June 9, 2020 Volume 66 Issue 38

Words cannot adequately convey the anger, grief and frustration that we are all experiencing during this difficult time for our city and country. The horrific killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many others have shocked and saddened us all. These are grim manifestations of ongoing racism, repression, and inflammation of hatred in our society.
Yet out of our despair, we can also perceive hope. Those who are peacefully protesting have given voice to change that is long overdue. Our nation needs to reaffirm, in a unifying voice, that we all share a common bond, first as human beings, and as citizens, governed by the same laws and constitutional rights, deserving of equal protection and opportunity. We speak up in solidarity with our Black sisters and brothers, for the indignities and violence they have experienced simply because of the color of their skin. We speak up for every person who is subjected to cruelty, discrimination, and injustice.

We must, as a country and community, resolve to find better ways forward to understand and address systemic racism and closely related economic, educational, political and social inequities. We must work together to build more hope for the future.

That work begins at home, in our beloved University. For every great stride Penn has made in addressing educational inequities—more than doubling our proportion of first-generation and low-income students, tripling financial aid, substituting grants for loans, creating our Penn First Plus programs, and partnering with our city to help over 250 local public schools and hundreds of social service organizations—we recognize how much more remains to be done to better address systemic racism and educational disparities.

Our work radiates out, in partnership with our beloved city, and further still, to help heal the wounds and overcome the injustices of our deeply polarized society and world.

We are social beings whose lives and psyches are strained by the distancing that we must practice to protect everyone around us from the novel coronavirus. The ravages of that virus—the death toll and the economic toll—exacerbate pre-existing health disparities and health care inequities of our society. Here, too, our work radiates out into our city, country and beyond. Penn is home to a world-class academic medical system with top-ranked nursing, dental and veterinary schools whose faculty, students, staff, and alumni have been toiling tirelessly to care for vulnerable individuals and communities. Yet we must pledge to do more to address health care disparities and inequities in the months and years ahead.

We thrive when we join together, when we care for one another, when we speak and act with empathy for and in solidarity with one another. Today is not the first time—and it will not be the last time—that we speak up and stand up with our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and entire community of caring, loving, hurting human beings.

As events unfolded this week, my thoughts have constantly returned to how grateful I am to be a part of the University of Pennsylvania. To the pride I feel at working with such extraordinary students and colleagues. To the hope I have for our great city.

We know that we are all in this together. And we will get through it, helping each other, working for a better community and country.

Today [June 3] Provost Wendell Pritchett and I announce Penn’s support for a set of collaborative and innovative projects—to be created by our students, faculty and staff brainstorming together—that will propel progress in our University, city and society toward a more inclusive and impactful university and community. We speak for everyone at Penn in resolving to do our part to help heal wounds, strengthen community, and create hope in our world. These projects include:

Penn Projects for Progress

As an institution dedicated to addressing society’s most intractable problems, Penn will establish a new fund, intended to encourage students, faculty and staff to design and implement pilot projects based on innovative research that will advance our aim of a more inclusive university and community. We seek to seed impactful projects, grounded in outstanding Penn research, that will offer new ideas to enhance the quality of life for members of our community now and in the future. Proposals for projects from individuals will be considered, but those from diverse teams—broadly conceived—will receive priority consideration. Initially, project proposals are to be related to one or more of the following challenges:

• Eradicating or reducing systemic racism
• Achieving educational equity
• Reducing health disparities based on race, gender, sexual orientation, and/or social determinants of health

A selection committee will make recommendations to the President and Provost based on their judgement of a project’s potential to make an immediate and sustainable impact. The initial fund will be $2 million—with the possibility of raising additional resources—to support compelling projects and promising proposals. A follow-up communication to our community will provide details, including how to apply for funding.

A Year of Civic Engagement

Civic engagement, in the year ahead, will be more essential than ever. We made a commitment, as we wrote last month, to begin our fall semester as scheduled. We must now make an equal commitment to sustaining our community. As a first step in this direction, we are announcing a Year of Civic Engagement for our University. The 2020-2021 academic year will include programs, workshops, student-led dialogues, and opportunities to engage with the communities outside our campus, from our immediate West Philadelphia neighborhood, to our surrounding city as it recovers from the pandemic, to the wider circle of our nation and our world. These activities will acquire particular potency in our US election year, in which we know many of you will be involved, which will span from the campaign and election in the fall semester to the inauguration and its aftermath in the spring semester.

At the same time, the year will draw on Penn’s historic tradition of civic engagement. We were founded by Benjamin Franklin with a vision of a non-sectarian school to educate the leaders of a growing city, with a focus on practical impact on contemporary life. We continue this mission in the Penn Compact 2022, which articulates impact as one of the three core goals that guide our campus. And it is embodied in a group of dynamic ongoing programs at Penn that will drive the Year of Civic Engagement: Civic House and its pioneering Civic Scholars Program, the Netter Center for Community Partnerships, the Fox Leadership Program, and the exciting new Paideia Program, which creates a hub for civic dialogue on campus, integrating service, wellness, and citizenship to educate the civic and community leaders of the future.

We welcome suggestions from every member of the Penn community as we develop activities for the year ahead. For our incoming Class of 2024, the Year of Civic Engagement will begin in New Student Orientation, with a Penn Reading Project that includes texts from Benjamin Franklin and Martin Luther King Jr., along with small-group discussions and larger presentations. For all of us, we can expect to learn from, engage with, and enrich each other as we together navigate the months to come. We will continue to share more information as plans for next year move forward.

The Campaign for Community

The Campaign for Community was launched in 2015 to strengthen our Penn community by finding ways to discuss and understand the vital social issues that may appear to be the most difficult or intractable. In the past five years, it has sponsored hundreds of campus events devoted to its three core goals:

• To promote understanding of and respect for multiple points of view on important topics related to the University community
• To encourage dialogue and discussion among members of the community about issues with the potential for difference and disagreement
• To create opportunities for all members of the University’s community to participate in conversations about important topics

As issues of racial justice and social equity become ever more important—and yet ever more polarizing—we want to encourage all members of the Penn community to use Campaign funding and sponsorship for events in the coming year. We especially encourage small-group events, with consideration for physical distancing, that help us discuss the vital issues that we share and try to heal the divisions plaguing our world. We will circulate more specific information about Campaign grants and proposals in the upcoming week.

—Amy Gutmann, President

Ed Note: Click here to read other statements made by Penn entities.

Last week, President Gutmann called on our community to join in grieving the deaths of George Floyd and too many others and to commit to being part of a positive change. I am writing today to reaffirm her call to duty and follow up with additional next steps.

Over the last week, I’ve looked at the Philadelphia streets where I grew up and have lived all my life and found a city that had changed. People have done the same in many other places across the country. What comes next, none of us know. But I hope it will be a fairer and more just country—a place where a person of color does not have to live each day in fear (a fear that I share, as I have been unjustifiably detained by police many times in my life) and where everyone can enjoy the resources and opportunities which are a basic human right.

I have researched and written about the uprisings of the 1960s, but I was not old enough then to fully feel them. I do fully understand today’s uprisings. They are an appropriate and understandable response to our country’s continuing systemic racism, violence, and repression—to a culture in which many leaders divide and inflame hatred—and they express a frustration with a society, the wealthiest in the human history, where poverty and economic inequality are ever-present. Like you, I’ve been shocked and saddened. Yet—probably also like you—unsurprised. The bill for injustice and inequality has come due. The shock was, perhaps, how suddenly it arrived. Yet amid all that: rays of hope. Across the country, peaceful marches erupted this weekend; and they represent the broadest possible cross section of America.

As members of the Penn community, and members of many other communities, it is our responsibility to make the change people are demanding happen. Like all institutions, Penn is a flawed place. And like all historic institutions, Penn has a troubled history of racial discrimination. We need to recognize that, acknowledge it, and work every day to atone for those flaws. Yet at the same time, because of our amazing students, faculty and staff, Penn is a place that strives to get better, to work to alleviate our society’s and our world’s many ills.

Now more than ever, our tremendous stores of knowledge and creativity can, and will, help us create a more just, more equitable society. Here on our campus, I am proud to say that we have numerous ongoing programs that offer resources, information, discussion, and support on these critical issues, some of which are listed below. Going forward, as President Gutmann indicated, we also want to encourage all members of the Penn community to use funding and support from the Campaign for Community. The Campaign began five years ago to create ways to talk together about the deepest and potentially most controversial and intractable issues that divide us. Its goals are explicitly:

• To promote understanding of and respect for multiple points of view on important topics related to the University community
• To encourage dialogue and discussion among members of the community about issues with the potential for difference and disagreement
• To create opportunities for all members of the University’s community to participate in conversations about important topics

The Campaign for Community is available immediately for proposals—for projects over this summer or in the academic year ahead – in three primary areas:

• Projects and conversations about racial justice within the Penn community
• Projects and conversations about racial justice between members of the Penn community and members of our Philadelphia community
• Projects and conversations about racial justice by members of the Penn community in their own home communities, including students at home over the summer

We also encourage you to make use of and participate in some of our vibrant campus programs:

African-American Resource Center

Makuu Black Cultural Center

Men of Color at Penn

Women of Color at Penn

Center for Africana Studies

La Casa Latina

Pan-Asian American Community House

Greenfield Intercultural Center

LGBT Center

Penn Women’s Center

Graduate Student Center

Family Resource Center

Restorative Practices Program

Spiritual and Religious Life Center

We are all living through a moment in our history that is turbulent and unpredictable across multiple dimensions. Yet from great disruption can come great change. President Gutmann and I look forward to working with all of you, across this summer and the year ahead, as we begin to shape the future of our University and our wider human community.

Let us be the change we seek.

—Wendell Pritchett

Provost, University of Pennsylvania

Presidential Professor of Law and Education

In addition to the message from Penn President Amy Gutmann, there have been many other statements made by Penn entities. Following are a few of them:

A Message from Public Safety

On May 25th the world witnessed the horrible and cruel death of Mr. George Floyd at the hands of four Minneapolis Police Officers. I say four officers, because three officers stood by and watched their colleague take Mr. Floyd’s life over a very painful eight minutes, forty-six seconds, while Mr. Floyd begged for his life and called upon his deceased mother to help him. Every time I watch that video I feel both rage at the actions of these ex-police officers and a deep sadness that this man died such a public, painful and illegal death. This incident triggered a call to action across America.

The delay in charging ex-police officer Derek Chauvin with murder escalated the intensity we are witnessing across the country. The State’s delay in charging the other three officers with related offense until today [June 3, 2020] also contributed to the pain and anger felt across the nation.

We will continue to support those exercising their First Amendment protected right to protest the injustice they see and feel. We have assisted in providing safe passage for these civically engaged individuals and will continue to do so.

Actions of bad actors in police departments disgrace ALL police officers and police departments across our country. This is why we in the UPPD ensure that our hiring, retention, discipline and ultimately dismissal processes are fair and swift.

Our officers attend many trainings to better understand, relate to, communicate with and support our community. For many years we have sent Police Officers and PennComm personnel to the Washington, DC Holocaust Museum to an education program for Law Enforcement officers developed and delivered by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). This training is important because it teaches us how dangerous it is for people in authority, who have power over other people, to misuse that power. This training must be internalized and practiced every day by every police officer in our agency. Police Officers have the ultimate power over people’s lives, and when not used appropriately and lawfully, it can result in the death of a human being.

We have two mottos for our agency. “It’s all About Relationships” and “Make Emotional Deposits in the Bank”. We often talk about why it’s important to make emotional deposits in the bank—because someday, somewhere across the country, one or more police officers will do something so outrageous that it puts a blemish on our department, our badge. I am proud of the way everyone in DPS makes Emotional Deposits every day. Because of them, we are a highly respected and loved Police Department and Division of Public Safety.

We urge everyone to keep your hearts open, as we pledge to as well. Keep the faith during this very difficult time.

—Maureen S. Rush, Vice President of Public Safety, Superintendent of Penn Police, Division of Public Safety, University of Pennsylvania

A Message from Penn Program on Regulation

Civil rights organizations in the United States have declared today [June 4, 2020] a day of national mourning over the brutal killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer 10 days ago. Mr. Floyd’s horrific death shakes the entire nation and reveals—yet again—a deep, historic and systemic racism that, unfortunately, continues to pervade US society.

Each senseless taking of a black man or woman’s life—and George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Tamir Rice are only a few of the many victims—represents not merely an individual tragedy but an urgent call for investigation into institutional failures in larger systems, especially those comprising rules and rule enforcers.

Scholars and practitioners of regulation have much more to learn about how systems of rules can both reinforce and resist institutionalized racism. Now is the time to listen and learn from black experiences to understand better how to improve the management of regulatory and law enforcement organizations to break historic patterns of oppression.

Black Lives Matter. In light of how black Americans are adversely impacted by governmental action, improving regulatory systems and the behavior of regulatory personnel remains an essential avenue for delivering on the promise of equal justice for black Americans, as well as for Indigenous and other minority communities who face oppression and discrimination in this country and around the world.

Projects already underway at the Penn Program on Regulation include the first book-length study systematically to investigate the relationship between regulation and inequality in the United States. The editors of The Regulatory Review are also at work on a forthcoming series on race and regulation. But I also want to hear from you. I invite you to reach out if you have ideas for other projects or initiatives that the program could undertake to help counteract racism by improving regulations and regulatory institutions.

—Cary Coglianese, Edward B. Shils Professor of Law Director, Penn Program on Regulation

A Message from the Spiritual & Religious Life Center at Penn

All of us at SPARC are grieving this week [May 29], grieving with all of you who are hurting as we witness yet more of the impact and pain caused by individual and institutional racism in our country.

We know that it's especially hard to be grieving in this way in a time when we are all apart.

We lament with all of you who are angry, exhausted and overwhelmed.

We are in solidarity together with you for change and justice and we are here to support you as always.

If you need space to talk our Chaplains are here for you and our prayers and love are with you.

—The SPARC Team

A Message from the Netter Center

The senseless, brutal killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and so many other Black Americans, as well as the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on people of color, starkly and undeniably reveal the pernicious prevalence of racism in all its forms—from racist attitudes and behaviors to institutional and structural racism embedded in 400 years of American history.  Working with our community partners, the Netter Center is committed to contributing to the significant reduction and eventual eradication of racial injustice and inequality, helping to build an inclusive, equitable, “beloved community” (as called for by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) in West Philadelphia, Philadelphia and beyond.  At this deeply troubling time, we pursue this commitment with relentless dedication and unshakeable resolve.

—Ira Harkavy, Founding Director, Netter Center for Community Partnerships, and its Staff and Community Advisory Board

A Message from Penn Athletics

Community matters.

It is not just a core value for Penn Athletics. It is the most important one.

We acknowledge the pain and suffering our division, our University, our city, and our nation are feeling. Recent events highlight the systemic oppression faced by Black Americans. It is unacceptable and it will only end if we all demand change together.

We are firmly committed to do more.

To listen. To speak up. To educate. To empathize.

We will be better because we have to be better.

Community matters. We stand with you.

—University of Pennsylvania Athletics

A Message from the Annenberg Center

As a center for the arts, we reaffirm our continued commitment to presenting artists of color on our stages, supporting artistic work that addresses the important issues of our time, and we join President Gutmann in pledging to work toward creating an environment that is inclusive and free from discrimination, for our patrons and supporters of diverse cultural backgrounds, our staff, board and all persons of color across the Penn campus.

While we grapple daily with anger, pain and sorrow, I hope it gives you solace to remember that the performing arts are a powerful influence in helping us work through the large issues that may be hard to process individually. The performing arts regularly bring us together in all of our diversities, in a shared experience of fellowship. During such troubled times, they play a greater role in our lives. Even experienced in the digital realm, the arts help us make sense of tragedy and challenge, bringing us meaning, comfort and spiritual affirmation, all of which are essential in our lives right now.

The arts also comment on and help bring about social change, and artists themselves are reacting to this exceptionally difficult time with a great outpouring of creativity. I encourage you to read an excellent article, “Jazz as a Medium for Social and Political Change,” (https://newyorkjazzworkshop.com/jazz-as-a-medium-for-social-and-political-change/) which traces the history of jazz as a catalyst for change.

And I recommend to you two profoundly moving performances by artists of color specifically in response to current events. Please take a moment to view Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s WE. DANCE. video (https://tinyurl.com/AlvinAileyWeDance) and listen to this performance of “America the Beautiful” by Anthony McGill, Principal Clarinet of the New York Philharmonic (https://tinyurl.com/AnthonyMcGillATB). With best wishes for your continued health and safety,

—Christopher Gruits, Executive & Artistic Director, Annenberg Center

A Message from the ICA

As the Interim Director of ICA, I have been in constant internal dialogue with our staff and leadership over the last two days as we have prepared this statement. That dialog has taken significant time but it was critical to me to have those conversations. We are actively discussing our action steps for moving forward and we will be sharing those in the coming days.

The devastating events of the past week have been a reminder to all of us that ICA as an institution has an obligation to acknowledge the traumatic experiences of black communities. We unequivocally condemn racist actions and violence. We honor the lives of\ George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade and other victims, their families, and the countless lives of far too many others before them.

Moments like this make us painfully aware of both the limits of our reach and the greatness of the needs in our communities. These needs include justice and support. Despite our limits, ICA can advocate for access to opportunity and for the lack of fear that should be everyone’s right and has been due black people for too long.

As an art institution, ICA is committed to justice and equality. We are proud to showcase and support the work of black artists and makers and we have benefited immeasurably from black cultural production.

ICA is also committed to making art and culture free and accessible to all. Our efforts must align with equality and justice for the many communities of which we are a part, not only to artists, but to the many publics with whom we are in solidarity against anti-black racism and discrimination. We pledge to use the platforms we have available to us to listen and we welcome your suggestions on how to build a better, more equitable institution and a more just society.

—John McInerney, Interim Daniel Dietrich, ll Director Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania

A Message from the Penn Museum

The recent killing of George Floyd and previous deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and too many other Black individuals are beyond tragic: they are deeply unjust. We cannot remain silent about discrimination and systemic violence against Black communities.

We recognize that this museum was built on colonialism and racist narratives. We are working to change these narratives and the institutional biases that accompany them. Racism has no place in our Museum. We must do more. This is one of our highest priorities.

We can and will do better to fight against systems of oppression and for racial equality, to celebrate and amplify Black voices, and to be responsive to the needs of the community we serve.

We commit to listening; to providing a forum for difficult and important conversations; to nurturing and learning alongside this and the next generations in our shared humanity.

To our Black staff, students, members, visitors, and Philadelphia neighbors: we stand with you, we are listening, and we are working to be the Penn Museum our community needs. Black Lives Matter.

—Penn Museum

The University of Pennsylvania frequently examines the role of standardized testing in college admissions, including the SAT and ACT. We see these tests as one piece of a more comprehensive evaluation process that considers individual students in the context of their academic and personal experiences.

The College Board recently announced that an at-home version of the SAT will not be offered as planned. Meanwhile, the capacity for in-person examinations has been severely limited due to COVID-19 considerations. These combined factors will prevent thousands of students from taking the SAT exam. The scale of these challenges is unprecedented. With this in mind, Penn Admissions will not require the SAT or ACT for the 2020-2021 first-year and transfer admissions cycles. Applicants who do not submit SAT or ACT scores will not be at a disadvantage in the admissions process. For international students attending schools where English is not the language of instruction, we continue to require either the TOEFL or IELTS exam. Students who are able to take the SAT or ACT and wish to report them may continue with that plan.

Penn Admissions acknowledges the benefits and limitations built into standardized tests. Beyond the admissions process, test results help institutions guide and support enrolling students. We also know that a single examination does not capture the ability, preparation and potential of all students in an equal way. For this reason, standardized testing has always been only one part of a larger review process that considers many factors, including the rigor of coursework and performance in these courses. Penn Admissions will continue to review students, on an individual basis, consistent with our belief in a comprehensive whole-person review process.

The University of Pennsylvania will follow the rules and regulations of the Ivy League in the recruitment of student-athletes to the institution.

—Eric J. Furda, Dean of Admissions at the University of Pennsylvania

Provost Wendell Pritchett recently announced an ad hoc consultative committee to advise him on the appointment of a new Williams Director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Julian Siggers, who was appointed Williams Director in 2012, has been named President and CEO of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, beginning in September 2020.

The members of the committee are:

• Wendell E. Pritchett, Provost, Presidential Professor of Law and Education (Chair)
• Steven Fluharty, Dean, School of Arts and Sciences; Thomas S. Gates, Jr. Professor of Psychology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience
• Peter Gould, Vice Chair, Board of Overseers, Penn Museum
• Christopher Gruits, Executive and Artistic Director, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
• Michael Kowalski, Chair, Board of Overseers, Penn Museum
• Trevor Lewis, Vice President for Budget and Management Analysis
• Amanda Mitchell-Boyask, Executive Director of Development, Penn Museum
• Kathleen Morrison, Sally and Alvin V. Shoemaker Professor and Chair, Department of Anthropology, School of Arts and Sciences; Curator, Asian Section, Penn Museum
• Deborah Thomas, R. Jean Brownlee Professor of Anthropology, School of Arts and Sciences
• Lucy Fowler Williams, Associate Curator and Sabloff Keeper of Collections, American Section, Penn Museum

The work of the committee will be supported by Mark Dingfield, Associate Provost for Finance and Planning; Lynne A. Hunter, Associate Provost for Administration; and Ufuoma Pela, Senior Director of Human Resources, Provost Administrative Affairs, working with Mary Gorman of the executive search firm Spencer Stuart.

Nominations and applications can be sent to PennMuseum@SpencerStuart.com

Julia Moore Converse, founding director of Penn’s Architectural Archives and former assistant dean at what was then the Graduate School of Fine Arts, died at her Chestnut Hill home on May 22 of Alzheimer’s disease. She was 74.

Born in New York City, she moved with her family to Lima, Peru, and returned to the US in 1952. She attended Smith College and spent her junior year at the École du Louvre and I’Institut d’Art et d’Architecture in Paris and completed advanced studies in Renaissance art in Florence, Italy. She graduated in 1967 with a degree in art history.

Ms. Converse worked for a year in the Penn Museum as a secretary in 1970, then went on to  hold curatorial positions at the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the Fogg Art Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In 1982, she returned to Penn as a coordinator at Meyerson Hall. In 1984, she became an archivist in Penn’s Architectural Archives. In 1989, she was appointed director of the Archives and from 1997 until her retirement in early 2008 she also served as a development officer for the School. Under her leadership, the Archives grew to become one of the most important collections of architectural drawings, models and records in the United States. She received the Dean’s Medal of Achievement in 2008.

As director of the Architectural Archives, she curated over 28 exhibits of the work of architects represented in the collections and helped support research by PhD students and visiting scholars from all over the world. As curator of the Louis I. Kahn Collection, she was a member of the organizing team that created a major exhibit of the architect’s work, sponsored by the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, in 1991 (Almanac February 13, 2001). She contributed to the exhibit catalogue Louis I. Kahn: In the Realm of Architecture, co-authored by Professors David B. Brownlee and David G. DeLong and accompanied the exhibit to installations in Gunma in Japan, the Pompidou Centre in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.

Ms. Converse was active in the national Society of Architectural Historians, the International Confederation of Architectural Museums, the Cosmopolitan Club of Philadelphia and the Arthur Ross Gallery at the University of Pennsylvania. She served on the Boards of the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts, the Abraham Lincoln Foundation of the Union League, the Chestnut Hill Historical Society, the Woodmere Art Museum, the Smith College Club of Philadelphia, and the Wyck Association, where she chaired the Wyck-Strickland Award Committee for many years. She received their Wistar Haines Award for her contributions to the Wyck Association in 2013. She was also among the Graduate School of Fine Arts (GSFA) staff and faculty at Penn whose hands are memorialized in the Kelly Family Gates at Addams Hall (Almanac May 13, 2003).

“Julia was an important voice in the ecosystem of the arts in Philadelphia, and her accomplishments resonated nationally and internationally,” said William Valerio, the director and CEO of Woodmere Art Museum. “As founding director of the Architectural Archives at the University of Pennsylvania, she carved a niche for herself in American art, serving as an advocate on a national basis for the study of architecture as cultural history. Julia taught us all to think about architects as the artists who shape our built environment.”

She is survived by her husband, Richard W. Bartholomew; sons, Alexander (Amy), Denis and Andrew (Anna Pitoniak); two grandchildren; and three sisters.

A celebration of her life is planned for a future date when conditions allow. Donations in her honor may be made to Woodmere Art Museum, the Penn Memory Center, and the Julia Moore Converse and Richard W. Bartholomew Endowment Fund for the G. Holmes Perkins Architectural Library at the University of Pennsylvania.

John D. Gearhart, James W. Effron University Professor in the department of cell and developmental biology at University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine and former director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine (IRM), died May 27 following a long battle with gastric cancer. He was 77. 

Born in western Pennsylvania, Dr. Gearhart lived on his family’s farm located in the Allegheny Mountains for the first six years of his life. After his father, a coal minder, died, Dr. Gearhart’s mother and younger brother stayed on the farm while he and his older brother were sent to Girard College, an all-male school for orphans located in Philadelphia. He then went on to earn his bachelor of science in agricultural biological sciences in 1964 from The Pennsylvania State University and his master of science in plant genetics in 1966 from University of New Hampshire. He earned his PhD in genetics and development from Cornell University in 1970. 

Interested in congenital birth defects in humans, specifically Down syndrome, Dr. Gearhart moved away from plants toward studying genetics in animals. During his doctorate studies at Cornell, he analyzed the model genetic system in fruit flies. After completing his PhD, he pursued a postdoctoral position at the Institute for Cancer Research in Philadelphia where he studied genetic influences on mouse development.

He became an associate professor of anatomy at the University of Maryland School of Medicine before moving to the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he taught from 1980 to 2008. In 1998, Dr. Gearhart led a research team that first identified and isolated human embryonic stem cells, and he has been a leading advocate for the federal funding of stem cell research. His groundbreaking research focused on the role of genes in regulating the formation of human tissues and embryos, especially in causing mental retardation, Down Syndrome and other congenital birth defects. His studies helped to revolutionize and define what his field could do.

In 2008, Penn President Amy Gutmann and Provost Ronald Daniels announced the appointment of Dr. Gearhart as the eighth Penn Integrates Knowledge (PIK) University Professor (Almanac September 2, 2008). He became the James Effron University Professor as well as director of the IRM. His appointment was jointly shared between the department of cell and developmental biology in the School of Medicine and the department of animal biology in the School of Veterinary Medicine. From 2009 to 2015, he also served as a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at PSOM. 

According to the tribute written by the IRM, Dr. Gearhart made more than 160 trips to Washington, DC, to advocate for stem cell research funding, noting that his activities were occasionally risky, as he received death threats and needed police protection in the early days of his work, but that he persevered due to his unwavering confidence in the potential of stem cells. He strongly promoted efforts to expand the reach of stem cells and regenerative medicine. He was instrumental in founding the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), which now serves many thousands of stem cell scientists from around the world. He also ensured that outreach was a core part of the IRM’s mission and championed initiatives to share our science with the public.

He is survived by his brothers, Donald Gearhart and Gary Gearhart; and daughters, Sarah Vater and Elizabeth Fisher. A small family service is planned for a later date.

The IRM will host a virtual memorial for Dr. Gearhart in the coming weeks; information forthcoming. 

Oliver Eaton (Olly) Williamson, former Charles and William L. Day Professor of Economics, Law and Public Policy at the University of Pennsylvania whose framework for analyzing the structure of organizations won him a Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, died May 21 in Berkeley, California, after a period of failing health. He was 87. 

Dr. Williamson was born in Superior, Wisconsin. He graduated from Superior Central High School, before going on to receive a BS in management from MIT in 1955, and then an MBA from Stanford in 1960, and finally a PhD from Carnegie Mellon in 1963.

Dr. Williamson began his teaching career at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was an assistant professor of economics in the undergraduate program. In 1965, he moved to the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania as an associate professor. He was promoted to professor three years later. Dr. Williamson served as the Charles and William L. Day Professor of Economics, Law and Public Policy, and he chaired the economics department from 1971-1972 and from 1976-1977. He also served as director of Penn’s Center for the Study of Organizational Innovation from 1976-1983. He went on leave in 1972 to complete a monograph for the Brookings Institution called Theories of Firm and Market Structures. While at Penn, he also won a Guggenheim Fellowship to conduct comparative studies in industrial organization (Almanac April 19, 1977). 

He left Penn in 1983 to join the faculty at Yale. In 1988, he returned to Berkeley, where he became the Edgar F. Kaiser Professor Emeritus of Business, Economics and Law. There, he created a world-renowned PhD workshop known today as the Williamson Seminar on Institutional Analysis. He retired in 2004.

In 2009, Dr. Williamson and Dr. Elinor Ostrom from Indiana University were awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for their work in organizational economics and his insights into what is known as the make or buy decision (Almanac October 27, 2009). This is the process by which businesses choose whether to outsource a process, service, or manufacturing function or to perform the work in-house. Hundreds of economists and policy-makers have since applied his framework to situations other than outsourcing, including the boundaries between public and private sector activity.

Traditional economic approaches of the early 1970s did not allow for analysis of governance within organizations. By showing that economics could illuminate the costs and trade-offs that parties make in transactions, Dr. Williamson brought governance and the management of relationships into economic theory. His multidisciplinary approach to analyzing organizational structures was unconventional in economics. 

In 2009, at a press conference to discuss the Nobel Prize, Penn President Amy Gutmann noted that Dr. Williamson “lauded the interdisciplinary climate at Penn, noting that he ‘related immediately to the idea that the social sciences should communicate with one another, and that there are boundaries that we ought to be prepared to cross’” (Almanac November 3, 2009). 

Two of Dr. Williamson’s five books, Markets and Hierarchies: Analysis and Antitrust Implications and The Economic Institutions of Capitalism: Firms, Markets, Relational Contracting are said to be among the most cited in the social sciences.

Dr. Williamson is survived by his sons, Scott (Susanna Krentz), Oliver Jr. (Anna Suszanowicz) and Dean (Mihoko Matsue); daughters Tamara (Don Mohr) and Karen (Robert Indergand); grandchildren Kimberly and Kristin Indergand, Claire and Peter Williamson, and Erin Mohr; niece, Katherine Frisbie; and nephew, Steven Frisbie (Jennifer). A family memorial service will be held at a later time.

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To Report A Death

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

There was a crowd of 100,000 gathered in Franklin Field as more waited outside on June 27, 1936, to hear what has become one of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s most enduring speeches. As the president’s limousine approached, the Philadelphia Symphony struck up “Hail to the Chief.” President Roosevelt addressed Senator Joseph Taylor Robinson of Arkansas, a major figure in the enactment of New Deal legislation, and the Democratic National Convention upon his acceptance of the Democratic Party’s nomination for the 1936 Presidential election. President Roosevelt criticized the actions of monopolies in the United States and stressed the need for economic equality in the country. The President also stated his previous efforts to aid the less fortunate and pledged his intentions to continue.

At Penn’s recent virtual Commencement, Penn President Amy Gutmann quoted from President Roosevelt’s speech, comparing the similarities of those times with the present day (Almanac May 26, 2020).

June 27, 1936

Senator Robinson, Members of the Democratic Convention, my friends:

Here, and in every community throughout the land, we are met at a time of great moment to the future of the Nation. It is an occasion to be dedicated to the simple and sincere expression of an attitude toward problems, the determination of which will profoundly affect America.

I come not only as a leader of a party, not only as a candidate for high office, but as one upon whom many critical hours have imposed and still impose a grave responsibility.

For the sympathy, help and confidence with which Americans have sustained me in my task I am grateful. For their loyalty I salute the members of our great party, in and out of political life in every part of the Union. I salute those of other parties, especially those in the Congress of the United States who on so many occasions have put partisanship aside. I thank the Governors of the several States, their Legislatures, their State and local officials who participated unselfishly and regardless of party in our efforts to achieve recovery and destroy abuses. Above all I thank the millions of Americans who have borne disaster bravely and have dared to smile through the storm.

America will not forget these recent years, will not forget that the rescue was not a mere party task. It was the concern of all of us. In our strength we rose together, rallied our energies together, applied the old rules of common sense, and together survived.

In those days we feared fear. That was why we fought fear. And today, my friends, we have won against the most dangerous of our foes. We have conquered fear.

But I cannot, with candor, tell you that all is well with the world. Clouds of suspicion, tides of ill-will and intolerance gather darkly in many places. In our own land we enjoy indeed a fullness of life greater than that of most Nations. But the rush of modern civilization itself has raised for us new difficulties, new problems which must be solved if we are to preserve to the United States the political and economic freedom for which Washington and Jefferson planned and fought.

Philadelphia is a good city in which to write American history. This is fitting ground on which to reaffirm the faith of our fathers; to pledge ourselves to restore to the people a wider freedom; to give to 1936 as the founders gave to 1776—an American way of life.

That very word freedom, in itself and of necessity, suggests freedom from some restraining power. In 1776 we sought freedom from the tyranny of a political autocracy—from the eighteenth century royalists who held special privileges from the crown. It was to perpetuate their privilege that they governed without the consent of the governed; that they denied the right of free assembly and free speech; that they restricted the worship of God; that they put the average man’s property and the average man’s life in pawn to the mercenaries of dynastic power; that they regimented the people.

And so it was to win freedom from the tyranny of political autocracy that the American Revolution was fought. That victory gave the business of governing into the hands of the average man, who won the right with his neighbors to make and order his own destiny through his own Government. Political tyranny was wiped out at Philadelphia on July 4, 1776.

Since that struggle, however, man’s inventive genius released new forces in our land which reordered the lives of our people. The age of machinery, of railroads; of steam and electricity; the telegraph and the radio; mass production, mass distribution—all of these combined to bring forward a new civilization and with it a new problem for those who sought to remain free.

For out of this modern civilization, economic royalists carved new dynasties. New kingdoms were built upon concentration of control over material things. Through new uses of corporations, banks and securities, new machinery of industry and agriculture, of labor and capital-all undreamed of by the fathers—the whole structure of modern life was impressed into this royal service.
There was no place among this royalty for our many thousands of small business men and merchants who sought to make a worthy use of the American system of initiative and profit. They were no more free than the worker or the farmer. Even honest and progressive-minded men of wealth, aware of their obligation to their generation, could never know just where they fitted into this dynastic scheme of things.

It was natural and perhaps human that the privileged princes of these new economic dynasties, thirsting for power, reached out for control over Government itself. They created a new despotism and wrapped it in the robes of legal sanction. In its service new mercenaries sought to regiment the people, their labor, and their property. And as a result the average man once more confronts the problem that faced the Minute Man.

The hours men and women worked, the wages they received, the conditions of their labor—these had passed beyond the control of the people, and were imposed by this new industrial dictatorship. The savings of the average family, the capital of the small business man, the investments set aside for old age—other people’s money—these were tools which the new economic royalty used to dig itself in.

Those who tilled the soil no longer reaped the rewards which were their right. The small measure of their gains was decreed by men in distant cities.

Throughout the Nation, opportunity was limited by monopoly. Individual initiative was crushed in the cogs of a great machine. The field open for free business was more and more restricted.  Private enterprise, indeed, became too private. It became privileged enterprise, not free enterprise.

An old English judge once said: “Necessitous men are not free men.” Liberty requires opportunity to make a living—a living decent according to the standard of the time, a living which gives man not only enough to live by, but something to live for.

For too many of us, the political equality we once had won was meaningless in the face of economic inequality. A small group had concentrated into their own hands an almost complete control over other people’s property, other people’s money, other people’s labor, other people’s lives. For too many of us life was no longer free; liberty no longer real; men could no longer follow the pursuit of happiness.

Against economic tyranny such as this, the American citizen could appeal only to the organized power of Government. The collapse of 1929 showed up the despotism for what it was. The election of 1932 was the people’s mandate to end it. Under that mandate it is being ended.

The royalists of the economic order have conceded that political freedom was the business of the Government, but they have maintained that economic slavery was nobody’s business. They granted that the Government could protect the citizen in his right to vote, but they denied that the Government could do anything to protect the citizen in his right to work and his right to live.

Today we stand committed to the proposition that freedom is no half-and-half affair. If the average citizen is guaranteed equal opportunity in the polling place, he must have equal opportunity in the market place.

These economic royalists complain that we seek to overthrow the institutions of America. What they really complain of is that we seek to take away their power. Our allegiance to American institutions requires the overthrow of this kind of power. In vain they seek to hide behind the Flag and the Constitution. In their blindness they forget what the Flag and the Constitution stand for. Now, as always, they stand for democracy, not tyranny; for freedom, not subjection; and against a dictatorship by mob rule and the over-privileged alike.

The brave and clear platform adopted by this Convention, to which I heartily subscribe, sets forth that Government in a modern civilization has certain inescapable obligations to its citizens, among which are protection of the family and the home, the establishment of a democracy of opportunity, and aid to those overtaken by disaster.

But the resolute enemy within our gates is ever ready to beat down our words unless in greater courage we will fight for them.

For more than three years we have fought for them. This Convention, in every word and deed, has pledged that that fight will go on.

The defeats and victories of these years have given to us as a people a new understanding of our Government and of ourselves. Never since the early days of the New England town meeting have the affairs of Government been so widely discussed and so clearly appreciated. It has been brought home to us that the only effective guide for the safety of this most worldly of worlds, the greatest guide of all, is moral principle.

We do not see faith, hope and charity as unattainable ideals, but we use them as stout supports of a Nation fighting the fight for freedom in a modern civilization.

Faith—in the soundness of democracy in the midst of dictatorships.

Hope—renewed because we know so well the progress we have made.

Charity—in the true spirit of that grand old word. For charity, literally translated from the original, means love, the love that understands, that does not merely share the wealth of the giver, but in true sympathy and wisdom helps men to help themselves.

We seek not merely to make Government a mechanical implement, but to give it the vibrant personal character that is the very embodiment of human charity.

We are poor indeed if this Nation cannot afford to lift from every recess of American life the dread fear of the unemployed that they are not needed in the world. We cannot afford to accumulate a deficit in the books of human fortitude.

In the place of the palace of privilege we seek to build a temple out of faith and hope and charity.

It is a sobering thing, my friends, to be a servant of this great cause. We try in our daily work to remember that the cause belongs not to us, but to the people. The standard is not in the hands of you and me alone. It is carried by America. We seek daily to profit from experience, to learn to do better as our task proceeds.

Governments can err, Presidents do make mistakes, but the immortal Dante tells us that divine justice weighs the sins of the cold-blooded and the sins of the warm-hearted in different scales.

Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.

There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.

In this world of ours in other lands, there are some people, who, in times past, have lived and fought for freedom, and seem to have grown too weary to carry on the fight. They have sold their heritage of freedom for the illusion of a living. They have yielded their democracy.

I believe in my heart that only our success can stir their ancient hope. They begin to know that here in America we are waging a great and successful war. It is not alone a war against want and destitution and economic demoralization. It is more than that; it is a war for the survival of democracy. We are fighting to save a great and precious form of government for ourselves and for the world.

I accept the commission you have tendered me. I join with you. I am enlisted for the duration of the war.

By Angela Duckworth, Lyle Ungar and Ezekiel J. Emanuel
This essay appeared in The New York Times on May 27, 2020.

Hong Kong has so far reported a grand total of four coronavirus-related deaths, while New York City has reported over 20,000.

Here’s another striking comparison: Close to 99 percent of Hong Kong residents have been wearing masks, to prevent the wearer from spreading the virus, since early February. According to a mid-April Gallup poll, only a third of Americans say they always wear a mask or cloth face covering outside the home. Another third of us sometimes wear a mask in public, and a third never do.

Universal face mask adoption isn’t the only difference between Hong Kong and the United States, and it’s not a substitute for physical-distancing, hand-washing and other preventive practices. But masks — even just a scarf, bandanna or an old T-shirt and two rubber bands — are widely viewed as critical to stopping the transmission of the novel coronavirus.

Nevertheless, face-mask compliance on this side of the Pacific has been uneven. This is especially worrisome in closed, crowded spaces like subways and buses, grocery stores and offices where it’s not easy to maintain a distance of six feet from other people and avoid spontaneous coughs and sneezes.

The most obvious path to universal masking is to pass laws and punish infractions. But enforcing legal edicts to wear masks in public can be difficult and costly, and amid widespread ambivalence can lead to backlash and even violence. So edicts are not a complete solution.

As experts in public health and human behavior, we propose a complementary approach: Make wearing a mask easy, understood and expected.

From effortful to easy: Where can you get face masks? You can search for them online, you can now buy them in drugstores and yes, you can make them yourself. But none of these options are effortless.

Imagine if every city and town in this country had an Adrian Cheng, the real estate developer in Hong Kong who had a manufacturing line set up in one of his empty properties and made the masks available free to the needy in vending machines devised specifically for the purpose. Not long after, the Hong Kong government set up a website where any household can register to have reusable masks delivered free. Or consider Utah, where residents can likewise register online and receive a free fabric face mask by mail. The cheaper and more ubiquitous face masks are, the easier it will be for Americans to get our hands on them, and the more likely we’ll do so and wear them.

From unclear to understood: Not long ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the surgeon general were lecturing the American public on why they shouldn’t wear face masks. That recommendation flipped once it became clear that people infected with the coronavirus can spread it before they know they have it and, therefore, everyone should wear a mask to reduce the chances of infecting others. Since it’s hard for people to update their beliefs once a message has been received, it’s no surprise that misinformation and outdated news continue to ricochet in the echo chambers of social media.

Unfortunately, it is often easier to dig our heels in than to change our minds, defending our original position and discounting new information to justify our behavior. Therefore, it can be helpful to supply people with a rationale to change their behavior without looking like a hypocrite. For example, officials can emphasize that at the start of this crisis, nobody could have known how important it is to wear a mask when you have no symptoms, and that day by day, new scientific evidence is demonstrating the efficacy of masks in the fight against the coronavirus.

From unconventional to expected: It is human nature to adhere to social norms. When uncertain about what to do, people tend to look around and copy what other people are doing. For instance, if you were in Hong Kong right now, even if you weren’t up to date on the public health imperative, you’d very likely follow the lead of everyone around you and put one on.

How do we create a social norm of mask-wearing when, in fact, so many Americans are doing exactly the opposite? One common mistake is drawing attention to the lack of compliance. For instance, highlighting littering as a commonplace problem can inadvertently lead to more littering because it strengthens the perception that littering is the norm. Instead, in press releases and public service announcements, officials should emphasize that the clear trend in this country is toward universal mask-wearing.

According to a recent Qualtrics study, a majority of surveyed Americans now say they won’t return to the office unless their company makes wearing face masks mandatory. And in just one week in April, the percentage of Americans who said they wore a mask outside the home increased by more than half.

Norms are also established by high-status role models. Celebrities and professional athletes can do their part by posting photos about wearing face masks in public. And to counter the politicized nature of the issue, let’s all applaud mask-wearing leaders on both the right and the left. Hurrah for Melania Trump posting a photo of herself in a mask, and hurrah, too, for Nancy Pelosi wearing a scarf on the House floor.

The story of face masks in this country is still being written. We may lack the wisdom Hong Kong earned weathering prior epidemics, but it’s not too late to apply three basic principles from behavioral science: make it easy, understood and expected, and we’ll soon see face masks everywhere, saving lives.

Angela Duckworth, founder and chief executive of Character Lab, is the Rosa Lee and Egbert Chang professor in the School of Arts and Sciences.

Lyle Ungar is professor of computer and information science in the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Ezekiel J. Emanuel, author of the forthcoming “Which Country Has the World’s Best Health Care?”, is professor of health care management, medical ethics and health policy.

Fitness and Learning

6/12    Restorative Justice Book Club; a monthly book discussion about restorative, transformative and healing Justice; 1 p.m.; info: pcerdera@upenn.edu and to register: https://forms.gle/7kLBexw7SvhfLsBd7 Also July 10 & August 14. Optional Discussion Sessions June 26, July 24 & August 28, 1 p.m. (Restorative Practices @ Penn-Office of Student Conduct).

Morris Arboretum

Register: morrisarb.org/learn

6/11   Sugar, Sex, and Poison: Shocking Plant Secrets Caught on Camera; Bill Cullina, The F. Otto Haas Executive Director, discusses how this world of pollen, poisons, pigments, pheromones, sugars and sex translates to sound organic practices we all can benefit from; 10 a.m.; $10/members, $12/non-members.

Sports

Fridays at 2:30 p.m., Quaker Classics will feature live rebroadcasts of Penn victories; info: https://tinyurl.com/quakerclassics; to watch: www.youtube.com/PennSportsNetwork 

6/12   (W) Basketball vs. Brown; original broadcast: March 3, 2018.

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AT PENN Deadlines 

The Summer AT PENN calendar is now online. The deadline to submit virtual events to be featured in an Update in the weekly issues in June is the Monday of the prior week.

University of Pennsylvania Police Department Crime Report

Below are the Crimes Against Persons, Crimes Against Society and Crimes Against Property from the campus report for May 25-31, 2020. 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 May 25-31, 2020. 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.

18th District

Below are the Crimes Against Persons from the 18th District: 5 incidents (2 robberies, 1 aggravated assault, 1 assault and 1 rape) with 1 arrest were reported for May 25-31, 2020 by the 18th District covering the Schuylkill River to 49th Street & Market Street to Woodland Avenue.

Dear Penn Commuters:

Penn Transportation and Parking Services would like to share this important announcement from SEPTA:

Beginning Monday, June 8, passengers will be required to wear a face mask or face covering on all SEPTA services to help continue efforts to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. 

For more information on the transportation authority’s face-covering policy, its new Reopening Guide, and other customer resources related to COVID-19, please visit http://septa.org/covid-19/ and follow @SEPTAPhilly on Twitter.

Almanac will be publishing weekly through the end of June and as needed throughout the summer. Volume 67 will begin on July 14. The deadline to submit content to be featured in the weekly issues is the Monday of the prior week.

For more information, visit https://almanac.upenn.edu/publication-schedule-deadlines

Like the last two months’ issues, this edition of Almanac is digital-only. Please distribute to your colleagues and encourage them to subscribe to receive the E-Almanac by visiting https://almanac.upenn.edu/express-almanac The email will include links to the newly posted material. 

No issues were printed to distribute across campus because of COVID-19. Almanac is distributed electronically each Tuesday.