August 10, 2021 Volume 68 Issue 2

August 5, 2021

This year, more than any before, we look forward to the start of classes and our joyful pre-semester programs and events. We want to update everyone, in light of the ongoing pandemic, about our progress and the measures we are taking to keep our community safe and healthy.

We thank all of you who have provided your vaccination information, which is essential to resuming our campus life together. We expect our community vaccination rates to increase and reach 90% by September. To date, over 84% of our faculty and staff report being fully vaccinated. Even in advance of the start of classes, nearly 80% of our students enrolled in on-campus programs already report being fully vaccinated. We urge everyone to submit your vaccination records if you have not done so already: it is a quick and simple process for existing students, new students, and faculty/staff/postdocs. 

Consistent with the June 1 message to the community, the University requires every member of our community to provide proof of vaccination since vaccines remain our safest and most effective defense against COVID-19 and its variants. We also will continue to require regular screening tests for all members of the community who do not provide evidence of vaccination, tests for those who are symptomatic, and gateway testing (and isolating if necessary) for all students as they return to campus this month.

Our highest priorities are the safety and readiness of the Penn community, and we will all need to remain patient and flexible this semester as we respond collectively to the changing public health situation. The University’s Coronavirus Response Team and Recovery Planning Group carefully assess the trajectory of the virus and vaccines, working closely with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. In accordance with the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for areas with high transmission rates, we are now requiring, effective immediately, that all members of the Penn community and visitors wear masks while indoors in public or shared spaces. Exceptions to the masking requirement include single occupancy offices and shared spaces where 6ft distancing can be maintained, with roommates in our college house suites/rooms, and by permission in instructional settings for pedagogical reasons. In addition, we are instituting a required twice-a-week testing program for members of our community who are not vaccinated or choose not to report their vaccination information. We will continue to adjust our plans as public health guidance unfolds.

We are continuing the highly effective mitigation strategies that we put in place over the last year, including: identifying and isolating COVID-19 cases; using PennOpenPass to assess symptoms of and exposure to COVID-19; enhancing cleaning and disinfecting on campus; monitoring buildings to meet national American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers standards for indoor air quality; and optimizing building ventilation by increasing air flow, maintenance, and filtration systems. In addition, we are exploring other public health measures such as wastewater testing and a second COVID-19 screening program for all students at the end of September. All members of the Penn community, regardless of your vaccination status, have access to COVID-19 testing on campus, which can help bring some added peace of mind to those with added concerns such as for vulnerable members of your household.  

We have learned a lot over the past sixteen months, and we are enormously grateful to every member of the Penn community for your hard work and steadfast support. We will keep you updated as the situation evolves, and we are excited to see you on campus in the weeks ahead!

—Amy Gutmann, President
—Beth A. Winkelstein, Interim Provost
—Craig Carnaroli, Senior Executive Vice President
—J. Larry Jameson, Executive Vice President, Penn Medicine and Dean, Perelman School of Medicine

Penn President Amy Gutmann announced on August 5 that the University has begun the planning process to build a new student performing arts center at 33rd street and Woodland Walk adjacent to Lauder and Hill College Houses and proximate to King’s Court English College House. The University has issued a request for proposal for a feasibility study for the proposed $31-million, 36,000-square-foot center, a project which President Gutmann said has been in high demand by the collective undergraduate student body. 

“We are thrilled to be undertaking this extraordinarily exciting project at Penn in support of the thousands of students avidly involved in the performing arts and the dozens and dozens of thriving, talented student performing arts groups on campus,” said President Gutmann. “This project would augment the incredible resources now serving student-run performance organizations, with Platt Student Performing Arts House providing leadership in the creation and implementation of arts programming for students at Penn. 

“The proposed center would serve along with the Platt House, Irvine Auditorium, Houston Hall, Iron Gate Theatre, as well as additional spaces at the ARCH, to create a consortium of spaces for undergraduate students who are making important, imaginative, and innovative strides in theater, dance, instrumental and vocal music, comedy, and spoken word,” President Gutmann continued. “Responding to the expanding needs of Penn’s vibrant performing arts community, a terrific team has been quietly at work over the last year to discuss and consider this project. We are now excited to share this proposed vision for a new creative space at Penn.”

The proposed new student performing arts center would be entirely student-centered and include a dedicated performing arts space for undergraduate students. The facility also calls for a 450-seat theater and contemporary stage, as well as teaching, rehearsal, and practice space, and back-of-the-house support.  

The center’s proposal grew from a study completed in 2019 for the University’s Vice Provost for University Life (VPUL), which concluded that additional performance and rehearsal space was needed to meet current and future demand. The study compiled an assessment of existing performing arts spaces on campus and evaluated data provided by the University’s Performing Arts Council (PAC), which consists of four student councils representing 47 student groups and approximately 1,100 students. In addition to these councils, there are an estimated 30 non-PAC groups.

In response to the study, based on extensive student input, a working group was formed including members representing the President’s Office, Office of the Provost, VPUL, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, and the Office of Facilities and Real Estate to move the project forward. The working group is now in the process of reviewing the proposals and conducting architect interviews while continuing to receive student input. Final architect selection and project approval are expected this fall.

Wale Adebanwi, Jennifer Morton, and Keisha-Khan Y. Perry have joined the School of Arts and Sciences as Presidential Penn Compact Professors, effective July 1, 2021.  The Presidential Penn Compact Professorships were conceived by Penn President Amy Gutmann as a partnership with Penn Arts and Sciences to promote faculty excellence and diversity.  Funding for this initiative is provided through the Penn Compact.

“I am thrilled to welcome Wale, Jennifer, and Keisha-Khan to the School,” said Steven J. Fluharty, dean and Thomas S. Gates, Jr. Professor of Psychology, Pharmacology, and Neuroscience. “Their research advances conversations that matter deeply to our world. As scholars and teachers, they will contribute to the robust intellectual inquiry of the Africana studies and philosophy departments and enrich the community across the University.”

Dr. Adebanwi, a political scientist and anthropologist, was previously the Rhodes Professor of Race Relations at Oxford University. His research addresses the social mobilization of interest and power in contemporary Africa as manifested in nationalism and ethnicity, race relations, identity politics, elites and cultural politics, democratic process, newspaper press and spatial politics.

He is the author of three books, including Nation as Grand Narrative: The Nigerian Press and the Politics of Meaning. Since 2016, he has been co-editor of AFRICA: Journal of the International African Institute; previously, he was the co-editor of the Journal of Contemporary African Studies. Dr. Adebanwi joins Penn as Presidential Penn Compact Professor of Africana Studies. 

Also joining Africana Studies is Dr. Perry, who has been appointed Presidential Penn Compact Associate Professor. Dr. Perry comes to Penn from Brown University, where she was an associate professor of Africana studies. Her research is focused on race, gender and politics in the Americas, urban geography and questions of citizenship, intellectual history and disciplinary formation, and the interrelationship between scholarship, pedagogy and political engagement.

Her first book, Black Women Against the Land Grab: The Fight for Racial Justice in Brazil, won the 2014 National Women’s Studies Association Gloria Anzaldúa Book Prize. She is currently at work on her second book, which is focused on the ways in which state violence limits activist research and writing.

Dr. Morton, the Presidential Penn Compact Associate Professor of Philosophy, is a scholar of the philosophy of education, with a particular emphasis on educational injustice. Her recent book Moving Up Without Losing Your Way: The Ethical Costs of Upward Mobility, which won the Association of American Colleges and Universities’ Frederic W. Ness Book Award, focuses on the hidden ethical costs faced by first-generation and low-income students.

Dr. Morton is highly engaged in public philosophy and has been interviewed for The Atlantic, Inside Higher Education, PBS, and IAI news. She has written pieces for Aeon, The Philosophers’ Magazine, The Chronicle of Higher Education and The New York Daily News.

Anthony Braga: Jerry Lee Professor of Criminology

Anthony Braga has joined Penn Arts & Sciences as the Jerry Lee Professor of Criminology. Dr. Braga is one of the nation’s leading social scientists working to improve our understanding of crime and innovate in our justice system. His research cuts across many pressing topics of broad interest, including policing, gun violence, and crime prevention. His recent research includes a randomized controlled trial on the impact of police body-worn cameras, a study on the value of sustained investigative effort in solving homicides and nonfatal gun assaults, and the effect of court-ordered reforms on racial disparities in New York Police Department enforcement patterns. Dr. Braga is a fellow the American Society of Criminology, a fellow of the Academy of Experimental Criminology, and the 2014 recipient of the AEC’s Joan McCord Award, recognizing his commitment to randomized controlled experiments.

Dr. Braga will launch the Crime and Justice Policy Lab in the department of criminology, aiming to put Penn’s research expertise to work in addressing crime problems and solving justice system challenges in Philadelphia and beyond.

Dr. Braga is joining Penn after five years at Northeastern University, serving as the Elmer V. H. and Eileen M. Brooks Distinguished Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, the director of the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, and the director of the Center on Crime and Community Resilience. From 2012 to 2016, Dr. Braga was the Don M. Gottfredson Professor of Evidence-Based Criminology at Rutgers University. Before his time at Rutgers, Dr. Braga was a lecturer in public policy and a senior research fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He earned a PhD and an MA in criminal justice from Rutgers University, an MPA from Harvard University, and a BS in criminal justice from the University of Massachusetts.

The Jerry Lee Professorship was established in 2003 by Jerry Lee through the Jerry Lee Foundation to support the recruitment of faculty in the field of criminology. Mr. Lee is the founder and president of 101.1 More FM Radio in Philadelphia.

Ron Donagi: Thomas A. Scott Professor of Mathematics

Ron Donagi, professor of mathematics and physics, has been appointed Thomas A. Scott Professor of Mathematics. Dr. Donagi is an internationally renowned scholar of algebraic geometry and string theory. His work is on the forefront of major research efforts in geometry, symplectic topology, quantum field theory, string theory and phenomenology, and the study of integrable models in condensed matter theory. Several of his former students are among the leaders in these fields. He has authored more than 100 research articles and seven books. His research has been supported by numerous National Science Foundation grants, and he is the co-recipient of a $10 million Simons Collaboration Grant to prove the Homological Mirror Symmetry Conjecture, one of mathematics’ outstanding open problems. Dr. Donagi has been selected as a Simons Fellow in Mathematics, as Deputy Director of the prominent Simons Collaboration on Homological Mirror Symmetry, and as a fellow of the American Mathematical Society.

The Thomas A. Scott Professorship of Mathematics was established by Thomas Alexander Scott, who served as the U.S. assistant secretary of war from 1861 until 1862 and later became president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, upon his death in 1881.

Douglas Durian: Mary Amanda Wood Professor of Physics

Douglas Durian, professor of physics and astronomy, has been appointed the Mary Amanda Wood Professor of Physics. A condensed matter experimentalist, Dr. Durian has made groundbreaking contributions in the areas of non-equilibrium soft matter physics and optics, particularly in foams, suspensions, and granular materials, as well as in the development of multiple light scattering techniques for study of opaque materials. He is the author of nearly 150 articles, and his research has received support from numerous National Science Foundation and NASA grants. Dr. Durian has served as chair of the American Physical Society Topical Group on Soft Matter and of the Gordon Research Conference on Granular Matter. He currently serves on the editorial boards of Papers in Physics, NPJ Microgravity, and the Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment. Dr. Durian leads the Interdisciplinary Research Group on Disordered Solids within the Penn Materials Research Science and Engineering Center.

This chair was established in 1947 through a bequest from James L. Wood, C’1887, in memory of his mother, Mary Amanda Wood. Mr. Wood was a well-known landscape artist.

Antonio Feros and Jared Farmer: Annenberg Professors of History

Antonio Feros, professor and chair of history, and Jared Farmer, professor of history, have been named Walter H. Annenberg Professors of History. 

A leading scholar of Spain and early modern Europe, Dr. Feros is the author of two books, Kingship and Favoritism in the Spain of Philip III, 1598-1621 (2000) and Speaking of Spain: The Evolution of Race and Nation in the Hispanic World (2017), as well as three co-edited volumes and many articles. His latest publication is the co-edited volume The Iberian Worlds, 1450-1820 (2019). Dr. Feros is currently working on a book provisionally titled Post-War and Reconstruction in Spain, 1939-1969. Dr. Feros’ teaching has been recognized with the Penn Arts & Sciences Dean’s Award for Mentorship of Undergraduate Research and the history department’s Dunn Award for Distinguished Teaching.

Dr. Farmer is an environmental historian with temporal expertise in the 19th century and regional expertise in the American West. He is the author of three books and the recipient of nine book awards, including the Francis Parkman Prize from the Society of American Historians. He has received grants from the National Humanities Center, the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the American Academy in Berlin. In 2014, he won the Hiett Prize in the Humanities, and in 2017, he was named an Andrew Carnegie Fellow. Dr. Farmer joined Penn in January 2020 from Stony Brook University.

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

So-Rim Lee: Korea Foundation Assistant Professor

So-Rim Lee has joined Penn Arts & Sciences as the Korea Foundation Assistant Professor of Korean Studies. Dr. Lee’s research and teaching explore the politics of representation in visual cultures and everyday embodiment in South Korea and the Korean diaspora from the intersection of performance studies, gender and sexuality studies, and cultural studies. After receiving her PhD in theater and performance studies from Stanford in 2018, Dr. Lee held postdoctoral fellowships at Columbia and Penn and taught courses at NYU and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is currently writing her first book on the visual and narrative discourses of plastic surgery in South Korea.

The Korea Foundation Professorships were established by Penn’s Korea Foundation in 1997. The mission of the Korea Foundation is to promote better understanding of Korea within the international community and to increase friendship and goodwill between Korea and the rest of the world through various exchange programs.

Penn Dental Medicine has named Michael Glick to lead its new Center of Integrative Global Oral Health. He has joined the school as executive director of the center and professor of clinical restorative dentistry in the department of preventive & restorative sciences, effective July 1, 2021.

“We are thrilled to have Dr. Glick bringing his vision and leadership to our new center,” said the school’s Morton Amsterdam Dean, Mark S. Wolff. “Through public policy, education, and research initiatives, we will seek to find creative solutions to address unmet oral health needs facing us around the world, bringing together collaborators across disciplines and across borders. I’m eager to have Dr. Glick working with us to meet this challenge.”

Penn Dental is launching the center—the school’s first policy center—thanks to a $5 million gift made earlier this year by Garry Rayant, GD’77, a member of the school’s Board of Advisors, and his wife, Kathy Fields, providing the foundational support to establish the center (Almanac February 9, 2021).

Dr. Glick brings a depth of experience in academic leadership to this new role. From 2009 to 2015, he served as dean of the SUNY at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine, where he most recently remained as professor of oral diagnostic sciences. Before his time at Buffalo, he was a professor of oral medicine at Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health at A.T. Still University, also holding the post of associate dean of oral-medical sciences at A.T. Still’s School of Osteopathic Medicine. While part of the faculty at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey from 2001 to 2007, Dr. Glick served as chair of the department of diagnostic sciences and as director of both the division of oral medicine and the postgraduate training program in oral medicine.

This new position will be Dr. Glick’s second faculty appointment at Penn Dental Medicine; he previously served as an associate professor (1994-1999) and professor (1999-2001) of oral medicine. During that time, he also directed the school’s programs for medically complex patients and infectious diseases. Before his first tenure at Penn, Dr. Glick launched his academic career at Temple University School of Dentistry, directing its Infectious Diseases & Travel Clinic.

A widely published and highly respected lecturer, Dr. Glick has held numerous editorial roles, including editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA) from 2005 to 2020. Among other wide-ranging involvement within organized dentistry, he has served as president of the American Board of Oral Medicine and in various capacities with the American Dental Association. Dr. Glick was also a contributor and reviewer for the Surgeon General’s Report on Oral Health in 2019 and 1999 and served as a state dental director for the National AIDS Education and Training Center Dental Working Group.

Dr. Glick completed specialty training in oral medicine at Penn Dental Medicine and a general practice residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He holds a DMD from Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Dental Medicine and Temple University School of Dentistry.

On July 29, the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania announced the establishment of the Roberts Family Professorship in Vaccine Research and the Katalin Karikó Fellowship Fund in Vaccine Development, providing a foundation for discoveries that will forge a new frontier in vaccine-based treatments, cures, and prevention strategies for an array of diseases.

The endowed chair and fellowship funds were created through a gift from the Aileen and Brian Roberts Foundation, underscoring the Roberts family’s strong support of Penn Medicine and their passion for cutting-edge healthcare.

Drew Weissman has been named the inaugural Roberts Family Professor in Vaccine Research. Both the professorship and fellowship honor mRNA trailblazers Dr. Weissman and Katalin Karikó, an adjunct professor of neurosurgery at Penn and a senior vice president at BioNTech. Their partnership and foundational research at Penn created a blueprint for the development of the historic COVID-19 mRNA vaccines now being deployed to combat the virus across the globe.

Designed to champion young scientists in the early years of their careers, the Katalin Karikó Fellowship Fund in Vaccine Development will provide financial support to a fellowship in vaccine research in the Penn Institute for Immunology, to be awarded to an inaugural recipient later this year. Both the professorship and the fellowship will support research aimed at creating vaccines for other infectious diseases and further cement Penn as a home for mRNA research and other novel vaccine-based approaches.

“The Roberts family has been an exceptional partner in Penn Medicine’s quest to investigate bold approaches that support our vision for the future of health care,” said J. Larry Jameson, executive vice president of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System and the dean of the Perelman School of Medicine. “Drs. Weissman and Karikó’s work laid a foundation that ensured our world was prepared to meet the unprecedented challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic. Their groundbreaking science has inspired the world and now, buoyed by the Roberts family’s tremendous generosity, it has sparked an ambitious research agenda that we are excited to see unfold in the fight against many other infectious diseases and even conditions like cancer.”

“Penn has long been at the forefront of cutting-edge research and technology advancements, and its discovery of RNA-based vaccines is another incredible achievement for the institution and the city of Philadelphia. Drs. Weissman and Karikó’s unwavering commitment to and passion for scientific discovery is astounding,” said Aileen and Brian Roberts. “It is our family’s privilege to support the life-changing research conducted at Penn and we are eager to see how the next generation of scientists and physicians work to accelerate the development of the advanced therapies of the future.”

Dr. Weissman and his team are already working on a new vaccine to target the broader class of coronaviruses—knowing that even after this current pandemic wanes, other coronaviruses worldwide will continue to pose serious threats. To fight the COVID-19 pandemic that is still uncontrolled in many parts of the world, Dr. Weissman and his team are working with Chulalongkorn University in Thailand to help them generate an mRNA vaccine that will be specially dedicated to preventing COVID-19 in middle-to-low-income countries. Dr. Weissman is also at work to use the mRNA platform to create vaccines against other widespread and serious diseases, including influenza, genital herpes, HIV, and malaria.

Overview

Founded in 2004, the Penn Association of Senior and Emeritus Faculty (PASEF) advocates for and supports the interests of members, organizes programs and activities for them, encourages them to be active in the intellectual and social life of the University and to provide service to the University and the community. PASEF members are seniors (age 55 and above) and retired members of the standing faculty or are associate professors or professors in the research faculty, full-time academic clinicians, or full-time practice professors at Penn. Current membership numbers are 1,179 senior faculty and 812 emeritus faculty. PASEF provides information and assistance to aid faculty in transitioning to, and in sustaining, retirement and organizes intellectual and social events such as lectures, excursions to cultural attractions, and attendance at theater, opera, and orchestra presentations. It is a member organization of AROHE, the Association of Retirement Organizations in Higher Education. The Association of Senior and Emeritus Faculty (ASEF–PSOM) is an analogous organization at the Perelman School of Medicine; its senior and emeritus faculty are also PASEF members. The two organizations regularly cooperate in planning joint programs and activities. The PASEF website is provost.upenn.edu/pasef/.

Administration

Governance and administration. PASEF operates under a set of bylaws and is governed by a council, which meets monthly during the academic year. The President, President-Elect, and Past President form the Steering Committee. Council members for 2020–2021 are listed in the Appendix. PASEF receives an annual budget from the Provost and reports to the Vice Provost for Faculty, Professor Laura Perna.

Facilities and support. PASEF has an office and an adjacent lounge on the first floor of Duhring Wing, next to the office of the Faculty Senate. Both the office and the adjacent lounge can accommodate meetings of small groups. Staff support is provided with exceptional care and diligence by Sarah Barr, PASEF’s full-time coordinator. During the past year, able assistance has also been given by the administrator for the Faculty Senate, Patrick Walsh. We are grateful for the intellectual, collegial, and financial support from Vice Provost Laura Perna. Personally, I thank the PASEF Steering Committee and Council and our ASEF-PSOM colleagues for their support, guidance, and collaboration.

Retirement

PASEF provides resources to aid senior faculty in planning the transition to retirement, as well as support for managing retirement. The closing of most in-person activities on campus due to COVID-19 created new challenges.

Special retirement program. Because many PASEF members had questions about the changes to Penn’s Retirement Savings program that occurred in spring semester, PASEF offered a special session with Susan Sproat and a TIAA representative. The virtual session, offered on February 17, 2021, focused specifically on how the changes affected retired faculty.

Road to Retirement programs. PASEF sponsored three programs this academic year on retirement. First, PASEF hosted “Road to Retirement: The Special Incentive Plan,” a special virtual presentation on November 2, 2020, featuring Vicki Mulhern and Hilary Lopez to explain and answer questions about the Special Incentive Plan, offered only in 2021 for faculty retiring by June 30, 2021. Almost 100 faculty attended this virtual presentation. Second, PASEF sponsored a panel discussion with four emeritus faculty members discussing their decisions to retire and their experiences with retirement in early March. The topic was “Negotiating the Retirement Transitions—What’s Next?” Ninety two faculty attended this presentation and a video is available at the PASEF website. Finally, Hilary Lopez and Vicki Mulhern presented their traditional annual “Planning for Retirement: Nuts & Bolts” session virtually on April 28, 2021 to 111 faculty.

Retirement planning. The 14th edition of PASEF’s publication Hitchhiker’s Guide to Faculty Retirement, under the editorship of Martin Pring and Janet Deatrick, was published in January. Sections on financial planning for retirement, transition to emeritus status, and retiree relations with the University are included, and the publication is available on the PASEF and ASEF–PSOM websites (the latter is www.med.upenn.edu/asef/). Both websites also house a guide to continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) in the Philadelphia area.

Reception for newly emeritus faculty. Recently, between fifty and sixty standing faculty have taken emeritus status each year, and PASEF and ASEF–PSOM have co-sponsored an annual reception to honor the retirees. The in-person reception planned for May 2020 had to be cancelled. It was rescheduled as a virtual reception in September 2020, to honor 76 faculty who are 2019–2020 retirees. There was a second virtual reception on May 20, 2021 to honor 143 2020-2021 retirees.

Semi-annual meeting with Human Resources. PASEF leadership is commencing regularly scheduled meetings with the Vice President for Human Resources to discuss policies that affect emeritus faculty.

Survey of retirees’ experiences with Penn vendors. PASEF and SCOA (Senate Committee on Faculty and the Administration) conducted a survey of PASEF emeritus members to document their experiences with WageWorks and Health Advocate. Eight hundred and twenty five faculty members were surveyed and 245 (or 30%) responded. PASEF and SCOA have identified several issues for follow-up, as a result of the survey.

Activities and Events

Lectures. PASEF sponsors lectures throughout the academic year. These are open to all members of the University community and span a wide range of topics which are of general interest. Normally, there are monthly luncheon lectures at the University Club and featured fall and spring lectures. Due to COVID-19 requirements, all lectures for this year were live streamed and most are also available for viewing on the PASEF website.

Fall and spring outing. Each year PASEF and ASEF–PSOM jointly plan fall and spring outings to locations of cultural or historical interest in the Philadelphia area. These events were not held this year due to COVID-19 requirements.

Theater and orchestra attendance. The Membership Committee, chaired by Anita Summers, has during the past two years arranged attendance at open rehearsals of the Philadelphia Orchestra. The committee has also arranged theater outings. These events were not held this year due to COVID-19 requirements.  The Membership Committee sponsored six virtual lectures with operatic performances from Opera Philadelphia in summer and fall 2020 that attracted large audiences. The presentations are available for viewing on the PASEF website.

Speakers Bureau. With encouragement and funding from Vice Provost Anita Allen, PASEF launched its Speakers Bureau in the spring of 2016. This work was spearheaded by Jack Nagel as chair of the Speakers Bureau Committee. The bureau enables community groups, including retirement communities, civic, social, and religious organizations, and high schools, to identify and invite PASEF members to speak to audiences in the Philadelphia area. The current roster of speakers numbers 31 and includes both senior and retired Penn faculty from schools across the University. Information about the bureau and the speakers and their topics is on the PASEF website. Opportunities were limited this year due to COVID-19 requirements. Nonetheless, seven speaking engagements from the bureau were held virtually this year.

Communications with members. PASEF also issued newsletters notifying members of University COVID-19 policies that affect senior and emeritus faculty. PASEF appreciated both the responsiveness and the efforts of Vice Provost Laura Perna to our concerns that these policies include senior and emeritus faculty. 

Volunteers to help Penn. For the third year, PASEF volunteers assisted the Penn Global Engagement Fund by evaluating proposals submitted as part of a competitive grant program.

Task Force Planning

PASEF convened a retreat at the end of academic year 2019 for the PASEF Council to review operations. The implementation of suggestions coming from the retreat was discussed in our academic year 2020 report. One suggestion from the retreat, however, required actions that were undertaken in this academic year 2021: the expansion of PASEF membership to include research faculty, full-time academic clinicians, and full-time practice professors. The bylaws were amended in academic year 2021 to make this change in membership and we welcomed these new members this year. 

Faculty Senate and University Council

PASEF sends non-voting representatives to the Senate Executive Committee, four Senate committees, and the University Council Committee on Personnel Benefits. The Senate committees are the Senate Committee on Faculty and the Administration, the Senate Committee on Faculty and the Academic Mission, the Senate Committee on Students and Educational Policy, and the Senate Committee on Faculty Development, Diversity and Equity.

PASEF Annual Election

Brian Salzberg chaired this past year’s Nominating Committee, and the committee’s proposed slate was approved by email voting. Marshall Meyer is the President-Elect, John Keene the Secretary, and David Manning the SEC Representative. Newly-elected at-large Council members who will serve three-year terms are Sherrill Adams, Mitch Marcus, and Ana Lia Obaid. David Manning was selected last fall to serve a three-year at-large term to fill a vacancy.

—Janice Madden, President (2020-2021)

Appendix: PASEF Council Members, 2020–2021

• Roger M.A. Allen, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (SAS), Representative to the Faculty Senate Committee on Faculty and the Academic Mission
• David Balamuth, Physics and Astronomy (SAS), at-large member of Council
• Janice Bellace, Legal Studies (Wharton), Representative to the University Council Committee on Personnel Benefits
• Peter Conn, English (SAS), at-large member of Council; chair, Program Committee
• Janet Deatrick, Family and Community Health (Nursing), President-elect; co-editor, Hitchhiker’s Guide to Faculty Retirement
• Marc A. Dichter, Neurology (PSOM), at-large member of Council
• Barbara Kahn, Marketing (Wharton), at-large member of Council
• John C. Keene, City and Regional Planning (Design), Secretary
• Janice Madden, Sociology (SAS), President
• David Manning, Pharmacology (PSOM), at-large member of Council
• Carolyn Marvin, Annenberg, at-large member of Council
• Ann Mayer, Legal Studies and Business Ethics (Wharton), at-large member of Council
• Marshall W. Meyer, Management (Wharton), Representative to the Faculty Senate Committee on Faculty and the Administration
• Jack Nagel, Political Science (SAS), chair, Speakers Bureau
• Martin Pring, Physiology (PSOM), Representative to the Faculty Senate
• Executive Committee; co-editor, Hitchhiker’s Guide to Faculty Retirement
• Brian M. Salzberg, Neuroscience (PSOM), at-large member of Council; chair, Nominating Committee
• Jorge J. Santiago-Aviles, Electrical and Systems Engineering (SEAS), at-large member of Council; Representative to the Faculty Senate Committee on Development, Diversity & Equity
• Paul Shaman, Statistics (Wharton), Past President
• Anita A. Summers, Business Economics and Public Policy (Wharton), chair, Membership Committee; Representative to Faculty Senate Committee on Students and Educational Policy
• Jeffrey Field, Pharmacology (PSOM), ASEF–PSOM co-President
• Yvonne Paterson, Microbiology (PSOM), ASEF–PSOM co-President
• Former Presidents: Benjamin S. P. Shen, Gerald J. Porter, Neville E. Strumpf, Vivian C. Seltzer, Roger M. A. Allen, Ross A. Webber, Rob Roy MacGregor, Jack H. Nagel, Anita A. Summers, Paul Shaman, Lois K. Evans.

PASEF Programs, 2020–2021

• JUNE 1: PASEF Spring Lecture with Dean Erika James.
• MAY 20: Newly Retired & Emeritus Faculty Program and Reception.
• MAY 18: PASEF Lunchtime Lecture. Dan Richter. The Lords Proprietors: America’s Forgotten Feudal Past.
• APRIL 28: Planning for Retirement: Nuts & Bolts. Vicki Mulhern and Hilary Lopez.
• APRIL 22: PASEF Lunchtime Lecture. Sean Kelley. Eastern State Prison: Architecture and Social Justice.
• MARCH 23: PASEF Lunchtime Lecture. Larry Silver. Rembrandt’s Angels.
• MARCH 4: Planning for Retirement: Negotiating the Retirement Transition: What’s Next? Panel discussion with Sherri Adams, Paul Lanken, Thomas Safley, and Anne Teitelman.
• FEBRUARY 23: PASEF Lunchtime Lecture. Rudra Sil. Russian Foreign Policy.
• FEBRUARY 17: Planning for Retirement: Changes to Penn’s Retirement Savings Plans. Sue Sproat and TIAA representative.
• JANUARY 25: PASEF Lecture. Inga Saffron. What Now?
• DECEMBER 17: PASEF Lunchtime Lecture. Ebony Elizabeth Thomas. The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination in Youth Literature, Media, and Culture.
• NOVEMBER 23: Opera Philadelphia. Why is a “Mad Scene” Mad? - Lecture Series, Wozzeck-Alban Berg.
• NOVEMBER 17: PASEF Lunchtime Lecture. John S. Summers. The Innocence Project.
• NOVEMBER 16: Opera Philadelphia. Why is a “Mad Scene” Mad?-Lecture Series, Macbeth-Giuseppe Verdi.
• NOVEMBER 9: Opera Philadelphia. Why is a “Mad Scene” Mad?-Lecture Series, Lucia di Lammermoor-Gaetano Donizetti.
• NOVEMBER 2: Planning for Retirement: Special Incentive Plan. Hilary Lopez and Vicki Mulhern.
• OCTOBER 29: PASEF Lunchtime Lecture. Daniel Hopkins. The Activation of Prejudice and Presidential Voting.
• OCTOBER 1: PASEF Fall Lecture. Patrick T. Harker. The Fed, the Economy, and the Pandemic.
• SEPTEMBER 11: PASEF Lunchtime Lecture. Kristian Lum. Fairness, Accountability and Transparency: (Counter) Examples from Predictive Models in Criminal Justice.
• SEPTEMBER 9: Newly Retired & Emeritus Faculty Program and Reception.
• JULY 29: Opera Philadelphia. Puccini Heroine Lecture Series, Floria Tosca (Tosca).
• JULY 22: Opera Philadelphia. Puccini Heroine Lecture Series, Cio-Cio San (Madame Butterfly).
• JULY 15: Opera Philadelphia. Puccini Heroine Lecture Series, Mimi and Musetta (La Boheme).

Joel S. Bennett, a groundbreaking blood researcher and a former professor of hematology/oncology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP), passed away from complications of pancreatic cancer on June 21. He was 78.

Dr. Bennett attended the University of Michigan for his undergraduate and medical education, then came to HUP in 1967 to complete a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in hematology/oncology. Two years later, he was hired as an assistant instructor at HUP in the department of medicine. In 1971, Dr. Bennett left Penn for a brief stint as a physician in the Air Force, but he returned to Penn in 1975, this time as an associate in hematology/oncology. A year later, he was promoted to assistant professor in the same department, and he rose through the ranks to become an associate professor clinician-educator in 1982 and a full professor in 1995. He also had a secondary appointment in the department of pharmacology. Dr. Bennett was widely involved at Penn until his death, serving on the department of medicine’s Committee on Appointments and Promotions and on several Faculty Senate committees. 

During his time at Penn, Dr. Bennett was renowned for his research in hematology. He was the first to recognize that fibrinogen bound to the platelet GPIIb-IIIa receptor, thereby defining the molecular mechanism by which platelets aggregate. This important finding paved the way for the development of drugs like abciximab and eptifibatide, which have been used to treat millions of patients with coronary artery disease. Dr. Bennett was widely published, and he was recognized by the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians for the excellence and breadth of his work. In 2010, he received the Beutler Prize, the highest honor of the American Society of Hematology, in celebration of his pioneering research on GPIIb-IIIa (Almanac December 21, 2010). Dr. Bennett is fondly remembered as a generous mentor and considerate colleague. In his personal life, Dr. Bennett was an avid tennis player. 

He is survived by his wife, Evelyn; children, Lisa, Andrew, Lisa Dunn, Joe Goodman, and David Goodman; brother, David; sister, Barbara Palmer; and nine grandchildren.

Jan Ellen Paradise, a former faculty member in the department of pediatrics in the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and at Penn’s School of Medicine, died on April 12. She was 71. 

Born in Baltimore in 1950, Dr. Paradise grew up in Bellaire, Ohio, where her father was a pediatrician. She graduated from Bellaire High School, then came to Swarthmore College to get a bachelor’s degree. She then transferred to Penn, where she got a BS and then, in 1976, an MD. After completing a residency in pediatrics at Penn and a Robert Wood Johnson Fellowship in general pediatrics and adolescent medicine at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Dr. Paradise joined the medical staff at CHOP and the faculty at Penn’s School of Medicine as an assistant instructor of pediatrics in 1978. She was promoted to instructor in 1980, and two years later she became a clinical associate professor. While at Penn, Dr. Paradise provided expert and compassionate care to children and adolescents, many of whom were victims of child abuse. She also conducted seminal research on sexual abuse, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and an R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health.

In 1986, she relocated to Boston to join the faculty of Harvard Medical School and the staff at Boston Children’s Hospital. She later joined the faculty at Boston University and became chief of the division of adolescent medicine at Boston City Hospital. In 1999, she left academic medicine and joined Bridgewater Goddard Park Medical Associates in Easton and Brockton, Massachusetts, where she served as a pediatrician for thousands of children and adolescents. In her free time, Dr. Paradise loved dancing, playing the piano, birdwatching, and knitting. 

She is survived by her husband, Gary Fleisher; children, Daniel, Carl, and Madeline; children-in-law, Yoko Mizumoto, Matthew McKenzie, and Rebecca Lewis; father, Jack; mother, Leone; and sisters, Emily and Julia. Donations in her memory can be made to the Jan Paradise Brain Cancer Research Fund at Boston Children’s Hospital, to the neuro-oncology Program at the Dana -Farber Cancer Institute, or to the Massachusetts Audubon Society.

Rev. Mother Dorcas Rosenlund (née Mary Loretta Rosenlund), a former faculty member in pediatrics in Penn’s School of Medicine and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and later a member of the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Connecticut, passed away on May 20 from complications of old age. She was 93. 

Dr. Rosenlund was born in 1927 in Philadelphia and graduated from Mount Saint Joseph Academy. She received a bachelor’s degree in English from Chestnut Hill College and a master’s degree in public relations from Boston University, then worked in public relations at the now-defunct Philadelphia Bulletin and the Lily-Tulip Cup Corporation. Volunteer service at a hospital inspired Dr. Rosenlund to study for a medical degree, which she received from the Boston University School of Medicine in 1965. She then returned to Philadelphia, completing a residency in pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a fellowship in pediatric gastroenterology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. 

In 1968, Dr. Rosenlund was hired as an associate in clinical medicine at CHOP, then became an assistant professor in pediatrics at Penn’s School of Medicine two years later. She rose through the ranks at the School of Medicine, becoming an associate professor in 1977. While at Penn, Dr. Rosenlund was involved with the University community, serving on several University Council committees. 

In 1982, Dr. Rosenlund left Penn to join the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Connecticut. She received the Greek name Dorcas as part of her initiation. Dr. Rosenlund remained an active doctor for her first decade at Regina Laudis. From 1983 to 1990, she held consulting appointments in Gastroenterology at St. Mary’s hospital in Waterbury, Connecticut and at Yale New Haven Hospital; she also served as a clinical instructor in pediatrics at Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Rosenlund founded the Contemplative Medical Center at Regina Laudis. After 1990, she retired from medicine, learning to garden and becoming the Abbey’s baker, making fondly-remembered Passover meals and mentoring many young bakers during her thirty-year tenure. 

Dr. Rosenlund is survived by her monastic community, her sister Hope, and nieces and nephews. A private memorial service was held due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the New Horizons Renovation Project, c/o The Abbey of Regina Laudis, 273 Flanders Road, Bethlehem, CT 06751.

Hugo Sonnenschein, the dean of Penn’s School of Arts and Sciences from 1988 to 1991 and later the eleventh president of the University of Chicago, died on July 15. He was 80.

Dr. Sonnenschein received an undergraduate degree in 1961 from the University of Rochester, then received a PhD in economics from Purdue University three years later. Afterward, he began teaching at the University of Minnesota, where he became a full professor in 1968. In 1970, he moved to UMass Amherst, then moved to Northwestern in 1973 and to Princeton in 1976. He remained at Princeton for the next twelve years, leading Princeton’s graduate group in economics and serving as a visiting professor at Stanford, Tel-Aviv, Hebrew, Marseilles, Paris, Strasbourg and Colombia’s University of the Andes. In the fall 1983 semester, he was a visiting lecturer in the department of economics in Penn’s School of Arts and Sciences. 

In 1988, Dr. Sonnenschein was named dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, the first dean of SAS to be recruited from outside the school. The new dean “is coming at an especially challenging time,” President Sheldon Hackney said (Almanac July 12, 1988). “Dr. Sonnenschein is not only a top-flight economist and teacher but a perceptive academic leader who sees clearly what needs to be done and is enthusiastic about the opportunity to work with the faculty.” As dean, Dr. Sonnenschein set to work with a vengeance, laying out goals of buying computers for the school and reforming the tenure process (Almanac October 4, 1988). In his three years as dean, he helped attract several prominent gifts to the school and led the SAS Capital Campaign (Almanac October 23, 1990), which greatly expanded the freshman seminar program and tripled the school’s number of faculty advisors for undergraduate students. 

Dr. Sonnenschein returned to Princeton in 1991 as its provost. Just two years later, the University of Chicago recruited him to become the school’s eleventh president, a position he held until 2000. “As president, Hugo provided visionary leadership during a transformational period for the University,” wrote the University of Chicago News in a tribute to Dr. Sonnenschein. “He helped strengthen the recruitment of faculty and students and made tremendous strides in fundraising. Very importantly, he initiated a vital expansion of the College. This was controversial at the time, but has proven to be a critical component of the evolution of the College and its capacity to reinforce and expand upon the enduring values and approach to education of the College and University. Hugo’s tireless work led to substantial improvements during his time as president, and set the stage for many of the advances the University has made in the decades since. He was a leader of foresight whose achievements will be remembered with deep respect.”

In addition to his academic career, Dr. Sonnenschein was an honorary trustee of the University of Chicago and a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Rochester. He was a fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society, and a distinguished fellow of the Economic Society. In 1989, he also served as president of the Econometric Society. 

Dr. Sonnenschein is survived by his wife, Elizabeth Gunn Sonnenschein; three daughters; and five grandchildren. Details of a memorial service will be announced soon. 

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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.

However, notices of alumni deaths should be directed to the Alumni Records Office at Suite 300, 2929 Walnut St., (215) 898-8136 or email record@ben.dev.upenn.edu.

TO: The Members of the Penn Faculty
FROM: William W. Braham, Chair, Faculty Senate

The Faculty Senate is the representative voice for standing faculty and is led by a tri-chair arrangement in which decisions are made jointly by the Chair (myself), the Past-Chair (Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center and the Annenberg School for Communication), and the Chair-Elect (Vivian L. Gadsden of the Graduate School of Education). All standing faculty are members of the Senate, but most of the work is conducted by an elected Senate Executive Committee (SEC) of 58 faculty that meets monthly, by eight standing committees, and by a number of select committees. All Standing Faculty members are invited to observe SEC meetings by requesting access information from the Senate Office or from their constituency representative.

This annual letter by the incoming chair serves two purposes: to review the activities of the last year and to outline our priorities for the coming academic year. Last year was exceptional in many ways, both directly and indirectly, because of the global pandemic. We are grateful for the steady hand of the University leadership through this period, which will enable the campus to return to something like normal in the fall. Nevertheless, we recognize that we will be dealing with its effects for years to come.

Last year: 2020-2021

Teaching, Researching, and Serving in the Time COVID-19

To help faculty navigate the complexities of teaching online and to ensure that their intellectual property was protected we asked for and received this assurance from the Office of the Provost, distributed this statement for posting on syllabi, and encouraged Penn Athletics to create interstitial materials for classes. We asked the Provost and department chairs to clearly communicate to all teaching faculty that expending additional time on teaching and in the process downplaying some other activities will not be penalized and that departments should work to ensure that junior faculty have the wherewithal to complete the teaching, research, and service required to reach the thresholds they need to meet under the extensions that are now available.

Faculty Senate Seminars

We initiated a Faculty Senate Seminar Series in order to increase our understanding of the challenges facing Penn through the pandemic and to provide a venue in which faculty questions and concerns can be voiced and addressed. Over the year we held ten seminars, all of which are archived on the Seminar Series website. The December 2, 2020, seminar on spring semester plans was open to Penn staff as well, and the April 7, 2021, seminar on Climate and Sustainability was co-sponsored by the Undergraduate Assembly and open to students.

Resolutions

The Senate Executive Committee endorsed four resolutions. The May 2020 Resolution on Responses to the Global Climate Emergency encourages Penn community members in their individual capacities as faculty members and citizens to address the global climate emergency and calls on Penn leadership to improve the institutional response to the climate emergency. The October 2020 Resolution for Election Day asks all faculty and instructors teaching courses to accommodate students who wish to engage in election-related activities on Election Day. The October 2020 Resolution on Engaged Scholarship encourages annual performance reviews to credit faculty for scholarly engagement. The December 2020 Resolution on Penn Contributions expresses appreciation for Penn’s timely contributions to doctoral education at Penn and to the School District of Philadelphia through the Penn Compact.

Revising the Faculty Senate’s Rules

The Rules Governing the Faculty Senate were thoroughly revised by a committee of current and former Faculty Senate Chairs with the goal of bringing the Rules into alignment with existing practicalities and customs. On March 17, 2021, 192 members of the Faculty Senate convened to vote upon the revisions; 167 voted in approval.

The revised rules, which took effect on July 1, 2021, enhance faculty engagement with the Senate by restructuring the Senate’s committees and the terms of faculty service on those committees, including the allowance of alternates on the Senate Executive Committee. They also modify arcana, for example, by permitting email communications to substitute for snail mail communications, by permitting the Senate to convene during the summer months for reasons other than “material risks to the interests of” the Senate, and by mandating periodic review of the rules themselves.

Notably, the revised rules codify a Practices and Procedures manual that guides the Senate’s work for the year. The manual will be updated annually in consultation with the Senate Executive Committee. The 2021-2022 manual offers background on the Senate’s role in University governance, describes standard practices by which the Senate’s all-faculty listserv should be used, and provides an outline for drafting and debating resolutions.

Priorities for 2021-2022

The work of the Faculty Senate in the coming year will pursue a range of priorities, some identified last year and some emerging recently. First, this occurs through charges to five of the eight standing committees: the Economic Status of the Faculty (SCESF); Faculty and the Academic Mission (SCOF); Faculty and the Administration (SCOA); Faculty Development, Diversity, and Equity (SCFDDE); and Students and Educational Policy (SCSEP). Second, this occurs in discussions at SEC, in Senate Seminars, and through the formation of select committees.

Selection of the Next President

Over the summer, SEC is selecting faculty representatives to the Consultative Committee to advise the Executive Committee of the Trustees on the selection of the President. While that confidential committee begins its work, the Senate will solicit faculty input on its principal charge, which is to identify “the challenges a new president might face, strategic priorities, and recommended strengths and experience for the new President.” Those challenges and priorities will be discussed in SEC meetings in the fall and conveyed to the committee.

Structural Racism

Again this year, all standing committees will have an overarching charge to address systemic racism and other forms of inequity by assessing and evaluating ways to change University structures, practices, and biases at the University, school, departmental, and individual levels. Examples include eligibility for leadership roles; differential standards for faculty evaluation based on race, gender, or national origin; department-level voting privileges; biases implicit in quantitative methods for evaluating faculty; and effectiveness of campus mental health and wellness programs.

Faculty Bylaws

After two years of research on voting procedures by SCOF, it became clear that while many faculties in the University have written rules or bylaws, many do not have either rules or bylaws. As a result, SEC will consider an amendment to the Faculty Handbook that would require school and/or departmental faculties to formalize bylaws governing voting privileges, hiring procedures, the rights and privileges of faculty by rank, committee appointment processes, and related matters.

Engaged Scholarship

Following public discussions in SEC and among individual faculties, the Senate will continue to review working definitions of “engaged scholarship” in departments and schools, monitor the extent to which standards are articulated for them, and recommend ways in which broader impacts of engaged scholarship are recognized and rewarded in the promotion and compensation process.

Culture of the Classroom

Inspired by the many discussions about the effectiveness of course evaluations that are occurring across the University and by the many innovations in online teaching developed during the pandemic, SEC will consider the broader culture of the classroom. There are many different forms of teaching at the University, from lectures and seminars to design studios, clinical instruction, project-based interactions with graduate students, virtual classrooms, and even conversations between classes or over coffee. Anonymous, quantitative evaluations only capture a few aspects of these many modes of teaching, so we will start by asking how faculty learn to teach well and what protocols and forms of feedback support that process.

Education and Research for the Climate Emergency

In collaboration with the Environmental Innovations Initiative (EII) and the Senate Select Committee on the Institutional Response to the Climate Emergency (CIRCE), SEC will discuss opportunities for teaching and research to address the climate emergency. Education topics range from courses or requirements in climate literacy to new minors, majors, and graduate programs. In terms of research, the climate emergency demands interdisciplinary research, and while there are many technical and scientific advances to be made, the intractable challenges remain social, political, cultural, and economic, which play to Penn’s established strengths.

I can only conclude by noting the time and attention that faculty give to SEC and the committees, which is the essence of shared governance. If you have issues that you would like the Senate to address, please feel free to contact the Senate Office (senate@pobox.upenn.edu) or any of the Tri-Chairs.

To read and download the latest version of the Patent and Tangible Research Property Policies and Procedures of the University of Pennsylvania, visit https://almanac.upenn.edu/uploads/media/081021-supplement.pdf.

NOTE: As of 2023, there have been updates to this policy. Please visit the Faculty Handbook Amended to Remove Gender-Binary Language article on April 11, 2023 for more information.

The inaugural Advancing Oral & Craniofacial Health Award was recently awarded to Eugene Ko, an assistant professor of clinical oral medicine in Penn Dental Medicine, and Shu Yang, the Joseph Bordogna Professor and chair of the department of materials science and engineering at Penn Engineering, for a project titled “Baby Seal: Promoting Intrinsic Sucking in Cleft Palate Infant Bottle Feeding.” The awards aim to develop new oral health care technologies and devices. 

The award, given by Penn Dental’s Center for Innovation and Precision Dentistry (CiPD), is co-sponsored by Penn Health-Tech (PHT) and the Acceleration Lab at the Penn Medicine Center for Health Care Innovation. In addition to the Oral & Craniofacial Award, the PHT Health-Tech Accelerator Program 2021 Cohort includes four other projects in the categories of neuro-gene therapy, regenerative ophthalmology, health technology for social justice, and general.

The program empowers researchers to develop and commercialize medical devices and health technologies to advance health and health care. Awardees receive funding, hands-on advising to support development and achieve proof of concept, and access to industry experts and complementary programs to assist with engineering and design, manufacturing, regulatory guidance, quality systems, and marketing.

Dr. Ko and Dr. Yang will be working to improve the overall feeding experience and infant growth outcomes for children born with cleft lips and palates through the development of a specialized bottle system. “Hearing about the stress they went through in the first few months of their son’s life really stuck with me on a personal level, but also piqued my interest from a clinical standpoint,” said Dr. Ko. “Physiologically, infants with a palatal cleft cannot suck properly; think of a straw with a hole in it.”

A literature search he conducted established a consistent theme of feeding difficulties as well as a void in the market for a device that promoted the intrinsic sucking reflex. Current devices require infants to learn new biting behaviors or parents to actively squeeze milk into their infant’s throat.

“I approached Dr. Yang with a proposal to use her reversible adhesive to temporarily seal the hole in the palate during feeding,” Dr. Ko said. “Our project would enhance current specialized infant feeding bottle systems by incorporating a novel hydrogel that will allow parents to create a temporary seal over the cleft palate.”

“This award through the CiPD and PHT has created a real path forward for our proposal and for allowing this collaboration to grow,” he continued. “We look forward to developing the idea and helping to improve the lives of families and infants born with cleft palate.”

Each year, MIT Technology Review culls through hundreds of nominations to select 35 young researchers, entrepreneurs, thought leaders and humanitarians “whose superb technical work promises to shape the coming decades.”

Marc Miskin, an assistant professor in the department of electrical and systems engineering in Penn Engineering, is among the 35 individuals on this year’s list.

Named to the “Pioneers” category, Dr. Miskin’s innovations come in the design and control of microscopic robots. Techniques used to manufacture computer chips can make robot bodies and brains en masse, but in order for those robots to move on their own, Dr. Miskin and his colleagues had to devise ways of supplying power and flexing actuators on a device smaller than the period at the end of this sentence.

MIT Technology Review’s Jonathan W. Rosen described Dr. Miskin’s key development: “His technique fabricates legs from sheets of platinum a dozen or so atoms thick, capped on one side with an even smaller layer of titanium. When activated with a current—generated by solar cells attached to the robot brain—the platinum bends, causing the bot to march forward. Dr. Miskin’s initial prototype, which he developed as a postdoctoral researcher at Cornell University, requires only one-fifth of a volt to move and measures just 40 by 40 microns—smaller than many single-celled microorganisms. It’s recognized by Guinness World Records as the smallest ever walking robot, and a million of them at a time can be fabricated on a single 10-centimeter wafer.” 

Dr. Miskin’s work on microscopic robots has also earned him a Sloan Fellowship (Almanac March 16, 2021) and a pair of Young Investigator Awards (Almanac January 19, 2021), as well as a trip to the TED stage.

The Gerontological Society of America (GSA)—the country’s largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to the field of aging—is honoring three Penn Nursing professors with awards for their outstanding research, distinguished leadership in teaching and service, and for fostering new ideas in gerontological science.

Kathryn H. Bowles, a professor of nursing and the van Ameringen Chair in Nursing Excellence; and Nancy A. Hodgson, the Anthony Buividas Term Chair in Gerontology, professor of nursing, and chair of the department of biobehavioral health sciences, will both receive the Doris Schwartz Gerontological Nursing Research Award. This award is presented by the Society-Wide section of GSA and is given to a member of the society in recognition of outstanding and sustained contribution to geriatric nursing research.

Pamela Z. Cacchione, the Ralston House Endowed Term Chair in Gerontological Nursing and professor of geropsychiatric nursing, will receive the Joseph T. Freeman Award. This award acknowledges a prominent clinician in the field of aging, both in research and practice.

The award presentations will take place at GSA’s 2021 Annual Scientific Meeting, to be held from November 10-13, 2021 in Phoenix, Arizona. Drs. Bowles, Hodgson, and Cacchione will each present special lectures during the annual meeting. The conference is organized to foster interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers, educators, and practitioners who specialize in the study of the aging process.

Penn Medicine hospitals have once again been ranked among the top in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. The combined enterprise of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center is ranked #13 in the nation on the magazine’s prestigious annual Honor Roll for the 15th consecutive year. HUP/PPMC is also ranked as the top hospital in Pennsylvania and #1 in the Philadelphia metro area in the 2021-2022 survey. Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health also garnered impressive honors this year, ranking #4 in Pennsylvania.

HUP/PPMC is among only 20 institutions named to the publication’s Honor Roll—and the only one in Pennsylvania or the Philadelphia region—out of more than 4,500 hospitals analyzed nationwide. Hospitals must perform near the top of the rankings in multiple specialties and conditions/treatments in order to earn a place on the Honor Roll.

In addition to its ranking as an Honor Roll hospital, HUP/PPMC is nationally ranked for excellence in a dozen specialties and is rated as High Performing in 16 Common Adult Procedures and Conditions. 

Additional Penn Medicine hospitals honored in the latest rankings are: 

• Lancaster General Health ranks #4 in Pennsylvania and is nationally ranked in Orthopedics and Urology, and rated as High Performing in 15 Common Adult Procedures and Conditions
• Pennsylvania Hospital ranks #11 in Pennsylvania and #4 in the Philadelphia region
• Chester County Hospital ranks #14 in Pennsylvania and #8 in the Philadelphia region

Complete rankings, as well as the U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals methodology, are available at www.usnews.com/besthospitals. 

César de la Fuente, a Presidential Assistant Professor in psychiatry, microbiology, chemical & biomolecular engineering, and bioengineering, received a 2021 IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society (EMBS) Academic Early Career Achievement Award. Dr. de la Fuente was selected for his pioneering work creating novel antibiotics using principles from computation, engineering, and biology. This award is given annually to an individual for significant contributions to the field of biomedical engineering who is within 10 years of completing their highest degree at the time of the nomination.  

Maayan Levy, an assistant professor of microbiology, has been recognized with a new award from Scialog: Microbiome, Neurobiology and Disease, a Research Corporation for Science Advancement initiative designed to advance understanding of the gut-brain axis and the roles microbiota play in neurodegenerative disorders. Dr. Levy is one of 14 early-career researchers to receive the award. Awardees are from six multidisciplinary teams of researchers from colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. At Penn Medicine, the Levy Lab studies the interface between the host and its microbiome in the gastrointestinal tract, with a focus on microbiome-derived metabolites. 

Flavia Vitale, an assistant professor of neurology, and researchers in the Vitale Lab have been awarded two grants totaling $4.5 million from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. The first grant is designated for the development of a novel surgical device for delivering gene-based therapeutics to the brain. The second is for optimization and pre-clinical validation of a novel EEG electrode technology, which uses a conductive nanomaterial rather than metal and gels. The projects will last three and five years, respectively.

Max M. Wattenberg, an instructor of medicine in the division of hematology/oncology, has been named a 2021 Physician-Scientist Training Award recipient by the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation. The award provides physician-scientists the opportunity to gain the skills and experience needed to become leaders in translational and clinical research. Dr. Wattenberg’s research focuses on mechanisms of resistance to immunotherapy, with the goal of identifying novel treatment strategies for patients with cancer. Damon Runyon seeks to address the financial disincentives that often deter physicians from pursuing a research career by providing $460,000 in funding over four years. Dr. Wattenburg is one of five awardees.  

For his work to advance the science and practice of periodontics, Penn Dental Medicine periodontics resident and DScD candidate Dennis Sourvanos, GD’23, has received the 2021 American Association for Dental Research (AADR) William B. Clark Fellowship Award in Clinical Periodontal Research and has been selected to participate in the Perelman School of Medicine Institute for Translational Medicine Applied Therapeutics (ITMAT) Certificate Program in Translational Research and the Regulatory Sciences. Both build upon his goal of ultimately pursuing a career in academic dentistry and research.

“My long-term goal is to become an independent investigator in the academic setting, while playing a role with public policy initiatives,” said Dr. Sourvanos. “As a clinician scientist, one has the opportunity to make a direct tangible impact in the national and international arenas.”

Dr. Sourvanos, a student in the combined graduate periodontics and DScD program, has been active in research throughout his time at Penn Dental Medicine. His research co-mentors have developed a program focused on translational clinical research. He has worked under the mentorship of periodontics program director Joseph Fiorellini to help develop delivery protocols for novel biomaterials in the preclinical model, evaluating the effects of laser stimulation on dental implant osseointegration in the animal model, and analyzing implant geometries and subsequent effects of primary implant stability in the human model. 

“As a clinical interventionist in this trial, I have been able to expand upon my formal training in non-surgical and surgical periodontology, to further understand the mechanistic aspects of radiation-induced oral mucositis lesions,” noted Dr. Sourvanos.

The competitive AADR Grant Fellowship Award is designed to support a postdoctoral level researcher in pursuing clinical research to learn a state-of-the-art methodology in the field of oral health. Dr. Sourvanos was selected for a project titled “A Novel 3D Preclinical Model to Assess Efficacy of Photobiomodulation (PBM) on Alveolar Ridge Preservation, Subsequent Bone and Intraoral Tissues.” The project is a collaboration between the labs of Dr. Fiorellini and Patricia Corby at Penn Dental, and the Tim Zhu Lab at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. It is also the focus of Dr. Sourvanos’ research for the DScD program.

Drew Weissman and Katalin Karikó, the pair of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania whose innovative mRNA research laid the foundation for development of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines being deployed across the globe, have been named among recipients of the 2021 Princess of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research.

The honor, from the Princess of Asturias Foundation (Fundación Princesa de Asturias), a Spanish non-profit organization, is conferred to individuals and organizations whose work makes significant contributions to humanity through scientific, technical, cultural, social and humanitarian work. Winners receive a prize of 50,000 Euros, and the recognition will be officially bestowed in October 2021 in Oviedo, Spain, during a ceremony presided over by their Majesties King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain, accompanied by HRH Princess of Asturias Leonor.

Dr. Weissman, the Roberts Family Professor in Vaccine Research in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Karikó, an adjunct professor of neurosurgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at Penn and a senior vice president at BioNTech, published research in 2005 showing how to specifically alter one of the building blocks of mRNA in order to increase its therapeutic potential. These findings and other mRNA discoveries from the two scientists, including how to effectively deliver mRNA using vaccination, were crucial to the development of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines created by BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna.

“We are proud of Dr. Weissman’s and Dr. Karikó’s monumental achievements in mRNA science and congratulate them on this outstanding honor, which is a fitting recognition of the global impact of their commitment to innovative, lifesaving science,” said J. Larry Jameson, executive vice president of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System and the dean of the Perelman School of Medicine. “Their accomplishments in labs at Penn are exemplars of scientific efforts that begin with bold ideas and go on, through time and intensive vision and fortitude, to change the world.”

The Princess of Asturias Foundation, established in 1980, is a private non-profit institution whose essential aims are to contribute to extolling and promoting those scientific, cultural and humanistic values that form part of the universal heritage of humanity and consolidate the existing links between the Principality of Asturias and the title traditionally held by the heirs to the Crown of Spain. The heir to the Crown, Her Royal Highness The Princess Leonor de Borbón y Ortiz, serves as the current honorary president of the organization.

Barbie Zelizer, the Raymond Williams Professor of Communication, Associate Dean for Research, and the director of the Center for Media at Risk in the Annenberg School for Communication, has been elected as a fellow of the British Academy in recognition of her contribution to the humanities and social sciences.

Founded in 1902, the British Academy is the United Kingdom’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences. It is a fellowship of over 1,400 of the leading minds in these subjects from the U.K. and overseas. The British Academy is also a funding body for research, nationally and internationally, and a forum for debate and engagement. 

This year, a total of 84 fellows—52 U.K. Fellows, 29 Corresponding Fellows, and 3 Honorary Fellows—have been elected to the fellowship. 

Welcoming the fellows, new President of the British Academy Julia Black said: “As the new President of the British Academy, it gives me great pleasure to welcome this new cohort of fellows, who are as impressive as ever and remind us of the rich and diverse scholarship and research undertaken within the SHAPE disciplines—the social sciences, humanities, and the arts. I am very much looking forward to working with them on our shared interests.”

A former journalist, Dr. Zelizer’s work focuses on the cultural dimensions of journalism, with a specific interest in journalistic authority, collective memory, and journalistic images in times of crisis and war.

The Office of Undergraduate Admissions hosts virtual admission workshops this summer tailored for Penn faculty and staff and their dependents. Below are the details for the August program, which will be held on Wednesday, August 25.

• 6:30-6:45 p.m.: Welcome and Dean/Director Remarks
• 6:45-7:30 p.m.: Session 1—Navigating the Year Ahead
• 7:30-7:40 p.m.: Break
• 7:40-8:25 p.m.: Session 2—Academics, Activities and Advisors: Connecting the Dots
• 8:25-8:30 p.m.: Closing Remarks

To register, visit https://key.admissions.upenn.edu/register/SummerFSAugust2021.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Penn Museum have teamed up to bring you Art Staycation—a limited-time summer offer saving you up to $20 on your next visit to two historic cultural landmarks. Get ready for a summer adventure of art and world wonders!

Ways to Save Through Art Staycation

• $33 Adult Combo Ticket. Save $10 on adult admission to both museums.
• $80 Family Four-Pack. Save $20 on admission for two adults and up to 2 kids under 18 to both museums.
• $10 Youth Ticket (6-17). Save $3 on a youth ticket at the Penn Museum with the purchase of at least one Adult Combo or Family Four-Pack ticket. (Visitors under 18 visit for free at the Philadelphia Museum of Art).
• PennCard Holders (with valid ID). Save $5 on adult admission at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Just walk up and present your ID. (PennCard holders visit for free at the Penn Museum).
• Members of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Penn Museum. Save $5 on adult admission at each museum using an online code shared in member emails.

How It Works

Choose the ArtStaycation offer that’s right for you. You will receive a ticket voucher valid for one-time entry at each museum before September 20, 2021. Visits do not have to be on the same date, and you do not need to reserve a timed ticket in advance.

Simply present your voucher at the ticketing desk of each museum, either printed or shown from your mobile device.

Please Note

Please review each museum’s safety guidelines and hours of operation before visiting. To do so and for more information, visit www.penn.museum/visit/special-offers/art-staycation?utm_source=enews&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=enews.

Visit Socius by Rebecca Rutstein at the Esther Klein Gallery! The exhibit opened on August 5 and is on view until September 23.

This exhibition presents the culmination of Ms. Rutstein’s three month BioArt Residency at the biotechnology company Integral Molecular in early 2021.

Rebecca Rutstein’s work takes a micro and macro approach to observing the spread of COVID-19, both within our bodies and in the community at large. Through large scale paintings, works on paper and an immersive sculpture, light and sound installation, Ms. Rutstein focuses on microscopic views of cellular networks, as well as public COVID-19 datasets from the Philadelphia community and beyond, documenting vaccine efficacy and racial inequities in access to health care.

The Esther Klein Gallery at the Science Center Philadelphia is open Monday-Saturday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. For more information, call (215) 966-6188 or email ekg@sciencecenter.org.

Exhibits

Penn Museum
Online and in-person events. For more information and to register, visit https://www.penn.museum/calendar.

8/13     Virtual Global Guide Tour: Mexico & Central America Gallery; 2:30 p.m.

8/14     Highlights Tour; 11 a.m.

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

8/15     Free Summer Sunday; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Also see Special Events.

            Asia Galleries Tour; 11 a.m.

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

Fitness & Learning

8/11     Admissions Information Session: Doctorate in Clinical Social Work (DSW); 3 p.m.; Zoom meeting; register: https://tinyurl.com/dsw-info-aug-11 (School of Social Policy and Practice).

Graduate School of Education (GSE)
Online events. Info and to register: https://www.gse.upenn.edu/news/events-calendar.

8/11     Clay Pot Making Class; for staff and faculty; 2-4 p.m.

8/12     Coffee Break with Higher Education; for staff and faculty; 9:30 a.m.

            Literary Lunch with Juliana; for staff and faculty; noon.

8/17     Coffee Break with Raquel Arredondo, Assistant Dean of DEI; for staff and faculty; 9:30 a.m.

            Sip & Paint with Bridget; 3 p.m.

Human Resources Workshops
For faculty and staff. Online events. Info and to register: www.hr.upenn.edu/registration.

8/11     Chair Yoga; noon.

            Ensuring a Successful Return to Campus and School; noon.

            Using the Tuition Benefit for You and Your Family; 12:30 p.m.

8/12     Back-to-School Setting Our Families Up for Success; 10:15 a.m. Also 4:15 p.m.

8/13     30-Minute Guided Meditation; noon.

8/16     30-Minute Chair Yoga Plus Core; noon.

8/17     TIAA's Money at Work 1: Foundations of Investing; noon.

            Vinyasa Flow Yoga; noon.

            Strengthening Resilience in Times of Change; 12:30 p.m.

            Tools for Career Assessment and Development; 12:30 p.m.

            TIAA's Lifetime Income: Marketproof Your Retirement; 3 p.m.

Penn Libraries
Online workshops. Info and to register: https://guides.library.upenn.edu/workshops.

8/12     Canvas 101 for Faculty and Staff; 1 p.m.

8/13     Critical Issues in Data and Research Discussion Group: Accessibility; 11 a.m.

Special Events

8/12     White Coat Ceremony: Classes of 2024 and 2025; in-person ceremony to welcome the incoming Penn Dental classes of 2024 (at 1 p.m.) and 2025 (at 3 p.m.); Annenberg Center; info: https://www.dental.upenn.edu/about-us/white-coat-ceremony/ (Penn Dental).

8/15     Free Summer Sunday; day of free fun and festivities at the Penn Museum; 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; info and to register: https://www.penn.museum/calendar/835/free-summer-sunday (Penn Museum). Also see Exhibits.

Talks

8/10     Accelerated Design of Heterogeneous Materials for Improved Failure Characteristics; Chengyang Mo, mechanical engineering and applied mechanics; 10:30 a.m.; Zoom meeting; info: peterlit@seas.upenn.edu (MEAM).

8/17     Winning Customers in an Era of Endless Disruption; Barbara Kahn, Wharton; 4 p.m.; Zoom meeting; register: https://tinyurl.com/kahn-talk-aug-17 (Penn Libraries, Penn Alumni).

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AT PENN Calendars

The Summer AT PENN calendar is online. Check back as we continue to add events. Our September AT PENN calendar will be published on August 31. To submit an event, email almanac@upenn.edu by August 16. 

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 July 26-August 1, 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 July 26-August 1, 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

Below are the Crimes Against Persons from the 18th District: 4 incidents (2 robberies, 1 assault, and 1 domestic assault) with 1 arrest were reported for July 26-August 1, 2021 by the 18^th District, covering the Schuylkill River to 49th St & Market St to Woodland Avenue.

Penn Leads the Vote (PLTV), the non-partisan, student-run voter engagement initiative that is housed in the Netter Center and operates in partnership with the Office of Government and Community Affairs (OGCA), is proud to announce the launch of vote.upenn.edu. This new website serves as a one-stop-shop for everything voting-related in the Penn community. You can register to vote, make a plan, learn about your ballot, and more. The website also publicizes Penn’s voting data and action plan. We encourage you to share this resource with your students, co-workers, and other interested parties. Please address questions to pennvotes@upenn.edu.

—Penn Leads the Vote