr. Cohen, L’81, has been chair since November 2009. Robert M. Levy was re-elected vice chair; they, along with the following, were elected members of the Executive Committee for one-year terms effective July 1, 2018: Scott L. Bok, Lee Spelman Doty, Perry Golkin, James H. Greene, Amy Gutmann (ex officio), Andrew R. Heyer, Osagie O. Imasogie, Marc F. McMorris, Julie Beren Platt, Andrew S. Rachleff and Ann Reese.

These trustees were elected members of the Investment Board for a term of one year, effective July 1, 2018, and until their successors are elected or appointed and qualified: David L. Cohen (ex officio), David S. Blitzer, Scott L. Bok, Judith Bollinger, Perry Golkin, Amy Gutmann (ex officio), Robert S. Kapito, Marc F. McMorris (vice chair) and Andrew S. Rachleff (chair).

A resolution of appreciation was passed for Daniel S. Och, who has served as a trustee for ten years. Another resolution of appreciation was passed for Deborah Marrow, who was designated an emerita trustee, effective November 9, 2018; she has served as a trustee since 2003.

Lloyd W. Howell, Jr., ENG’88, was elected to a five-year term as a Term Trustee. David Ertel, W’87, WG’88, was elected a Charter Trustee.

President Amy Gutmann presented two resolutions of appreciation; the first was for H. Carton Rogers III, whom she called “a leader in charting the future of research libraries, both nationally and on the Penn campus.” Mr. Rogers joined Penn Libraries in 1975, and in 2004 he was named vice provost and director of libraries. To honor his years of commitment to innovation and excellence in service of the University community, in April 2018 the Penn Libraries Board of Overseers funded the endowment of the H. Carton Rogers III Vice Provost and Director of Penn Libraries position. He is retiring after more than four decades of service to Penn.

The second resolution of appreciation was for Joan Hendricks, Gilbert S. Kahn Dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine since 2006, who will complete her tenure as Dean on July 31, 2018. She was the first woman to serve as Dean of Penn Vet and hold an endowed professorship there. She has served on the faculty for more than 30 years. In recognition of her extraordinary vision and leadership, she was designated Dean Emerita of the School of Veterinary Medicine.

Three appointments were approved: Mark Wolff as dean of the School of Dental Medicine (Almanac April 3, 2018); Andrew Hoffman as dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine (Almanac March 13, 2018); and Gregory J. Pellicano as vice president for audit, compliance and privacy (view article).

Provost Wendell Pritchett mentioned that Constantia Constantinou will be the new vice provost and director of the Penn Libraries (Almanac May 29, 2018).

EVP Craig Carnaroli’s financial report for FY18 noted that total net assets for the Consolidated University are forecasted to increase $1.5 billion to $17.8 billion ($12.2 billion Academic Component/$5.6 billion Health System) primarily due to strong operating and investment performance, and the member substitution of Penn Medicine Princeton Health. An increase in net assets from operations of $438 million is projected for the Consolidated University due to strong operating performance from both the Academic Component and the Health System. He also reported on the budget for FY 19: total net assets for the Consolidated University are budgeted to increase $800 million to $18.6 billion ($12.8 billion Academic Component/$5.8 billion Health System) primarily due to projected endowment return.

Penn Medicine Dean Larry Jameson said the FDA approvals of gene therapy for cancer and blindness as well as NIH funding in excess of $700 million and 1,700 clinical trials all add up to a ‘biomedical revolution’ at Penn Medicine.

Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Eric Furda reported that the Class of 2022 had applications from 44,491 candidates from 84 countries. The yield was 68 percent; 49 states are represented. One out of seven are first generation and one out of six are legacies. The incoming freshman class is 55 percent female, 15 percent international, 51 percent white, 26 percent Asian, 11 percent African American, 10 percent Hispanic and 1 percent Native American.

The Trustees approved the establishment of the degree of bachelor of applied arts and sciences in LPS to benefit non-traditional students and expanding the access to a Penn education.

Among the many other resolutions passed by the Trustees were the annual ones for the FY19 operating budgets for the University and the Health System, the capital budgets, the spending rule for the endowments, the intent to reimburse capital costs with proceeds of borrowings.

They also authorized $18.7 million for renovations to Ringe Squash Courts; $450 million for further development and construction of the pavilion at HUP; $198 million for further development and construction of a new Penn Medicine Radnor facility; $47 million for a parking facility at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center; $46 million for the acquisition of property at 3250 S. 76th Street and the development and construction of the central sterile reprocessing center for UPHS; $21.5 million for an expansion at Penn Presby for increased radiation oncology; $17.7 million for UPHS’s acquisition of 4040 Market Street property; and the establishment and incorporation of Penn Medicine London as a new private company limited by shares under the control of UPenn International to develop a greater presence by the Health System in the UK.

The Office of the Vice Provost for Research, in consultation with the Provost Council on Research, is responsible for setting minimum stipend levels for postdoctoral trainees across the University. In recent years, the University has adopted the National Research Service Awards (NRSA) stipend scale for all postdocs. See: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-18-175.html

Please note that these stipend levels represent minimums. Schools and departments may establish their own guidelines as long as stipend rates meet or exceed those established by the University. Penn investigators are also expected to comply with any postdoctoral stipend guidelines promulgated by their sponsors, if these sponsor-specified guidelines exceed the Penn minimum stipend levels.

Note: Stipends should be adjusted upwards at the time of the annual postdoctoral reappointment, at the time of the annual grant renewal or at the beginning of the NIH fiscal year.

FY2019 Minimum Stipend Levels

—Dawn Bonnell, Vice Provost for Research

Click here to view the Of Record Policy for Postdoctoral Trainees at the University of Pennsylvania.

Fault Lines and Foresight, taught by Regina Abrami, senior lecturer in political science at Penn, senior fellow in Wharton’s management department and director of the Lauder Institute’s Global Program, recently received an Ideas Worth Teaching Award from the Aspen Institute: Twenty “exceptional courses that inspire and equip future business leaders to tackle the issues of our time” and “redefine excellence in business education—and ultimately in business practice.”

This course provides an introduction to the field of foresight strategy and its theoretical underpinnings in environmental and security studies. It does so in a way that is experiential, interdisciplinary and rooted in ideas of systems thinking, coevolution and chaos theory, all centered on a well-known global fault line: water stress.

Anita L. Allen, the Henry R. Silverman Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy and vice provost for faculty, became the first black woman president of the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association on July 1. Dr. Allen is an expert on privacy law, the philosophy of privacy, bioethics and contemporary values, and she is recognized for scholarship about legal philosophy, women’s rights and race relations.

She is the first African-American woman to hold both a PhD in philosophy and a law degree. In 2010, Dr. Allen was appointed by President Barack Obama to the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, and in 2017 she was inducted into the National Academy of Medicine. She is the author of several books on privacy, law and ethics.

Shinjae Chung, assistant professor of neuroscience in the Perelman School of Medicine, has received a 2017 Hartwell Individual Biomedical Research Award, which provides financial support for innovative, early-stage biomedical research with the potential to benefit children of the United States. The award provides funding for three years at $100,000 in direct costs per year for Dr. Chung’s proposal, “Remedying Sleep Disturbances in Autism Spectrum Disorder.” Dr. Chung, who studies the neural circuits that underlie sleep, is one of only 12 researchers recognized nationwide this year as a Hartwell Investigator by The Hartwell Foundation.

Evanthia Anadioti, clinical assistant professor of restorative dentistry in Penn’s School of Dental Medicine and the founding director of the Advanced Prosthodontics Program, and Elizabeth Valentine, assistant professor of clinical anesthesiology and critical care at HUP, were both recently named as 40 Under 40 honorees by the Philadelphia Business Journal. The list aims to identify and recognize current and future leaders in various industries and in the community.

James Corner, professor emeritus and chair of the department of landscape architecture at the School of Design 2000–2012, was recently awarded an honorary doctorate by the faculty of architecture of Technical University of Munich. Mr. Corner is a registered landscape architect and urban designer and founder and director of James Corner Field Operations. Major projects of his include the High Line, New York City; the Race Street Pier, Philadelphia; and Chicago’s Navy Pier. He has devoted the past 30 years to advancing the field of urbanism.

Casey Greene, a PSOM assistant professor of systems pharmacology and translational therapeutics, has been awarded funding from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, an advised fund of Silicon Valley Community Foundation. The Initiative was created by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, a pediatrician.

This award will support Dr. Greene’s work on the Human Cell Atlas, a global effort to map every type of cell in the human body as a resource for investigating health and disease. The Initiative’s broad focus includes an emphasis on science through basic biomedical research and education through personalized learning.

The new funding is focused on developing open, shared computational tools and algorithms. As one of 85 one-year awards to researchers worldwide, he will deploy a powerful, “unsupervised” machine-learning algorithm called a variational auto-encoder, which learns to identify and summarize patterns in large data sets without being instructed what features to look for. Dr. Greene’s aim is to simulate, predict and catalogue what happens to each cell type contained in the Human Cell Atlas under various scenarios. The resulting information will be invaluable in better explaining how biological systems function at the cellular and organism levels, enabling researchers to eventually predict how the expression of every known gene might change under various conditions. This endeavor is vital for providing new treatments for patients and conducting life-saving research.

On June 5, Penn President Amy Gutmann was recognized at the I Have A Dream Foundation’s annual Spirit of the Dream Gala in New York City. Nearly 500 supporters, students and alumni gathered to honor leaders who have made a transformative impact in building a more inclusive America and a more equitable education system. Dr. Gutmann was honored with the Eugene M. Lang Lifetime Achievement Award.

Cynthia Otto, founder and executive director of the Penn Vet Working Dog Center, was recently recognized with the 2018 Bustad Companion Animal Veterinarian of the Year Award. It is one of three American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Animal Welfare and Human Animal Bond Excellence Awards sponsored and funded by Merck Animal Health. It is presented to an AVMA member veterinarian in recognition of their outstanding work in preserving and protecting the human-animal bond.

Dr. Otto founded the center in 2012 after being inspired by her work monitoring the health and behavior of search-and-rescue dogs while serving as a first responder for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. At the Working Dog Center, Dr. Otto provides rehabilitation, fitness and conditioning training to working dogs, including those involved in law enforcement, search and rescue and sporting events. The center has made tremendous strides in advancing the human-animal bond through research, education and the study of all facets of canine performance, as well as the interaction of dogs with their handlers and human partners. The program further enhances the human-animal bond by placing puppies with area foster families.

Dr. Otto is also an associate professor of critical care in the department of clinical studies and advanced medicine at Penn Vet.

Reed Pyeritz, the William Smilow Professor in the Division of Translational Medicine and Human Genetics at the Perelman School of Medicine, has been given the 2018 Hero with Heart Award by the Marfan Foundation.

The award recognizes Dr. Pyeritz’s four decades of dedication to improving heart health in the 200,000 people in the U.S. living with Marfan syndrome and related disorders. Dr. Pyeritz is widely regarded as the preeminent scholar and clinician for this serious genetic condition. He is a major contributor to improving life expectancy in those with Marfan syndrome from 32 years, when he first began researching the condition in 1978, to a nearly normal life span for patients born today. Dr. Pyeritz is one of the founders of the Marfan Foundation and has served on its Professional Advisory Board since its inception.

Two researchers from Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine are among the recipients of the 2018 Clinical Research Achievement Award from the Clinical Research Forum, which recognizes the ten most outstanding clinical research accomplishments in the United States during the preceding 12 months.

Pablo Tebas, a professor of infectious diseases, was recognized for the first trial of a Zika vaccine in humans, which proved safe and effective in a test population.

Danish Saleheen, an assistant professor of epidemiology, was recognized for his research on the ramifications of genetic variation in humans on searching for new heart disease drugs.

Wendy White, senior vice president and general counsel for the University of Pennsylvania, was one of three 2018 GC Impact award winners recognized by The Legal Intelligencer. This award acknowledges chief legal officers who, through their effective leadership, had significant accomplishments in 2017. Ms. White advises and represents the entire University as well as the University of Pennsylvania Health System. The award recognized her for her support of cutting-edge innovation over the past year, specifically her leadership and hard work that contributed greatly to the success of the FDA-approved CAR T-cell therapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a first for this kind of therapy, developed at Penn. The award also noted Ms. White’s thought leadership on a range of complex issues at Penn, including academic freedom, sexual harassment, Title IX compliance, and the UPHS expansion to a new hospital and the Pennovation Center.

The Penn Prize for Excellence in Teaching by Graduate Students recognizes the profound impact of graduate students on education at Penn. Nominations come directly from undergraduate and graduate students. The prizes have been awarded annually since 2000 when then president Judith Rodin established the award. There are ten selected each year. This year’s recipients are:

Juan Pablo Ardila (History)

Suneal Bedi (Legal Studies)

Mark Bookman (East Asian Languages and Civilizations)   

Evelyne Brie (Political Science)   

Lauren Brumley (Psychology)   

Tabea Cornel (History & Sociology of Science)

Tajah Ebram (English)   

Julia Kahn (Neuroscience)   

Haley Pilgrim (Sociology)

Alexis Rider (History & Sociology of Science)   

Mingyao Li and Sharon Xie, both biostatisticians from Penn’s Center for Clinical Biostatistics and professors of biostatistics in the department of biostatistics, epidemiology and informatics have been elected fellows of the American Statistical Association, the largest professional organization for statisticians in the United States. ASA Fellowships are limited each year to one-third of one percent of the organization’s membership.

Dr. Li was selected for outstanding contributions to statistical genetics and genomics, as well as scientific discoveries in the genetics of cardiometabolic disease and age-related macular degeneration. Dr. Li was also cited for her editorial and other professional contributions to the field.

An expert in statistical genetics, bioinformatics and computational biology, much of Dr. Li’s work includes developing methods and tools to find new ways to identify and characterize genetic changes that lead to complex diseases. Dr. Li’s collaborative research also reveals new insights into Alzheimer’s disease, as well as gene therapy for rare diseases.

Dr. Xie was selected for excellent and sustained statistical collaborative and methodological research in the area of neurodegenerative diseases, exemplary mentoring of biostatistics graduate students and medical researchers, leadership and development of outstanding biostatistics core facilities with national impact in neurodegenerative disease research and for service to the profession.

Dr. Xie currently serves as principal investigator of a NIH R01 grant-funded study that aims to find new statistical methods for measuring dementia risk in Parkinson’s disease and related neurodegenerative diseases.  She is also the principal investigator of the biostatistics and data management core for three NIH-funded neurodegenerative disease research centers/program project grants: the Alzheimer’s Disease Center, the Morris K. Udall Parkinson’s Disease Research Center of Excellence, and the frontotemporal lobar degeneration program project grant.

Dr. Xie’s current research is aimed at developing novel statistical methods for missing data, measurement error problems, and lifetime data analysis in response to problems arising in research of neurodegenerative diseases, and also to advance better understanding of the progression of neurodegenerative diseases.

Penn’s Class of 2018 includes 19 Fulbright Award recipients: 17 undergraduates, two graduate students and seven PhD candidates.

The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program. Penn’s applicants are supported by the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships (CURF).

Study/Research Grants:

Kevin Berry, a PhD candidate in architectural history in the School of Design, will conduct research in Germany.

Petra Creamer, a PhD candidate in art and archaeology of the Mediterranean world, will pursue research in Germany.

Lacy Feigh, a PhD candidate in history, will conduct research in Ethiopia.

Alisa Feldman, SAS’18, will be conducting an ethnographic study on in vitro fertilization and infertility in Israel.

Amber Henry, a PhD student in anthropology and Africana studies, will conduct her research in Colombia.

Ari Lewis, SAS’18, will be pursuing her master’s degree in international film business at the University of Exeter and the London Film School.

Brian J. Liu, SAS’18, will research China’s soft power campaign in Africa.

Meghana Nallajerla, SAS’18, will conduct research on intergenerational trauma among Tamil families who survived civil war in Sri Lanka.

Kristina Nielsen, a PhD candidate in anthropology, will pursue research in India.

Kristen Pearson, SAS’18, will analyze archaeological textiles in Mongolia from an anthropological perspective, using macro- and microscopic textile evidence to better understand the society and ecology of mobile pastoralists in ancient Inner Asia.

Sara Ray, a PhD candidate in history and the sociology of science, will conduct her research in the Netherlands.

Kate Sohn, SAS’18, will travel to South Korea to conduct research on understanding the diverse experiences of Korean breast-cancer survivors as they make the transition from patient to survivor.

Drew Starling, SAS’13 and a PhD candidate in history, will conduct research in France.

Sharonya Vadakattu, SAS’18, WH’18, will analyze a home-visitation pilot program in São Paulo that seeks to improve child neurodevelopment and holistic maternal-child health.

Christopher Yao, SAS’17, will earn a master’s degree from Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine and will study epidemiology and etiology of cleft lip and palate birth defects in China.

English Teaching Assistant Grants and the countries to which they are headed:

Joshua Jordan, SAS’18—India

Jodi Marcus, SAS’18—India

Amanda Nart, SAS’18—Colombia

Farah Otero-Amad, SAS’18—Argentina

Haley Rugh, SAS’18—Germany

Reece Sisto, SAS’18—Colombia

Julia Slater, SAS’17, GSE’18—Mexico

Karis Stephen, SAS’18—Malaysia

Sarah Tang, SAS’18—Malaysia

David Thai, SAS’18—Vietnam

Shirin Vetry, SAS’18—Colombia

Penn Medicine received the Enterprise Award for Digital Innovation from Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies (PACT) for the creation of Penn Life Gained, a first-of-its-kind mobile app for bariatric surgery patients that launched December 2017. The award is given to an organization that applies new or existing technology in an innovative way to solve a problem or advance goals.

Bariatric surgery patients are often asked to track steps and exercise, record caloric and water intake, monitor sleep time, and alter diet, in addition to managing their clinic appointments and evaluations while on the road to bariatric surgery, which can be overwhelming. Penn Life Gained, built using Apple CareKit, a software framework designed to help people actively manage their own medical conditions, will help collate all of the patients’ health information for them in one place.

Patients in the Bariatric Surgery Program who have an iPhone will be able to download the app via the App Store and log in using a unique code that they receive from the clinical team. Once fully enrolled, patients can sync information from any other app that they use. As a partner-app to Penn Life Gained, Penn Medicine and Medable, an app and analytics platform for healthcare, created a second clinician-facing app, which allows the care team to monitor the patients’ health data in real-time, by syncing the two applications. Penn Life Gained can easily monitor the patient’s pre- and post-surgery progress, help personalize clinic visits based on data collected from the app, assign “to-do’s” and manage personalized care plans, as well as spot areas of concern.

In the Honors & Other Things column in the May 29 issue, the piece about the Power 100 should have also included Penn Trustee Janet Haas, who was number 17 on that list. Dr. Haas practices palliative medicine at the Abramson Cancer Center at Pennsylvania Hospital which is part of the University of Pennsylvania Health System. She is vice chair of Patient Care for the Penn Medicine’s Power of Penn Campaign. Almanac regrets the inadvertent omission. —Eds.

Click here to read the original Power 100 article in our May 29, 2018 issue.

Here’s a look at news published in Almanac at this time of year, over the past four decades. Prior to March 1971, Almanac was a monthly publication. See www.upenn.edu/almanac for more Penn history from the past 64 years. This issue begins Almanac’s 65th year of publishing.

July 2008:

Robert Ghrist: Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor

President Amy Gutmann and Provost Ronald Daniels are pleased to announce the appointment of Robert Ghrist as the seventh Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor, effective September 1, 2008.

Dr. Ghrist, one of the world’s leading applied mathematicians, will be the Andrea Mitchell University Professor. His appointment will be jointly shared between the department of electrical and systems engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the department of mathematics in the School of Arts and Sciences.

“Rob Ghrist is a singular math and engineering sensation whose infectious love of teaching and groundbreaking research in robotics, topological hydro-dynamics, and other fields will make him a great PIK Professor and a huge hit with Penn students and faculty alike,” said President Gutmann. “Penn is the perfect environment for him to pursue his innovative and integrative scholarship and for stoking his passion for literature and music, which, incidentally, runs the gamut from Dante to Mozart to Frank Zappa. We look forward to welcoming Rob into the Penn family.”

Dr. Ghrist has produced a widely influential body of work that applies mathematical methods to real-world engineering challenges, especially in robotics and wireless sensor networks.  He specializes in topology, a branch of mathematics that provides tools to visualize abstract spaces—for example, finding gaps in a security network, or automating robotic movement across a factory floor.

“Rob Ghrist embodies the PIK program’s highest aspiration to integrate knowledge across disciplines,” said Provost Daniels.

See: https://almanac.upenn.edu/archive/volumes/v55/n01/Ghrist.html

Charles Howard: University Chaplain    

The University of Pennsylvania has appointed Charles L. Howard, C ’00, as University Chaplain, effective July 1, 2008. The announcement was made last month by Provost Ronald Daniels and Associate Provost Vincent Price.

Rev. Howard has served as interim chaplain since February and as associate chaplain since 2005. He succeeds William Gipson, who became associate vice provost for equity and access in January 2008.

“We are truly fortunate that the most outstanding candidate, at the end of our comprehensive national search, proved to be a spiritual leader with such an impressive history of devotion and service to Penn,” Provost Daniels said. “Chaz will be a chaplain of vision, compassion, wisdom and accessibility, qualities that he has already amply demonstrated to all of us in the Penn community.”

Rev. Howard co-founded the Greater Love Movement, a non-profit anti-poverty organization focused on the needs of the homeless. He has edited The Souls of Poor Folk, an essay collection and multimedia project raising awareness about poverty, and also directs CHORDS, a program through the Chaplain’s Office and the Netter Center for Community Partnerships that connects Penn with West Philadelphia schools, neighborhood organizations and communities of faith.

See: https://almanac.upenn.edu/archive/volumes/v55/n01/Howard.html

July 1998:

SEAS Interim Dean: Dr. Eduardo Glandt

Dr. Eduardo Glandt, chemical engineering’s Russell Pearce and Elizabeth Crimian Heuer Professorship, has been named Interim Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

He takes office on August 15, 1998 to succeed Dr. Gregory Farrington, now president-elect of Lehigh University.

See: https://almanac.upenn.edu/archive/v45/n01/071498.html#eduardo

At Sansom Common, The Bookstore Opens

A new chapter in Penn Bookstore opens tomorrow, July 15,  1998 as the Bookstore opens for business in Sansom Common—a “soft” opening, with a grand-opening gala to follow on September 10, 1998, said Marie Witt, Interim Vice President for Business Services.

Penn built and owns the facility, which combines the “best elements of a full-service academic bookstore with the amenities of a Barnes & Noble superstore,” she added.

See: https://almanac.upenn.edu/archive/v45/n01/071498.html#book

School Collaboration

At a press conference June 18, 1998, President Judith Rodin announced a series of initiatives with the University City public schools including an agreement with the School District and the teachers’ union to create a “demonstration school” for students from Pre-Kindergarten through eighth grade on land owned by Penn, the former Philadelphia Episcopal Divinity School at 42nd and Spruce Streets.

See: https://almanac.upenn.edu/archive/v45/n01/071498.html#school

July 1988:

SAS Dean: Hugo Sonnenschein of Princeton

The new Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences is Dr. Hugo Sonnenschein, a 48-year old professor of economics from Princeton.

The appointment, effective July 1,  1988 was approved by the Trustees at the stated meeting June 18, 1988.

The new dean “is coming at an especially challenging time,” President Sheldon Hackney said. “The strength and reputation of the University as a whole is inherently linked to the success of the School of Arts and Sciences. Over the past couple of years the School has built a great deal of momentum, so expectations are high and a sense of future directions is widely shared by the faculty. Dr. Sonnenschein is not only a top-flight economist and teacher but a perceptive academic leader who sees clearly what needs to be done and is enthusiastic about the opportunity to work with the faculty.”

See: https://almanac.upenn.edu/archive/v35pdf/n01/071288.pdf

Acting Dean of Medicine: Arthur Asbury

The search for a Dean of the School of Medicine has been extended, and Dr. Arthur Asbury of neurology took office July 1, 1988 as Acting Dean. Former Dean Edward Stemmier stepped down to concentrate on his responsibilities as Executive Vice President of the Penn Medical Center.

See: https://almanac.upenn.edu/archive/v35pdf/n01/071288.pdf

Chairs for Five SAS Faculty

Five longtime members of the School of Arts and Sciences have been appointed to named professorships old and new.

See: https://almanac.upenn.edu/archive/v35pdf/n01/071288.pdf

July 1978:

Paul F. Miller, Jr., Named Chairman

Paul F. Miller, Jr., was elected chairman of the board of trustees at the meeting of the full board Friday, June 9, 1978. Miller, a senior partner of Miller, Anderson and Sherrerd, an investment management firm in Bala Cynwyd, succeeds Donald T. Regan, chairman of Merrill Lynch and Company, who has served as chairman for the last four years.

See: https://almanac.upenn.edu/archive/v25pdf/n01/071578.pdf

News Briefs: Union Contracts Ratified

The University and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Union Local 115 ratified a contract Friday, June 2, 1978 following the return to work of the housekeeping unit January 9, 1978. The 302 housekeepers had been terminated from their positions on August 7, 1977. According to George Budd, director of personneland labor relations, the terms of the contract, which expires July 31, 1979, include a five percent salary increase August 1, 1978 and a two percent increase February 1, 1979.

To read more: https://almanac.upenn.edu/archive/v25pdf/

In collaboration with Penn Human Resources, Penn Undergraduate Admissions will host workshops for Penn faculty and staff families with rising high school sophomores through senior students to help answer questions about the college search process. College-bound students and their parents often wonder where to begin with the overwhelming number of choices and requirements of college admission. What courses are important to take in high school? How significant are good grades, extracurricular activities, essays, test scores, and interviews? What should a prospective student look for in a college? Workshops on Wednesday, August 22 will discuss these questions and more with Penn faculty and staff and their families, whether students plan to apply to Penn or elsewhere. The program will run from 4:30-6:30 p.m. in Claire Fagin Hall, School of Nursing, 418 Curie Boulevard, and will feature Eric J. Furda, C’87, Dean of Admissions, as well as Penn Admissions staff who will lead discussions and exercises. Penn Student Financial Services and Tuition Benefits information will also be readily available.

To register for the August 22 program, go to https://key.admissions.upenn.edu/register/FacStaff2018Wkshp

If you have questions, please contact admrsvp@admissions.upenn.edu

Children's Activities

8/4  Nature Play; unstructured fun in nature; 11 a.m.-2 p.m.; Morris Arboretum; free w/ admission.

Exhibits

Now

      Edith; a sequel and new work by Colin Klockner, curated by Meredith Sellers; Esther Klein Gallery. Through July 28.

      16th-Century Books; the Thomas Evans Collection; Penn Dental Library. Through July 27.

Films

International House (I-House)

Lightbox Film Center

$9; $7/students, seniors; free/members.

Info: http://inhousephilly.org/

Shows at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted.

7/19  Film Title Poem + Poemfields Nos. 2 & 5.

7/26  Newsreel ‘68: Program 1.

7/27  Cold Water.

AT PENN Deadlines

The Summer AT PENN calendar is online. The deadline for the September AT PENN calendar is Monday, August 13.

Kick back, relax and enjoy a some of Philadelphia’s best live bands Wednesday evenings in the Penn Museum’s beautiful outdoor Stoner Courtyard. The eighth annual Summer Nights Concert Series brings an eclectic lineup of performances. The galleries stay open, with an optional guided tour at the set break. Outside, the Pepper Mill Café offers light foods and beverages.

Upcoming performers include:

July 18: Conjunto Philadelphia is a musical ensemble based in this area performing the music of Pre-Revolutionary Cuba. The group’s main aspiration is to maintain the authenticity of the music while performing it in a way that pays homage to Cuba’s deep and treasured musical history.

July 25: Harrisburg Mandolin Ensemble is a Pennsylvania-based group inspired by the early 20th-century tradition of the community mandolin concert. The group lays down original tunes and arrangements, as well as selections of jazz, swing, bluegrass, old-time, folk and world music.

August 1: Magdaliz And Her Latin Ensemble Crisol, Spanish for ‘melting pot,’ is an ensemble that has been performing in this and surrounding areas since the 1997. This group (above) is dedicated to the interpretation of a variety of folk and traditional music genres from Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Venezuela and other parts of Latin America and the Caribbean.

August 8: West Philadelphia Orchestra is an eclectic ensemble made up of some of Philly’s finest and wildest musicians. The West Philadelphia Orchestra offers up music that is rooted in Eastern European folk traditions and blended with free jazz, punk, and blues among other genres.

Concerts will be held throughout August and in early September as well.

Admission is $10 general admission; pay-what-you-wish for PennCard holders, Penn Medicine and CHOP employees with ID, and children under 6 years old; free for Penn Museum Members.

VIP Summer Nights Experience!

Host your staff or clients, college Alumni group or family and friends at the Summer Nights Concert Series for an evening of music, a tour of the galleries and more. In addition to the music and entertainment, groups of 10 or more also receive exclusive benefits:

• Reserved tables and priority seating

• Pre-purchased drink tickets

• Pre-concert private Happy Hour and games in Stoner Courtyard

• Private guided tour of the Penn Museum galleries

To reserve your group’s spot at Summer Nights, contact the Group Sales Department at (215) 746-8183 or grouptickets@pennmuseum.org

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 July 2-8, 2018. 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 July 2-8, 2018. 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.

07/03/18         6:49 PM           3730 Walnut St           Unattended laptop taken

07/05/18         12:07 AM        Woodland Walk           Intoxicated male cited

07/05/18         10:07 AM        3431 Chestnut St        Male wanted on warrant/Arrest

07/06/18         10:15 AM        4000 Locust Walk        Probation violation/Arrest

07/07/18         9:21 AM          3600 Sansom St          Complainant pushed by known male

07/07/18         1:20 PM           3741 Walnut St           Cell phones stolen

18th District

Below are the Crimes Against Persons from the 18th District: 7 incidents (2 assault, 3 domestic assault and 2 robberies) with 1 arrest were reported between July 2-8, 2018 by the 18th District covering the Schuylkill River to 49th Street & Market Street to Woodland Avenue.

07/02/18         9:59 AM          4013 Walnut St             Domestic Assault

07/04/18         1:49 PM           4806 Market St            Robbery/Arrest

07/05/18         12:36 PM         4832 Spruce St            Domestic Assault

07/05/18         1:37 PM           4832 Spruce St            Assault

07/05/18         11:52 PM         4600 Walnut St            Robbery

07/07/18         9:54 AM          3600 Sansom St           Domestic Assault

07/08/18         9:08 PM           414 S. 48th St              Assault

Effective July 1, 2018, part-time and temporary University employees who work the minimum required hours (1,000) will be eligible to participate in Penn’s Basic and Matching Plans.

The Retirement Allowance Plan (RAP) is closed to any new participants. If you are a participant in the RAP as of July 1, 2018, you will remain in that Plan and continue to accrue a benefit for the years in which you work 1,000 hours or more.

Visit www.hr.upenn.edu/retirement for details about Penn’s retirement savings plans.

As part of the University’s commitment to the wellbeing of faculty and staff through all of life’s phases, Penn now offers enhanced Employee Assistance Program (EAP) services provided by Health Advocate.

The EAP is a timely, no-cost, confidential support for you and your family designed to help you better balance the demands of work and life. The EAP services cover you, your spouse, dependent children, your parents and parents-in-law.

Penn’s EAP services now include:

• Access through phone, video and app-based technologies

• Availability of telephonic counseling

• Timely scheduling of routine EAP counseling appointments

• Multi-language capabilities

You can contact an EAP counselor by telephone 24/7 or by email. Counselors will help you learn coping skills for stress, depression, parenting issues, substance abuse, and other temporary setbacks. In addition, work-life specialists can help you locate support resources.

Call, email, or webchat for short-term problem resolution with a counselor or get a referral for long-term support and help with:

• Stress, anxiety, depression, and other emotional challenges

• Coping with change or grief

• Personal and work relationships

• Financial planning, debt management, and legal issues

• Manager consultations

To contact Penn’s EAP services:

call 1-866-799-2329, email eapinfo@healthadvocate.com, or visit http://www.healthadvocate.com/upenn

Learn more about the benefits and services available to you through Penn’s partner, Health Advocate, at the Health Advocate and EAP Orientation at 11 a.m. to noon on July 17.  Register online for this free information session at www.hr.upenn.edu/myhr/registration

For questions related to the Penn Employee Assistance Program and the full range of faculty and staff work-life benefits, contact worklife@hr.upenn.edu

—Division of Human Resources

The Office of the University Registrar and the Next Generation Student Systems (NGSS) program are proud to announce the second edition of the University Catalog, which was released on May 21. In addition to a revised course listing and updated information about undergraduate programs and policies, the 2018-2019 Catalog includes a complete list of graduate programs and policies at the PhD and research master’s level.

Presented in a mobile-friendly display, the Catalog is a searchable, secure site that offers prospective and current students, as well as other members of the Penn community and the general public, information about academic opportunities and degree programs at Penn. The Catalog has replaced the online Course Register and provides a listing, by subject, of course offerings across the campus at all levels of education, as well as the Pennbook, a collection of University policies relating to student life.

Since the launch of the first edition last year, the Catalog has received 280,000 unique visitors from more than 200 countries. On the day after the launch of the new edition, the Catalog received nearly 2,000 unique visits, an increase of more than fifty percent over the prior comparable date.

Many people contributed time and effort to this project. We would like to thank the core team, including staff members from the Office of the University Registrar, Office of the Provost and the NGSS Project Team. We are also grateful to the many members of our graduate groups and programs who worked collaboratively to create this Catalog.

 The Catalog can be found at https://catalog.upenn.edu

 We welcome your thoughts and feedback about the Catalog at catalog@lists.upenn.edu

      —Margaret Kip, Acting University Registrar

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

     —Matthew Sessa, Executive Director, Student Registration and Financial Services

The SEPTA Travel Center @Penn located in the Penn Bookstore is now the go-to destination on campus to purchase a SEPTA Key, the transportation authority’s new fare mechanism now that tokens have been retired and are no longer sold. This is the first such machine that SEPTA has installed outside of the kiosks in place at certain transit stations and sales offices.

 At this time, SEPTA has not announced any changes for organizations like Penn that offer programs allowing employees to have their monthly transportation fees deducted from their pay and receive a monthly pass by postal mail.

Additional information about the SEPTA Key card program may be found at www.septa.org

This article is related to the SEPTA Project Impacts Penn Commuters August 4-19 article.

SEPTA will enter the second phase of its multi-staged infrastructure reconstruction project for a two-week period in August. There will be NO TRAIN SERVICE to/from University City Station from Saturday, August 4 –Sunday, August 19. During this time, patrons using the Airport, Media-Elwyn, and Wilmington-Newark rail lines can expect service substitutions or adjustments while this project work is conducted. SEPTA passengers are advised to allow extra time getting to and from their destinations or consider alternative transportation options. Visit www.septa.org for the latest schedule information.

SEPTA will release additional infrastructure project updates at www.septa.org/arsenal/index.html During this period, commuters who drive and park in the area can expect additional traffic congestion in University City. The Division of Public Safety offers periodic traffic advisories. You are strongly encouraged to monitor SEPTA communications for detailed information as this and other projects progress.

This article is related to the City Travelers, SEPTA Users, Penn Commuters article.

This mid-summer issue of Almanac begins Volume 65 which will resume weekly publication with the August 28 issue. The deadline for that issue is Monday, August 20. The deadline for the September AT PENN, which will be in that issue, is Monday, August 13. In the interim, weekly crime reports are posted each Tuesday on Almanac’s website at https://almanac.upenn.edu/past-issues

Review the next three years of Penn’s Academic Calendars at almanac.upenn.edu/penn-academic-calendar to sync the academic term of your choice to your personal calendar. Syncing is compatible with Google, Exchange, Apple, Yahoo and Outlook calendars.