October 5, 2021 Volume 68 Issue 8

As mRNA-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are deployed to protect hundreds of millions of people across the world and point the way to end the deadly global COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Pennsylvania scientists whose prescient discovery science effort laid the foundation for swift vaccine development have been awarded the 2021 Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award.

Messenger RNA (mRNA) innovators Drew Weissman, the Roberts Family Professor of Vaccine Research in Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, and Katalin Karikó, an adjunct professor of neurosurgery at Penn and a senior vice president at BioNTech, are honored with what is widely regarded as America’s top biomedical research prize for the discovery of a therapeutic technology based on the modification of mRNA that makes it remarkably safe and effective.

The global impact and recognition of Dr. Weissman’s and Dr. Karikó’s work has its roots in their years of research together at the University of Pennsylvania investigating mRNA as a potential therapeutic. Their groundbreaking study, published in 2005, found that their concept—which brought fresh hope to a field beset by skepticism and false starts—could be a reality: that mRNA could be altered and then delivered effectively into the body to initiate a protective immune response. Their method to turn cells into factories that can temporarily produce proteins that serve as therapeutic compounds or stimulate the body’s immune system to attack a specific pathogen also minimizes harmful inflammatory responses.

This platform set the stage for the rapid development and deployment of mRNA vaccines to combat COVID-19 when the virus exploded across the world in early 2020. Both Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna have licensed University of Pennsylvania technology that is used in their COVID-19 vaccines, a combined 370 million doses of which have been administered in the U.S. alone. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is being deployed in 126 countries, and 71 countries are using the Moderna vaccine.

“Dr. Weissman’s and Dr. Karikó’s visionary research and persistence in unlocking the power of mRNA as a therapeutic platform have established both Penn and Philadelphia as the birthplace of mRNA vaccines, and provided us with the blueprint for a future in which we can fight infectious diseases, and incurable genetic diseases, from herpes and malaria to sickle-cell anemia and cancer,” said J. Larry Jameson, executive vice president of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System and dean of the Perelman School of Medicine. “From the challenges and losses sown by the COVID-19 pandemic, their breakthrough discoveries have emerged and allow us to see a brighter future for so many fields of medicine.”

For 75 years, the Lasker Awards have recognized the contributions of leaders who make major advances in the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, cure, or prevention of human disease. Dr. Weissman’s and Dr. Karikó’s awards, which carry an honorarium of $250,000 between them, were announced on September 24 in a virtual ceremony by the Lasker Foundation. Past Lasker Award honorees include Jonas E. Salk for the invention of the polio vaccine and Anthony Fauci for designing government programs to tackle the issues of HIV and biodefense. Dr. Weissman completed his fellowship in immunology in the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, serving in Dr. Fauci’s lab.

Seven previous Penn Medicine faculty members have received Lasker Awards for achievements including development of cognitive behavioral therapy, vaccines for pneumonia and meningitis, and the first discovery of a genetic cause of cancer, the so-called Philadelphia chromosome.

“As a physician-scientist, you hope your work will someday have a positive impact on real people, and it was beyond exciting to see that happen,” Dr. Weissman said. “But now, I’m most excited to be teaming up with colleagues to explore all that mRNA vaccines can do. We’re working on malaria with people across the U.S. and in Africa and on leptospirosis with people in Southeast Asia. We’re working on vaccines for peanut allergies. All of this is through collaboration. We find the best people in the world and ask them, ‘Do you want to collaborate on making this vaccine?’”

Dr. Karikó, too, is collaborating with fellow scientists on new discoveries, likening the research to the thrill of watching an intricate detective story unfold. “So many enigmatic things about RNA I find very, very exciting,” Dr. Karikó said. “And I am so glad that it eventually helped humanity.” On her collaborations with Dr. Weissman, she added, “Sometimes, we asked a question and made an experiment. And of course, instead of the answer, we got 100 more questions. It was very enjoyable. I would like to emphasize that to be a scientist is a joy.”

Drs. Weissman and Karikó have been recognized this year with multiple national and international commendations, including the Princess of Asturias Award, the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research, and the Breakthrough Prize.

Interim Provost Beth Winkelstein and Vice Provost for Faculty Laura Perna announce the appointment of Michele Goodwin as the Provost’s Distinguished Visiting Faculty Fellow for the 2021-2022 academic year. 

Dr. Goodwin, Chancellor’s Professor of Law and founding director of the Center for Biotechnology and Global Health Policy at the University of California at Irvine School of Law, is a pioneer of health law whose visit will be hosted by the department of medical ethics and health policy in the Perelman School of Medicine. Dr. Goodwin led the first ABA-accredited health law program in the United States, established the first law center focused on race and bioethics, and is the author of Policing the Womb: Invisible Women and the Criminalization of Motherhood (2020), Black Markets: The Supply and Demand of Body Parts (2006), and more than 100 articles, essays, and book chapters across both scholarly publications and popular media. 

The Provost’s Distinguished Visiting Faculty Fellowship is awarded annually to a senior scholar of national or international prominence whose work promotes civic engagement, scholarly innovation, and inclusive communities, with the aim of enriching the intellectual and cultural life of the Penn community. Fellows can be from any academic discipline, with preference for those whose work is interdisciplinary in nature, promotes the growth of academic fields, and involves innovative research, methods, or scholarly themes. Fellows mentor Penn students, participate in panels and public discussions, collaborate on research projects, and provide at least one public presentation to the Penn community.

Catherine C. McDonald has been named the Dr. Hildegarde Reynolds Endowed Term Professor of Primary Care Nursing in Penn’s School of Nursing, effective immediately. 

Dr. McDonald is also an associate professor of nursing at Penn Nursing, vice-chair of the department of family and community health in Penn Nursing, and an associate professor of pediatric nursing at the Perelman School of Medicine. She is a member of the executive committee of the Penn Injury Science Center (PISC), a Centers for Disease Control (CDC)-funded Injury Control Research Center, and is co-director of the PISC Training Core, which helps oversee undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate training. Dr. McDonald is a nurse scientist, clinical expert, and an exceptional teacher.  

Dr. McDonald’s program of research aims to promote health and reduce injury in youth. She has a strong portfolio of research on adolescent injury prevention funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the CDC. She is currently the primary investigator on two NIH-funded R01s focused on teen driving and adolescent injury prevention and co-investigator on several injury-related research projects. Dr. McDonald’s research drives her teaching as well as her clinical work as a pediatric intensive care nurse and school nurse. She has been course director and seminar leader for several first-year courses, and a guest lecturer in numerous courses at Penn Nursing and across campus. She also has a training leadership role in the CHOP Leadership Education in Adolescent Health (LEAH) Program. She has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles on injury prevention related to children and adolescents on the topics of driving behaviors, motor vehicle crashes, child passenger safety, concussion, and community violence exposure.  

The Penn Libraries has welcomed Samantha Hill as curator for civic engagement. An award-winning trans-disciplinary artist whose practice draws upon archives and oral histories collected by individuals and communities, Ms. Hill was born in Philadelphia, was most recently based in Chicago, and has worked with communities in Anchorage, Alaska; Macon, Georgia; and Charlotte, North Carolina.

Ms. Hill is the founder and primary investigator of the Kinship Project, a special collection that contains 4,000 candid and professional family pictures (photographs, scrapbooks, tintypes & digital images), mostly of African Americans, from across the country. By simultaneously playing the role of artist, archivist, and anthropologist, she engages communities in the development of multi-media installations and performances grounded in individual and community memory.

“The Penn Libraries has made it a strategic priority to intentionally strengthen outreach and engagement that positively impact local communities,” said Constantia Constantinou, H. Carton Rogers III Vice Provost and director of the Penn Libraries. “Samantha’s expertise across disciplines and deep experience in partnership-building will be invaluable to our work on campus and throughout Philadelphia.”

As part of the curatorial team in the Penn Libraries’ Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Ms. Hill will bring to  the Kislak Center expertise in preserving and providing access to cultural heritage to communities in and around the city of Philadelphia. While the Penn Libraries is an active collecting institution, Ms. Hill expects to work in a post-custodial model, where the artifacts of memory are not extracted from the communities that create and nurture them. Instead, Penn’s experience in processing, preserving, digitizing, and providing access to such material might help advance the goals of those communities while promoting research and teaching.

As curator for civic engagement, Ms. Hill will also serve as a fellow with Civic House, Penn’s hub for student civic engagement, centering community organizations and social justice education. Founded in 1998, Civic House runs a variety of initiatives, including the Penn Civic Scholars Program, which involves up to 15 students in each class seeking to integrate their civic engagement and scholarship experiences as undergraduates. 

Ms. Hill comes to Penn from the University of Michigan, where she earned a master of information science. She also earned a master of fine arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. 

October 1, 2021

Dear Penn Community,

On June 30, 2021, we concluded The Power of Penn Campaign, the University’s most successful fundraising and engagement effort to date. We are pleased to report that we have far exceeded our initial campaign goal, raising more than $5.4 billion in support of our commitment to grow inclusion, spark innovation, and accelerate impact where it is needed most.  

This campaign’s success is a testament to the strength and engagement of Penn’s faculty, staff, and student community; the outstanding support of Penn’s alumni, donors, and friends; and the leadership and generosity of our volunteers.  

Thanks to our collective efforts, we have strengthened student financial aid and expanded access to a Penn education through programs such as Penn First Plus. We have increased endowment for faculty and staff positions at each of our schools and centers. We have supported groundbreaking research that crosses disciplines and expands knowledge in fields such as behavioral science, healthcare, and sustainable energy. And we have created new spaces on campus that drive learning, foster creativity and innovation, enrich the student experience, and serve the broader community. 

We invite you to explore The Power of Penn Impact Summary and watch our Campaign Impact video to see how the Campaign has propelled our shared priorities and inspired transformation across our campus and around the world.  

With deepest appreciation,

—Scott L. Bok, C’81, W’81, L’84 
Chair, Board of Trustees 

—Amy Gutmann, President 

September 30, 2021

Dear Quakers, 

We are now well into our fall 2021 semester, and we could not have come this far without your patience, resilience, and diligence in following our public health guidance on campus. We’re all learning how to adapt to the presence of COVID-19 and its variants in our daily lives, and I want to thank you for your efforts to ensure a safe return as we re-populated our campus over the past several weeks. Together, we’ve kept our COVID-19 positivity rates well below those of our surrounding communities and region, and have been effective in avoiding classroom and workplace transmission.

Our Gateway Testing, or testing performed upon your arrival, provided a baseline rate of positivity among students, faculty, staff, and postdocs. Our student Gateway positivity rate was 0.61%, and our faculty, staff, and postdoc Gateway positivity rate was 0.25%. Additionally, our vaccination rates on campus remain high. As the October 15 deadline from the City of Philadelphia approaches, 95% of our faculty and staff campus-wide are vaccinated, as are 96% of our entire student population.

Even as a highly vaccinated community, we have a collective responsibility to work together to protect our campus and our surrounding neighborhoods. To do so, we must simply continue to follow the University’s public health guidance:

• Complete your daily symptom attestation through PennOpen Pass.
• Mask up! Whenever indoors, in public and shared spaces, wear a mask—even if fully vaccinated.
• Participate in the University’s required Screening Testing Program:
  • All fully vaccinated students must test once every other week (some student groups must test more regularly)
  • Fully vaccinated faculty, staff, and postdocs are randomly chosen each week and informed via email to participate in screening testing
  • Those with an approved COVID-19 vaccine exemption, and those who have not yet been fully vaccinated, must continue to test twice a week.
• Continue to be mindful of good hand and cough hygiene: wash your hands frequently and cough into your elbow.
• Keep surfaces clean: this will also help minimize the transmission of the many other traditional fall illnesses that are still circulating—including the common cold, RSV, strep throat, and more. 
• Practice physical distancing when eating or drinking in the presence of others, especially indoors, and consider eating outdoors if possible.

As a reminder, all students are required to receive the flu vaccine this year. Please visit the Wellness at Penn page for more information about Penn’s 2021 Flu Clinic, taking place at Pottruck Health and Fitness Center, from October 4-8. The clinic will be open Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m.-6:30 p.m. and Friday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. There is no cost for this vaccination. All faculty, staff and postdoctoral fellows are also eligible to receive their flu shot at no cost. Simply bring your Penn ID and mask up!

Remember—we all benefit when we do our part. We are learning to co-exist with COVID-19 and our experience thus far shows that COVID-19 does not deter us from fulfilling our academic mission here at Penn.

It is our united actions that will define our success and strengthen us. Union, as Benjamin Franklin reminds us, “makes us strong and even formidable.”

With appreciation and in good health,

—Benoit Dubé
Associate Provost and Chief Wellness Officer
University of Pennsylvania

Nominations for Penn’s University-wide teaching awards are now being accepted by the Office of the Provost. Any member of the University community—past or present—may nominate a teacher for these awards. There are three awards:

• The Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching honors eight members of the standing faculty: four in the non-health schools (Annenberg, Design, SEAS, GSE, Law, SAS, SP2, Wharton) and four in the health schools (Dental Medicine, PSOM, Nursing, Veterinary Medicine).
• The Provost’s Award for Distinguished PhD Teaching and Mentoring honors two faculty members for their teaching and mentoring of PhD students. Standing and associated faculty in any school offering the PhD are eligible for the award.
• The Provost’s Award for Teaching Excellence by Non-Standing Faculty honors two members of the associated faculty or academic support staff who teach at Penn, one in the non-health schools and one in the health schools. 

The nomination forms are available at the Teaching Awards website. The deadline for nominations is Friday, December 3, 2021. Full nominations with complete dossiers prepared by the nominees’ department chairs are due Friday, February 4, 2022. For more information, please email provost-ed@upenn.edu or call (215) 898-7225.

Criteria and Guidelines

The Lindback and Provost’s Awards are given in recognition of distinguished teaching. “Distinguished teaching” is teaching that is intellectually demanding, unusually coherent and permanent in its effect. The distinguished teacher has the capability of changing the way in which students view the subject they are studying. The distinguished teacher provides the basis for students to look with critical and informed perception at the fundamentals of a discipline and relates that discipline to other disciplines and to the worldview of the student. The distinguished teacher is accessible to students and open to new ideas, but also expresses their own views with articulate and informed understanding of an academic field. The distinguished teacher is fair, free from prejudice and single-minded in the pursuit of truth.

Skillful direction of dissertation students, effective supervision of student researchers, ability to organize a large course of many sections, skill in leading seminars, special talent with large classes, ability to handle discussions or structure lectures—these are all attributes of distinguished teaching, although it is unlikely that anyone will excel in all of them. At the same time, distinguished teaching means different things in different fields. While the distinguished teacher should be versatile, as much at home in large groups as in small, in beginning classes as in advanced, they may have skills of special importance in their area of specialization. The primary criteria for the Provost’s Award for Distinguished PhD Teaching and Mentoring are a record of successful doctoral student mentoring and placement, success in collaborating on doctoral committees and graduate groups, and distinguished research.

Since distinguished teaching is recognized and recorded in different ways, evaluation must also take several forms. It is not enough to look solely at letters of recommendation from students or to consider “objective” evaluations of particular classes in tabulated form. A faculty member’s influence extends beyond the classroom and individual classes. Nor is it enough to look only at a candidate’s most recent semester or opinions expressed immediately after a course is over; the influence of the best teachers lasts, while that of others may be great at first but lessen over time. It is not enough merely to gauge student adulation, for its basis is superficial; but neither should such feelings be discounted as unworthy of investigation. Rather, all of these factors and more should enter into the identification and assessment of distinguished teaching.

The Lindback and Provost’s Awards have a symbolic importance that transcends the recognition of individual merit. They should be used to advance effective teaching by serving as reminders to the University community of the expectations for the quality of its mission.

Distinguished teaching occurs in all parts of the University.  Therefore, faculty members from all schools are eligible for consideration. An excellent teacher who does not receive an award in a given year may be re-nominated in some future year and receive the award then.

The Lindback and Provost’s Awards may recognize faculty members with many years of distinguished service or many years of service remaining. The teaching activities for which the awards are granted must be components of the degree programs of the University of Pennsylvania.

We invite your organization/department to plan a program in conjunction with this year’s symposium. Your program(s) may include reflection, action, or response to contemporary issues. Programs should address issues of social change and social justice while incorporating Dr. King’s vision to end racism, violence and poverty. We encourage programs that strengthen and embrace diversity as well as support free expression. For date availability, visit https://www.upenn.edu/aarc/mlk/calendar_mlk.htm.

If interested, contact the African-American Resource Center no later than December 17, 2021 with your program. Email Colleen Winn at cowinn@upenn.edu, Darin Toliver at toliverd@upenn.edu, or Steve Kocher at skocher@upenn.edu, or call (215) 898-0104.

—African American Resource Center

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”
—Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

To Members of the University and Surrounding Community:

The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Involvement Recognition Awards will be presented to five individuals in the following areas:

• Community Award presented to two residents (youth and/or adult) of the greater Philadelphia community involved in community service and/or working for social justice through non-violent efforts aimed at alleviating systemic inequalities as it relates to poverty, racism, and militarism.
• Community Award presented to a faculty or staff of the Penn community involved in community service and/or working for social justice through non-violent efforts aimed at alleviating systemic inequalities as it relates to poverty, racism, and militarism.
• Community Award presented to a Penn student involved in community service and/or working for social justice through non-violent efforts aimed at alleviating systemic inequalities as it relates to poverty, racism, and militarism.
• The Rodin Education Award presented to a Penn faculty, staff, student, or Philadelphia resident who demonstrate significant contributions in community service and/or working for social justice efforts through the advancement of education and educational opportunities in Philadelphia.

The awards will be presented as part of the University’s commemoration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day during the Interfaith program. We seek your help in nominating individuals whose work most merits recognition. Please share this information with others in your families, communities, schools, departments and organizations so that we may identify those most deserving of this award.

Nomination forms may be submitted through November 3, 2021.

Electronic submissions using this form are preferred but not required: Commemorative Program: 2022 Community Involvement Recognition Awards.

If you prefer sending by mail, please send to the African American Resource Center, attn: Elisa Foster, Penn Women’s Center, 3643 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6230. Should you have any questions, please contact the African American Resource Center at (215) 898-0104 or aarc@pobox.upenn.edu.

—2022 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Symposium Executive Planning Committee

Julius J. “JJ” Bentman, a former associate adjunct professor of oral medicine and periodontology at Penn Dental, passed away peacefully on July 19. He was 101. 

Born in 1919 in Philadelphia, Dr. Bentman earned undergraduate, dental, and periodontal degrees from Penn’s School of Dental Medicine. During World War II, Dr. Bentman was a captain in the U.S. Army, serving as a dentist at Fort Lewis, Washington and Excursion Inlet, Alaska. Decades later, after retiring from dentistry, he became an active member of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA). He visited elementary schools and educated students about the daily life of the troops who supported the front lines during World War II.

After the war, Dr. Bentman moved to Lancaster, where he established a private practice in periodontal dentistry and served as a consultant to the Lebanon VA and the Lancaster Cleft Palate Clinic. In 1947, he returned to his alma mater, becoming an instructor of oral medicine in Penn’s School of Dental Medicine. Five years later, he was promoted to an associate, and in 1955, he moved to the department of periodontology. In 1962, he became an assistant adjunct professor in periodontology, a position he held until leaving Penn in 1975. From 1957 to 1960, Dr. Bentman also served as a lecturer in the department of practice management. 

Outside of dentistry and military service, Dr. Bentman was an accomplished artist in a variety of media, contributing a piece to the Smithsonian Institute’s 1988 Tropical Rain Forest exhibit. He was also a sports enthusiast and an accomplished handyman, building and repairing tools and household objects. 

Dr. Bentman is survived by two daughters, Adrienne and Mara (Joseph LoPresti); his nephew, Russell Bentman; and two grandchildren. A private memorial service will be held by his family in the spring of 2022. Condolence contributions may be sent to Hospice and Community Care, PO Box 4125, Lancaster, PA 17604-4125 or Jewish Family Service, 75 East James St., Lancaster, PA 17602.

Robert (Bob) F. Carroll, a former lecturer in the Wharton School’s department of finance, passed away on August 2. He was 93. 

Mr. Carroll was born in Dunmore, Pennsylvania in 1928. Some years later, his family moved to Yeadon, Pennsylvania, and Mr. Carroll went to high school at St. Joseph’s Preparatory School in Philadelphia. Mr. Carroll was a generous alumnus long after leaving St. Joseph’s Prep, serving on the school’s board of directors and making several important donations. After graduating, Mr. Carroll attended the Wharton School, graduating with a degree in finance in 1951.  While at Penn, he was a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity.

After graduating from Wharton, Mr. Carroll worked as a real estate appraiser and an associate broker. In 1965, he opened his own realty brokerage firm, Robert F. Carroll Co., specializing in commercial and industrial real estate. He became a member of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors and was elected its president in 1973. In 1964, he was hired as an instructor in Wharton’s department of finance, teaching evening classes. Until leaving Wharton in 1992, he taught real estate finance to graduate students and undergraduates.

Outside of business and academic pursuits, Mr. Carroll served on the Board of Trustees of the Academy of the Sacred Heart (now Sacred Heart Academy) and spearheaded its relocation from Philadelphia to Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Later in his career, Mr. Carroll had leadership roles at Philadelphia corporations Cushman & Wakefield and Jackson-Cross Co.

Mr. Carroll is survived by his wife, Helen Devlin; his daughters, Christina Carroll and Denise Carroll Chaplin; his sister, Mary Furtaw; and three grandchildren. A memorial service was held on August 10. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Mr. Carroll’s memory to St. Joseph’s Preparatory School, 1733 W. Girard Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19130, or at www.sjprep.org. 

Pamela Hearne Jardine, a former collection keeper at the Penn Museum and a renowned advocate for Native American art and culture, passed away on April 28 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 82. 

Born in Milwaukee, Dr. Jardine attended Milwaukee-Downer Seminary (now University School of Milwaukee) and graduated from Scripps College in Claremont, California. Afterwards, she earned a master’s degree and a PhD in American civilization from Penn. 

In 1982, Dr. Jardine became the American collection keeper at the Penn Museum. She curated numerous major exhibits that toured the globe, including River of Gold: Precolumbian Treasures from Sitio Conte, which appeared most notably at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. She was an aficionado of cloth materials and built two exhibitions around them, The Gift of Spiderwoman: Southwestern Textiles at the Penn Museum and The Silent Language of Guatemalan Textiles at the Arthur Ross Gallery. 

In 1989, she was promoted to manager of the American collection, and for the next decade, she curated numerous traveling exhibitions, including The Royal Tombs of Ur and Pomo Indian Basket Weavers: Their Baskets and the Art Market. She also worked closely with indigenous consultants on a long-term gallery installation that featured cultural perspectives of Native American peoples of the southwest – the Hopi, Zuni, and Navajo. Posthumously, her work with the Blackfeet tribe will become an exhibit at the Penn Museum.  

Dr. Jardine retired from the Penn Museum in 1998 but continued her involvement on a part-time basis, joining Penn’s 25-Year Club in 2007. After retiring from Penn, she worked as a curator at the Montclair Art Museum in New Jersey, reviving the Rand Gallery, which included new acquisitions of up-and-coming indigenous artists, and curating the popular exhibit Virgil Ortiz: Odyssey of the Venutian Soldiers. 

Dr. Jardine is survived by her daughters, Shelley Hearne (Kathleen Welch) and Alexandra Jackson (Doug); her brother, Paul Haberland; her sister, Anne Emerson (Minnow); two grandchildren, and other family members. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the American Indian College Fund in memory of Pamela Hearne Jardine or on the website collegefund.org. 

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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.

The following agenda is published in accordance with the Faculty Senate Rules. Any member of the standing faculty may attend and observe SEC meetings. SEC will meet virtually unless otherwise specified. To obtain access information, contact senate@pobox.upenn.edu or (215) 898-6943.

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Agenda

Wednesday, October 13, 2021
3:00–5:00 p.m. EDT

1. Finalize the Minutes of September 22, 2021
2. Tri-Chairs’ Report
3. Nominations sought for the 2021-2022 Senate Nominating Committee
4. Update from the Office of the Provost
   • Discussion with Interim Provost Beth Winkelstein
5. Resolution from CIRCE:  Faculty Senate Select Committee on the Institutional Response to the Climate Emergency
6. Moderated Internal Discussion
7. New Business

Faculty Senate Executive Committee (SEC) 2021-2022

Officers

• Chair: William Braham, Weitzman Design
• Chair-Elect: Vivian Gadsden, GSE
• Past Chair: Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Annenberg
• Secretary: Catherine McDonald, Nursing
• Secretary-Elect: Daniel Gillion, SAS/Political Science
• Past Secretary: Alison Buttenheim, Nursing

At-Large Representatives

• Gad Allon, Wharton
• Lee Bassett, SEAS/ESE
• José Bauermeister, Nursing
• Mary Regina Boland, PSOM/DBEI
• Donita Brady, PSOM/Cancer Biology
• Carolyn Cannuscio, PSOM/Family Medicine
• Ann Farnsworth-Alvear, SAS/History
• Rose Nolen-Walston, Veterinary Medicine
• Mark Oyama, Veterinary Medicine
• Benjamin Pierce, SEAS/CIS
• Li Shen, PSOM/DBEI
• Emily Steiner, SAS/English

Assistant Professor Representatives

• César de la Fuente, PSOM/Psychiatry
• Pilar Gonalons-Pons, SAS/Sociology
• Katharine Rendle, PSOM/Family Medicine and Community Health

PASEF Representative

• David Manning, PSOM/Pharmacology

Constituency Representatives

• Damon Centola, Annenberg
• Anne Berg, SAS/History
• Theodore Schurr, SAS/Anthropology
• Ted Chinburg, SAS/Mathematics
• Wei Guo, SAS/Biology
• Joseph Subotnik, SAS/Chemistry
• Kathryn Hellerstein, SAS/Germanic Language and Literature
• Steven Matthews, SAS/Economics
• VACANT, SAS/English
• Daniel Singer, SAS/Philosophy
• Donovan Schaefer, SAS/Religious Studies (Alternate: Megan Robb, SAS/Religious Studies)
• Philip Nelson, SAS/Physics & Astronomy
• Julia Lynch, SAS/Political Science
• John Trueswell, SAS/Psychology
• Wendy Roth, SAS/Sociology
• Geelsu Hwang, Dental
• Janine Remillard, GSE (Alternate: Rand Quinn, GSE)
• Chinedum Osuji, SEAS/CBE
• Mark Allen, SEAS/ESE
• Domenic Vitiello, Weitzman Design
• Eric Feldman, Law
• John Holmes, PSOM/DBEI 
• Stephen Avery, PSOM/Radiation Oncology
• Karthik Rajasekaran, PSOM/Otorhinolaryngology
• VACANT, PSOM/ Genetics, Medical Ethics & Health Policy, Microbiology, Neurology, Neuroscience, Neurosurgery, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Physiology, Systems Pharmacology & Translational Therapeutics
• Kenneth Margulies, PSOM/Medicine
• Ryan Greysen, PSOM Medicine
• Rebecka Peebles, PSOM/Pediatrics
• Jenny Shao, PSOM/Surgery
• Joseph Libonati, Nursing
• Ezekiel Dixon-Román, Social Policy and Practice
• De’Broski Herbert, Vet
• Dipti Pitta, Vet
• VACANT, Wharton/ Accounting, Health Care Management, Operations, Information, & Decisions, Statistics, Finance, Legal Studies & Business Ethics, Business Economics & Public Policy
• Daniel Raff, Wharton/Management

The Senate Committee on the Economic Status of the Faculty (SCESF)

• Shawn Bird, PSOM/Neurology
• Jennifer Blouin, Wharton
• Dennis Culhane, Social Policy and Practice
• Tulia Falleti, SAS/Political Science
• Graciela Gonzalez Hernandez, PSOM/DBEI
• Iourii Manovskii, SAS/Economics, Chair
• Mark Oyama, Veterinary Medicine
• Rand Quinn, GSE
• Melissa Sanchez, SAS/English

Ex-Officio:

• William Braham, Weitzman Design, Faculty Senate Chair
• Vivian Gadsden, Education, Faculty Senate Chair-Elect
• Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Annenberg, Faculty Senate Past Chair

The Senate Committee on Faculty Development, Diversity, and Equity (SCFDDE)

• Hydar Ali, Dental
• Antonella Cianferoni, PSOM/Pediatrics
• Nelson Flores, GSE, Chair
• Junhyong Kim, SAS/Biology
• Meghan Lane-Fall, PSOM/Anesthesiology & Critical Care
• Ken Lum, Weitzman Design

Ex-Officio:

• A representative of the Senate Tri-Chairs
• Sherrill Adams, Dental, PASEF non-voting member

The Senate Committee on Faculty and the Administration (SCOA)

• Ryan Baker, GSE
• Vera Krymskaya, PSOM/Medicine, Chair
• Errol Lord, SAS/Philosophy
• Steven Messe, PSOM/Neurology
• Kevin Platt, SAS/Russian and East European Studies
• Erica Reineke, Vet

Ex-Officio:

• A representative of the Senate Tri-Chairs
• Peter Kuriloff, GSE, PASEF non-voting member

The Senate Committee on Faculty and the Academic Mission (SCOF)

• Margo Brooks Carthon, Nursing¸ Co-Chair
• Ariana Chao, Nursing
• Struan Grant, PSOM/Pediatrics
• Rebecka Peebles, PSOM/Pediatrics, Co-Chair
• Alexander Reiter, Vet
• Amy Stornaiuolo, GSE
• Julia Ticona, Annenberg

Ex-Officio:

• A representative of the Senate Tri-Chairs
• Roger Allen, SAS/NELC, PASEF non-voting member

The Senate Committee on Students and Educational Policy (SCSEP)

• Gerald Campano, GSE
• Huda Fakhreddine, SAS/NELC
• Sara Jaffee, SAS/Psychology
• Carol Muller, SAS/Music, Chair
• Marilyn Schapira, PSOM/Medicine
• Mindy Schuster, PSOM/Medicine

Ex-Officio:

• A representative of the Senate Tri-Chairs
• Anita Summers, Wharton, PASEF non-voting member

The Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility (SCAFR)

• Geoffrey Aguirre, PSOM/Neurology
• Sigal Ben-Porath, GSE
• Nader Engheta, SEAS/ESE
• Chris Feudtner, PSOM/Pediatrics
• Jean Galbraith, Law
• Rebecca Hubbard, PSOM/DBEI
• Christopher Marcinkoski, Weitzman Design
• Raina Merchant, PSOM/Emergency Medicine, Chair
• Flavia Vitale, PSOM/Neurology
• Daniel Wodak, SAS/Philosophy

Ex-Officio:

• Vivian Gadsden, GSE, Faculty Senate Chair-Elect

The Senate Committee on Publication Policy for Almanac

To be published at a later date

Faculty Grievance Commission

Chair: Santosh Venkatesh, SEAS/ESE

Chair-Elect: Sarah Kagan, Nursing

Past Chair: Mitchell Berman, Law

The Senate Select Committee on the Institutional Response to the Climate Emergency (CIRCE)

• Herman Beavers, SAS/English
• Anne Berg, SAS/History
• William Braham, Weitzman Design, Chair, Ex-Officio
• Alison Buttenheim, Nursing 
• Thomas Daniels, Weitzman Design
• Jared Farmer, SAS/History
• Vivian Gadsden, GSE, Ex-Officio
• Erum Hartung, PSOM/Pediatrics
• De’Broski Herbert, Vet
• Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Annenberg, Ex-Officio
• Yuli Kim, PSOM/Medicine
• Steven Kimbrough, Wharton
• Irina Marinov, SAS/Earth and Environmental Science
• Michael McGarvey, PSOM/Neurology, Operations Subcommittee Chair
• Benjamin Pierce, SEAS/CIS, Community and Policy Subcommittee Chair
• Simon Richter, SAS/German
• Akira Drake Rodriguez, Weitzman Design
• Misha Rosenbach PSOM/Dermatology, UPHS Subcommittee Co-Chair
• Eric Stach, SEAS/MSE
• Franca Trubiano, Weitzman Design
• Michael Weisberg, SAS/Philosophy, Research and Education Subcommittee Chair
• Bethany Wiggin, SAS/German

Non-voting members:

• Caroline Cox, PSOM/Obstetrics and Gynecology
• Jane Dmochowski, SAS/ESE
• Kathleen Fink, Energy Manager, University of Pennsylvania Health System
• William Fleming, McHarg Center
• Farah Hussein, PSOM/Medicine
• Andrew Huemmler, SEAS/CBE
• Jan-Michael Klapproth, PSOM/Medicine
• Kirstin Knox, PSOM/Clinical Medicine
• Howard Kunreuther, Wharton, Emeritus
• Joseph Leanza, PSOM/Emergency Medicine
• Howard Neukrug, SAS/ESE
• Anne Reilly, PSOM/Pediatrics
• Monika Sanghavi, PSOM/Medicine
• Hari Shankar, Pulmonary, PSOM/Allergy & Critical Care Fellow, UPHS Subcommittee Co-Chair
• Michelle Walker, PSOM/Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism Fellow

The Senate Select Committee on Planning for Post-Pandemic (P4)

• Peter Cappelli, Wharton
• Chenoa Flippen, SAS/Sociology
• Howard Kunreuther, Wharton, Emeritus, Non-Voting
• Jennifer Pinto-Martin, Nursing, Co-Chair
• Harvey Rubin, PSOM/Medicine, Co-Chair
• Santosh Venkatesh, SEAS/ESE
• Michael Weisberg, SAS/Philosophy
• Bethany Wiggin, SAS/German

The Senate Select Committee on Scholarly Communication

• William Braham, Weitzman Design, Ex-Officio
• Vivian Gadsden, GSE, Ex-Officio
• Jerry Jacobs, SAS/Sociology
• Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Annenberg, Ex-Officio
• Lewis Kaplan, PSOM/Surgery
• Eileen Lake, Nursing
• Rebecka Peebles, PSOM/Pediatrics
• Kathy Peiss, SAS/History
• Daniel Raff, Wharton, Chair
• Beth Simmons, Law and SAS/Political Science

Non-voting members:

• Mary Francis, Director of the Penn Press
• Aishwarya Pawar, GAPSA
• Jon Shaw, Associate Vice Provost and Deputy University Librarian
• Brigitte Weinsteiger, Associate Vice Provost for Collections and Scholarly Communications

Steering Committee

The Steering Committee shall consist of the president of the University, the provost, the chair, the chair-elect and the past chair of the Faculty Senate, the chair of the Undergraduate Assembly, the chair of the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly, the chair of the Penn Professional Staff Assembly, and the chair of the Weekly-Paid Professional Staff Assembly. Drawn from the Council membership there shall be in addition four faculty members, one graduate/professional student, and one undergraduate student elected by the respective governing bodies, as well as one additional member of the Penn Professional Staff Assembly and one additional member of the Weekly-Paid Penn Professional Staff Assembly, each elected by their representative assemblies. The chair of the Faculty Senate shall be the chair of the Steering Committee. In the absence of the chair, or at the request of the chair, the chair-elect shall serve as chair of the Steering Committee. The Council moderator will be an official observer at meetings of the Steering Committee. The secretary of the Council shall serve as secretary of the Steering Committee. Members of the Steering Committee may attend the meetings of Council committees.

—Council Bylaws

Members of Steering Committee

• Tori Borlase
• William Braham, Chair
• Anne Corcoran-Petela
• Vivian Gadsden, Chair-Elect
• Maureen Goldsmith
• Amy Gutmann
• Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Past Chair
• Joseph Libonati
• Julia Lynch
• Janice Owusu 
• Rebecka Peebles 
• Daniel Raff
• Joe Rummaneethorn 
• Joe Suh
• Patrick Walsh
• Beth Winkelstein

Members of Council

Faculty: Forty-five members of the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate. The Faculty Senate shall ensure that each faculty is represented and that at least three assistant professors serve on the Council. The members of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee who are members of the Council shall otherwise be chosen in accordance with the rules of the Faculty Senate.

One full-time lecturer and one full-time member of the research faculty are to be selected to serve two-year terms by vote facilitated by the Office of the Secretary in consultation with the Steering Committee of the full-time lecturers and research faculty, respectively, from a slate consisting of the five lecturers and the five members of the research faculty receiving the largest number of nominations by lecturers and members of the research faculty. If the Steering Committee receives fewer than five nominations for either group, additional nominations shall be solicited from the constituency representatives of the Senate Executive Committee.

Administrative Officers and Staff: Eleven administrative officers, including the president, the provost, and nine members of the administration to be appointed annually by the president, at least five of whom shall be deans of faculties.

Two elected representatives of the Penn Professional Staff Assembly. One elected representative of the Librarians Assembly. Two elected representatives of the Weekly-Paid Professional Staff Assembly.

Students: Fifteen graduate and professional students elected as members of the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly. The Graduate and Professional Student Assembly shall ensure that, to the extent possible, each school is represented. The members of the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly who are members of the Council shall otherwise be chosen in accordance with the rules of the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly.

Fifteen undergraduate students elected as members of the Undergraduate Assembly. The Undergraduate Assembly shall ensure that, to the extent possible, each undergraduate school is represented. The members of the Undergraduate Assembly who are members of the Council shall otherwise be chosen in accordance with the rules of the Undergraduate Assembly.

One elected representative of the United Minorities Council.

—Council Bylaws

Elected by the Faculty At-Large

• Mark Allen
• Stephen Avery
• Anne Berg
• Damon Centola
• Ted Chinburg
• Ezekiel Dixon-Román 
• Eric Feldman
• Ryan Greysen
• Wei Guo
• Kathryn Hellerstein 
• De’Broski Herbert 
• John Holmes 
• Geelsu Hwang 
• Joseph Libonati 
• Julia Lynch 
• Kenneth Margulies
• Steven Matthews
• Chinedum Osuji 
• Rebecka Peebles 
• Dipti Pitta
• Daniel Raff
• Karthik Rajasekaran 
• Janine Remillard 
• Wendy Roth 
• Donovan Schaefer 
• Theodore Schurr 
• Jenny Shao
• Daniel Singer 
• Joseph Subotnik 
• John Trueswell 
• Domenic Vitiello
• TBD: 5

Assistant Professor Representatives

• César de la Fuente
• Pilar Gonalons-Pons 
• Katharine Rendle

Lecturers and Research Faculty Members 

• Research Faculty Representative: Iliana Kohler, term expires May 2023
• Lecturer Representative: Kathleen Kramer, term expires May 2023

Members of the Administration

• Mamta Motwani Accapadi 
• William Gipson
• Pam Grossman
• Amy Gutmann
• Charles Howard 
• John Jackson
• Vijay Kumar 
• Ted Ruger 
• Maureen Rush
• Fritz Steiner 
• Beth Winkelstein

Graduate/Professional Students

• Ajay Anand 
• Tiffani Brown 
• Jaydee Edwards 
• Pamela Gallo 
• Helen Jin
• Emily Laurore 
• Guerline Laurore
• Hoang-Anh Phan
• Joe Rummaneethorn, GAPSA President
• Serena Shi
• Joe Suh, GAPSA Professional Council Chair
• Christian Tabedzki
• Robert Watson
• Paul Welfer, GAPSA Executive Vice President
• TBD: 1

Undergraduate Students

• Gabriela Alvarado, Latinx Coalition
• Justin Arnold, UMOJA
• Tori Borlase, UA President
• Alexandra Brauer, Transfer Student Organization 
• Kruti Desai, Disability Advocacy at Penn
• Tristan Fajardo, Natives at Penn
• Emma Glasser, Fossil Free Penn
• Angela Ji, Asian Pacific Student Coalition
• Johaer Jilani, Muslim Students Association
• Jenna Krawchuk, Assembly of International Students 
• Janice Owusu, UA Vice President
• Nikita Patel, Hindu and Jain Association
• Sarah Payne, Abuse and Sexual Assault Prevention 
• Blake Rubenstein, LAMBDA Alliance
• Carson Sheumaker, UA Speaker

United Minorities Council

• Jessica Liu

Penn Professional Staff Assembly

• Patrick Walsh, Chair
• Anne Corcoran-Petela, Chair-Elect

Weekly-Paid Penn Professional Assembly

• Maureen Goldsmith, Secretary
• TBD, Chair-Elect

Librarians’ Assembly

• Aman Kaur

ROTC Representative

• Colonel Vincent Ciuccoli*

Secretary of University Council

• Lizann Boyle Rode*

Parliamentarian

• Scott Schafer*

Moderator

• Amalia Dache*

*Indicates a non-voting participant.

Click here for a list of University Council Standing Committees for 2021-2022. 

Academic & Related Affairs

• Chairs: Nancy Hirschmann, SAS
• Liaison: Leo Charney
• Staff: Jessie Burns

Faculty: 

• Montserrat Anguera, Vet
• Jessa Lingel, ASC
• Janice Madden, SAS 
• Mecky Pohlschröder, SAS 
• Paul Schmidt, SAS

Graduate Students:

• Jaydee Edwards 
• Hoang-Anh Phan

Undergraduate Students: 

• Xavier Shankle
• Austin Smith

PPSA: 

• Katherine Primus 
• Rashmi Kumar

WPPSA: 

• Cyd Di Loretto 
• TBD

Campus & Community Life

Chair: Sara Jacoby, Nursing

Liaisons:

• Tamara Greenfield King 
• Tony Sorrentino

Staff: Emily Hobbs Vanarelli 

Faculty:  

• Francesca Rusello Ammon, Weitzman Design
• Courtney Boen, SAS 
• Elinore Kaufman, PSOM 
• Mark Stern, SP2

Graduate Students: 

• Tiffani Brown 
• Robert Watson

Undergraduate Students: 

• Sarthak Jain
• Jennifer Salako

PPSA: 

• Laurie Actman 
• Laurie Hall

WPPSA: 

• Cyd Di Loretto 
• Erin Gautsche

Diversity & Equity

Chair: Ed Brockenbrough, GSE

Liaison: Sam Starks 

Staff: Kuan Evans 

Faculty:  

• DaCarla Albright, PSOM
• Jennifer Punt, Vet
• Eric Schelter, SAS
• Flavia Vitale, PSOM

Graduate Students:  

• Guerline Laurore 
• Pamela Gallo

Undergraduate Students:

• Sarah Asfari
• Delaney Holder

PPSA: 

• Nyzinga Patterson 
• Rebecca Stuhr

WPPSA:  

• Miriam Harris 
• Tiffany Perkins

Facilities

Chair: Michael McGarvey, PSOM

Liaison: Mark Kocent

Staff: Taylor Berkowitz 

Faculty:  

• Paulo Arratia, SEAS
• Cary Coglianese, Law
• Michael May, Vet 
• Nicholas Pevzner, Weitzman Design 
• Megan Ryerson, Weitzman Design

Graduate Students:

• TBD
• TBD

Undergraduate Students: 

• Shan Shan Liang 
• Andrew Spangler

PPSA: 

• Nico Meyering 
• Natalie Walker

WPPSA:  

• Cyd Di Loretto 
• Raymond Johnson

Personnel Benefits

Chair: Markus Blatz, Dental 

Liaisons: 

• Jack Heuer 
• Susan Sproat 

Staff: Melissa Brown 

Faculty:  

• Janice Bellace, Wharton
• Paula Henthorn, Vet 
• Yasmin Kafai, GSE 
• Desmond Oathes, PSOM

SCESF:

• TBD

PPSA: 

• Alisha George 
• Valerie Morgan 
• Bryan Wilkinson

WPPSA:  

• Stacie Anderson 
• Joseph Jackson 
• Rosa Vargas

Ex-Officio: Laura Perna

Committee on Committees

Chair: Vivian Gadsden, GSE

Staff: 

• Katherine Kruger 
• Patrick Walsh 

Faculty: 

• William Braham, Design 
• Joseph Libonati, Nursing 
• Julia Lynch, SAS 
• Rebecka Peebles, PSOM 
• Daniel Raff, Wharton

Graduate Student: Joe Rummaneethorn

Undergraduate Student: Megan Li

PPSA: Anne Corcoran-Petela

WPPSA: Maureen Goldsmith

To actively engage the monthly-paid staff in the University’s process to identify the successor for President Amy Gutmann, the PPSA Executive Board invited input from the staff listserv of 1,500+ in both written form and in a (virtual) “listening session” held on September 22, 2021. The staff representative to the Consultative Committee for the Selection of a President, Stacey Lopez (Vice President for Institutional Research and Analysis) participated in the listening session and received complete copies of all written and verbal responses.

The PPSA Executive Board posed the following single question to respondents: 

“What do you see as the major challenges for the University over the likely tenure of the next President?  (In other words: what not-necessarily-obvious, structural changes should the next University President make in order to tangibly improve Penn?)”

Thirty-one written replies were received during a five-day comment period, in addition to comments delivered verbally during the 40-minute listening session, a recording of which is available on the PPSA website.

The PPSA Executive Board, recognizing that Penn’s President is the prime mover of cultural change for the campus community, formally endorsed the following three recommendations, which we requested that Dr. Lopez feature prominently for the Committee in its work:

1. The new President should incentivize departments and centers to focus on recruitment and retention of talented, early- and mid-career staff members by providing them with clearly defined career pathways and mentorship programs and by compensating them equitably in comparison to the regional employment market.
2. The COVID pandemic has illustrated the extraordinary versatility, resilience, and flexibility of Penn staff. A new president should learn from these experiences and encourage innovative ways to deliver teaching, learning, and working that equitably balances the needs of the University and the staff that supports its mission.
3. The new President should foster a culture that promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) across our large, decentralized institution. They should critically examine representation, accessibility, and equity in university-wide policies, practices, and structures. They should advocate for and develop appropriate DEI practices, resources, and tools for measuring metrics and assessment. The new President should empower colleagues seeking to contribute to DEI efforts and should be held accountable to ensure positive outcomes of those efforts.

     PPSA represents the monthly-paid staff members of the University of Pennsylvania. PPSA has its origins in the A-1 Assembly and Administrative Assembly, whose role in shared governance at Penn date back at least to the 1970s.

—J. Patrick Walsh, Chair of the Penn Professional Staff Assembly

David W. Christianson, the Roy and Diana Vagelos Professor in chemistry and chemical biology and department chair of chemistry in the School of Arts and Sciences, is the 2021 recipient of the American Chemical Society (ACS) Philadelphia Section Award, given to a member who has made important contributions to the field of chemistry that have aided the public appreciation of the profession. He will be honored and deliver a talk during a virtual ceremony on October 14.

Dr. Christianson’s research focuses on the structure and function of metal-requiring enzymes. In recent years, his work has illuminated complex molecular mechanisms in the biosynthesis of terpenes, a family of natural products that includes menthol, cholesterol, and the anticancer drug Taxol. He has been named an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellow, a Searle Scholar, and a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar. In 2017 he earned the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, the highest teaching honor at Penn.

The mission of the ACS is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners. Its vision is to improve people’s lives through the transforming power of chemistry. The Philadelphia Section is one of the largest local sections in the ACS, with over 5000 members.

Sarah J. Jackson, Presidential Associate Professor and co-director of the Media, Inequality & Change Center in the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, recently received the 2021 Diamond Anniversary Book Award from the National Communication Association (NCA). 

The award recognizes the most outstanding scholarly book published during the previous calendar year. Dr. Jackson received the award for the book, #HashtagActivism: Networks of Race and Gender Justice, co-authored with Moya Bailey, Northwestern University, and Brooke Foucault Welles, Northeastern University. The book provides excellent insight into the ways in which technology, social media, and generational communication practices contribute to social change. The methodological rigor and sophisticated analysis using hashtags as data reveals the growing phenomenon of social media activism, particularly as it relates to race, gender, and social justice issues. 

“NCA’s annual awards honor communication scholars’ teaching, scholarship, and service,” NCA interim executive director Linda Taliaferro said. “NCA is proud to recognize Jackson’s significant contributions to the communication discipline with this award.”

Dr. Jackson’s award will be presented on November 20 at the NCA 107th Annual Convention in Seattle, WA. 

Dear Colleagues: 

Penn’s Way, our workplace charitable giving campaign at Penn, gives us the opportunity to support our community and to build community through our collective action. Penn’s Way is one of the most generous workplace giving campaigns in the region, and we look forward to this year’s campaign continuing that tradition. Our campaign theme, Go Far Together, reflects the commitment we have made to those in need.  

Our contributions make a broad and immediate impact on our community and the vulnerable populations we serve. Those populations need our help more than ever, and, to that end, we hope our Penn family will come together to reach our goal of $1.6 million. No matter what you give, your contribution can provide some certainty to those facing an uncertain future. 

The Penn’s Way Campaign runs from October 4 through November 19. Please join us in supporting our communities by making your tax-deductible gift now. By making a gift to Penn’s Way using the Penn’s Way website at http://pennsway.upenn.edu to enter your pledge online, you will be supporting your chosen organizations in a secure, quick and convenient way. 

Our call to support others is deep-rooted and unwavering, and the Penn’s Way campaign honors the culture of generosity and caring that exists among our workforce. Watch this video to hear why your colleagues give. Then, share why you give by posting your personal story to social media using #OurWayPennsWay.

Through our Penn’s Way Campaign, we can help build stronger neighborhoods, improve the quality of life, and provide options for healthier living for all people in our region. We hope to have your continued support for the Penn’s Way campaign this year.

—Maureen S. Rush
Vice President for Public Safety
University of Pennsylvania
Penn’s Way Co-Chair

—Patricia G. Sullivan
Chief Quality Officer
University of Pennsylvania Health System
Penn’s Way Co-Chair

—Vivian L. Gadsden
Professor, Graduate School of Education
Faculty Senate Chair-Elect
University of Pennsylvania
Penn’s Way Faculty Advisor

—Peter D. Quinn
Vice Dean for Professional Services
Senior Vice President
University of Pennsylvania Health System
Penn’s Way Faculty Advisor

Frequently Asked Questions

To learn more about donating, the raffle, and the partners of Penn’s way, visit https://pennsway.upenn.edu/faq.

FAQs answer how you can participate in Penn’s Way without donating money, where to locate the pledge form, how to qualify to win raffle prizes, and what is the United Way’s MinimumDesignation Policy.

There are many ways to participate in Penn’s Way. The video by Community Health Charities, available at the link above, shows how you can help support the health causes that you care most about.

Conferences

7     Black Lives and Freedom Journeys: The Legacies of the Still Family of Philadelphia; celebrates the birth of Philadelphia activist William Still by considering his remarkable life and legacy; 1-7 p.m.; online event; info: http://www.mceas.org/blacklives/index.htm (McNeil Center for Early American Studies). Also October 8, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Exhibits

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

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

9      Egypt Galleries Tour; 11 a.m. Also October 10, 11 a.m.

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

10    Global Guide Tour: Mexico & Central America Gallery; 2:30 p.m.

Films

7       Free, White and 21; includes discussion with director Howardena Pindell; 5:30 p.m.; Zoom meeting; register: https://tinyurl.com/pindell-screening-oct-7 (Gender, Sexuality & Women’s Studies). 

         Saturday Night Fever; 7 p.m.; College Green (Cinema & Media Studies, Italian Studies, Romance Languages). 

Fitness and Learning

Center for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships (CURF)
Online events. Info: https://www.curf.upenn.edu/curf-events.

6       Truman Scholarship Information Session Featuring Recent Truman Scholars; 4 p.m.

         President’s Engagement and Innovation Prizes Joint Info Session; 6 p.m.

Graduate School of Education (GSE)
Online events. Info: https://www.gse.upenn.edu/news/events-calendar?date=2021-10.

5       Grad School Fair: Diversity in Ed Virtual Fair; 3-6 p.m. 

         Executive Doctorate in Higher Education Management Program Information Session; 4 p.m. 

7       Fall Open House; 8 a.m.

8       Friday Virtual Chats with Admissions; noon.

         Welcoming Afghan Refugees into Our Communities; noon.

         Education Entrepreneurship-October Virtual Information Session; 1 p.m. 

12     Fall Open House; 7:30 p.m.

LGBT Center
In-person and online events. Info: https://www.vpul.upenn.edu/secure/calendar/host/LGBT%20Center/24.

8       International Chinese LGBTQ+ Student Meet Up; 5 p.m.; LGBT Center. 

11     Our Communities: Honoring Indigenous Two Spirit and Queer Relatives; 7 p.m.; LGBT Center and online. 

Readings & Signings

6       Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement; Tarana Burke, founder of #MeToo movement; 5:30 p.m.; Zellerbach Theater, Penn Live Arts Annenberg Center; info: https://tinyurl.com/burke-reading-oct-6 (GSWS, Authors@Wharton). 

12      The Muridiyya on the Move. Islam, Migration, and Place Making; Cheikh Babou, history; 5 p.m.; room 209, College Hall, and Zoom; join: https://upenn.zoom.us/j/91097007775#success (History). 

Special Events

5        Milken-Penn GSE Education Business Plan Competition 2021 Virtual Finals; virtual pitch festival for finalists; noon; online event; register: https://tinyurl.com/milken-penn-finals-2021 (GSE, Catalyst@Penn). 

7        Remembering Ken Steif (1982-2001); celebrating the life of Ken Steif, associate professor in the Weitzman School and director of the MUSA program; 4 p.m.; Kleinman Forum, Fisher Fine Arts Library; register: https://tinyurl.com/steif-memorial-oct-7 (Weitzman School). 

Talks

5        Energy Balancing of Covariate Distributions for Estimation of Causal Effects; Jared Huling, University of Minnesota; 3:30 p.m.; BlueJeans meeting; join: https://bluejeans.com/515188833/2631 (CCEB). 

6        From “Post-Race” to “Diversity and Inclusion”: Contextualizing Contemporary Black Visibility; Jade Petermon, Georgia State University; noon; Zoom meeting; join: https://tinyurl.com/petermon-talk-oct-6 (Cinema & Media Studies). 

          Jihadi Terror Attacks and Local Hate Crime; Steve Machin, London School of Economics; noon; Zoom meeting; info: https://tinyurl.com/machin-talk-oct-6 (Criminology). 

          Reporting the Capitol Riots: Kadia Goba, BuzzFeed News; Malachy Browne, The New York Times; 12:30 p.m.; Zoom meeting; join: upenn.zoom.us/my/ascmedarisk (Annenberg School). 

          Electrolytes for High Energy Li-ion and Li Metal Batteries; Chunsheng Wang, University of Maryland; 3:30 p.m.; Wu and Chen Auditorium, Levine Hall (Chemical & Biomechanical Engineering). 

          How Existing Buildings Save Carbon, Build Community and Support Equity; Larry Strain, Siegel & Strain Architects; 5 p.m.; Zoom meeting; register: https://tinyurl.com/strain-talk-oct-6 (Historic Preservation). 

7        Metals and Alloys: A Critical Weapon in the Fight Against Climate Change; Eric Detsi, materials science & engineering; 12:15 p.m.; auditorium, LRSM building; info: info-mse@seas.upenn.edu (MSE). 

12       Resist Fatigue by De-Concentrating Stress; Zhigang Suo, Harvard; 10 a.m.; Zoom meeting; info: peterlit@seas.upenn.edu (Tedori-Callinan Lecture). 

          Modeling Enzymatic Reactivity with Coordination Compounds; Shiyu Zhang, Ohio State; noon; Carol Lynch Lecture Hall, Chemistry Complex; info: rvargas@sas.upenn.edu (Chemistry). 

           Mediation Analysis for Count and Zero-Inflated Count Data; Jing Cheng, UC San Francisco; 3:30 p.m.; BlueJeans meeting; join: https://bluejeans.com/515188833/2631 (CCEB). 

Economics
In-person events. Info: https://economics.sas.upenn.edu/events. 

5         Job Attachment and Life Cycle Gender Wage Differences; Ni Wang, economics; noon; room 101, PCPSE.

           Progressive Random Choice; Yusufcan Masatlioglu, University of Maryland; 4 p.m.; room 101, PCPSE.

7         Equilibrium Effects of Food Labeling Policies; Nano Barahona, UC Berkeley; 3:30 p.m.; room 100, PCPSE.

11        Automatic Debiased Machine Learning in Presence of Endogeneity; Edvard Bakhitov, economics; 4:30 p.m.; room 100, PCPSE. 

12       Optimal Recommender System-Student Job Market; ChangHwa Lee, economics; 4 p.m.; room 101, PCPSE. 

Penn Dental
In-person and online events. Info: https://www.dental.upenn.edu/news-events/events/. 

5        Glycan Recognition at the Saliva – Oral Microbiome Interface in the Human Mouth; Stefan Ruhl, University of Buffalo; noon; William W.M. Cheung Auditorium, Penn Dental. 

6        Minimally Invasive Procedure: A Question of Sustainability; panel of speakers; 1 p.m.; Zoom meeting. 

7        Synthetic Nucleic Acid (DNA) Approaches for Immunization and Immunotherapy; David Weiner, Wistar Institute; noon; Zoom meeting. 

Mathematics
In-person and online events. Info: https://www.math.upenn.edu/events.

6        Spectral Techniques in Markov Chain Mixing; Evita Nestoridi, Princeton; 3:45 p.m.; room A4, DRL. 

8        Structure Preserving Machine Learning for Data-Driven Multiscale/Multiphysics Modeling; Nathaniel Trask, Sandia National Laboratories; 2 p.m.; Zoom meeting. 

12       Microswimmers Propelled by Bacterial Flagella: Modeling, Simulations, and Analysis; Sookkyung Lim, University of Cincinnati; 4 p.m.; room 4C8, DRL, and Zoom. 

Sociology
In-person events. Info: https://sociology.sas.upenn.edu/.

6         How Status Seeking and Identity Maintenance Shape Political Polarization on Social Media: Evidence from a Mixed-Method Field Experiment on Twitter; Chris Bail, Duke University; noon; room 150, McNeil Building. 

--

AT PENN Calendar

The October AT PENN calendar is now available. To submit events for the November AT PENN calendar, email almanac@upenn.edu by October 11, 2021.

For info, visit https://almanac.upenn.edu/deadlines-for-submitting-at-penn-information.

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 September 20-26, 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 September 20-26, 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: 7 incidents (4 robberies, 2 assaults, and 1 aggravated assault) with 2 arrests were reported for September 20-26, 2021 by the 18^th District, covering the Schuylkill River to 49th St & Market St to Woodland Avenue.