November 23, 2021 Volume 68 Issue 15

On November 17, University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann announced the launch of a $750 million investment advancing Penn’s pathbreaking contributions to innovative and impactful areas of medicine, public health, science, and technology. The investment will be made in four areas of scientific research over the next five years:

• Novel therapeutics and health-related initiatives
• Energy and sustainability
• Data engineering and science
• Infrastructure to support physical science research

“These game-changing investments allow Penn to move forward rapidly on longstanding priorities in key medical and scientific areas,” said President Gutmann. “These investments are made possible thanks to our sky-rocketing innovation ecosystem led by our faculty, the Penn Center for Innovation, and our blockbuster Power of Penn campaign. An absolutely critical driver and enabler of this initiative has been the enormous success across all of Penn’s schools in faculty recruitment and retention. These and other major successes provide the perfect opportunity to elevate Penn’s eminence in science, engineering, and medicine in a manner that will resonate through decades.”

In the broad area of health-related science and public health research and translation, the Perelman School of Medicine (PSOM) will make major new investments in research space, priority research programs, and faculty recruitment. Throughout the last decade, PSOM has increased research funding by more than 40%. PSOM will increase research space by approximately 400,000 square feet to accommodate existing and planned research programs over the next decade. In parallel, PSOM will catalyze research momentum in strategic priority areas including mRNA biology, vaccine development, immune health, cellular engineering, and gene therapy. Both major expansions—in space and in programmatic research—will be supplemented by investments in faculty recruitment, with continued emphasis on the recruitment of women and faculty underrepresented in science and medicine. “The large scale of these PSOM investments is more than matched by the opportunity to continue making breakthrough discoveries to create new therapies and improve health,” said President Gutmann.

Additionally, the investment will create the Eidos LGBT+ Health Initiative, centered in the School of Nursing, which will serve as a social innovation hub facilitating public health science focused on sexual and gender minorities.

The Energy and Sustainability Initiative will focus on three target areas: diversifying energy sources and storage; energy efficiency and sustainability; and monitoring, sequestering, and transforming climate-changing pollutants. It will be led by the School of Arts & Sciences (SAS).

The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) will take the lead on the Innovation in Data Engineering and Science (IDEAS) Initiative, which also has three target areas for research: scientific discovery and experimentation; design and engineering of autonomous systems; and methodologies to understand the human brain.

Specifically, funds will be used to recruit 10 faculty under each of the Energy and Sustainability and IDEAS research focus areas, using a cluster-hire approach, in support of building the best teams at Penn. “We have nationally and internationally recognized leaders in each of these fields who have already helped shape the directions for Penn to lead in having impact, and who can lead and help direct the recruitment efforts,” said President Gutmann.

Complementing the targeted faculty recruitment and growth in the physical sciences with Penn experts and exceptional strengths anchored in the areas of quantum information science and soft and living matter, the University will also be undertaking a project to substantially reimagine the David Rittenhouse Laboratory (DRL) complex to support a modern physical science building.

To allow for a wholesale revisioning of the existing DRL and to complement the Vagelos Laboratory for Energy Science and Technology (VLEST) at 32nd and Walnut Streets, which is currently under construction and is scheduled for completion in fall 2024, the University is also spearheading a new multiuse SAS physical sciences building. The physical sciences building will be located strategically between DRL and VLEST. Much like the Singh Center, the Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter, and VLEST, this new facility will also provide research space for SEAS faculty and offer state-of-the art, hands-on teaching laboratories that facilitate student access at all levels to learning-by-doing experimentation and will promote research opportunities for undergraduate students. “This renovation will importantly include the creation of state-of-the-art classroom spaces for the many courses that Penn students take in DRL,” said President Gutmann.

Occupancy of the physical sciences building will be strategically staged in order to also enable the renovation and modernization of DRL, the renewal of which is critical to the successful recruitment and retention of preeminent faculty.

Summarizing the scope of new investments, President Gutmann noted: “These new initiatives will continue to support faculty recruitment and retention and position Penn to be a world leader in some of the most critically important and impactful scientific fields for years to come.”

Weitzman School of Design Dean Fritz Steiner has announced that Rashida Ng will join the standing faculty as an associate professor in the department of architecture, beginning in January of 2022. Beginning in July 2022, Dr. Ng will succeed Richard Wesley, adjunct professor of architecture, as chair of undergraduate architecture. In addition, she will hold the appointment of Presidential Associate Professor through June 2027. Presidential Professorships are five-year term chairs awarded by University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann to exceptional scholars who have the potential to advance faculty eminence through diversity across the University.

“A 2001 graduate of our MArch program, Rashida has a truly remarkable record as an educator, mentor, and academic and professional leader,” said Dean Steiner. “I am confident that she will make connections across the University and explore the impact of social and political concerns as expressed in the built environment.”

“As I return to my alma mater, I am energized by the opportunities to collaborate with colleagues in the Weitzman School and the College of Arts and Sciences,” said Dr.  Ng. “At this moment of increasing awareness of social inequities, I look forward to creating sustained partnerships with communities on projects that promote justice.”

Dr. Ng is a nationally respected leader in reforming architectural education and served as president of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, where she was on the Board of Directors from 2015 until the summer of 2021. 

Dr. Ng has been on the faculty at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University since 2005, where she was an associate professor and served as chair of the architecture and environmental design department until the summer of 2021.

Dr. Ng’s work negotiates the complex interrelationships between constructed and natural systems. In her research, she has focused on performative materials, architectural pedagogy, and environmental justice and social equity. She has authored numerous papers on these topics and co-edited the book Performative Materials in Architecture and Design.

Dr. Ng has recently turned her attention to the intersection of racial and environmental justice in architecture. This work provides actionable approaches for climate mitigation, while considering intersections with social infrastructures and restorative justice. She has written about equity and architectural pedagogy, including a forthcoming book chapter titled Breaking the Chains: Beyond the Beaux-Arts Tradition of Architectural Education in the United States. By expanding the scope of her work, she is contributing to topics underrepresented in the field of architecture, particularly when compared to landscape architecture, urban planning, environmental policy, community design, and social and political sciences.

Photo credit: Peter Decherney

Emily Steiner, professor of English in the School of Arts & Sciences, has been appointed the Rose Family Endowed Term Professor of English. A medievalist who specializes in 14th- and 15th-century English literature and culture, Dr. Steiner’s research interests extend to natural history and the history of encyclopedism, law and literature, drama and ritual performance, and Jewish-Christian relations in the Middle Ages. She is the author of three books, Documentary Culture and the Making of Medieval English Literature, Reading “Piers Plowman,” and the just-released John Trevisa’s Information Age: Knowledge and the Pursuit of Literature, c.1400. Dr. Steiner serves as a trustee of the New Chaucer Society and Director of the International Piers Plowman Society. Her teaching has been recognized with several awards, including the Medieval Academy of America’s CARA Teaching Award and Penn’s Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Teaching Award.

Gary D. Rose, C’67, and Karen Bress Rose, CW’67, GED’68, created the Rose Family Endowed Term Chair in 1996. Both Mr. and Mrs. Rose have a long history of volunteer service and philanthropy to Penn. Mr. Rose is former member of the Penn Arts & Sciences Board of Advisors.

Michael Weisberg, Professor of Philosophy, has been named Bess W. Heyman President’s Distinguished Professor of Philosophy. Weisberg is an expert on the role of models in scientific inquiry and social ecology. He is the author of Simulation and Similarity: Using Models to Understand the World and Galápagos: Life in Motion, as well as two edited volumes and many articles and book chapters. Dr. Weisberg’s research has been supported by several National Science Foundation awards. In addition to serving as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Biology and Philosophy, he co-directs the Galápagos Education and Research Alliance, and serves as an advisor to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Nairobi Work Programme and the Republic of Maldives. At Penn, he is currently serving as chair of the department of philosophy and Director of Postgraduate Programs at Perry World House.

Stephen J. Heyman, W’59, parent, established the Bess W. Heyman President’s Distinguished Professorship. Mr. Heyman is a University of Pennsylvania Trustee Emeritus and a member of the School of Nursing Board of Advisors. He is a 2000 recipient of the Alumni Award of Merit, the University’s highest alumni honor.

The University of Pennsylvania Libraries announced the establishment of the Gershwind & Bennett Family Associate Vice Provost for Collections and Scholarly Communications, funded by a $2 million gift from Penn Libraries Board of Advisors Chair Erik Gershwind, W’93 and Stacey Gershwind Bennett, C’95. The newly endowed position will be held by Brigitte Weinsteiger, who has been the libraries’ Associate Vice Provost for Collections and Scholarly Communications since April 2020.

“My family and I could not be happier to create this endowed position and sustain the important work Brigitte Weinsteiger leads with prominent regard,” Mr. Gershwind said. “Collections and scholarly communications are really the engine of the Penn Libraries that propels teaching and research—this position is crucial for the libraries to support the Penn community.”

“We are delighted that Brigitte is being honored with an endowed position and offer profound gratitude to Erik and Stacey for this strong expression of support,” said Constantia Constantinou, the H. Carton Rogers III Vice Provost and Director of Libraries. “This level of recognition encourages our talented library staff and thought leaders to be bold and creative in their work, and their innovation will in turn extend the Penn Libraries’ influence nationally and internationally.”

As the head of the collections and scholarly communications division of the Penn Libraries, Ms. Weinsteiger directs the strategy, advancement, and growth of the Penn Libraries’ collections while promoting academic engagement and research, publishing, and instructional support both on campus and within the Greater Philadelphia community. Ms. Weinsteiger is also a thought leader in scholarly communications. She represents Penn on the Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation Collections Group, the Program Council of the North East Research Libraries Consortium (NERL), and the Collections Advisory Council of the Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium, Inc. (PALCI). In addition, she serves on the advisory boards for a number of prominent publishing and distribution vendors, including Project MUSE, EBSCO eBooks, and JSTOR. At Penn, Ms. Weinsteiger is a founding member of the Faculty Senate Select Committee on Scholarly Communications and a member of the Internal Advisory Committee of the Environmental Innovations Initiative.

Ms. Weinsteiger began her career in libraries at the Pennsylvania State University’s Eberly Family Special Collections Library. Before her current position, she held various positions at Penn, including serving as a collections analyst and a subject specialist for medieval studies and Germanic languages and literatures. 

“I am deeply honored to be the first Gershwind & Bennett Family Associate Vice Provost for Collections and Scholarly Communications,” Ms. Weinsteiger said. “This endowment is a testament to the ongoing importance and impact of the libraries as we partner with communities at Penn and beyond to produce, preserve, and provide access to knowledge. I am so grateful to Erik and Stacey for ensuring that we can continue to deliver essential library collections and our support for teaching and research on campus for a long time to come.”

The newly endowed position sets the stage for a new fundraising campaign focusing on the Penn Libraries’ preeminent staff. The Talent Endowment Campaign will enable the Libraries to attract top candidates and ensure talented staff reach their full potential by providing stability and resources that advance their work.

This is a summary of the annual report of The University of Pennsylvania Basic Plan (Plan No. 028) sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania, EIN: 23-1352685, for the period January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020.  This annual report has been filed with the Employee Benefits Security Administration, as required under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).

Basic Financial Statement

Benefits under the plan are provided through unallocated insurance contracts and a trust fund.  Plan expenses were $36,625,790.  These expenses included $13,005 in administrative expenses and $36,612,785 in benefits paid to participants and beneficiaries.  A total of 26,486 persons were participants in or beneficiaries of the plan at the end of the plan year.

The value of plan assets, after subtracting liabilities of the plan, was $1,427,179,147 as of December 31, 2020, compared to $1,212,372,395 as of January 1, 2020.  During the plan year the plan experienced an increase in its net assets of $214,806,752.  This increase includes net unrealized appreciation in the value of plan assets; that is, the difference between the value of the plan’s assets at the end of the plan year and the value of assets at the beginning of the plan year or the cost of assets acquired during the plan year.  The plan had total income of $251,432,542, including employer contributions of $64,019,876, employee rollover contributions of $4,135,806, gains from investments of $183,165,081 and other income of $111,779. 

Your Rights to Additional Information

Under ERISA, you have the right to receive a copy of the full annual report, or any part thereof, upon request.  The items listed below are included in that report for the University of Pennsylvania Basic Plan:

1. An accountant’s opinion;
2. Financial information;
3. Information on payments to service providers;
4. Assets held for investment;
5. Insurance information; and
6. Information regarding pooled separate accounts in which the plan participates.

To obtain a copy of the full annual report, or any part thereof, write or call the office of the Plan Administrator, c/o Joanne M. Blythe, Director, Retirement Administration, University of Pennsylvania, 3451 Walnut Street, 600 Franklin Building, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6205, (215) 898-9947.  The charge to cover copying costs will be $5.00 for the full annual report or 25 cents per page for any part thereof.

You also have the right to receive from the Plan Administrator, on request and at no charge, a statement of the assets and liabilities of the plan and accompanying notes, or a statement of income and expenses of the plan and accompanying notes, or both for the University of Pennsylvania Basic Plan.  If you request a copy of the full annual report from the Plan Administrator, these two statements and accompanying notes will be included as part of that report.  The charge to cover copying costs given above does not include a charge for the copying of these portions of the report because these portions are furnished without charge.

You also have the legally protected right under ERISA to examine the annual reports in the offices of the Employer at the address for the Plan Administrator, above, and at the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C., or to obtain a copy from the U.S. Department of Labor upon payment of copying costs.  Requests to the Department should be addressed to: Public Disclosure Room, Room N-1513, Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20210.

This is a summary of the annual report of The University of Pennsylvania Matching Plan (Plan No. 001) sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania, EIN: 23-1352685, for the period January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020.  This annual report has been filed with the Employee Benefits Security Administration, as required under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).

Basic Financial Statement

Benefits under the plan are provided through unallocated insurance contracts and a trust fund.  Plan expenses were $216,479,049.  These expenses included $53,713 in administrative expenses and $216,425,336 in benefits paid to participants and beneficiaries.  A total of 27,991 persons were participants in or beneficiaries of the plan at the end of the plan year.

The value of plan assets, after subtracting liabilities of the plan, was $5,855,654,165 as of December 31, 2020, compared to $5,207,584,598 as of January 1, 2020.  During the plan year the plan experienced an increase in its net assets of $648,069,567.  This increase includes net unrealized appreciation in the value of plan assets; that is, the difference between the value of the plan’s assets at the end of the plan year and the value of assets at the beginning of the plan year or the cost of assets acquired during the plan year.  The plan had total income of $864,548,616, including employer contributions of $77,414,862, employee contributions of $86,654,071, employee rollover contributions of $5,909,798, gains from investments of $691,934,205 and other income of $2,635,680. 

Your Rights to Additional Information

Under ERISA, you have the right to receive a copy of the full annual report, or any part thereof, upon request.  The items listed below are included in that report for the University of Pennsylvania Matching Plan:

1. An accountant’s opinion;
2. Financial information;
3. Information on payments to service providers;
4. Assets held for investment;
5. Insurance information; and
6. Information regarding pooled separate accounts in which the plan participates.

To obtain a copy of the full annual report, or any part thereof, write or call the office of the Plan Administrator, c/o Joanne M. Blythe, Director, Retirement Administration, University of Pennsylvania, 3451 Walnut Street, 600 Franklin Building, Philadelphia, PA  19104-6205, (215) 898-9947.  The charge to cover copying costs will be $5.00 for the full annual report or 25 cents per page for any part thereof.

You also have the right to receive from the Plan Administrator, on request and at no charge, a statement of the assets and liabilities of the plan and accompanying notes, or a statement of income and expenses of the plan and accompanying notes, or both for the University of Pennsylvania Matching Plan.  If you request a copy of the full annual report from the Plan Administrator, these two statements and accompanying notes will be included as part of that report.  The charge to cover copying costs given above does not include a charge for the copying of these portions of the report because these portions are furnished without charge.

You also have the legally protected right under ERISA to examine the annual reports in the offices of the Employer at the address for the Plan Administrator, above, and at the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C., or to obtain a copy from the U.S. Department of Labor upon payment of copying costs.  Requests to the Department should be addressed to: Public Disclosure Room, Room N-1513, Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20210.

This is a summary of the annual report of The Supplemental Retirement Annuity Plan of the University of Pennsylvania (Plan No. 002) sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania, EIN: 23-1352685, for the period January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020.  This annual report has been filed with the Employee Benefits Security Administration, as required under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).

Basic Financial Statement

Benefits under the plan are provided through unallocated insurance contracts and a trust fund.  Plan expenses were $66,672,364.  These expenses included $1,986 in administrative expenses and $66,670,378 in benefits paid to participants and beneficiaries.  A total of 29,266 persons were participants in or beneficiaries of the plan at the end of the plan year.

The value of plan assets, after subtracting liabilities of the plan, was $1,712,732,422 as of December 31, 2020, compared to $1,497,520,370 as of January 1, 2020.  During the plan year the plan experienced an increase in its net assets of $215,212,052.  This increase includes net unrealized appreciation in the value of plan assets; that is, the difference between the value of the plan’s assets at the end of the plan year and the value of assets at the beginning of the plan year or the cost of assets acquired during the plan year.  The plan had total income of $281,884,416 including employee contributions of $58,750,286, employee rollover contributions of $20,757,316, gains from investments of $201,888,384 and other income of $488,430. 

Your Rights to Additional Information

Under ERISA, you have the right to receive a copy of the full annual report, or any part thereof, upon request.  The items listed below are included in that report for the Supplemental Retirement Annuity Plan of the University of Pennsylvania:

1. An accountant’s opinion;
2. Financial information;
3. Information on payments to service providers;
4. Assets held for investment;
5. Insurance information; and
6. Information regarding pooled separate accounts in which the plan participates.

To obtain a copy of the full annual report, or any part thereof, write or call the office of the Plan Administrator, c/o Joanne M. Blythe, Director, Retirement Administration, University of Pennsylvania, 3451 Walnut Street, 600 Franklin Building, Philadelphia, PA  19104-6205, (215) 898-9947. The charge to cover copying costs will be $5.00 for the full annual report or 25 cents per page for any part thereof.

You also have the right to receive from the Plan Administrator, on request and at no charge, a statement of the assets and liabilities of the plan and accompanying notes, or a statement of income and expenses of the plan and accompanying notes, or both for the Supplemental Retirement Annuity Plan of the University of Pennsylvania.  If you request a copy of the full annual report from the Plan Administrator, these two statements and accompanying notes will be included as part of that report.  The charge to cover copying costs given above does not include a charge for the copying of these portions of the report because these portions are furnished without charge.

You also have the legally protected right under ERISA to examine the annual reports in the offices of the Employer at the address for the Plan Administrator, above, and at the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C., or to obtain a copy from the U.S. Department of Labor upon payment of copying costs.  Requests to the Department should be addressed to: Public Disclosure Room, Room N-1513, Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20210.

This is a summary of the annual report of the University of Pennsylvania Health and Welfare Plan for Retirees and Disabled Employees (Plan No. 530), sponsored by The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, EIN 23-1352685 for the period that began on January 1, 2020 and ended on December 31, 2020.  The annual report has been filed with the Employee Benefits Security Administration as required under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).  Please note that not all employees are eligible to participate in the Plan.  Please consult your Plan materials for specific eligibility information.

Retiree benefits were provided through a combination of self-insured payments from the University’s general assets, payments from a trust fund established to fund retiree benefits, and insurance contracts with third party insurance companies.

Medical, Dental and Prescription Drug Benefits

Insurance Information:

The Plan has contracts with Aetna Health, Inc., Independence Blue Cross, Keystone Health Plan East, Amerihealth and Metropolitan Life Insurance Company to pay medical and dental claims incurred under the terms of the contracts. The total premiums paid for the plan year ending December 31, 2020 were $1,478,228.

Basic Financial Information:

The value of Plan assets, after subtracting liabilities of the Plan, was $640,946,235 as of December 31, 2020, compared to $555,996,917 as of January 1, 2020.  During the plan year the Plan experienced an increase in its net assets of $84,949,318.  This increase includes net unrealized appreciation in the value of Plan assets; that is, the difference between the value of the Plan’s assets at the end of the year and the value of assets at the beginning of the year or the cost of assets acquired during the year.  The Plan had total income of $110,399,733, including employee contributions of $7,736,096, employer contributions of $34,729,656 and gains from investments of $67,933,981.

Plan expenses were $25,450,415.  These expenses included $2,300,607 in administrative expenses and $23,149,808 in benefits paid to participants and beneficiaries.

Life Insurance Benefits

The Plan has a contract with Metropolitan Life Insurance Company to pay life insurance claims incurred under the terms of the contract.  The total premiums paid under this contract for the plan year ending December 31, 2020 were $496,211. 

Your Rights to Additional Information

You have the right to receive a copy of the full annual report, or any part thereof, on request.  The items listed below are included in that report:

1. An accountant’s opinion;
2. Financial information;
3. Information on payments to service providers;
4. Assets held for investment; and
5. Insurance information.

To obtain a copy of the full annual report, or any part thereof, write or call the office of the Plan Administrator, c/o Joanne M. Blythe, Director, Retirement Administration, University of Pennsylvania, 3451 Walnut Street, 600 Franklin Building, Philadelphia, PA  19104-6205, (215) 898-9947.  The charge to cover copying costs will be $5.00 for the full annual report or 25 cents per page for any part thereof.

You also have the right to receive from the Plan Administrator, on request and at no charge, a statement of the assets and liabilities of the Plan and accompanying notes, or a statement of income and expenses of the plan and accompanying notes, or both.  If you request a copy of the full annual report from the Plan Administrator, these two statements and accompanying notes will be included as part of that report.  The charge to cover copying costs given above does not include a charge for the copying of these portions of the report because these portions are furnished without charge.

You also have the legally protected right under ERISA to examine the annual reports in the offices of the Employer at the address for the Plan Administrator, above, and at the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C., or to obtain a copy from the U.S. Department of Labor upon payment of copying costs.  Requests to the Department should be addressed to: Public Disclosure Room, Room N-1513, Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20210.

Penn Nursing’s efforts to further integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion into its curricula received funding from a new grant from The Trustees’ Council of Penn Women (TCPW).

TCPW funding will support Penn Nursing’s Nursing Social Justice Project, an effort that assesses where biases may occur within the current curricula, with an eye toward developing strategies for more inclusive teaching. As the #1-ranked nursing school in the world, Penn Nursing recognizes that decades of effort to increase diversity, remove bias, and imbed cultural competencies has moved the needle forward—but there is much left to do to ensure that structural racism is not entrenched in curricular content.

“Social justice is at the heart of Penn Nursing’s mission and values,” said Antonia Villarruel, professor and Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing. “Nurses—through their research, practice, education, and advocacy—are an important component in leading the elimination of health disparities and in achieving health equity. I am thankful that TCPW is supporting us in the work needed to ensure Penn Nursing both develops nurses that will tirelessly advocate for better health care for all and maintains its status as a welcoming and inclusive space for all students.”

TCPW is an international network of Penn alumnae. These leaders, by power of their example, support, foster, and promote the advancement of women and women’s issues within the University, thus enriching the University community as a whole.

Increases in local and plant-based food sourcing, broad community engagement, and continued reductions in carbon emissions are areas of significant achievement against the goals of the University of Pennsylvania’s Climate and Sustainability Action Plan 3.0, said the Penn Sustainability Office.

The Penn Sustainability Office has released the Climate and Sustainability Action Plan 3.0 FY21 Annual Report, based on data and metrics from fiscal year 2021 gathered from across many academic and administrative units at the University. The Climate and Sustainability Action Plan 3.0 FY21 Annual Report documents Penn’s progress towards the goals of the 2019 Climate and Sustainability Action Plan 3.0 (CSAP3.0), tracking metrics in academics, utilities & operations, physical environment, waste minimization & recycling, purchasing, transportation, and outreach & engagement.

“With this sustainability report, Penn is tracking progress on our Climate and Sustainability Action Plan 3.0 goals, and providing public, transparent reporting of our sustainability initiatives,” said Anne Papageorge, Penn’s Senior Vice President for Facilities & Real Estate Services (FRES).

This report offers an annual, comprehensive, graphic, and concise presentation of progress in key metrics during the previous fiscal year. Some FY21 highlights include:

Academics

CSAP 3.0 Goal: Help advance the city’s regional sustainability objectives and provide professional development and real-world learning opportunities to Penn students.

FY21 Progress: Three civic sustainability fellows were hired to work with three different organizations across the City of Philadelphia during the summer of 2021. Organizations included the Philadelphia Office of Sustainability, Philadelphia Energy Authority, and University City Green.

Utilities & Operations

CSAP3.0 Goal: Reduce Penn’s overall carbon footprint towards our 2042 carbon neutrality goal.

FY21 Progress: In FY21, Penn reduced overall emissions by 44.3% and building-related emissions by 41% as compared to the 2009 baseline year. These building emissions were achieved through energy efficiency, recommissioning, offsets, and a cleaner electricity grid. The overall greenhouse gas emissions reductions are partly due to lack of air travel during the COVID-19 pandemic and energy reductions.

Physical Environment

CSAP3.0 Goal: Improve Penn’s landscape ecology practices.

FY21 Progress: Bird-friendly guidelines and a bird-friendly design website have been developed in an effort to reduce the number of bird strikes on campus and increase awareness of local bird species. Eight buildings on Penn’s campus have had either bird-friendly film applied to the windows, or an external design element installed, increasing visibility for birds and reducing bird strikes. These buildings include Lauder College House, Hill Pavilion, Johnson Pavilion, Singh Center, Levin Building, the Left Bank, Ringe Squash Courts Building, and New College House (West).

Waste Minimization & Recycling

CSAP3.0 Goal: Increase Penn’s overall waste diversion and minimize waste sent to landfill.

FY21 Progress: The ESAC Waste and Recycling Subcommittee has developed a comprehensive plan to regularly audit waste and recycling for sample buildings in six key areas: dining, academics, research, athletics, residential, and student union/event space.

Purchasing

CSAP3.0 Goal: Increase procurement of sustainable food products.

FY21 Progress: Approximately 20% of the food used in Penn Dining facilities that are managed by Bon Appetit is sourced from local vendors, while 62% of the food meets STARS requirements for sustainability or ethical production, and 30% is plant-based.

Transportation

CSAP3.0 Goal: Improved energy efficiency of parking and transportation facilities and fleet composition.

FY21 Progress: A low-emission vehicle purchase guide has been developed that includes recommendations for e-assist bicycles, low-speed vehicles, passenger vehicles, passenger vans, cargo vans, pickup trucks, buses, medium- and heavy-duty chassis and equipment, and public safety vehicles.

Outreach & Engagement

CSAP3.0 Goal: Expand and strengthen existing outreach programs.

FY20 Progress: Students, faculty, and staff collaborated to host the first Climate Week at Penn, with 28 Penn organizations offering 46 events, primarily virtual panels, presentations, and networking opportunities, to nearly 3,000 participants.

A PDF of the Climate and Sustainability Action Plan 3.0 FY21 Annual Report is available on the Penn Sustainability website, along with colorful infographics based on this year’s information.

Penn Sustainability is a University-wide initiative to advance environmental sustainability at the University of Pennsylvania and coordinate programs to develop a more sustainable campus. Visit sustainability.upenn.edu.

Michigan State University has received a $650,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to continue the work of the Humane Metrics for the Humanities and Social Sciences (HuMetricsHSS) initiative. The initiative is led by an international group of individuals from the academic and non-profit sectors, including Nicky Agate, Snyder-Granader Assistant University Librarian for Research Data and Digital Scholarship at the University of Pennsylvania Libraries.

“The HumetricsHSS team has come to realize that when institutions align values with practices, they collectively begin to reshape the culture of higher education,” Dr. Agate observed. “We recognize that a focus on process rather than product provides many opportunities for embedding those values—such as equity, openness, community, or transparency—in every aspect of work.” 

The HuMetricsHSS initiative helps academic and cultural heritage institutions develop locally relevant values-based frameworks both to assess scholarly output, particularly in the humanities and social sciences, and to facilitate values-enacted decision-making and prioritization at all institutional types and levels. These new frameworks encourage institutions to move beyond traditional measures such as published articles and books in evaluating the work of faculty and staff.

With the new funding from the Mellon Foundation, the HuMetricsHSS initiative will provide models of institutional transformation, scale up trainings and infrastructure, and build and expand communities of practice, in part through a new fellowship program open to faculty, staff, and librarians at higher education institutions based in the United States.

Robert L. Giuntoli, Sr, an associate professor emeritus of obstetrics and gynecology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP), died on September 21. He was 84. 

Dr. Giuntoli was born in Seattle, Washington, and graduated from Seattle Preparatory School in 1956. He worked his way through Seattle College (now Seattle University) before completing medical school at Saint Louis University School of Medicine in 1965 on an ROTC scholarship. He went on to fulfill his internship and residency training with the military and then served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. After transitioning from active duty to the Navy Reserve, he was accepted as the first board-accredited gynecologic oncology fellow at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Dr. Giuntoli started his fellowship in 1973 before joining the faculty at Penn’s School of Medicine in 1975, rising through the ranks to become associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology in 1982 before retiring in 1992. 

Dr. Giuntoli was a member of the St. George Medical Society, a component of the American Cancer Society’s Philadelphia Division’s Professional Education Program. He published numerous peer-reviewed articles in academic journals, including The Journal of the American Medical Association. He was an expert in the management of cervical dysplasia, co-writing in 1987 an atlas on the diagnosis of cervical dysplasia and cervical cancer, Atkinson’s Correlative Atlas of Colposcopy, Cytology, and Histopathology. 

Throughout his career, he remained committed to the improvement of the lives of women with ovarian, uterine, and cervical cancer. He was well respected and known for his kindness to his patients and colleagues. He trained countless medical students, residents and fellows at Penn.

He is survived by Geraldine Frances Giuntoli, his wife of 54 years; his children, Robert L Giuntoli, II, Michael Giuntoli, Malia Paladino, Peter Giuntoli and Francesca Cummings; his sister, Barbara Bussman; and his eight grandchildren. He will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery with military honors in 2022. Donations in Dr. Guintoli’s name can be sent to the Jordan Center for Gynecologic Cancer, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Heather Harris, MLA’03, former administrative coordinator in the Wharton Real Estate department, died on June 15 after a battle with lung cancer. She was 73.

Ms. Harris was raised in Bridgewater, Connecticut and graduated from New Milford High School. She received a bachelor’s degree from Colorado College. In May 2003, she earned a Master of Liberal Arts with distinction from Penn’s College of Liberal and Professional Studies. 

In 1971, she joined the educational publishing division of J.B. Lippincott in Philadelphia. She worked at Wharton Marketing as a temporary employee in 2001, then returned to Wharton and worked in its real estate department in 2004. She became the department’s administrative coordinator two years later and retired in 2016. During her career, Ms. Harris used her skills in writing, editing, and planning in the fields of academia, advertising, commercial real estate, home furnishings, and pharmaceuticals.

She is survived by her sister, Cynthia; her niece, Hailey Harris MacDonald; a great-niece and a great-nephew; and many friends. 

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

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Agenda

1. Finalize the Minutes of November 10, 2021
2. Tri-Chairs’ Report
3. Continued discussion on proposal to amend the Faculty Handbook to remove gender-binary language
4. Internal discussion
5. New Business (1 minute)
6. All-faculty Seminar in collaboration with the SNF Paideia Program: “Academic Freedom & Responsibility in Contentious Times” at 4 p.m. Open to all Penn faculty. Register: https://upenn.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJItce6pqzooEtBDZwCgeTrnlq23qNy0Ix7N. For more information, see the Academic Freedom and Responsibility in Contentious Times article.

University Council Meeting Agenda

Wednesday, December 1, 2021 
4 p.m.
Bodek Lounge, Houston Hall

I. Approval of the Minutes of October 27, 2021. 1 minute 

II. Follow-up Questions on Status Reports. 5 minutes

III. The Power of Penn Campaign. 30 minutes

IV. Open Forum. 70 minutes

V. New Business. 5 minutes

VI. Adjournment

The following topics have been submitted for the Open Forum at the December 1 Council meeting in Bodek Lounge, Houston Hall.

1. Housing for transfer students (Rebecca Nadler, C’23).
2. Expanded measures for holding Greek organizations accountable for discrimination and abuse (Mira Sydow, C’24).
3. Focused on Fraternity: An update from the Interfraternity Council (Kaden Stenger, C’22, Interfraternity Council).
4. Cancelling classes on Election Day (Jaden Cloobeck, C’22).
5. Sexual assault prevention (Johnathan Hargest, C’24, Abuse and Sexual Assault Prevention).
6. Nursing course offerings that can further Penn’s public health initiatives and how Nursing can work with the other schools to create a broad and comprehensive public health campaign that prioritizes West Philadelphia (Sarah Klepesky, Nu’24).
7. University support of student and faculty research (Sam Strickberger, C’22).
8. Recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day and resources and support for Native students (Lauren McDonald, W’23).
9. University support of new international students (Aman Sharma, C’25).

A meeting of the Budget & Finance Committee and the Executive Committee of the Trustees will be held on Thursday, December 9, 2021. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, observers will only be able to attend the meeting via a listen-only conference phone. Please register to receive the call-in phone number. The in-person meetings are limited to Trustees and meeting presenters.

The open meetings are:

• Budget & Finance Committee, 10 a.m.–10:30 a.m.
• Executive Committee, 1:15 p.m.–1:30 p.m.

The Budget & Finance Committee and Executive Committee agendas will be available on December 9 on https://secretary.upenn.edu/trustees-governance/open-trustee-meeting. Please contact the Office of the University Secretary at (215) 898-7005 or ofcsec@pobox.upenn.edu with questions regarding Trustee meetings or your attendance plans by Monday, November 29. Call in information will be emailed the week of December 6, 2021.

Dean Knox, an assistant professor at the Wharton School, has won the 2021 NOMIS & Science Young Explorer Award, awarded by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His prize-winning essay illustrates the value of applying new tools and statistical techniques to imperfect data to reveal the extent and severity of racial bias in policing. 

Despite decades of high-profile and widely publicized incidents of excessive force against minorities in the United States and amid growing demands for police reform, courts, policy makers and the public struggle to understand the nature of racial disparities in law enforcement. According to Dr. Knox, the root of this problem may lie within the data being used to evaluate these questions. There is a pressing need for methods to make sense of policing data, which is often rife with inaccuracies, selective reporting, and potentially purposefully misleading information.

“We need to be extremely careful when drawing conclusions from messy data, especially on issues as high-stakes as racial bias in policing, where getting the answer wrong has real consequences,” said Dr. Knox. “As we have shown, it can lead to seriously underestimating the severity of the problem, and when we don’t get an accurate picture of the problem, it’s hard to identify the right reforms to fix it.”

The NOMIS Foundation & Science Young Explorer Award recognizes bold early-career researchers who ask fundamental questions at the intersection of the life and social sciences. Dr. Knox’s essay was published in the November 5 issue of Science.

Two Penn Medicine faculty members, Kiran Musunuru and Daniel Rader, are being honored with prestigious awards from the American Heart Association (AHA) for their achievements in cardiovascular research. Both awards will be presented during the Presidential Session on November 14 at the association’s Scientific Sessions 2021.

Dr. Musunuru received the Joseph A. Vita Award in recognition of his research in therapeutic gene editing to combat cardiovascular disease. The award is given annually in honor of the late cardiovascular scientist Joseph A. Vita to recognize research that has had a major impact on the field of cardiovascular biology or cardiovascular health during the last five years.

Dr. Musunuru’s key achievements include discovering an LDL cholesterol regulating gene, inspiring development of multiple ANGPTL3-inhibiting drugs, using gene-edited human stem cells for disease modeling, and his pivotal work in functional genomics. In his lab, he has developed processes to use gene editing technology to permanently reduce cholesterol levels and therefore provide protection against heart attack and stroke through a one-time injection. This strategy, which he likens to a vaccination, has been very successful in mice and monkeys, and Dr. Musunuru’s lab is working diligently to advance to human trials.

Dr. Rader is being honored with the 2021 Research Achievement Award—the AHA’s highest scientific honor—in recognition of his outstanding lifetime contributions to basic and translational research in the genetics and pathophysiology of lipid disorders. Dr. Rader is the Seymour Gray Professor of Molecular Medicine, chair of the department of genetics, and chief of the division of translational medicine and human genetics in the department of medicine at Penn. He co-directs the Penn Medicine BioBank and serves as associate director of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics at Penn, as well as chief of the division of human genetics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Dr. Rader’s research has advanced understanding of the molecular regulation of lipoprotein metabolism and the development of therapies for dyslipidemia. His research has focused on novel pathways regulating lipid and lipoprotein metabolism and atherosclerosis using genetics, as well as factors regulating the structure and function of high-density lipoproteins and reverse cholesterol transport.

Florencia Greer Polite, chief of the division of general obstetrics and gynecology at the Perelman School of Medicine, a professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology, and vice chair of clinical operations for the same department, has been selected for the 2022 Carol Emmott Fellowship class by the Carol Emmott Foundation, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to achieving gender equity in healthcare leadership and governance.

The foundation selects fellows for a 14-month program and supports them in designing and completing an impact project in their health communities. Fellows are also paired with mentors who are nationally recognized senior executives. Dr. Polite is among 22 fellows in the 2022 class.

For her fellowship project, Dr. Polite will design and initiate a specialized curriculum – intended for non-Black healthcare providers and clinicians – on racial bias and maternal mortality outcomes among Black patients. Calling the disparity between White and Black maternal mortality “unacceptable,” Dr. Polite said that the goal will be to decrease mortality rates among Black pregnant mothers and Black new mothers and mortality rates among expecting and new mothers overall. The curriculum will include ways that obstetric providers can better communicate with, support, and listen to their Black patients, emphasize common health issues for new and expectant mothers, and highlight ways that patients of color have historically been marginalized and under-supported. The initiative will begin at Penn Medicine private and academic obstetrics and gynecology practices with the goal of serving as a model that can be implemented nationally outside the health system.

Seven hundred women in the United States die each year due to pregnancy or delivery complications, according to the CDC. The NIH reports that, compared to White women, Black and Native American women are two to four times more likely to die from pregnancy complications.

“Both Penn Medicine and I personally share a goal of decreasing maternal mortality everywhere, and it’s well documented that, nationwide, maternal mortality is significantly higher among Black patients,” said Dr. Polite. “Targeted curriculum to non-Black clinicians and providers may make a difference because we know, from research, that Black patients with Black providers have lower levels of maternal mortality. And in most places, Black physicians are much less common than non-Black physicians. In my Penn Ob/Gyn faculty practice, we have seen anecdotal evidence that the concerns of our Black patients with White physicians have been addressed with the help of education for non-Black physicians. Therefore, I’m eager to implement and test a curriculum in a formal way.”

Megan Kassabaum, associate professor of anthropology, and Emily Steiner, Rose Family Endowed Term Professor of English, have received grants from the Excellence Through Diversity Fund. Awarded annually by the Office of the Provost, the fund provides resources for innovative interdisciplinary projects on topics related to diversity and inclusion.

Dr. Kassabaum’s West Philadelphia Community Archaeology Project focuses on community archaeology in Philadelphia’s Mantua, West Powelton, Saunders Park, Belmont, and Mill Creek neighborhoods, in collaboration with People’s Emergency Center, a homeless services provider. Despite gentrification and other changes, material traces of the rich history of these areas persist. The power of community archaeology lies in the ability to use these material traces as entry points into discussions about gentrification, systemic racism, and socioeconomic change and to recover a heritage that may seem lost. The West Philadelphia Community Archaeology Project is also supported by a Klein Grant, a component of the school’s commitment to contributing to the achievement of social justice through research and teaching, and through community engagement rooted in the arts and sciences. Douglas K. Smit, a senior fellow in the department of anthropology, is project co-director. Dr. Kassabaum is also Weingarten Assistant Curator of the American Section of the Penn Museum.

Dr. Steiner’s project, Networks in the Humanities (NET-Hum), is a year-long mentoring program for early-career faculty in the humanities departments of Penn Arts & Sciences. Mentoring and opportunities available for early career faculty can vary widely depending on field and department. Networks in the Humanities aims to level the playing field by breaking down areas of academic life and showing the participants how to succeed in each area. It helps faculty across diverse disciplines and backgrounds develop skills to navigate the tenure-track process at Penn, get promoted to tenure, and become institutional leaders. Heather Williams, Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought, and Kevin M.F. Platt, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Term Professor in the Humanities, are leading the group with Dr. Steiner.

Download the December AT PENN calendar as a PDF or visit the online version at https://almanac.upenn.edu/at-penn-calendar/december-at-penn-2021.

Wednesday, December 8, 2021
4 p.m.

It is the policy of the University of Pennsylvania “to maintain and encourage freedom of inquiry, discourse, teaching, research, and publication and to protect any member of the academic staff against influences, from within or without the University, which would restrict him or her in the exercise of these freedoms in his or her area of scholarly interest.”  This includes when “speaking or writing as an individual.” With this freedom, however, comes responsibilities as well: “As a person of learning and a member of an educational institution, the teacher should remember that the public may judge the profession and the institution by his/her utterances. Hence the teacher should at all times show respect for the opinions of others and should indicate when he or she is not speaking for the institution.”

A recent poll by the Pew Research Center found that only half of all Americans believe that colleges and universities are having a positive effect on the way things are going in the country, with nearly 60% of Republicans believing that colleges and universities are having a negative effect. In addition, nearly three quarters of Republicans believe that professors are inappropriately bringing their political and social views into the classroom, while less than a third of Democrats are concerned that students are being protected from views that they might find offensive. In this era of unprecedented ideological and partisan divides, and greater awareness of historic inequities and injustices based on race, ethnicity and gender, the principle and practice of academic freedom have increasingly been challenged across the nation through legislation, the censuring and firing of professors, and challenges raised by students, politicians, donors, and others.

Join us in a discussion about how Penn faculty–and Penn as an institution–should navigate and protect the rights and responsibilities associated with academic freedom in these contentious times.

Facilitator:

• Michael X. Delli Carpini, Oscar Gandy Professor of Communication & Democracy, and Faculty Director of the SNF Paideia Program

Discussants:

• Sigal Ben-Porath, professor of education, and author of Free Speech on Campus
• Carolyn Marvin, Frances Yates Professor Emeritus of Communication, and instructor of the course, “The History and Theory of Freedom of Expression”

Webinar Registration Link:  https://upenn.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJItce6pqzooEtBDZwCgeTrnlq23qNy0Ix7N Sponsored by Faculy Senate and the SNF Paideia Program.

Related to the From the Senate Office: Faculty Senate Executive Committee Agenda article.

Kids and teens (ages 17 and under) receive free admission during “Winter Break” at the Penn Museum on December 29 and 30, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

With creation stations for young artists, highlights tours, games, and self-guided exploration, such as scavenger hunts or amazing artifacts tours featuring QR codes to “dig deeper” into each object, Winter Break offers fun, global adventures for families looking to enhance their holiday experiences with history and living cultures from around the world.

Designed to be educational and fun for all ages, each day will highlight a different museum gallery:

• Wednesday, December 29­—Mexico and Central America Gallery
• Thursday, December 30—Middle East Galleries

Winter Break at the Penn Museum offers storytime, a Daily Dig (15-minute “deep dive” into one object on display), and free tours with Global Guides, Philadelphia residents who share their personal experiences from their countries of origin combined with historical information.

In addition, after a temporary hiatus, cartifacts are back. Touchable artifacts encourage visitors to take a “hands on” approach—touching objects that feel just like ancient Egyptian papyrus, linen, and more. Plenty of hand sanitizer is nearby and disinfecting wipes will be used between visitors for everyone’s safety.

As a part of its Winter Break, the Penn Museum is also hosting a clothing drive to benefit Project HOME and the Wardrobe.

The museum’s newest exhibition, The Stories We Wear, showcases 2,500 years of style through 250 remarkable objects, such as evening gowns, ancient tattoos, weapons, and regalia.

Winter Break activities are included with general admission. Tickets are now available online. Ensuring a safe visit for all remains a top priority as the museum requires masks and social distancing as part of its safety guidelines. PennCard holders also receive free admission to the museum (must present card at welcome desk).

Penn Live Arts will welcome back in-person audiences in December with four presentations at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts leading off with Dorrance Dance on December 10-11. Led by choreographer and MacArthur Fellow Michelle Dorrance, this innovative tap dance company will feature live music in a new work that celebrates Ella Fitzgerald’s holiday songbook.

Vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, one of the rising stars of jazz, brings her soulful musicality and four-octave range to Penn Live Arts for the very first time on December 12 and mandolin virtuoso and host of NPR’s Live from Here, Chris Thile, makes his Penn Live Arts debut on December 16.

Philadelphia’s Grammy Award-winning new music choir, The Crossing, offers its annual Christmas program on December 17 titled Carols after a Plague, which reflects on this unique time in our history as we begin to emerge from isolation and experience music together once again. In addition, screenings of two films, No Ordinary Man on December 2 and The Conductor on December 9, will be shown in person at the Annenberg Center and virtually.

For tickets and further information, visit PennLiveArts.org. All audience members must present proof of vaccination, complete a Penn Open Campus Green Pass for the day of the performance, and wear a mask at all times while in the building. See full health and safety information for in-person audiences at PennLiveArts.org/safety. 

Join the Penn Bookstore for their Annual Winter Sale-a-bration on Thursday, December 2 and Friday, December 3. Save 20% storewide on items including Penn-branded merchandise, gifts, books, games and much more. Holiday festivities include a performance by the Penn Glee Club on Friday, December 3 from 2 to 2:45 p.m.; a free professional photo taken in a winter scene setting from 2-6 p.m. on both days; the chance to win one of three $100 Penn Bookstore Gift Cards; and other festive giveaways!

Children’s Activities

Penn Museum

Online events. Info: https://www.penn.museum/calendar/.

30        At-Home Anthro Live: Roots of Tradition: Corn, Beans and Squash; 1 p.m.

Exhibits

Penn Museum

Online and in-person events. Info: https://www.penn.museum/calendar/.

26        Graduate Guide Highlights Tour; 11 a.m.

            Virtual Global Guide Tour: Middle East Galleries; 2:30 p.m.

27        Africa Galleries Tour; 11 a.m.

            Global Guide Tour: Africa Galleries; 2:30 p.m.

28        Native American Voices Tour; 11 a.m.

            Global Guide Tour: Middle East Galleries; 2:30 p.m.

Films

26        Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché; the first woman of color in the U.K. to front a successful rock band examines her mother’s unopened artistic archive; 7 p.m.; online screening; tickets: https://pennlivearts.org/event/poly-styrene-i-am-a-cliche (Penn Live Arts).

Fitness & Learning

Graduate School of Education (GSE)

Online and in-person events. Info: https://www.gse.upenn.edu/news/events-calendar.

29        Implementing Education Reform: Why is Implementation Important? 9 a.m.; online event.

30        Penn GSE Teacher Programs Information Session; 5 p.m.; online event.

Talks

23        New Materials for Three Dimensional Ferroelectric Microelectronics; Susan Trolier-McKinstry, Penn State; 11 a.m.; Zoom meeting; https://tinyurl.com/trolier-mckinstry-nov-23 (Electrical & Systems Engineering).

            Preservation in Practice; Christine Britton, JVA, Inc.; noon; online event; info: https://tinyurl.com/britton-talk-nov-23 (Historic Preservation).

29        Tissues Fluidification in Invasive Breast Cancer; Giorgio Scita, University of Milan; noon; room 225, Towne Building (Physical Sciences Oncology Center).

            The Role of Membrane Fluidity in Intracellular Vesicle Transport; William Hancock, Penn State; 2 p.m.; Austrian Auditorium, CRB and BlueJeans meeting; join: https://tinyurl.com/hancock-talk-nov-29 (Pennsylvania Muscle Institute).

30        Revolutionizing Modern Medicine; panel of speakers; 3 p.m.; online event; register: https://tinyurl.com/vet-talk-nov-30 (Penn Vet).

            Scalable Statistical Methods and Software for Single-Cell Data Science; Stephanie Hicks, Johns Hopkins; 3:30 p.m.; BlueJeans meeting; join: https://bluejeans.com/812676289/1348 (CCEB).

            Tackling Climate Change with Machine Learning; David Rolnick, McGill University; 3:30 p.m.; Zoom meeting; info: cherylh@cis.upenn.edu (Computer & Information Science).

Center for Latin American and Latinx Studies (CLALS)

Online and in-person events. Info: https://clals.sas.upenn.edu/events.

30        Devaluing Blackness: Unveiling Insidious Forms of Violence in Spanish America; Evelyne Laurent-Perrault, UC Santa Barbara; noon; room 473, McNeil Building and Zoom meeting.

Penn Dental

Online events. Info: https://www.dental.upenn.edu/news-events/events/.

29        Harnessing Citizen Values for Oral Health Systems Improvement; Stefan Listl, Radboud University; 5:30 p.m.

30        Indirect Composite Restorations. A Biomimetic Approach for the Structurally Compromised Tooth; Gustavo Passarelli Petris, Zerodonto Academy; 6 p.m.

Economics

Info: https://economics.sas.upenn.edu/events.

23        Technology Transition with Frictions: Evidence from the IP Address Market; Sarah George, economics; noon; room 101, PCPSE.

24        Fertility Planning and Child Investment; Agustin Diaz, economics; noon; room 100, PCPSE.

30        Selling to a Group; Elliot Lipnowski, Columbia; 4 p.m.; room 101, PCPSE.

Mathematics

Online and in-person events. Info: https://www.math.upenn.edu/events.

23        Exponential Growth: From Euler to 21st Century Biology; Ethan Levien, Dartmouth; 4 p.m.; Zoom meeting.

29        A Simple Permutoassociahedron; Jelena Ivanovic, University of Belgrade; 2 p.m.; Zoom meeting.

30        A Tale of Two W-Algebras (Part 3); Angela Gibney, mathematics; 3:30 p.m.; room 4C4, DRL.

            Collective Motion in the Mitotic Spindle; Christopher Miles, UC Irvine; 4 p.m.; room 4C8, DRL and Zoom meeting.

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 November 8-14, 2021. 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 November 4-8, 2021. 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

No Crimes Against Persons from the 18^th District are available for November 8-14, 2021.

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

Every holiday season, I may receive two to three email scams about a package I ordered or a gift card I won. Except there was no package or gift card. This 2021 holiday season, I noticed an increased number of scams ranging from text messages to phone calls and email messages. 

In the second week of November, I received a text message informing me there were several attempts to access my bank account and if I wasn’t the person trying to access the account, I should click on a provided link to review my account information and secure it. I noticed the web address didn’t include the bank’s name. Clicking on the link would connect me to a webpage that exactly mimics my bank’s web login page.

Besides the text messages, I received several emails pretending to come from phone and entertainment companies I subscribe to about special offers. I also received phone calls from people pretending to be from the Social Security Office informing me of a possible social security number compromise. These were all fraudulent.

To protect my information and digital devices, I took the following steps:

1. Verified the information before I reacted. I called my bank on the number I know and asked about the text message I received. The bank assured me they don’t send customers text messages. They advised me to block the sender’s phone number and report the incident to their “abuse” hotline.
2. Didn’t click on the links nor provide sensitive information on a fake webpage or on a phone call. 
3. Deleted the scam phone messages and fraudulent emails. 
4. Reported the email scam to my department IT support staff to block the sender.
5. Installed and ran anti-virus software on my devices. 

Visit https://www.isc.upenn.edu/security/aware for additional information.

—W. Younes, Office of Information Security

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.

There will be no issue of Almanac on Tuesday, November 30, because of the Thanksgiving holiday. 

For Almanac's publication schedule for the 2021-2022 academic year, visit https://almanac.upenn.edu/publication-schedule-deadlines. 

Whitney Trettien

When I was an undergraduate, my American literature professor asked our class to close-read a novel. I don’t remember the text or her exact question, but I do remember my answer: I pointed to the paperback cover of the book and proposed that the touch of its cheap cardboard and shiny art influenced a readers’ understanding of what genre the novel would be before she had even opened it. In effect, I was judging the book by its cover and—in my blunderingly youthful way—trying to make the case for why such judgments should be part of a critical practice. Her reaction was swift and playful. “As a published author myself,” she quipped, “I can assure you that no writer has control over their cover art. It doesn’t tell us anything about the novel.” 

My professor was a celebrated scholar, an inspiring teacher, and a generous mentor; but on this point, I was pretty sure she was wrong. It took many years of graduate training in the history of books and media to understand fully why. What was at stake in this moment was not just the interpretation of this book’s cover but the agency of objects in knowledge production more broadly. Put another way, how do the dog-earred books and sticky notes, the piles of PDF print-outs and laptops that litter our classroom tables enter into and give shape to the ways we teach and learn?

As an instructor, my own pedagogy places these media technologies front and center. Nearly every class session, I focus discussion on something tangible, an object or image, in order to draw a disparate group of often tired and variously caffeinated bodies into a collective classroom experience. This might be a rare book or manuscript pulled from Penn’s special collections; a woodblock or copperplate that shows how images were reproduced; strings of wampum beads at the Penn Museum; a vintage computer or rare typewriter from my small collection of old technologies; a zine picked up during a site visit to the Soapbox Zine Library in West Philly; or even some source code I have pulled up on the screen. Initially, these objects animate students’ curiosity or even veneration, as they marvel at the age or sheer foreignness and opacity of the thing before them. It is my task an instructor, then—as I am constantly relearning through ongoing experimentation and failure—to turn this spark of wonder toward an investigatory research process and critical close reading. 

Here’s an example of how this works in my “Digital Lives of Books” course, a book history course that explores how digital technologies are transforming the way literature is written, read, and published. One day, students read the Stephen King story, “Word Processor of the Gods.” The story itself is, frankly, not terribly rich in its aesthetics or symbolism: it features a flailing, aging male author, writing in the 1980s, who finds that what he writes on his homebrew computer actually changes the circumstances of his own life. As Matthew Kirschenbaum has written, in a reading that inspired this assignment, the story shows an “awareness of the strange new ontology of word processing, the way it lifted written language into a symbolic, procedurally actionable realm, coupled with the inscrutable opacity of the physical apparatus working the magic.” On the day we read this story, I bring in a TRS-80 Model 100, one of the first portable word processors, released in 1983. I ask students to turn it on – always a minor struggle—then write something on it. This forces them to confront the command line, since the TRS-80 has no operating system. After puzzling out how to open a text file, a certain fascination takes hold as students type on the clunky keyboard. As they bumble around the machine, I ask them to start noticing things about the interface: for instance, there are no text formatting options. This leads into a discussion about binary code, computer memory, and the size of ASCII characters (8 bits). I then share with students the size of the TRS-80’s memory (24kb) and ask them to calculate how much text it could hold (roughly ten pages). This opens a discussion about why someone in 1983 might have found this $1,099 modem-enabled word processor useful, which brings the class collectively to higher-level historical thinking about the production and circulation of texts within a media ecology. 

About halfway through class, I ask students to delete their text file. This task is surprisingly difficult, even for savvy computer users, since the TRS-80 uses a rare (and controversially violent) “KILL” command, rather than “DELETE.” As I show them the command, I ask some students to find the etymology of “delete” in the Oxford English Dictionary while others research the history of the “kill” and “delete” commands—a process that usually brings us to a conversation about editing and the materiality of word processing across time. (The verb phrase “to delete” has been applied to text since the 1600s, but early computers lacked random-access storage and so did not need such commands; to “delete” a file was simply to throw away a punch card or magnetic tape reel.) This brings the class finally back to King’s short story and the socially-embedded nature of writing technologies, as well as popular literature’s imbrication with their rhetoric. It is my hope and aim that students use our experiences as we move across objects, texts, words, and historical documents to see their own entanglement in media technologies differently, with the critical reflexivity that comes from learning the deep histories of the present. 

My desire to show the applicability of these histories brings my class to different sites across campus, where students can see first-hand the labor of making texts and maintaining archives. All of my classes have visited the digitization lab in the basement of the library, where Mick Overgaard, Anna Levine, Chris Lippa and others have kindly shown how a book goes from the stacks to the Internet Archive website or Penn’s digital databases. We also visit Sarah Reidell and her crew in the conservation lab—a wonderland of media technologies old and new—and the Common Press, where Mary Tasillo helps students print their own broadsides. I am especially grateful to John Pollack and the generous experts in Kislak, who are essential teaching partners to anyone working with rare materials. These site visits underscore for students that books, images, and resources that make possible their education are supported by a vast network of labor and an experienced, skillful instructional team that extends well beyond the professors or TAs they see every day in the classroom. 

To teach is to create, with intention and care, a space where experiences can ignite changed thinking. It is to make objects, ideas, histories, or texts that seem flat, ordinary, or a historical shimmer with new depths. Sometimes this happens through a well-constructed assignment or module; more often it occurs by happenstance and chance, when a unique configuration of things, learners, and ideas collide. While my own undergraduate professor probably has no memory of her impishly offhand remark, it stuck a chord in me that resonated well beyond the space of the classroom. This is the best that pedagogy can do.

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Whitney Trettien is an assistant professor of English in SAS.

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.