October 23, 2018 Volume 65 Issue 10

Penn physicists Charles Kane and Eugene Mele of SAS have been named winners of the 2019 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. They will share the $3 million award for new ideas about topology and symmetry in physics, leading to the prediction of a new class of materials that conduct electricity only on their surface.

Dr. Kane and Dr. Mele, both Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professors of Physics in the department of physics and astronomy, have long collaborated, sharing ideas and predictions in their field of condensed matter physics. Their theoretical contributions introduced a new class of materials known as topological insulators. These materials have the unique characteristic of being electrical insulators on their interior but have surfaces that are unavoidably conducting.

This duality could allow the incorporation of topological insulators into electronics with high efficiency or provide a foundation for enabling super-fast quantum computing.

Topological insulators also offer a window into deep questions about the nature of matter. They exhibit emergent particle-like excitations that are similar to the fundamental particles of physics but can be created and controlled in the laboratory in ways that fundamental particles cannot.

Dr. Mele’s work has been recognized with the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics, the Europhysics Prize of the European Physical Society and the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching. Dr. Kane has received the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics, the Dirac Medal and the Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize.

Founded in 2012 and sponsored by Sergey Brin; Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg; Ma Huateng; Yuri and Julia Milner; and Anne Wojcicki, the Breakthrough Prizes honor fundamental discoveries in the life sciences, physics, and mathematics that are transforming the world. Dr. Kane and Dr. Mele will receive the award on November 4.

The University of Pennsylvania School of Design has received $1.25 million from the Harry T. Wilks Family Foundation to establish the Wilks Family McHarg Center Directorship. The director leads research and programming at The Ian L. McHarg Center for Urbanism and Ecology, an interdisciplinary think tank bringing environmental and social scientists together with planners, designers, policy makers and communities to develop practical, innovative ways of improving the quality of life in the places most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The gift was initiated by PennDesign alumna Barbara Wilks (MLA’93), founding principal at the Brooklyn-based firm W Architecture and Landscape Architecture, who co-leads the Foundation with her sister, Nanci Lanni.

The McHarg Center is named for the renowned environmental planner and landscape architect Ian McHarg, who founded the department of landscape architecture and regional planning that he chaired for more than three decades at PennDesign (Almanac March 20, 2001). His book, Design With Nature (1969), in which he illustrated the necessity of understanding of natural processes in determining land use and introduces his ecological planning method, is widely considered one of the most important and influential books of its kind. Professor McHarg also initiated generations of aspiring designers through his teaching. His course Man and Environment—which featured guest lectures by theologians, philosophers, ecologists, and anthropologists as well as designers—attracted thousands of students from across Penn.

“Ian’s lessons have still not been absorbed—certainly not by the general public, and hardly by landscape architects,” said Barbara Wilks, who studied with Mr. McHarg at PennDesign in 1991. “There’s a tremendous need to help people understand that climate change is about much more than building walls around cities.”

“The McHarg Center has a major role to play in mitigating disasters and improving the quality of life for city dwellers around the world, and we’re deeply grateful to the Wilks family for bringing that goal closer to reality,” said Frederick Steiner, dean and Paley Professor at PennDesign. Dean Steiner is co-executive director of The McHarg Center, a role he shares with Richard Weller, Martin and Margy Meyerson Chair of Urbanism and professor and chair of landscape architecture at PennDesign.

“This is a transformative gift for the department of landscape architecture at PennDesign,” said Dr. Weller. “As we ramp up our public programs and outreach, our work could galvanize the design community.”

The directorship is currently held by William (Billy) Fleming, whose work is focused on the intersection of science, politics and design as they pertain to climate change. Dr. Fleming is co-author of The Indivisible Guide—a progressive, grassroots organization with more than 6,000 groups—and co-creator of Data Refuge, an international consortium of scientists, librarians and programmers working to preserve vital environmental data at risk of erasure during the Trump administration.

Before coming to Penn, Dr. Fleming worked on urban policy development in the White House Domestic Policy Council during the Obama administration. There, he worked on a variety of urban initiatives, including the inter-agency Sustainable Communities Initiative, the Promise Zones program and the landmark Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule. He served as the guest editor for LA+RISK and his writing on disaster, resilience and climate change has been published widely, including in The Guardian, Houston Chronicle, Places, CityLab and Landscape Journal. He is currently finishing a book entitled Sinking Cities: The Nature and Politics of Adaptation (Penn Press, expected 2020). Dr. Fleming earned his PhD in city and regional planning from PennDesign in 2017.

The McHarg Center will formally launch with Design With Nature Now, an international conference and trio of public exhibitions opening in June 2019. For information, visit mcharg.upenn.edu

Robert Aronowitz, professor and chair of history and sociology of science, and Dirk Krueger, professor of economics, have been appointed Walter H. and Leonore C. Annenberg Professors in the Social Sciences.

Dr. Aronowitz, a scholar of the history of 20th-century disease, epidemiology and population health, is the author of three books and the recipient of many awards and honors, including election to the National Academy of Medicine and, most recently, a Guggenheim fellowship. Dr. Aronowitz has also made significant contributions to health policy and has a strong record of public outreach, including serving on the advisory boards of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program and the Bates Center for History of Nursing, as well as the executive board of the Leonard Davis Institute. He has played important leadership roles at Penn, which have included serving as department chair near-continuously since 2012 and helping to build the popular Health and Societies undergraduate major, as well as starting and co-directing the Penn site of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health and Society Scholars Program.

Dr. Krueger is an internationally recognized macroeconomist who has made important contributions to the understanding of aggregate consumption dynamics, the impact of recessions on the income distribution and heterogeneous agent macroeconomics. He is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a research fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research, London, and of Netspar, in Tilburg, Netherlands, and currently serves as managing editor of the Review of Economic Studies. At Penn, Dr. Krueger has served as department chair and graduate chair in economics, and as a member of the Penn Arts and Sciences Personnel Committee and Planning and Priorities Committee.

The late Ambassador Walter H. Annenberg received Penn’s Alumni Award of Merit in 1991. He and the late Honorable Leonore Annenberg were both emeritus trustees of the University. The Annenbergs endowed many chairs in Penn Arts and Sciences and made countless generous contributions to the University. They also founded the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania in 1958.

Dear Colleagues,

We invite you to nominate candidates to receive honorary degrees from the University of Pennsylvania at the 2019 Commencement ceremony and beyond. Candidates should exemplify the highest ideals of the University, which seeks to educate those who will change the world through innovative scholarship, scientific discovery, artistic creativity and/or societal leadership.

We encourage you to involve your faculty colleagues, within and across departments and schools, in the nomination process. Nominations should detail how nominees meet the criteria for selection and outline the nominees’ achievements and contributions. Please include as much biographical and other supporting information as possible, but do not contact the nominees, who should not know that they are being considered. We particularly encourage nominations from departments and schools whose fields have not been recognized by the awarding of honorary degrees in recent years. Please note that it is University policy not to consider Penn standing faculty, trustees, or school and center overseers for Penn honorary degrees. Nominations for the University Commencement speaker are also considered through this honorary degrees selection process.

Nominations are welcome any time, but for consideration by this year’s University Council Honorary Degrees Committee, it would be helpful to have them in hand by November 19. Review is ongoing and candidates may ultimately be selected several years after their initial nominations. The University Council Committee’s recommendations are forwarded to the Trustee Committee on Honorary Degrees and Awards for final selection.

A list of previous University of Pennsylvania honorary degree recipients can be found at: https://secretary.upenn.edu/ceremonies/honorary-degree-recipients

Please send signed letters of nomination on your official stationery to: University Council Committee on Honorary Degrees, c/o Office of the University Secretary, 1 College Hall, Room 211/6303. Additional information on the honorary degrees process and an online nomination form can be found at: https://secretary.upenn.edu/ceremonies/honorary-degree-nominations If you have any questions, please contact Lynne Sniffen at sniffen@upenn.edu or (215) 898-7005.

Penn emeritus faculty are eligible to receive honorary degrees through a special nomination process. University deans propose candidates for consideration by the Council of Deans. The Council’s nominations are then reviewed by the President and Provost, and final selection is made by the Trustee Committee on Honorary Degrees.

Honorary degrees are important statements of Penn’s values and aspirations, and we strongly encourage your participation in this process.

—Amy Gutmann, President

—Daniel Raff, Chair, University Council Committee on Honorary Degrees

The Ad Hoc Consultative Committee for the Selection of a Dean of the Annenberg School for Communication was convened by President Amy Gutmann on September 27, 2017. During its three months of work, the full Committee met on 10 occasions and reported its recommendations to the President on December 19, 2017. The Committee members were:

Chair:      Theodore Ruger, Dean and Bernard G. Segal Professor of Law, Law School

Faculty:   Joseph Capella, Gerald R. Miller Professor of Communication    

                Emily Falk, Associate Professor of Communication, Psychology and Marketing

                Daniel Gillion, Presidential Associate Professor of Political Science

                Robert Hornik, Wilbur Schramm Professor of Communication and Health Policy

                Victor Pickard, Associate Professor of Communication

                Susan Yoon, Associate Professor of Teaching, Learning and Leadership

                Barbie Zelizer, Raymond Williams Professor of Communication

Students: Karissa Hand (C’18)    

                 Aaron Shapiro (PhD’18)

Alumni:     Shawnika Hull

                 Nikhil Sinha

Ex Officio: Joann Mitchell, Senior Vice President for Institutional Affairs and Chief Diversity Officer     

The search was supported by Adam P. Michaels, Deputy Chief of Staff in the President’s Office, and Vivian Brocard, Gregory Esposito and Sarah Hadjian of the executive search firm Isaacson, Miller.

The Committee and its consultants conducted informational interviews and consultative meetings with individuals and groups throughout the Penn and Annenberg communities, as well as many informal contacts, in order to better understand the scope, expectations, and challenges of the Dean’s position and the opportunities facing the University in the years ahead. These consultative activities included full Committee meetings with Dean Michael Delli Carpini and members of the Annenberg leadership team. In addition, the Chair and the Committee members held open meetings for faculty, staff and students. The consultants interviewed administrators from the central administration and from Annenberg and sought nominations from academics across the nation and the world as well as from leaders in government, foundations, academic societies and other organizations. Finally, members of the Committee engaged in extensive networking with Penn faculty and students, as well as colleagues at other institutions. The Committee also solicited advice and nominations from all Annenberg faculty, Deans and senior administrators via email and reviewed a variety of documents about the school.

Based upon these conversations and materials, the Committee’s charge from the President, and the Committee’s own discussions, a comprehensive document was prepared outlining the scope of the position and the challenges a new Dean will face, as well as the qualities sought in a new Dean. The vacancy was announced (and input invited from the entire Penn community) in Almanac October 10, 2017.

Over the course of its three-month search process, the Committee and its consultants contacted and considered more than 140 individuals for the position. From this group, the committee evaluated an initial pool of 55 nominees and applicants and ultimately selected 8 individuals for semi-finalist interviews with the entire Committee. Based on voluntary self-identifications and other sources, we believe the initial pool of 55 contained 17 women and 38 men, and eight persons of color. The six individuals recommended for consideration to the President included one woman and four people of color.

On February 6, 2018, President Gutmann and Provost Wendell Pritchett announced the selection of Dr. John L. Jackson, Jr., as Dean of the Annenberg School for Communication. John is a pathbreaking scholar, teacher and academic leader and is already well known at Penn, where he has served since 2014 as Dean of the School of Social Policy & Practice. He will assume his new office on January 1, 2019.

—Theodore Ruger, Dean and Bernard G. Segal Professor of Law, Law School; Chair, Consultative Committee on the Selection of a Dean of the Annenberg School for Communication

Danielle Mowery has joined Penn Medicine as its inaugural chief research information officer (CRIO) and leader of the Clinical Research Informatics Core (CIC) in the Institute for Biomedical Informatics (IBI). Dr. Mowery will serve as a key executive responsible for advancing clinical and translational research for the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Perelman School of Medicine.

“Danielle Mowery has hit the ground running and will be an important connector of faculty and leadership in basic science and clinical departments across Penn Medicine,” said Jason Moore, director of IBI, senior associate dean for Informatics and the Edward Rose Professor of Informatics. “The CRIO position is critical to our efforts to improve patient health through innovative research discoveries arising from use of our rich clinical data resources.”

The CRIO role was developed nationally about 10 years ago in recognition of the need to foster research with clinical data to improve health care. While the role of the CRIO at each academic medical center across the country is different, they all share the same common theme and goals of improving health through data. Central to this effort at Penn Medicine is the newly created CIC that provides clinical data access, artificial intelligence, machine learning, natural language processing and visual analytics services to all Penn Medicine investigators.

“This position is invaluable for utilizing the latest advances in health-care technology to not only solve today’s health-care challenges but to foster discoveries with broad health applications,” said Michael Restuccia, senior vice president and chief information officer at Penn Medicine. “Penn Medicine is well positioned to build upon its leadership in many of these areas, and I’m excited for what the future holds.”

In addition to working directly with clinicians and researchers, Dr. Mowery will be responsible for bringing computational methods and technology, such as the newly developed Penn AI system and the Penn TURBO system for data integration and inference, to the Penn Medicine research community through the IBI CIC. She will also utilize the IBI Idea Factory, the first visual analytics facility of its kind at Penn, to bring data and results exploration to investigators through immersive visualization and collaboration in a single location.

Dr. Mowery earned a master of science and doctorate in biomedical informatics from the University of Pittsburgh, followed by postdoctoral studies at the University of Utah, where she has served as director of the Natural Language Processing Service Line and as a health science officer for the VA Salt Lake City Healthcare System. She has research expertise in natural language processing and text mining with application to clinical data. She will also participate in research and teaching in her role as an assistant professor of informatics in the department of biostatistics, epidemiology and informatics.

For 142 years, the University of Pennsylvania has been playing football. Thousands of young men have played more than 1,300 games against 91 different opponents in 98 different locations across the United States.

This March, Penn Football goes global. The Quakers will hold a week of their 2019 spring practices in China, March 2-10, during the University’s Spring Break, the week will culminate in the 2019 Penn-China Global Ambassadors Bowl in Shanghai on March 9 against the American Football League of China (AFLC) All-Stars.

“Our strong engagement with China is at the core of the University’s global initiatives,” said Penn Provost Wendell Pritchett. “We are proud that our outstanding Penn athletes will be joining the many students, faculty and staff members who take part in our rich variety of programs. In particular, our Penn Wharton China Center, in the heart of Beijing’s central business district, has become a vibrant home for research, learning and on-the-ground support for all members of the Penn community in China.” 

The opportunity to explore the Far East and grow the sport of football is a perfect call for the Quakers.

“This trip is a perfect example of how Penn Athletics is aiming big by providing an unrivaled experience for our student-athletes,” M. Grace Calhoun, director of Athletics and Recreation, said. “Enhancing our brand through international partnerships is part of Penn Athletics’ strategic plan and doing so in China, where the University has a strong relationship dating back to the early 19th century, is one way that we can support Penn’s global objectives. The student-athlete experience is at the core of our strategic priorities, and we are confident that this visit to China will broaden the cultural awareness of our students and create impactful, life-long memories. We look forward to spending Spring Break in Beijing and Shanghai.”

Penn’s head coach is looking forward to the opportunity to provide a life-changing opportunity to his student-athletes.

“We are excited to partner with Global Football, the Shanghai Rugby Football Association, Anthony Travel, Preston Consulting, Penn in China and Penn Athletics to offer this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to our student-athletes,” said Ray Priore, the George A. Munger Head Coach of Football. “Our program is the most historic in college football, with more games played than any other team, 18 Ivy League championships and seven national championships. This March, we’ll have the chance to add another first to the storied tradition of Penn Football. Our student-athletes and coaches relish the opportunity to share this bonding experience while simultaneously getting ourselves better as a football team and helping grow the sport we love on a global level.”

The Quakers will fly from Newark, New Jersey, to Beijing on March 2 before traveling to Shanghai on March 7 and returning to the United States on March 10. While in China, the Quakers will hold multiple spring practices, hold clinics for youths and young adults and sightsee before the Penn-China Global Ambassadors Bowl.

While in China, the Quakers are expected to visit the following historic landmarks:

• The Great Wall
• Tiananmen Square
• The Forbidden City
• Old Beijing
• 2008 Olympic Venues
• Huangpu River
• Yu Yuan Garden
• Shanghai World Financial Center
• Jade Buddha Temple

Penn’s visit to China is being organized by Global Football, whose president Patrick Steenberge, a former Notre Dame quarterback, has produced games, events and tours in 28 countries on six continents. Since 1996, Global Football has provided 15,000 amateur football players, coaches, families and fans from more than 350 schools the opportunity to travel internationally and interact with similar people of differing cultures. In 2011, the Texas-based company made history by hosting the first game of college football on the African continent at the Global Kilimanjaro Bowl in Tanzania.

“The Penn-China Global tour and game is another proud landmark for Global Football and for me personally, as after 23 years of working with visionary coaches, athletic directors and student-athletes to produce similar events, this is our initial Ivy League football team,” said Mr. Steenberge. “This will be the third consecutive year of taking NCAA football teams to China, as the clinics and game will further aid the development of the sport there. More importantly, this unique experience will enhance the global knowledge of the curious student-athletes from Penn, providing them a first-hand understanding of Chinese history, culture and people. Congratulations to the Penn administrators and coaches for taking on this valuable challenge.”

Un-Jin Paik Zimmerman, professor emeritus of physiology at the University of Pennyslvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, died October 2 at her home in Bryn Mawr after several months of hospice care. She was 85.

Dr. Zimmerman was born in Seoul, Korea. She attended the Kyung-Gi Girls’ School, where she excelled at academics, ping-pong and tennis. After high school, she was one of the first two women ever admitted to Seoul National, the nation’s top medical school. Her father owned a dictionary that she used to learn English. During a wartime exodus of civilians to Pusan, she found employment as an extremely rare language translator at a US Army–run hospital for war orphans. She was one of the first Koreans to attend Bryn Mawr College, earning her BA there in 1956 and her PhD in chemistry also at Bryn Mawr in 1961. She also earned her MS from Yale in 1958, where she was one of two women graduate students in all of the sciences. Prior to teaching at Penn, she taught at Bryn Mawr Collge from 1962-1964.

She then began a 25-year career in biochemistry research at Penn. In 1975, she began as a part-time postdoc trainee in microbiology. She went on to become a research specialist in pathology and then a research associate in pathology and laboratory medicine. In 1989, she became a research associate in the Institute for Environmental Medicine.

During her time at Penn, she was the project leader for the project “Lung Surfactant Secretion” due to her experience in isolation and culture of lung epithelial cells, her experience and knowledge of measurements related to phospholid secretion, and her experience with proteolytic mechanisms and their potential relevance to the secretory event. Dr. Zimmerman was instrumental in the formulation and presentation of the original project and was the co-investigator.

From 1993 until her retirement in 1998, she served as a research assistant professor of physiology; she then became emeritus.

She was a member of the American Society of Biological Chemists, New York Academy of Sciences and  Sigma Xi.

In 2012, she published her memoir, Autobiographical Sketches of Un-Jin Paik Zimmerman.

She is survived by her children, Landis, Emily, David and Louise Hoehl; four grandchildren, Grace and Charlotte Zimmerman, and Karl and Katherine Hoehl; three siblings, Paik Kyung-Jin, Paik Hyung-Jin, and Paeck Sogene; as well as nieces and nephews Sam Won, Suzanne, Thomas, George, Alice, Katherine, Chang-ho, Kyung-hee and Kyung-hwa.

The following agenda is published in accordance with the Faculty Senate Rules. Any member of the standing faculty may attend SEC meetings and observe. Questions may be directed to Patrick Walsh, executive assistant to the Senate Office, either by telephone at (215) 898-6943 or by email at senate@pobox.upenn.edu

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Agenda

Wednesday, October 31, 2018

2-4 p.m., Meyerson Conference Room (2nd floor)

Van Pelt Library

1. Approval of the Minutes of October 10, 2018

2. Chair’s Report

3. Past-Chair’s Report

4. Ballot 2018-19 Senate Nominating Committee

5. Moderated Discussion: Wellness at Penn

• Discussion with Benoit Dubé, Chief Wellness Officer, & Maureen Rush,Vice President for Public Safety

6. New Business

From the Office of the Secretary: University Council Meeting Agenda

Wednesday, October 24, 2018, 4 p.m.

Bodek Lounge, Houston Hall

I. Approval of the Minutes of September 5, 2018.  1 minute

II. Follow Up Comments or Questions on Status Reports.  5 minutes

III. Presentation by the President, Provost, and other Administrators on the State of the University. 60 minutes (presentation 30 minutes, discussion 30 minutes)

IV. New Business.  5 minutes

V. Adjournment

Four faculty members from Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine have been elected to the National Academy of Medicine, one of the nation’s highest honors in biomedicine. They are among 75 new US and 10 international members elected by their peers for accomplishments and contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, health care and public health. The new members from Penn are:

Susan M. Domchek, the Basser Professor in Oncology, executive director of the Basser Center for BRCA at the Abramson Cancer Center, director of the MacDonald Women’s Cancer Risk Evaluation Center and senior fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, is a nationally recognized breast and ovarian cancer expert whose research interests include further understanding cancer susceptibility genes and how to target such genetic mutations for improved risk assessment, screening, prevention and treatment. She has received numerous awards for her research, including the William Osler Patient Oriented Research Award, the Dupont Guerry Award for Outstanding Leadership and the Potamkin Prize for Excellence in Research.

Daniel E. Polsky, professor of medicine, executive director of the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, and the Robert D. Eilers Professor of Health Care Management in the Wharton School, is a health economist nationally recognized for advancing the fundamental understanding of the trade-offs between quality of care and health spending and the methodology for economic evaluations within randomized clinical trials. His scholarship on the access implications of narrow provider networks and physician fees for Marketplace and Medicaid beneficiaries has made him a leading national authority on the subject. He serves on the Congressional Budget Office’s Panel of Health Advisers and the Pennsylvania Governor’s Advisory Board on Health.

Marie Celeste Simon, the Arthur H. Rubenstein MBBCh Professor in the department of cell and developmental biology, the scientific director of Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute and the associate director of the Abramson Cancer Center Core Facilities, studies cancer cell metabolism, tumor immunology, metastasis and cellular responses to oxygen deprivation in her lab. She has received numerous awards including the National Cancer Institute Outstanding Investigator Award, the Cancer Research Foundation Young Investigator Award and the Stanley Cohen Biomedical Research Award.

Rachel M. Werner, professor of medicine, professor of health-care management in the Wharton School, director of Health Policy and Outcomes Research in the department of medicine and associate chief for research in the division of General Internal Medicine, is a practicing general internist at the Philadelphia VA and a PhD-trained health economist. Her research has examined the use of financial incentives to improve health-care quality and the unintended consequences that often accompany them. She has received numerous awards including the Dissertation Award and the Alice Hersh New Investigator Award from AcademyHealth, the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and the American Federation of Medical Research Outstanding Investigator Award. Dr. Werner has influenced policy as a member of the National Quality Forum’s Expert Panel on Risk Adjustment and Socioeconomic Status and an advisor to the federal government on quality measurement and quality improvement incentives.

William Rosa, a current doctoral student and a Robert Wood Johnson Future of Nursing Scholar, is one of 10 nursing professionals with ties to Penn Nursing who will be inducted as 2018 Fellows of the American Academy of Nursing (AAN). The other nine are Penn Nursing alumni. All of the inductees will be honored at a ceremony during the AAN’s annual policy conference, Transforming Health, Driving Policy, November 1-3, in Washington, DC.

Amber Hikes, director, Office of LGBT Affairs for the City of Philadelphia and Jovida Hill, executive director of Office of Engagement for Women, City of Philadelphia, will discuss Street Harassment: Unsafe, Uncomfortable, and Untracked on Friday, October 26, noon-1:30 p.m., in the Golkin Room, Houston Hall.

This program will explore the lack of understanding, the unsafe feelings, the harassment of women, minorities and those in the LGBT community, as well tips on how to respond and, perhaps, how to end street harassment.

To register: http://www.upenn.edu/affirm-action/offerings.html

—Office of Affirmative Action

The Penn Museum’s popular annual World Cultures series returns this year with a new name and a fun new twist. Each CultureFest! features an eclectic mix of activities, including performance, art-making, storytelling, tours, demonstrations, workshops, film screenings and more. New this year is an evening social experience.

The Museum celebrates Día de los Muertos on Saturday, October 27 from 1-8 p.m. by honoring departed ones through music, dance and art. The centerpiece of the afternoon is a traditional ofrenda (altar) created for the celebration. After 5 p.m., the festival continues outdoors with entertainment, cash bar, dancing and more. Family-friendly activities (1-5 p.m.) are free with Museum admission (and free to Penn Museum members). Evening festival activities (5-8 p.m.) are $15; $10/members.

The classic film The Phantom of the Opera will be front and center at the University of Pennsylvania on Sunday, October 28 at 7 p.m. in Irvine Auditorium.

This annual show is an opportunity to experience the 1925 silent film The Phantom of the Opera with live organ accompaniment. The Phantom of the Opera is an adaptation of Gaston Leroux’s novel of the same name and was directed by Rupert Julian. The film features Lon Chaney in the title role as the masked and facially deformed phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House, causing murder and mayhem in an attempt to force the management to make the woman he loves a star. It is most famous for Lon Chaney’s intentionally horrific, self-applied make-up, which was kept a studio secret until the film’s premiere.

Famous improvisational organist Peter Krasinski will play the 10,731-pipe Curtis Organ. This Halloween tradition is free and open to the public.

Mr. Krasinski is a world-renowned conductor, organist and teacher, and he specializes in the art of live silent film accompaniment. Come see The Phantom of the Opera the way it was meant to be enjoyed as Mr. Krasinski performs on one of the largest pipe organs in the world.

Jordi Savall (left), a Grammy Award-winning musician, will play an intimate, free concert featuring excerpts of music from his program The Routes of Slavery at 12:30 p.m. at the Annenberg Center on Thursday, November 1. The free concert is open to Penn students, faculty and staff. It will feature music that will be performed in a public concert later that evening. This program showcases the music that helped enslaved peoples forge a sense of community, strength and resilience and highlights how the cultural fabric of Philadelphia was affected by the many cultures brought to the city by enslaved populations. This is a rare opportunity to experience the virtuosity of Maestro Savall.

Registration is preferred but not mandatory. To reserve a seat or to book a group of 10 or more contact Chelsea Pedano at cpedano@ac.upenn.edu or by phone at (215) 573-8827.

Student tickets are available for the 7:30 p.m. show on November 1 in Annenberg Center’s  Zellerbach Theatre with the code PENNSTUDENT for $10. For tickets, call (215) 898-3900.

Exhibits

Now The Geometry of Matter: Kirigami and the Art of Building Space; Meyerson Hall. Through December 3.

Special Events

28    Eagles vs. Jaguars Watch Party; 9:30 a.m.; Houston Hall.

Talks

25    Collaboration: Photographic and Otherwise; a conversation with photographers Wendy Ewald, Susan Meiselas and Laura Wexler about the collaborative nature of photography and life; 6-8 p.m.; Slought (Slought).

AT PENN Deadlines

The October AT PENN is online. The November AT PENN will be published October 30. The deadline for the weekly Update is the Monday of the week prior to the issue. The deadline for the December AT PENN is November 5.

Professional & Personal Development Programs

Open to faculty and staff. Register at http://knowledgelink.upenn.edu/

Coaching Skills for Managers; 11/6; 9 a.m. -noon; $75. This course is designed to help managers encourage individual performance as a means for increasing engagement productivity. Workshop participants learn the key elements of building a successful coaching relationship and how to best implement them using a step-by-step coaching process as well as strategies for overcoming common coaching challenges.

TED Talk Tuesday: What’s the Secret to Great Opportunities?; 11/13; 12:30-1:30 p.m. What’s the secret to great opportunities? The person you haven’t met yet. We often find ourselves stuck in narrow social circles with similar people. What habits confine us, and how can we break them? Organizational psychologist Tanya Menon considers how we can be more intentional about expanding our social universes—and how it can lead to new ideas and opportunities.

Work-life Workshops and Events

Open to faculty and staff. Register at www.hr.upenn.edu/registration

Success in School: Preparing Kids for the Classroom; 11/1; noon-1 p.m. Entry into the American school system can be challenging for children and their parents. Join Kristen Coe, an education policy fellow from the Penn Child Research Center, in a conversation about how to prepare kids for success in the classroom using an evidenced-based skill building approach.

Guided Meditation; 11/6 and 11/30; 12:30-1:30 p.m. Practice mindful breathing that focuses your attention on the present moment with kindness, compassion and awareness. Self-massage and gentle mindful movements that promote relaxation and reduce stress may also be included in the workshop. No experience necessary.

Managing Stress in the Workplace; 11/6; 1-2 p.m. We all encounter some form of stress every day—commuting to work, difficult bosses, caring for our children and parents and all those emails in our inbox! When stress is not managed properly, it can cause physical and emotional harm to our bodies and souls. Balancing work and caregiving can be particularly stressful. Learn the difference between positive and negative stress, the warning signs of stress overload and strategies to stay calm, present and balanced when the going gets tough.

Conflict Resolution; 11/7; 12:30-1:30 p.m. We all know there’s no such thing as a conflict-free office. And as uncomfortable and draining as conflict can be, conflict in and of itself isn’t really the problem. It’s how we handle it that matters.  In our time together, we will learn the different types of conflict, learn to use several tools to help us address conflict in healthy and productive ways, learn how to reap the benefits of conflict and finally how to mitigate its risks. We’ll also practice using these tools together so that we can all become more confident in handling disagreements within our team and in our personal lives.

Investing 101 Workshop; 11/12; noon-1p.m. Join Albert Corrato, Jr., certified financial planner professional from Creative Financial Group, MassMutual, for this financial wellness learning opportunity. This workshop, sponsored by MetLife, will include a basic overview of investing that explains the difference between saving and investing, asset classes and investment styles, stocks and bonds and types of mutual funds. Be sure to sign the attendance list to earn your Be in the Know 10 Bonus Action points for an On-Campus Financial Wellness Event.

Mindfulness; 11/14; 12:30-1:30 p.m. Mindfulness is “paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally,” according to Jon Kabat-Zinn, who created mindfulness-based stress reduction. This practice develops awareness of your present thoughts and feelings to help you manage different situations. In this once-a-month experiential workshop, you’ll see how mindfulness can help you become more engaged and effective both at home and in the workplace. No prior meditation experience necessary.

Flexible Work Options; 11/15; 12:30-1:30 p.m. This presentation will provide an overview of Flexible Work Options and provide guidelines for proposing and implementing a flex request including: understanding the applicable HR guidelines and policies, assessing the fit between position and job responsibilities, reviewing a sample proposal, documenting the flexible work option request and implementing the request.

Being an Effective Team Member; 11/27; 12:30-1:30 p.m. This interactive seminar focuses on the individual responsibility of each team member and their effectiveness. The facilitator will define the purpose and characteristics of teams, discuss individual behaviors that contribute or detract from team success, and discuss specific tips and techniques to be a more effective team member.

Vanguard Live Webinar: Vanguard’s Principles of Investing; 11/28; noon-1 p.m. and 6-7 p.m.; and 11/29; 3-4 p.m. If you have a basic level of comfort in saving in the retirement plan and wish to increase your investment acumen, take your investing knowledge to the next level and gain a stronger understanding of Vanguard’s investment philosophy … in four steadfast principles.

Vanguard Live Webinar–Financial Freedom: Strategies for Reducing Debt and Saving More; 11/28; 3-4 p.m.; 11/29; noon-1 p.m. and 11/29; 6-7 p.m. Are you unsure if you’re headed in the right direction financially? Learn the basic rules of thumb that can help you improve your financial life.

Penn Healthy You Workshops and Programs

Open to faculty and staff. Register at www.hr.upenn.edu/registration

Gentle Yoga; 11/6 and 11/20; noon-1 p.m. Let your body reward itself with movement! Join us for this Gentle Yoga session and explore the natural movements of the spine with slow and fluid moving bends and soft twists. During this session, you will flow into modified sun salutations that loosen those tightened muscles and joints of the lower back, neck, shoulders and wrists. And as an added bonus, you’ll get a workout in the process. Mats and props will be provided.

Spinning; 11/9; 11:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Pedal your way to a fantastic workout indoors! With the use of stationary cycles, each class is led on a “virtual” outdoor road, complete with a variety of exercises. This class will give you an energizing, calorie-burning, fun workout and it is great for all fitness levels because you will always ride at a self-directed pace.

Zumba; 11/30; 11 a.m.-noon. Perfect for everybody and every body! Each Zumba® class is designed to bring people together to sweat it on. We take the “work” out of workout, by mixing low-intensity and high-intensity moves for an interval-style, calorie-burning dance fitness party. Once the Latin and World rhythms take over, you’ll see why Zumba® fitness classes are often called exercise in disguise.

Be in the Know Biometric Screenings

Start this year’s Be in the Know campaign and sign up for a free and confidential biometric screening, which measures your blood pressure, blood sugar (glucose), and non-fasting total and high-density lipoproteins (HDL) cholesterol. You may also choose to fast to include low-density cholesterol (LDL) and triglyceride results. Get started today and earn up to $300 this campaign year. Advance registration required: www.hr.upenn.edu/registration Screenings will be held on the following dates; times subject to availability:

11/2; 11 a.m.-2 p.m.; Hill Pavilion, Vet

11/5; 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m.; Levy Conference Center, Law School

11/7; 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.; Hall of Flags, Houston Hall

11/8; 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m.; Hill Pavilion, Vet

11/9; 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m.; FRES, Left Bank

11/12; 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m.; Raisler Lounge, SEAS

11/13; 10 a.m.-2 p.m.; Fagin Hall, Nursing

11/14; 9 a.m.-2 p.m.; Hoover Lounge, Vance Hall, Wharton

11/19; 8 a.m.-1 p.m.; Smilow Commons, Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine

11/20; 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m.; Biomedical Research Building Lobby, PSOM

11/27; 9 a.m.-2 p.m.; Hall of Flags, Houston Hall

11/28; 9 a.m.-2 p.m.; Hall of Flags, Houston Hall

11/29; 9 a.m.-2 p.m.; Biomedical Research Building Lobby, PSOM

11/30; 9 a.m.-2 p.m.; Morris Arboretum

Flu Vaccine Clinic; The Penn community is encouraged to get a flu vaccine this season! All full-time and part-time benefits-eligible faculty and staff can attend one of these free flu vaccine clinics; advance registration required.

11/7; 9 a.m.-2 p.m.; Hall of Flags, Houston Hall

11/27; 9 a.m.-2 p.m.; Hall of Flags, Houston Hall

11/30; 10 a.m.-2 p.m.; Morris Arboretum

November Wellness Walk: A Season of Thanks; 11/16; noon-1 p.m. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we are dedicating this walk to all those who are less fortunate. Please bring any of the non-perishable food items listed below:

Canned Fruits, Vegetables, Meat, Soup, Whole Grain Pasta, Brown Rice, Dried Beans, Cereal, Peanut Butter, Fruit Cups, Juice Boxes, Granola Bars, Crackers, Popcorn, Sugar-Free Pudding Cups

The Penn Wellness Partnership team will be donating the goods to a local shelter here in Philadelphia. Your food donation will provide a variety of nutritious, quality products for which the recipients are grateful, so we thank you in advance for your generosity.

Meet the Center for Public Health Initiatives staff in front of College Hall by the Ben Franklin statue, and walk a one-mile or two-mile route around Penn’s campus, returning to College Hall. Bring your water bottle and don’t forget your sneakers!

—Division of Human Resources

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 October 8-14, 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 for the dates of October 8-14, 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.

10/9/18           12:08 AM        3820 Locust Walk        Clothing taken from closet

10/9/18           12:34 PM         200 S 38th St              Unknown male maced complainant

10/9/18           1:45 PM           3730 Walnut St           Currency taken from wallet

10/9/18           2:58 PM           3401 Walnut St           iPhone and wallet taken

10/9/18           6:42 PM           3730 Walnut St           Unsecured backpack taken

10/10/18         9:00 AM          3900 Market St            Auto taken from highway

10/10/18         11:33 AM        3730 Spruce St            Cell phone taken by known male

10/10/18         6:29 PM           407 S 40th St             Unsecured packages taken

10/10/18         7:14 PM           3100 Walnut St           Front bike wheel taken

10/11/18         10:33 AM        3411 Chestnut St        Unauthorized charges on credit card

10/11/18         11:41 AM        3620 Hamilton Walk   Power tool taken from room

10/11/18         3:48 PM           305 S 40th St            Mattress removed from box

10/11/18         11:28 PM         3800 Locust Walk      Unattended backpack taken

10/12/18         7:07 PM           3701 Chestnut St       Male making unwanted visits

10/12/18         7:33 PM           4032 Spruce St          Bag and purse stolen

10/12/18         7:39 PM           200 S 42nd St           Various apartments broken into

10/12/18         8:11 PM           4040 Walnut St          Male unforcibly entered apartment

10/13/18         3:16 AM          3400 Spruce St           Unsecured purse stolen

10/13/18         10:50 AM        51 N 39th St               Security officer struck by visitor

10/13/18         5:01 PM           55 S 34th St              Extension cord taken from charging cable

10/13/18         5:01 PM           3549 Chestnut St      Unsecured cell phone stolen

10/14/18         10:46 AM        3409 Walnut St           Merchandise taken without payment

10/14/18         4:07 PM           3925 Walnut St          Male wanted on warrant/Arrest

18th District

Below are the Crimes Against Persons from the 18th District: 7 incidents (2 assaults, 2 robberies and 3 aggravated assaults) with 2 arrests were reported October 8-14, 2018 by the 18th District covering the Schuylkill River to 49th Street & Market Street to Woodland Avenue.

10/8/18           4:41 PM           38th & Ludlow Sts      Aggravated Assault/Arrest

10/9/18           1:25PM            200 S 38th St             Aggravated Assault

10/9/18           6:44 PM           47th & Cedar Ave       Robbery/Arrest

10/12/18         7:44 PM           4800 Spruce St           Aggravated Assault

10/12/18         8:59 PM           48th & Spruce Sts      Assault

10/12/18         8:59 PM           48th & Spruce Sts      Assault

10/14/18         8:21 PM           225 S 45th St             Robbery

Another tip in a series provided by the Offices of Information Systems & Computing and Audit, Compliance & Privacy

In Observance of NCSAM

October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NSCAM). In observance of NSCAM, ISC Office of Information Security (OIS) is holding a number of events1 on foreign influence and cyber interference and its implications for high education. Due to a recent spear phishing incident on campus, OIS is communicating with schools and centers to raise awareness on phishing, specifically on spear phishing.

There are many types of phishing scams. Phishing is when a communication (phone, email, text) is designed to gain your trust for you to share sensitive information with the scammer or take immediate action. Spear phishing2 is when a phishing message is tailored to a specific company or a group of people such as the University of Pennsylvania community.

Recently a spear phishing scam has surfaced targeting members of the University community. These messages purport to come from a Penn administrator, asking people to help them with an urgent situation where they need to purchase gift cards for an event. If the user responds to the initial message, they are given instructions to buy several gift cards, scratch off the coating protecting a number, take a picture, and email the image back. Victims are typically using their funds to buy these gift cards. Once the gift card information has been sent, the purchases cannot be reversed.

To avoid phishing messages in general, slow down and verify before taking action. Requests like the one described above are not the way the University does business. If you have questions about an email or other suspicious communication, contact your local computing support provider (LSP) for assistance. You can contact OIS at security@isc.upenn.edu if you think you have fallen victim to a spear phishing or suspect a spear phishing.

1 Penn 2018 National Cybersecurity Awareness Month https://www.isc.upenn.edu/security/ncsm18

2 Phishing & Spear Phishing https://www.isc.upenn.edu/phishing-spear-phishing

For additional tips, see the One Step Ahead link on the Information Security website: https://www.isc.upenn.edu/security/news-alerts#One-Step-Ahead

Penn’s Way 2019 Week Two Raffle Winners

Philip Rosenau Co., Inc.: Walmart gift card ($50); Natalie Blaine, Presbyterian Medical Center

Fisher Scientific: Dinner and a movie ($50); Kyle Beatty, ISC

Fisher Scientific: Kohl’s gift card ($50); John McLaughlin, CPUP

Philadelphia Catering: Sweets tray ($65); Christopher Hvisdas, Presbyterian Medical Center

Philadelphia Eagles: Rodney McLeod autographed Super Bowl LII football ($80); Richard Kriska, HUP

Airgas Healthcare: Body Shop gift set ($26); Shana Sellers, Pennsylvania Hospital

Fisher Scientific: Restaurant gift card ($50); Joanne Shingleton, HUP

Week Four Drawing October 29

Visit www.upenn.edu/pennsway for more information about the raffle and making a pledge. Entries must be received by 5 p.m. on the prior Friday for inclusion in a given week’s drawing. Note: List is subject to change. Sponsor: prize (value)

Philip Rosenau Co., Inc.: Walmart gift card ($50)

Fisher Scientific: Restaurant gift card ($50)

Fisher Scientific: Bed, Bath & Beyond gift card ($50)

Fisher Scientific: Dinner and a movie ($50)

Bella Bridesmaids: Gift card ($100)

Fresh on 47th Catering: Three for two dinners ($90)

[solidcore]: Gift card ($75)

President Gutmann and a number of Penn faculty were the first in their families to attend college, and, currently, one in eight undergraduate students (12.5%) at Penn are first-generation (what we call at Penn FGLI) or First-Generation Low-Income. These first-generation students, even those with high grades, sometimes struggle to feel a sense of belonging at the University. In the last year, doctoral student Sherelle Ferguson and I have conducted 40 in-depth interviews with first-generation college students at two different universities. This ongoing research has led me to think about how I teach so that I can encourage the success of all students.

Seeing the Positive

My research has illuminated how first-generation students have a set of valuable abilities that can be scarce in other college students: They are independent “self-starters” who have excellent life-management skills. They report feeling surprised by how “helpless” other college students can seem or how they can get flustered finding their way across town, having a budget, or doing their laundry. In class and throughout my interactions with students, I presume that all students have strengths and weaknesses. In class, I acknowledge the varying experiences of my students—some have held full-time jobs in the summer and some have not—as well as stress the positives that come from both volunteer work and employment. Furthermore, even if students (e.g., those from under-resourced schools) do not have the academic background of other students, I remember the other skills they do have. Yet, I also continue to hold high expectations that these students meet the established goals of the course. I couple these high expectations, however, with smiles and warmth that it is completely “do-able” for the students to make significant progress during the semester. I also provide scaffolding for their progress with a schedule of regular “check-ins” and milestones.

Clarify Expectations and the “Rules”

College has formal as well as informal arenas of knowledge accumulation—particularly about how to “do” college—and FGLI students often don’t have access to relatives who can explain the nuances of college. For example, some do not know that it is reasonable to ask for an extension on a paper or a make-up exam if there is a very serious situation such as a parent having a serious surgery, hospitalization, or court date. I share this information with them via announcements or the syllabus so it is not just middle- and upper-class students who feel entitled to ask for needed accommodations.

Alongside those special situations, I clarify what tutors can do or when they might ask for help with a draft. It is valuable to explain very early in the semester (before the add/drop date) what concepts they should understand and what the signs are that they are registered for the correct or incorrect level of the course. I also communicate regularly about the support systems available to them and when they might take advantage of these supports.

In addition, I’ve seen that FGLI students have not been introduced to some academic terms such as “literature review,” “graduate school,” or “analytic memo.” In my assignments I provide brief but clear definitions of any terms as well as expectations such as length, how to prepare for the assignment, and elements of outstanding work. I also post sample “A” answers of a related assignment so students can see what I am looking for in their work. Every semester during office hours or via email, a student—often from an affluent background—asks me questions to find out additional details about an assignment. Even when I think my instructions are perfectly clear, sometimes students ask me things that I had not thought about. In previous years, this private exchange was the end of it. Now, however, I always post the question and the answer on Canvas to make available to all students the special pieces of advice we give to some students.

Creating a Welcoming Atmosphere

Going to office hours can provoke sleepless nights for some FGLI students. Yet, if faculty require all students to go to office hours, FGLI students display much less angst, relieving their fears that they are “bothering” the professor. In my seminars I require all students to attend office hours for a 10-minute meeting in the first month of the semester. I’ve also done this in my large lecture classes.  Usually the three teaching assistants and I can meet everyone in a course of 150 students by spending around two hours per week on this in the first four or five weeks of the semester (i.e., 10 students per week in 10-minute meetings). In these brief meetings, we discuss the students’ intellectual interests, assessment of the readings, extra-curricular activities, or career goals as well as other interesting classes or activities for students. These brief meetings can help students develop valuable skills for the future, such as how to talk comfortably with professors and other supervisors. It also helps me learn more of the students’ names, which is helpful for classroom dynamics.

At Penn, some  FGLI students have families who struggle to pay bills; a number had food scarcities as children. The wealth of some students at Penn can be intimidating and FGLI students fear that they don’t belong. One student told me that a professor, as an aside, said, “students at Penn have not grown up in neighborhoods with gang activities and drive-by shootings.” My student tearfully told me that since she had grown up in just that sort of neighborhood this professor’s comment made her feel that she did not belong at Penn. Despite her extremely high grades, she perceived the professor’s comment as yet another indicator that she did not fit in. Since little comments in class can reverberate in unexpected ways, I try to be careful to acknowledge in class that students have a range of experiences and provide a variety of examples.

Closing Thoughts

In his thoughtful essay, “How to Get the Most Out of College,” Frank Bruni stresses the importance of students forming ties with faculty (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/17/opinion/college-students.html). But many first-generation college students are hesitant about reaching out to faculty, and they deeply appreciate it when faculty make the first move. There are no easy answers, but recognizing this difficulty is the first step. Not everyone has someone who can explain how college works. The more we can make explicit those subtle rules, norms and expectations that shape college life, the more likely it is that all of our students will be successful.

Steps to Consider

•     Mandatory office hours

•     Explain all terms

•     Share samples of outstanding work

•     Provide study tips

•     Offer dos and don’ts for assignments

•     Invite small groups of students to lunch, meet for coffee or tea, or a walk around campus

•     “Take your Professor to Lunch” provides a free lunch for students and their faculty member at the University Club; professors can also “Host Your Class” through the program https://www.nso.upenn.edu/take-your-professormentor-program-students

•     Invite two FGLI students to your home for Thanksgiving

•     Offer to loan books to students who have tight budgets

•     Reach out to students who are struggling

•     Have high expectations with warmth and encouragement

Annette Lareau is the Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Term Professor in the Social Sciences in the Department of Sociology in SAS.

I am grateful for the helpful feedback of Cathy Turner as well as Maia Cucchiara, Valerie de Cruz, Judith Levine and Cathy Tran.

Any errors, of course, are the sole responsibility of the author.

This essay continues the series that began in the fall of 1994 as the joint creation of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Center for Teaching and Learning and the Lindback Society for Distinguished Teaching. See https://almanac.upenn.edu/talk-about-teaching-and-learning-archive for previous essays.