July 19, 2022 Volume 69 Issue 1

Building on Penn Medicine’s years of research and use of imaging technology that illuminates tumor tissue—helping clinicians more easily detect and remove it—the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has received a five-year, $9 million research grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to push the field forward, particularly for lung cancer patients.

This technology, intraoperative molecular imaging (IMI), is based on fluorescent beacon molecules that target and bind themselves to tumor cells, essentially making them glow—and allowing doctors to more easily distinguish cancer from healthy tissue. Penn researchers with the Center for Precision Surgery in the Abramson Cancer Center, along with colleagues at other institutions, will use the research grant to study and improve IMI technology for non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLC). Often related to smoking, NSCLCs are the most common form of lung cancer; they are diagnosed in more than 200,000 people in the United States every year and can be life threatening.

“This funding gives us a tremendous opportunity to further evaluate this important technology and with the goal being to improve outcomes for patients,” said principal investigator Sunil Singhal, the William Maul Measey Professor in Surgical Research and chief of thoracic surgery, and director of the Center for Precision Surgery in the Abramson Cancer Center. “We aim to develop this technology even further and to study it in additional clinical trials to help improve surgical identification and removal of tumors.”

Dr. Singhal has helped pioneer the research and development of IMI use in lung cancer surgery. Among other achievements, he led the first large, multi-institutional randomized clinical trial of the technology for lung cancer. To date, studies have shown that IMI can significantly improve surgeons’ ability to remove tumors, while sparing other healthy tissue. The fluorescent beacon molecules used in IMI are normally infused into the patient hours or days before surgery. They bind to cell-surface receptors, such as folate receptors, which are particularly abundant on cancer cells. The light the beacons emit is typically in the near-infared range, allowing for visualization detection of tumor cells up to about two centimeters below the tissue surface, depending on the tissue type. Tissue tagged with these fluorescing beacons can be imaged in real-time, during surgery, with relatively inexpensive and portable equipment. Data from additional clinical trials have shown it also has the potential to help doctors detect tumors—for example, following a positive or ambiguous X-ray finding—during non-surgical inspections of patients’ lungs via bronchoscopy, when doctors use a scope to investigate the passages in a person’s lungs.

The new grant-funded research project aims to develop improved beacon molecules for NSCLC and imaging equipment to go with it, then test them in clinical trials. Collaborating researchers include Purdue University’s Philip Low, professor of chemistry and biochemistry, who will help develop new beacon molecules; the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Shuming Nie, a professor of bioengineering; and Viktor Gruev, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, who will develop sensitive near-infrared cameras. Johnson & Johnson’s Bruce Rosengard will also help develop miniaturized chips for bronchoscopic detection of the light emitted from the tumor-homing beacons. The clinical trials of the new technology will be conducted at Penn Medicine, led by Dr. Singhal and Edward Delikatny, a professor of radiology and director of translational research at the Center for Precision Surgery.

“Complete resection is the best outcome for patients, and the goal in this program is to improve the chances of achieving that without unnecessary tissue removal,” said Ronald DeMatteo, the John Rhea Barton Professor of Surgery and chair of the department of surgery at Penn.

Associate professor of ruminant nutrition Dipti Pitta at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet) has received a $995,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to lead an interdisciplinary team of animal and data scientists to establish a precision data network, with the long-term goal of identifying high-productivity dairy cows with low methane emissions, to enhance dairy herd sustainability and moderate environmental impacts.

“This funding gives us a tremendous opportunity to further evaluate microbial associations in the rumen that are essential for methane mitigation,” said Dr. Pitta. “Our team of researchers will be evaluating the behavioral activities, milk production, and feed-consumption profiles, as well as sequencing of the microbiomes and host genomes across multiple dairy herds to identify potential predictors of methane production. This comprehensive integration of very dense data sets will not only identify phenotypic responses that could reduce methane output—it could positively impact the economic health of farms and the agriculture sector. It’s a win-win.”

The study’s co-investigators are Penn Vet’s Darko Stefanovski, Linda Baker, and Joseph Bender; Cedar-Sinai’s Ryan Urbanowicz; North Carolina State University’s Stephanie Ward; and Pennsylvania State University’s Kevin Harvatine and Rob Goodling.

The grant is awarded through the National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Inter-Disciplinary Engagement in Animal Systems (IDEAS) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI). The IDEAS AFRI program funds applied science approaches, integrating knowledge from diverse disciplines, that address challenges facing the United States’ food and agriculture sector.

For the second year in a row, a trio of projects from the Center for Health Care Innovation were chosen to receive Clinical Care Innovation Grants from Independence Blue Cross. Each project will receive up to $200,000 toward expanding its work.

“Independence Blue Cross looks for novel interventions with strong early evidence and high potential to improve value-based care, so winning three awards is meaningful validation of Penn innovation programs,” said Roy Rosin, chief innovation officer of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and interim executive director of the Center for Health Care Innovation. “Our teams have shown they can make a difference in areas of care and patient populations that could benefit most from change, and with Independence’s partnership, we can advance and scale this work.”

This year, the three Penn Medicine projects receiving grants are:

Healing at Home—A system that uses an artificial intelligence-guided chatbot to provide 24/7 assistance to new mothers with questions about infant care or their own needs during the “fourth trimester” after delivery. The project seeks to expand access to evidence-based guidance, including for mental health support, and evaluate measurable benefits. It is led by Kirstin Leitner, an assistant professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology; Lori Christ, an associate professor of pediatrics; Laura Scalise, a nurse manager; and Emily Seltzer, a senior innovation manager at the Center for Digital Health.

Pregnancy Early Access Center (PEACE)—A model for providing care for early pregnancy, including miscarriages, which take place in one in every five pregnancies. A special focus is placed on equitable follow-up care for those who experience a miscarriage, especially to offer an alternative for those who seek care at emergency departments, which many patients do. Currently, 95 percent of these patients do not receive any continuing care following their initial urgent miscarriage visit. This project is led by Courtney Schreiber, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology and chief of family planning.

Increasing access to buprenorphine and other substance use treatment services for people of color—A team formed to decrease barriers to rapid access to buprenorphine (a medication that soothes cravings for opioids in the brain) for communities in Philadelphia made up of a majority of people of color, building on earlier pilots that successfully connected more people to appropriate care. This includes a telemedicine-based outreach and navigation service that guides people through various aspects of substance use treatment. This effort is led by Jeanmarie Perrone, a professor of emergency medicine and director of the Penn Medicine Center for Addiction Medicine and Policy.

“The funded projects this year also address areas in which some of our most vulnerable patients may see the greatest benefits,” said Elissa Klinger, director of health equity at Penn Medicine’s Center for Digital Health. “For example, Black women in Philadelphia experience higher rates of severe pregnancy related health problems, particularly in the postpartum period, so programs like Healing at Home can enhance critical postpartum support that may ultimately help drive down rates of maternal morbidity. PEACE provides urgent and timely pregnancy care while promoting health equity. And increasing access to buprenorphine and other substance use treatment services targets the burdens of substance use and overdose striking in communities of color in Philadelphia.”

Last year, the three Penn Medicine projects chosen for these grants focused on engaging patients in remote cardiac rehabilitation, helping patients with at-home chemotherapy regimens through a text messaging “chatbot” (Penny), and improving image-based cancer screenings (LiveAware) (Almanac July 13, 2021).

Since then, the cardiac rehabilitation project began a study comparing telemedicine-based cardiac rehabilitation to a traditional model, along with creating a dashboard to identify eligible patients across Penn Medicine for potential enrollment. Penny, the at-home chemotherapy chatbot program, has expanded to help more new patients with gastrointestinal cancers. And LiveAware has started its expansion to primary care services across Penn Medicine so that patients with hepatocellular carincoma—the most common type of liver cancer—receive improved care through earlier identification and higher rates of follow up.

Kimberly Strauch has been appointed the inaugural executive director of the Leonard A. Lauder Community Care Nurse Practitioner Program (LLCCNPP) at Penn Nursing. This program was announced in February 2022 as a first-of-its-kind, tuition-free program dedicated to building a nurse practitioner workforce committed to working in and with underserved communities, both rural and urban. LLCCNPP was borne of a $125 million gift—the largest ever to an American nursing school—by Penn alumnus Leonard A. Lauder, chairman emeritus of the Estee Lauder Companies (Almanac February 22, 2022). 

The first cohort of Lauder Fellows will begin their studies this fall, at a moment when the COVID-19 pandemic has magnified the nation’s acute shortage of primary care providers, and persisting inequities in access to quality health care. Fellows will enroll full-time in a two-year, rigorous primary care nurse practitioner program at Penn Nursing, and complete at least 50% of their clinical education at community partner sites and/or comparable sites that provide direct patient care.

Every fellow will be expected to commit to practice or service in an underserved community for two years after graduation. All participants in the program will enter the workforce free of graduate school debt, receiving student aid to cover their tuition and fees and thereby eliminating any potential financial barriers for nurses and others who wish to enroll. 

As executive director, Dr. Strauch will be responsible for community partner development and coordination, including preceptors; the development of targeted recruitment plans; the coordination of the fellowship’s evaluation and tracking; and she will serve as a liaison for student and alumni fellows. In addition, she will work closely with Sue Renz, director of the Primary Care Program, to ensure cohesiveness and coordination of students, clinical experiences, and curriculum.

“We always knew the Leonard A. Lauder Community Care Nurse Practitioner Program would need a dynamic practitioner and leader at the helm, and I am delighted to have Dr. Strauch filling that role,” said Penn Nursing Dean Antonia M. Villarruel. “Her commitment and expertise in working in underserved communities will be critical in helping Penn Nursing develop the next generation of nurse leaders who are equally committed.” 

“I am thrilled that Dr. Strauch will bring her considerable expertise and experience into this critical leadership role,” said Mr. Lauder. “When the first cohort begins their studies this fall, they will have an excellent model of dedication and leadership paving the way for Penn’s groundbreaking program. Dr. Strauch has been on the front lines in communities that need high-quality primary care more than ever, and I know that her commitment will inspire these future nurse practitioners to learn the skills and do the hard work it takes to meet that need, and serve Americans across the country.”

Dr. Strauch has been a primary care nurse practitioner for over 10 years with specific expertise in the care of underserved and vulnerable populations. She was among the first nurse practitioners hired by Project HOME’s Stephen Klein Wellness Center, where she played a vital role in growing the practice into a fully integrated medical home, provided community outreach services that included street medicine, precepting nurse practitioner students, and networking with community practice partners to improve the care of patients.

Dr. Strauch previously served as the nursing curriculum coordinator for Penn Nursing’s Vingroup-Penn Alliance Project and as project manager of the school’s Health Resource and Services Administration (HRSA) grant, which focused on providing enhanced didactic content and clinical training to advanced practice registered nurses interested in caring for underserved populations post-graduation. 

Before taking on this appointment, Dr. Strauch was working in a Penn Nursing and Penn Dental Medicine partnership that focused on developing a framework for interdisciplinary education and training between nursing and dentistry. As part of her role in the Care Center for Persons with Disabilities within Penn Dental Medicine, Dr. Strauch educated predoctoral students on the management of medically complex patients of all physical and cognitive abilities, which includes a deeper understanding of the social determinants of health.

Dr. Strauch received her BSN in nursing from Michigan State University, her MSN as a nurse practitioner in adult gerontological care from Penn Nursing, and her PhD in nursing informatics from the University of Arizona.

Aswin Punathambekar has been appointed Annenberg’s newest professor of communication as well as director of its Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication (CARGC), effective June 1, 2022. When Dr. Punathambekar moved from India to the U.S. in 1999 to pursue a master’s degree in media studies, anyone who wanted to access film and television from the subcontinent often turned to an unlikely place: the grocery store, where renting a VHS of “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” might provide a connection to home.

Within a few years, however, South Asian media could be found on satellite and cable TV bundles, in video stores and urban multiplex cinemas, and being shared via peer-to-peer online networks. As a student in the comparative media studies program at MIT, Dr. Punathambekar began to reflect on these momentous technological and cultural shifts­­. Looking at how Indian media diffuses into the diaspora opened up bigger questions about globalization and audiences’ identities. Thinking through the answers to these and other questions has formed the basis of Dr. Punathambekar’s research and teaching, which now have a new home in Philadelphia.

For his doctoral dissertation at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Dr. Punathambekar conducted ethnographic fieldwork in India and the U.S. to understand the expansion of the Bombay film scene into the globally-influential juggernaut now known worldwide as “Bollywood.” This research formed the basis for his first two books, the edited volume Global Bollywood (NYU Press, 2008) and From Bombay to Bollywood: The Making of a Global Media Industry (NYU Press, 2013).

As social media and streaming platforms ushered in a new era of globalized media, Dr. Punathambekar and his students at the University of Michigan’s department of communication studies unraveled the new multi-polar media world in the contexts of Morocco, the Caribbean, Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda, as well as India and the Indian-American diaspora. Together they considered the impact of digitalization, but also the histories of media and communication technologies.

During this time, Dr. Punathambekar also joined a project funded by the Social Science Research Council that nudged him toward a more comparative focus by reading and drawing on scholarship that spans South Asia, East Asia, and the Middle East and North Africa regions. Working with scholars with deep expertise across these world regions further shaped his work and informed two other books - Television at Large in South Asia (Routledge, 2015) and Global Digital Cultures: Perspectives from South Asia (University of Michigan Press, 2019). In 2015, he founded the Global Media Studies Initiative (GMSI) at the University of Michigan, forming one of the few centers in the United States to foster rich collaboration among faculty, students, and postdoctoral fellows interested in global communication.

Over the last three years, which he spent as an associate professor at the University of Virginia’s department of media studies, Dr. Punathambekar has been working on a British Academy Global Professorship grant to study how digitalization has opened opportunities for migrant women in the U.K., notably those from South Asia and the Caribbean, to shape their own sense of storytelling and cultural identity. In addition, Dr. Punathambekar co-edits the Critical Cultural Communication series for NYU Press, where he works closely with scholars to develop book proposals, workshop manuscripts, and shepherd projects to publication.

“Professor Punathambekar’s work covers critical themes in global communication, theorizes the infrastructural and political economic impact of media industries, and provides the Annenberg School with a senior scholar who has demonstrated a sophisticated and nuanced understanding of how enhanced attentiveness to theorizing processes of globalization can help to redefine what communication studies looks like,” said Dean John L. Jackson, Jr.

As CARGC director, Dr. Punathambekar said that many of the established research themes will continue, including a focus on popular culture and geopolitics, media infrastructures and mobilities induced by climate change and global conflicts. In addition, CARGC will launch a series of critical conversations called “Turning Points in Global Media History” that explore key moments in media history that marked technological, political, and/or economic shifts. In the rush to study all things digital, Dr. Punathambekar said, the field may not have the most robust historical foundation for understanding where the digital comes from in a global context.

“I want to make sure that when we talk about the digital, we don’t replicate the mistakes other fields have made where we first theorize from the West, and then we go and explore other parts of the world,” he said. “The rest of the world has too often been a blank canvas for case studies, but never theorization.”

Long Kwan Metthew Lam has been awarded a two-year inaugural postdoctoral fellowship through the newly established Institute for Infectious and Zoonotic Diseases (IIZD) at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet). Dr. Lam was selected for his innovative approach to salient scientific questions regarding mammalian immune response within the context of disease transmission.

Under the mentorship of Nilam S. Mangalmurti, a physician-scientist at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, Dr. Lam will use comparative immunology to decipher the nucleic acid-sensing functions of bat, human, and mouse red blood cells to understand vector-borne viruses. The long-term goal is to identify novel methods to reduce cross-species disease transmission.

Awarded his PhD in molecular virology and microbiology from the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Medicine in 2018, Dr. Lam studied the molecular mechanisms of attenuation for the yellow fever virus vaccine strain 17D. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher in Mangalmurti’s lab studying red blood cells and their role in inflammatory responses.

“This postdoctoral fellowship is just one of several efforts to sustain emerging science talent and their careers,” said De’Broski R. Herbert, Presidential Associate Professor, an associate professor of pathobiology, and the associate director of global affairs and education at Penn Vet’s Institute for Infectious and Zoonotic Diseases. “We are so pleased to select Metthew and support him as he advances vital public health initiatives related to infectious diseases.”

The IIZD postdoctoral fellowship is a new initiative to support basic research while immersing early-career scientists in key aspects of infectious disease research, particularly in the areas of immunology and host-pathogen interactions. Funding supports collaborative, mentored research projects to develop diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines for diseases that can be passed from animals to humans.

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 provides service to the University and the community. In order to accomplish these goals, PASEF educates and advocates for faculty throughout retirement; organizes intellectual and social events such as lectures and excursions to cultural attractions for its members; and creates opportunities for PASEF members to continue to make contributions to the University, community, and their professions. As stated in the bylaws, PASEF’s membership includes senior (faculty aged 55 or above) and emeritus members (for the purpose of PASEF, are former members of the faculty of the University who have officially retired from active service) in the following categories: standing faculty, and associate professors and professors in the associated faculty who are research faculty, full-time academic clinicians, and full-time practice professors. Current membership numbers 1,262 senior faculty and 780 emeritus faculty. 

PASEF 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 2021–2022 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 in the Furness Building, 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 Arberetta W. Bowles, executive director, Office of Academic Affairs, Perelman School of Medicine, and her staff. We are grateful for the intellectual, collegial, and financial support of 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 continued closing of most in-person activities on campus due to COVID-19 created challenges. While we successfully held in-person events later in the spring, those events were more challenging because of their hybrid nature (live-streaming, in-person, and video). Our work this year included our involvement in attaining the hearing aid benefit, outsourcing retirement benefits, communicating our message throughout the Penn community, acknowledging and understanding needs of members newly included in PASEF and ASEF, expanding retirement programs, continuing to update our guide to retirement planning, hosting the reception for newly emeritus faculty, and continuing semi-annual meetings with Human Resources.

Hearing Aid Benefit. Because many PASEF members had questions about the new hearing aid benefit, we pursued exchanges and meetings with HR and Health Advocate about how the benefit was being implemented. We followed up with articles in our newsletter and additions to our website.  Changes are ongoing and will be addressed in a timely manner in our communications. 

Outsourcing Retirement Benefits. Last year, Peter Kuriloff, Marshall Meyer and the late Joel Bennett formed a team for the Senate Committee on the Administration (SCOA) charged with looking into the outsourcing of benefits administration. With the full support and necessary aid of PASEF, the team surveyed retiring and retired faculty and produced a report that was circulated to the faculty via Almanac and to Human Resources. The report showed that a substantial group of responding faculty had significant issues with WageWorks. This year SCOA was charged with furthering its inquiry into outsourcing. As SCOA did not have the resources to pursue the charge, it delegated this work to PASEF and the University Council on Personnel Benefits. Janice Bellace and Peter Kuriloff, representatives on both committees, along with PASEF leadership, examined the issues relevant to PASEF since PASEF was already concerned about the services provided by some outside vendors based on comments received from some retirees.

Drs. Kuriloff and Bellace and PASEF submitted their report to SCOA’s Annual Report to share progress made on these issues. They recommended the following which will guide PASEF during the upcoming year:

1. PASEF will focus on the administration of retiree benefits.
2. Insofar as outsourcing of benefits administration remains on the agenda of the Faculty Senate or other bodies, PASEF will join the conversation but not lead the conversation.
3. PASEF will continue to interface with HR, faculty affairs coordinators in the various schools, and the Provost’s Staff Committee Subcommittee concerning the administration of retiree benefits.

Communicating our message throughout the Penn community. We established meetings with key stakeholder groups. With the support of Vice Provost Perna, we established the practice of meeting yearly (and as needed) with the faculty affairs coordinators throughout the 12 schools of the University and with the Provost Staff Conference Subcommittee. Last year, the meetings were held in January and February, although earlier in the school year may be advantageous. The faculty affairs coordinators were added to our mailing list at their suggestion.

We redesigned our newsletter, with special thanks to Sarah Barr and Carolyn Marvin (council member). The new design uses a more engaging format. We publish the newsletter each month except July and August.

Acknowledging and understanding needs of members newly included in PASEF and ASEF. We worked with ASEF to incorporate associate professors and professors in the associated faculty who are research faculty, full-time academic clinicians, and full-time practice professors. Many ASEF members who are retired associated faculty are not eligible for the emeritus title and therefore not granted the rights and privileges outlined in the Faculty Handbook section II.E.9.C., Rights and Privileges of Retired Faculty Members. Of particular concern are access to the Penn Libraries and email, especially for researchers and other associated faculty who have pursued distinguished academic careers at Penn over several decades and wish to remain active after retirement. PASEF and ASEF are working with the Provost’s Office to gain greater access to these key University and school resources for retired associated faculty, starting with email, Penn cards, and library access.

Expanding retirement programs. PASEF expanded programing about retirement from three to five programs this academic year.

Continuing to update our guide to retirement planning. The 15th 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. Both websites also house a guide to continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) in the Philadelphia area which is currently being updated. 

Our website is updated on an ongoing basis and continues to be visited frequently. The landing page of the website got over 1,000 views and the other pages each got hundreds of views between June 1, 2021, and May 31, 2022.

Hosting reception for newly emeritus faculty. This year’s Newly Retired & Emeritus Faculty event with ASEF was held on May 19, 2022. The event honored 50 retirees and was held in person and live-streamed.

Continuing semi-annual meetings with Human Resources. PASEF leadership is continuing the practice started last year of regularly scheduled meetings with the Vice President for Human Resources to discuss policies that affect emeritus faculty. PASEF’s advocacy regarding issues pertaining to WageWorks/HealthEquity yielded an announcement that the University will be transitioning to BRi in October 2022.

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.  Historically there were monthly lunchtime lectures at the University Club and featured fall and spring lectures. Due to COVID-19 requirements, most lectures for this year were live streamed and all are also available for viewing on the PASEF website.  

Noontime lectures. We held 7 lunchtime lectures.  

• John L. Jackson Jr., Walter H. Annenberg Dean of the Annenberg School for Communication and Richard Perry University Professor, spoke on Race, Religion, and the African Hebrew Israelites in Jerusalem (October 20)
• Dorothy Roberts, George A. Weiss University Professor of Law and Sociology and the Raymond Pace and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Professor of Civil Rights, spoke on Fatal Invention: Recreating Race in the Genomic Era (November 16)
• Jacques deLisle, Stephen A. Cozen Professor of Law and Professor of Political Science; director, Center for East Asian Studies spoke on The Path of the Law in the People’s Republic of China (November 30)
• Ian Lustick, Bess W. Heyman Chair in Political Science, spoke on Israelis and Palestinians: The Problem of “Solutionism” (January 19)
• Martha J. Farah, Annenberg Professor of Natural Sciences, spoke on Brave Neuro World (February 9)
• Kathleen M. Brown, the David Boies Professor of History, spoke on the Penn & Slavery Project (March 9)
• Kent Smetters, the Boettner Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy, spoke on PWBM Public Policy Metric (May 31)

Fall and Spring lectures.

• Governor Edward G. Rendell spoke on Politics 2021-Can the American Democracy Survive? (October 14)
• Duncan Watts, Stevens University Professor, spoke on How Common is Common Sense? (April 26)

Fall 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.

Speakers Bureau. With encouragement and funding from then 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 number 19 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. Nonetheless, four speaking engagements from the bureau were held virtually this year. We are currently updating and enlarging the roster of speakers and topics. We have so far added six speakers. We will next be canvassing community groups to garner engagement.

Communications with members. (See above re: newsletter). PASEF published a newsletter monthly during the academic year.  

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. We also have a Community Involvement Committee that is planning for unique volunteer opportunities for our members in the Free Library of Philadelphia and/or school libraries.  

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

Janice Bellace is the President-Elect, Brian Salzberg is the Secretary, David Manning is the SEC representative, and Janice Bellace is the representative to University Council Committee on Personnel Benefits. Newly elected at-large council members who will serve three-year terms are Andrew N. Binns (SAS), Edward I. George (Wharton), and Peter J. Kuriloff (GSE)

In Memoriam-PASEF Council

John C. Keene served as a member of PASEF Council as a member at-large from 2016–2020 and as the Secretary from 2020 to the time of his death.

In addition, two PASEF past presidents died this year. Benjamin Shen was President from 2005–2006. Rob Roy MacGregor was President from 2013–2014. 

Submitted by
Janet A. Deatrick, President (2021-2022)

Appendix

PASEF Council Members, 2021–2022

• Sherrill L. Adams–Dental Medicine (Biochemistry)–at-large member of Council; Faculty Development, Diversity & Equity (SCFDDE) representative
• Roger M. A. Allen–Arts & Sciences (Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations)–representative to Faculty and the Academic Mission (SCOF)
• David P. Balamuth–Arts & Sciences (Physics & Astronomy)–at-large member of Council
• Janice Bellace–Wharton (Legal Studies & Business Ethics)– representative to University Council Committee on Personnel Benefits (PBC); chair, Nominating Committee
• Peter Conn–Arts & Sciences (English)–at-large member of Council; chair, Program Committee
• Janet Deatrick–Nursing (Family & Community Health)–President, chair of Steering Committee, Co-editor of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Faculty Retirement
• John C. Keene–City and Regional Planning (Design)–Secretary
• Peter Kuriloff–Graduate School of Education–Faculty and the Administration (SCOA) representative
• Janice Madden–School of Arts & Sciences (Sociology)–Past President, archivist
• David R. Manning–Penn Medicine (Pharmacology)–at-large member of Council; representative to Senate Executive Committee (SEC)
• Mitch Marcus–Engineering & Applied Science (Computer and Information Science)–at-large member of Council; co-chair, Community Involvement Committee
• Carolyn Marvin–Annenberg School for Communication–at-large member of Council; website and communications liaison
• Ann Mayer–Wharton (Legal Studies & Business Ethics)–at-large member of Council, library liaison
• Marshall W. Meyer–Wharton (Management)–President-Elect
• Jack H. Nagel–Arts & Sciences (Political Science)–chair, Ad Hoc Speakers Bureau
• Ana Lía Obaid–Penn Medicine (Neuroscience)–at-large member of Council; co-chair, Community Involvement Committee
• Martin Pring–Penn Medicine (Physiology)–co-editor of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Faculty Retirement
• Brian M. Salzberg–Penn Medicine (Neuroscience)–at-large member of Council; Secretary
• Anita A. Summers–Wharton (Business Economics and Public Policy)–Students & Educational Policy representative (SCSEP); Penn Retirement Community Committee representative; chair, Membership Committee
• 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

Alfred Franklin Beers, a former administrator at Penn who served in a variety of positions, including business manager of the School of Medicine, university comptroller, and associate vice president for finance, passed away peacefully on July 8 from complications of Alzheimer’s disease. He was 87. 

Born in East Stroudsburg, PA, Mr. Beers grew up in Allentown, PA and graduated from William Allen High School. After a three-year enlistment in the U.S. Army, during which he rose to the rank of Sergeant, Mr. Beers then enrolled at Muhlenberg College and earned a degree in accounting in 1960. After graduation, Mr. Beers spent six years working in the audit department of Peat Marwick (now part of KPMG) in Philadelphia. At the same time, he worked toward his designation as a certified public accountant. 

In 1966, Mr. Beers embarked on a long career in financial administration at Penn. Beginning as the assistant business manager of the School of Medicine, Mr. Beers rose through the ranks of the University administration. In 1969, he was named assistant comptroller. During this era, he served in several posts in Penn’s governance, including in the Administrative Assembly, the precursor to today’s PPSA, and on the Trustees’ committee on governance. Later in the 1970s, Mr. Beers was promoted to associate comptroller and then to assistant vice president for health affairs for finance. In 1981, Mr. Beers became acting comptroller, then, the next year, comptroller of the university. 

In 1997, Mr. Beers was named associate vice president for finance (Almanac January 14, 1997). In this role, he coordinated the day-to-day financial operations of Penn’s schools and central financial administrative offices. “Al will play a critical role in moving the division [of finance] forward with its plans to develop a service delivery and business model that will enable Penn to achieve its restructuring goals, and also serve as a model for higher education,” Vice President for Finance Stephen Golding said at the time. “We are fortunate to have someone with Al’s exceptional abilities, proven record of success and breadth of knowledge of the University and higher education able to step into this important position.” During the 1990s, Mr. Beers also served as chair of the 25-Year Club and on the University Council committee on personnel benefits. In 2000, Mr. Beers retired from Penn, an occasion marked by a resolution of appreciation from the Board of Trustees.  

While at Penn, Mr. Beers received local and national recognition for his work, including membership in the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the executive committee of the Financial Officers Board of the Association of American Medical Colleges, and the Society of Research Administrators. He chaired the costing and financial compliance committee of the Council on Governmental Relations. Outside of Penn, Mr. Beers was an avid recreational vehicle enthusiast since he bought his first camper in 1973, touring 49 states and all ten Canadian provinces. 

Mr. Beers is survived by his wife, Dorothy; four children, Michael, Karl, Denise Prentice, and Jennifer Newlands; twelve grandchildren; and three great grandchildren. Visitation will be held at St. Dorothy Church in Drexel Hill on July 23 from 9 a.m., as will a burial mass at 10:30 a.m. Donations can be made in Mr. Beers’s name to the Alzheimer’s Association (https://www.alz.org/). 

Ronald Charles Gulezian, a former lecturer in the department of statistics in the Wharton School, passed away on January 14. He was 81.

Dr. Gulezian was born and raised in West Philadelphia, where he developed life-long friendships. He attended the University of Pennsylvania, earning bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees. From his studies, he gained an enduring interest in statistics. Throughout his career, he held several teaching positions at various universities in the Delaware valley, including Temple University, the University of Delaware, and Drexel University. In 1982, he joined the faculty of his alma mater as a lecturer in the Wharton School’s department of statistics. In 1987, he left, but returned to Penn in 2000 as a lecturer in statistics, a lecturer in the College of Liberal and Professional Studies, and a teacher of evening classes for Wharton undergraduates. He eventually left Penn in 2005. He published a book in 1991, Process Control Statistical Principles and Tools, which developed a pathway for learning how to analyze recurrent quality problems in managerial systems. 

Outside of his work in statistics, Dr. Gulezian loved art and jazz music, carving elaborate pumpkins every year at Halloween, and swimming at Long Beach Island. 

A private graveside service was held on January 19. Dr. Gulezian’s wife, Anna, passed away on March 15. He is survived by his daughter, Lee (Terry Crane); two grandchildren; his cousins, Janet Vart, Fred Samelian (Terry), Clara Samelian, and Jon Samelian (Karen); and other family members. 

Brett Bruce Gutsche, an emeritus professor of anesthesia in the department of obstetrics and gynecology in the Perelman School of Medicine, passed away from complications of Alzheimer’s disease on April 13. He was 87.

Born in Pittsburgh, Dr. Gutsche moved with his family during childhood to Delmar, NY, where he graduated from Bethlehem Central High School. He then went on to attend Williams College, graduating in 1956, then earned an MD in 1961 from the University of Rochester. Dr. Gutsche completed his internship and residency at the Duke University Medical Center, specializing in anesthesiology. After completing his residency, Dr. Gutsche enlisted in the U.S. Public Health Service and moved with his family to Anchorage, Alaska, a region that remained near and dear to him throughout his life.

In 1969, Dr. Gutsche joined the faculty of Penn’s School of Medicine and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) as an assistant professor of anesthesia. Four years later, he was promoted to associate professor. Additionally, in 1971, he accepted a secondary appointment as an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at HUP, and in 1975, he became an associate professor in that department. He became a full professor/clinician-educator of anesthesia in 1979. Dr. Gutsche conducted groundbreaking work in obstetrical anesthesia. He found safer, more effective ways to relieve childbirth pain and worked towards a better understanding of the dangers of pregnancy, such as pre-eclampsia and fetal distress. Dr. Gutsche was included in several 1990s editions of The Best Doctors in America, a guide curated by Woodward/White, Inc., recognizing his service to the field. In 2003, he received the Distinguished Service Award of the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology (Almanac May 27, 2003).

Dr. Gutsche was recognized at Penn as well. In 1980, he won a Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching; seven years later, he won the School of Medicine’s Robert Dunning Dripps Memorial Award for Excellence in Graduate Medical Education (Almanac May 26, 1987). The award citation noted that Dr. Gutsche was “a pioneer in the specialty of anesthesia who trained over 15 percent of those physicians who hold academic positions in anesthesia in the country’s medical schools.” A student was quoted describing him as “the finest and most caring of physicians who is an exemplar in integrity and professional excellence.” In 1999, he retired from Penn, taking emeritus status.

Outside of his professional responsibilities, Dr. Gutsche loved opera music, attending numerous performances at the Met in New York City. He also supported the Glimmerglass Opera Festival and the Bach Choir of Bethlehem. “Brett worked hard but he was also well-known at HUP for his sense of humor, not taking himself too seriously, and always enjoying a good laugh,” said his family in an online tribute.

Dr. Gutsche is survived by his three children, Marcia Gutsche Rutledge (Gregory), Stuart (Patricia), and Stephen (Annmichele); four grandchildren; and four nieces and nephews. A memorial service was held on April 29. In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions be made in his memory to the Glimmerglass Festival (Cooperstown, NY) or the Alzheimer’s Association (https://www.alz.org/).

Donald (Don) M. Jacobs, the former director of dining services at Penn, passed away peacefully on June 20. He was 88.

Born in New York City, Mr. Jacobs graduated from Horace Mann High School, then went to Cornell University, where he graduated in 1955 with a BA in hotel management. After graduation, Mr. Jacobs served in the Army from 1955 to 1957. He then held numerous management positions in the food service industry. In 1975, he became the director of Dining Services at Penn, and eleven years later, he was promoted to executive director of Hospitality Services, overseeing nutrition, purchasing, and marketing for Penn organizations that served food. “Don was a very important figure in my life, early in my career at Penn Dining,” said Adam Sherr, Penn’s current senior advisor/lead functional analyst. “Don made us all feel, in Hospitality Services, as if we were part of a big family—his family. And while we forged these connections together, it was all fostered by the overall culture set by Don—a culture of family.” Mr. Jacobs retired from Penn in 1998.

Mr. Jacobs served as president of the industry trade group, the National Association of College and University Food Services (NACUFS). Among other honors, he received the International Food Service Manufacturers Association’s 1983 Silver Plate award. He mentored many food service managers and was known for hosting memorable dinner parties. He was also a lifelong advocate for people with physical and intellectual disabilities.

Mr. Jacobs is survived by his wife, Frances (Walden) Jacobs; his children, Jerome (Julia), Richard, and Debby; cousin, Marjorie Schector; one granddaughter; and one great-granddaughter.

Memorial services will be private. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to JCHAI (Judith Creed Horizons for Achieving Independence), 274 S. Bryn Mawr Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA, 19010.

Mary Claire Lomax, C’84, a member of Penn’s Board of Trustees and a beloved community member, passed away on May 31. She was 59.

Ms. Lomax graduated from the George School, then received a BA in international affairs from the College of Arts and Sciences at Penn in 1984. She went on to earn a juris doctor degree from Georgetown University Law Center and was licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania and Maryland. She served for over 30 years as the general counsel for the Lomax Companies, a conglomerate of several small Philadelphia-area businesses, where she worked closely with her father and her five siblings. In 2003, she became the founding CEO of the Lomax Family Foundation, where she led the family’s philanthropic ventures. She worked to provide grants that offered a financial lifeline for many African American arts and cultural institutions, health care, and educational programs.

In 2007, Ms. Lomax joined Penn’s Board of Trustees, a position in which she had tremendous impact on the Penn community. She served on numerous trustees’ committees, including as chair of the Student Life Committee, vice chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on Diversity, and as a member of the External Affairs and Nominating committees. She co-chaired the James Brister Society for over 16 years. In this role, she advocated for the creation of Towards Inclusion: Diversity at Penn, a documentary on the history of diversity at Penn by the award-winning filmmaker Louis Massiah, and funded the James Brister Society Endowed Scholarship. Ms. Lomax served on the Trustees’ Council of Penn Women and the advisory committee of Makuu: The Black Cultural Center. She was a longtime member of the School of Social Policy & Practice Board of Advisors. She was also active on the Penn Alumni Board of Directors and several of its committees. She was co-chair of Penn Alumni’s Momentum 2021: The Power of Penn Women conference. She established the Claire Lomax and Lomax Family Foundation Scholarship in SP2 and was involved with Pipeline for Promise in SP2, a program that brought SP2 courses to underserved community college students.

Outside of her roles at Penn, Ms. Lomax was outspoken about diversity and the inclusion of women and African Americans. She served as the CEO of Say Yes to Health, Inc., a non-profit organization that provided health education to at-risk children in Philadelphia. She also served as the secretary and treasurer of Creativision; secretary of Foster America; secretary and treasurer of Vine & Fig Tree Press; and secretary of Fourth and One Productions. She served on several boards, including the African American Museum in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Award, and the William Penn Foundation. She was committed to diversity in corporate and legal America, serving as president of the National Bar Association’s Women Lawyers Division and founding the Access to Equity Foundation. In 2016, Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf chose her as a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania.

“Claire loved the University of Pennsylvania and throughout her lifetime she worked with joy and dedication alongside faculty, administrators, and students to make Penn a better place,” said the Board of Trustees in a written tribute. “To her board colleagues, she will long be remembered for the bright and shining presence she brought to every meeting. Engaged, inquisitive, and gregarious, she freely offered her thoughtful point-of-view, a great asset to the advancement of the University’s mission. We are grateful for Claire’s leadership, and even more so for having known her as a friend.”

Ms. Lomax is survived by her daughter, Dylan; her stepson, Jared; her mother; five siblings; 16 nieces and nephews; one great niece; and a large network of beloved family, friends, and colleagues. A celebration of her life is being planned for the fall.

Suzanne M. Shepherd, an emeritus clinician-educator in the Perelman School of Medicine, passed away on June 28 after being struck by a police vehicle. She was 69.

Dr. Shepherd earned a BA in biological sciences from Boucher College in 1974. She then received an MS with distinction in biophysics and physiology from Georgetown two years later, and an MD, also from Georgetown, in 1980. She completed an internship and residency at Georgetown University, then joined Penn’s faculty in 1995 as an associate professor of emergency medicine. She was widely involved at Penn, serving on the University Council Committee on Personnel Benefits and as an education officer in her department, as well as the medical director of Penn Travel Medicine. She also taught courses at the Gorgas Memorial Institute of Tropical and Preventive Medicine. Dr. Shepherd published her research widely, writing peer-reviewed articles spanning emergency medicine-related topics like vaccination, human attacks by felid carnivores, and malaria. She was promoted to a full professor of emergency medicine, the first woman to do so. In 2019, she retired from Penn and took emeritus status.

“Suzanne was a teacher, mentor and friend to many of us in the emergency department and beyond,” the department said in a statement. “She was such an interesting person,” said Dr. Shepherd’s friend David Rucki. “Such a life well-lived. She was just such an interesting woman. Such a wonderful, interesting, vibrant.”

Funeral information is forthcoming.

Nathan Sivin, an eminent scholar of Chinese medicine and science and a professor emeritus of Chinese Culture in the department of history and sociology of science in Penn’s School of Arts and Sciences, passed away on June 24. He was 91.

Dr. Sivin served in the U.S. Army from 1954 to 1956, and while there, enrolled in a Chinese language program. He then went on to receive a SB in humanities with a chemistry minor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1958. He then earned an MA in the history of science from Harvard University in 1960, and a PhD in the history of science from Harvard University in 1966. During his graduate studies, he became more entrenched in his passion for eastern Asian history, studying Chinese language and philosophy in Taipei and Chinese alchemy in Singapore. After graduating from Harvard, his first appointment was at MIT, where he was hired as an assistant professor of humanities. He rose through the ranks at MIT, becoming a full professor there in 1972. While at MIT, Dr. Sivin founded what is now the Science, Technology, and Society program.

In 1977, Dr. Sivin came to Penn as a professor of “Oriental studies,” a title that was later revised to Chinese culture and the history of science. Dr. Sivin contributed significantly to Penn’s scholarly engagement with China, visiting China in 1977 with a delegation of astronomers to compare findings with Chinese scientists. Dr. Sivin organized and participated in several Penn-related conferences in China over the decades and headed Penn’s Committee on Scholarly Exchange with China, which Provost Eliot Stellar founded in 1978. Dr. Sivin served on Penn’s Research Fund Committee, which dealt out research awards to faculty members, and served on other Penn-wide committees that regulated faculty life. He taught courses that surveyed the Scientific Revolution in Europe and advanced classical Chinese, as well as the sociology of professionalization and ritual in science, technology, and medicine. He received an honorary MA from Penn in 1978. In 2006, Dr. Sivin retired from Penn and took emeritus status.

Dr. Sivin traveled widely, studying and lecturing at Needham Research Institute, Gonville and Caius College, and St. John’s College at Cambridge University most summers between 1974 and 2000. He was a visiting professor at the Research Institute of Humanistic Studies in Kyoto, Japan and delivered over 250 guest lectures in Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America. He served on the boards of several learned societies, including the T’ang Studies Society, the American Society for the Study of Religion, the International Society for the History of East Asian Science, Medicine, and Technology, and the Franklin Inn Club. He was the editor of Chinese Science from 1973 to 1992 and served on the editorial boards of several other journals and monograph series. Dr. Sivin wrote or edited over fifteen books, studying the sociology, ritual, and philosophy of medicine around the world (often using China as a case study)and the intellectual history of philosopher Shen Kua (1031-1095). His most recent book, Health Care in Eleventh-Century China, was published in 2015 by Springer Publishing. He also wrote several dozen peer-reviewed journal articles.

He received many honors for his work, including two National Science Foundation Scientific Research Grants, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Library of Medicine grant, and travel grants from the American Philosophical Society, American Council of Learned Societies, and European Association for Chinese Studies. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 1977 and was named an honorary professor in the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1989.

“During his active career, Nathan Sivin was a Sinologist of the highest caliber, producing papers and books that are of great significance to Taoist Studies, Chinese medicine and science, and other fields,” said his colleague Victor Mair, a professor of Chinese language and literature. “What is perhaps even more remarkable is that, after his retirement, he continued to meet with graduate students for hours each week.”

Funeral information is forthcoming.

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2022

Thursday, September 22, 2022
Executive Committee Meeting
Audit & Compliance Committee Meeting
Budget & Finance Committee Meeting

Thursday-Friday, October 20-21, 2022
Fall Full Board Meeting
Inauguration on Friday, October 21, 2022
Homecoming on Saturday, October 22, 2022; Yale v. Penn

2023

Thursday-Friday, March 2-3, 2023
Winter Full Board Meeting

Thursday, May 11, 2023
Executive Committee Meeting
Budget & Finance Committee Meeting (Commencement on Monday, May 15, 2023)

Thursday-Friday, June 15-16, 2023
Spring Full Board Meeting

Thursday, September 28, 2023
Executive Committee Meeting
Audit & Compliance Committee Meeting
Budget & Finance Committee Meeting

Thursday-Friday, November 2-3, 2023
Fall Full Board Meeting (Homecoming on Saturday, November 4, 2023; Cornell v. Penn)

Thursday, December 7, 2023
Executive Committee Meeting
Budget & Finance Committee Meeting (if needed)

2024

Thursday-Friday, February 29 and March 1, 2024
Winter Full Board Meeting

Thursday, May 16, 2024
Executive Committee Meeting
Budget & Finance Committee Meeting (Commencement on Monday, May 20, 2024)

Thursday-Friday, June 13-14, 2024
Spring Full Board Meeting

Thursday, September 26, 2024
Executive Committee Meeting
Audit & Compliance Committee Meeting
Budget & Finance Committee Meeting

Thursday-Friday, November 14-15, 2024
Fall Full Board Meeting (Homecoming on Saturday, November 16, 2024; Harvard v. Penn)

Thursday, December 12, 2024
Executive Committee Meeting
Budget & Finance Committee Meeting (if needed)

2025

Thursday-Friday, February 27-28, 2025
Winter Full Board Meeting

Thursday, May 15, 2025
Executive Committee Meeting
Budget & Finance Committee Meeting (Commencement on Monday, May 19, 2025)

Thursday-Friday, June 12-13, 2025
Spring Full Board Meeting

To view Penn's Sexual Misconduct Policy, Resource Offices and Complaint Procedures, click here.

Ethan Kallett, C’22, has been selected as a 2022 Yenching Scholar and awarded full funding to pursue an interdisciplinary master’s degree in China studies, with a concentration in economics and management, at the Yenching Academy of Peking University in Beijing. Mr. Kallett is one of the 125 chosen from 27 countries to enroll in the one-year program in September. Six scholars affiliated with Penn have been chosen since the program’s launch in 2015.

From Vienna, Virginia, Mr. Kallett graduated with a bachelor’s degree with honors in economics, and a minor in data science. He is fluent in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, and conversational in Mandarin. He has worked as a management consultant in Central and South America and Mexico at Bain & Company, EY-Parthenon, and Mandalah. In addition, he has interned at FUNDES, a multinational non-governmental organization working with enterprises across Latin America. At Penn, Mr. Kallett was involved in several projects through the student-run Social Impact Consulting Group, including helping to develop a reestablishment plan for an evicted Indonesian community center and as a junior board program for a nonprofit aiding LGBT asylum seekers.

As a Yenching Scholar, Mr. Kallett plans to analyze the impacts of technology transfer and enhancement of human capital on Sino-Latin American infrastructure projects, using economic data available from China’s Ministry of Commerce and at national economic data institutes in Brazil and Peru.

Penn Arts & Sciences has awarded three Klein Family Social Justice grants to faculty-led projects that will contribute to the achievement of social justice through research and teaching, and through community engagement rooted in the arts and sciences.

The three projects are:

Personalized, Accelerated Science Learning, led by Lori Flanagan-Cato, an associate professor of psychology. This project will provide a rigorous evaluation of the experiential learning program, Everyday Neuroscience, in which Penn undergraduates work with students in a Philadelphia high school. The results will better define the program’s beneficial components and sustained academic value, and will guide revisions and scaling-up of the course.

Free State Slavery and Bound Labor: Pennsylvania, led by Sarah Barringer Gordon, a professor of history and the Arlin M. Adams Professor of Constitutional Law, and Kathleen Brown, the David Boies Professor of History. This project will create and launch a course examining slavery in Pennsylvania, where the effects of race-based bondage have long been underestimated. Undergraduate students will explore the legal history of enslavement and resistance through legal materials, newspapers, and other primary documents.    

Kitchen Science: A Platform for Inclusive and Accessible Outreach, led by Arnold Mathijssen, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy. The project will develop a series of outreach events, where students from underrepresented backgrounds learn basic scientific concepts using inexpensive tools and materials in the kitchen. Every month, a distinguished guest speaker (a chef, scientist, or R&D specialist) will present about their expertise, from chocolate to bubbly drinks, in an online video. These will be followed by workshops dedicated to disadvantaged students at local Philadelphia high schools.

Klein Family Social Justice Grants are an annual grant program offering awards for academic activities that use the arts and sciences to contribute to positive social change in the United States, including in Penn’s engagement with its surrounding community. They are intended to stimulate scholarship and education on topics of anti-racism, inclusion, diversity, and social justice, and to promote additional opportunities for community engagement.

Penn Arts & Sciences has awarded three Making a Difference (MAD) in Global Communities grants to faculty-led projects that will support multidisciplinary projects working with students to address societal challenges internationally. The initiative hopes to encourage proposals that address inequities in race, gender, sexual identity, socioeconomic mobility, education, health care, and political representation, as well as the grand challenges of climate change, poverty, and immigration.

The three projects are:

LAVA: Laboratorio para apreciar la vida y el ambiente is led by Michael Weisberg, professor and chair of philosophy, and includes Erol Akcay, an associate professor of biology, as a co-faculty director, as well as Penn researchers from other schools. The program will engage Galapagueños in conservation research and practice about their environmental priorities, such as water quality, ocean health, sea lion/human interactions, and agriculture.

Using Animated Video to Address Sea Level Rise is led by Simon Richter, the Class of 1942 Endowed Term Professor of French and Francophone, Italian, and Germanic Studies. Those also affiliated with the project include Michael Weisberg, professor and chair of philosophy, and Howard Neukrug, professor of practice. The goal of the project is to produce a series of animated videos that will inform both the water sector and the public at large about the impact of accelerated sea level rise on the Netherlands and contribute to public debate about how best to adapt.

Regional Collaboration for Better Crime Policy is led by Anthony Braga, the Jerry Lee Professor of Criminology and the director of the Crime and Justice Policy Lab. The project matches undergraduate and graduate students with community partners in Latin America and the Caribbean and engages them in a range of research activities to support innovation of new policy solutions.

Diana C. Mutz, the Samuel A. Stouffer Professor of Political Science and Communication in the School of Arts and Sciences and the Annenberg School for Communication, is co-winner of the 2022 Best Book Award from the American Political Science Association (APSA) for her book, Winners and Losers: The Psychology of Foreign Trade. The annual APSA award recognizes the best new book on government, politics, or international affairs.

Dr. Mutz’s research focuses on public opinion, political psychology, and mass political behavior, with an emphasis on political communication. She serves as director of the Annenberg School’s Institute for the Study of Citizens and Politics.

Winners and Losers examines how American citizens form opinions on international trade and shows how a better understanding of the psychological underpinnings of public opinion can lead to economic and societal benefits.

Joshua D. Brandstadter, a program scholar in hematology-oncology, has received the Doris Duke Physician-Scientist Fellowship Award. The $220,000 prize is granted to physician scientists at the subspecialty fellowship level who are seeking to conduct additional years of research with the goal to aid in the transition into a research faculty appointment.

This award will support Dr. Brandstadter’s work in Castleman Disease, a rare, inflammatory condition that causes large lymph nodes and potentially fatal inflammation throughout the body.

Timothy Brown, an innovation fellow at the Penn Center for Cancer Care Innovation (PC3I) and chief fellow in hematology-oncology, has been named a recipient of the Conquer Cancer 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting Merit Award, given to trainees who are first authors on abstracts selected for presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting.

Jennifer R. Eads, an associate professor of clinical medicine and physician lead for GI Clinical Research, has received the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group Young Investigator of the Year Award.

This award, funded by the ECOG Research and Education Foundation, recognizes extraordinary scientific achievements and research leadership contributions made by investigators during the early years of their careers (under the age of 46).

Dr. Eads is also director of the neuroendocrine tumor program.

Alexander C. Huang, an assistant professor of hematology-oncology, has received the 2022 Melanoma Research Foundation Breakthrough Consortium (MRFBC) Young Investigator Research Team Award, a two-year award with a total prize of $300,000, funded by a grant from Bristol Myers Squibb, to advance the field of translational immuno-oncology.

The goal of this award is to help identify and support the next generation of melanoma scientists to focus on either improving clinical outcomes for patients with melanoma being treated with immuno-oncology agents or advancing the scientific understanding of immuno-oncology and the role of the immune system in melanoma.

Steven Kawut, a professor of medicine and epidemiology and director of the Pulmonary Hypertension (PH)/Pulmonary Vascular Disease program, has received the Outstanding Physician Award from the Pulmonary Hypertension Association (PHA) at the PHA 2022 International PH Conference and Scientific Sessions. The award recognizes Dr. Kawut as a leader in promoting excellent clinical care, research, education, and advocacy on behalf of PH patients.

Dr. Kawut has published more than 300 papers and is currently funded by the National Institutes of Health to perform clinical trials and studies of physical activity in people with pulmonary hypertension.

Bonnie Ky, an associate professor of cardiovascular medicine and epidemiology and director of the Penn Cardio-Oncology Translational Center of Excellence, has been included by Cancer Health magazine in the Cancer Health 25, an annual list that honors individuals who have made a difference in the lives of people with cancer. Dr. Ky has been a leading force in the development of cardio-oncology, which focuses on the detection, monitoring, and treatment of cardiovascular disease before, during, and after cancer treatment.

Anne Marie McCarthy, an assistant professor of epidemiology, has been awarded $50,000 from the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition to support her research in cancer epidemiology with an emphasis on reducing breast cancer disparities by developing precision screening strategies. Dr. McCarthy’s work uses a growing understanding of breast cancer biology and risk by focusing on a key clinical concern–identifying women who are at high risk of having a cancer that is aggressive and likely to be missed by mammography screening and who may benefit from supplemental screening.

Sarah Skuli, a third-year fellow in hematology-oncology, has been selected by the American Society of Hematology (ASH) as one of 16 outstanding fellows to receive the 2022 ASH Research Training Award for Fellows (RTAF), a year-long program to encourage careers in academic hematology by providing protected research time during training. Each RTAF awardee will receive $70,000 to support a hematology research project throughout the program’s duration. Dr. Skuli’s area of interest is the highly aggressive and rapidly fatal subtype of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) that harbors inactivating mutations in a key suppressor of leukemic cell growth, TP53. Dr. Skuli is working to understand the role that cellular metabolism and cholesterol synthesis play in allowing this AML subtype to resist current chemotherapeutics in order to identify novel therapies to treat patients suffering from this blood cancer.

Hongjun Song, a professor of neuroscience, and Brian Litt, a professor of neurology and bioengineering and director of the Penn Epilepsy Center, received the 2022 Landis Award for Outstanding Mentorship from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). The award honors Drs. Song and Litt for their dedication to superior mentorship and training in neuroscience research. They will each receive $100,000 in the form of a supplement to an existing NINDS grant to support their efforts to foster the career advancement of additional trainees.

With backdrops of green-patterned wallpaper and paint the color of pink flamingos, prints created for middle class Americans from 1934 to 2000 are featured in Penn’s Arthur Ross Gallery exhibition, “From Studio to Doorstep,” through August 21.

The artworks are from Associated American Artists, a company founded in New York in 1934 with the intention of selling prints through mail-order, offering an affordable alternative to the gallery model. The prints, signed and numbered in runs of 250, initially sold for $5 apiece. The works were created by artists, some of them well-known, for $200 which was paid in advance.

“It was a totally new way of marketing artwork, meant to be shipped to wherever people were across the country,” said Lynn Dolby, University Art Collection manager and exhibition curator. “These prints were not necessarily meant for a museum audience; they were meant for the home and are very intimate in scale.”

All of the 37 prints in the exhibition come from the nearly 100 in the Penn Art Collection and most have not been exhibited before. Many were donated by the late Anne Jaffe Portenar, C’49, and her husband, Myron A. Portenar. Anne Portenar and the company’s artistic director Sylvan Cole were friends for three decades and she credits him with igniting her interest in collecting the prints, Ms. Dolby said.

The gallery’s entrance wall is covered with green-and-white wallpaper that Ms. Dolby had made, recreating a pattern sold by Associated American Artists in 1953 designed by artist Arnold Blanch. A print of an abstract floral paintograph, also from 1953, “Floral Magic,” by Mr. Blanch hangs there. “I thought we had to reunite these for this entry wall,” Ms. Dolby said.

Also in the entry is the one artist proof in the exhibition, “Grey Nude,” a 1953 woodcut by Milton Avery. “It’s interesting to see an artist proof and to see what the original looked like,” Ms. Dolby said. “We’re very lucky to have this in the collection.” The media vary, including woodcut, etching, linocut, engraving, aquatint, and lithograph.

Some of the gallery walls are painted the mid-century color “Pink Flamingo,” which Ms. Dolby chose as a nod to the time period and also as a contrasting backdrop to the mostly black-and-white prints.

“Traditional imagery of rural America or small town America were very popular, prized for creating a sort of American unity,” Ms. Dolby said.

The advertisements that were published in the popular magazines of the day, touting the $5 price—about $88 today—and encouraging groupings of multiple prints to decorate the home, are also featured. Although the early advertising seems geared toward a white, middle class audience, Ms. Dolby said, artists were of different races and ethnicities. For example, this exhibition includes prints by five Mexican artists.

“From Studio to Doorstep” is the 11th exhibition since 2010 created with works from the Penn Art Collection and the first curated by Ms. Dolby. Two College of Arts and Sciences students were involved with preparing and promoting the exhibition as interns. Rising sophomore Zoe Vaz with the Art Collection team and rising junior Xiaoyan (Sunny) Hua with the Arthur Ross Gallery team participated with funding from the Summer Humanities Internship Program administered through the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships.

The exhibition is organized roughly chronologically, starting with “The Balers,” a 1934 etching by George Elmer Browne and going through to a 1986 lithograph by Clinton Adams, “Still Life with Quotations.” The company ceased operation in 2000.

The company also was interested in educating their consumers, so the prints came with a label explaining a bit about the artist, as well as a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist. Ms. Dolby included images of these, when available, with the artworks.

The signature image for the exhibition is a 1972 etching, “Home Run,” by Stanley Kaplan, which shows a baseball player swinging his bat. “It’s such a summer image,” she said. “It’s very Americana.”

But her favorite is a 1937 lithograph by one of the most famous artists represented, Thomas Hart Benton, is the print “Goin’ Home,” created from a drawing of a family in a horse-drawn cart that he made in 1928 in North Carolina’s Smokey Mountains.

“I just love the imagery, the nostalgia of a horse-drawn carriage,” she said. “And I think the fact that the driver’s back is to us, he becomes a sort of like every man. This is a very familiar theme. I just love that piece.”

This article was adapted from a Penn Today article by Louisa Shepard, July 13, 2022.

Children’s Activities

Morris Arboretum
In-person events. Info: https://www.morrisarboretum.org/.

7/23     Magic Railway Weekends; Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends run on all tracks of the Garden Railway. Through July 24.

Exhibits

7/21     Docent-Led Tour; 1, 2 and 3 p.m.; Arthur Ross Gallery, Fisher Fine Arts Building. Also July 28.

Fitness & Learning

7/20     Navigating Your Early Career: Tips and Advice from Alumni; panel of recent Penn Nursing alumni and career services personnel will share early career advice; noon; room 203, Fagin Hall, and Zoom webinar; register: https://www.nursing.upenn.edu/details/forms.php?id=161 (Penn Nursing).

            Admissions Webinar - Accelerated Nursing Program; join Penn Nursing admissions staff members for an overview of Nursing’s accelerated nursing programs, including MSN specialty program options, admissions, and financial aid; 12:30 p.m.; online webinar; register: https://tinyurl.com/nursing-ap-info-jul-20 (Penn Nursing).

Talks

7/21     Special Briefing on Vulnerable Cities Facing Work from Home Realities; panel of speakers; 11 a.m.; Zoom webinar; register: https://tinyurl.com/iur-talk-jul-21 (Penn Institute for Urban Research).

7/25     Framing Anomalies in TQFT; Chris Elliott, University of Massachusetts Amherst; 2 p.m.; Zoom webinar; join: https://upenn.zoom.us/s/93725935963 (Mathematics).

Medical Ethics & Health Policy
Unless noted, hybrid events at room 252, BRB, and online webinars. Info: https://medicalethicshealthpolicy.med.upenn.edu/events.

7/26     Managing Institutional Conflicts of Interests in Technology Transfer: A Qualitative Study of Academic Research Institution Approaches and Best Practices; Matthew McCoy, medical ethics & health policy; noon; Zoom webinar.

Quantum Engineering Summer Seminar Series
Hybrid events in room 101, Levine Hall, and Zoom webinars. Join: https://upenn.zoom.us/j/97615863667.

7/22     Novel Qubit Materials Design; Sinead Griffin, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; noon.

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This is an update to the Summer AT PENN calendar, which is online now. The next monthly calendar, September AT PENN, will be published on Tuesday, August 30. Events for the September AT PENN calendar should be submitted by Monday, August 15. To submit events for a future AT PENN calendar or weekly update, email almanac@upenn.edu.

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 4-10, 2022. 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 4-10, 2022. 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: 10 incidents (5 assaults and 5 robberies) with 0 arrests were reported for July 4-10, 2022 by the 18^th District, covering the Schuylkill River to 49th St & Market St to Woodland Avenue.

Dear Penn Community,

Thank you for your spirit of volunteerism. Many benefit from your willingness to share. We receive many expressions of gratitude from community members and agencies with whom we have partnered. The University community continues to work towards being good neighbors in our shared community. We thank you for your overwhelming support and for your generosity.
Please take a look at the attached list of different volunteer activities both on and off campus. Let us help you volunteer!

Contact Isabel Sampson-Mapp at sammapp@upenn.edu for additional information about any of these opportunities. 

Become a Mentor in the Penn WorkPlace Mentoring Program

Encourage 7th graders from a local school to do well in school. Talk to them about the importance of college. Share your area of expertise in your job with them and help them to think about their futures. Make a difference in the life of a young person! Mentors meet with students once a month from September–May. All sessions are held on Penn’s campus. Training is held in September. Volunteer today!

Penn Volunteers in Public Service School Supplies Drive: August 8-August 23

Don’t forget to collect school supplies for the Annual Penn Volunteers in Public Service School Supplies Drive. Donations are shared with local west and southwest Philadelphia public schools involved in the University Assisted Community (Sayre, Lea, Comegys, West, for example), as well as students from Mastery Charter School. We also receive requests for items from local shelters, day care centers, and from families. Support school children by providing books, pens, pencils, book bags, calculators, crayons, rulers, dictionaries, elementary school story books and other items children need to help them be successful in school.

Please feel free to email coordinators at the various locations to make arrangements to drop off your donations. See locations below:

Teach at the Nonprofit Institute Sponsored by the Netter Center

Have a special knowledge on advisory boards, grant writing, risk management, etc.? Want to teach members of the surrounding community how to more effectively manage/create their nonprofits? The Nonprofit Institute is a five day program offering a variety of classes designed to help start-up nonprofits gain important skills needed to create a successful organization. Classes range from 1.5 hours to 3 hours. The institute is held twice a year in the fall and spring.

Teach at the University Assisted Community School (UACS Nights)

Have a special talent? Want to teach it to members of the surrounding community? Join our exciting program called University Assisted Community Schools Nights. Impart your expertise to adult learners. Teach resume writing, interviewing skills, computing, professional development, dancing, cooking, and/or a subject you are passionate about. Teach once a week for a one- or two-hour period for four to six weeks. We also welcome classes that can be taught in a single two-hour session. Classes are normally held from 6–8 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at West Philadelphia or West Catholic High Schools.

Adopt A Classroom

An exciting opportunity for you and your colleagues to “adopt” a Philadelphia school classroom, and help teachers with needed supplies for their rooms. Provide needed classroom items like reams of paper, pens, pencils, tissues, hand sanitizer, notebooks, folders, glue sticks, disinfecting wipes, calculators, index cards, scissors, backpacks, pencil sharpeners, dividers, protractors, highlighters, markers, construction paper, book socks, combination locks, personal organizers, Post-It notes, tape, staplers, etc.

Work with classrooms involved in community schools operated by the Netter Center for Community Partnerships. Schools include Lea, Sayre, West, Hamilton, Comegys, and more. You would have the opportunity to select the age group you prefer. A classroom would be assigned to you with a wish list. You and your colleagues can spend the summer collecting the supplies. Arrangements will be made in September for you to make your donations to your adopted class.

Red Cross Programs

The American Red Cross is offering its annual “Sound the Alarm” home fire safety program. If you are interested in an engaging online or onsite presentation which offers thoughtful tips on home fire prevention and emergency preparedness for your Penn colleagues, please let us know. It is a good opportunity for your staff to focus on family safety issues and review their home safety plans. Sessions typically last for about one hour, including questions and comments.

Another program which may interest the Penn community is the Red Cross Sickle Cell Initiative. This is a five-year program created to increase awareness and blood supply for sickle cell patients in the U.S. The Red Cross is actively seeking people of African descent in Black and Brown communities to both donate blood and serve as blood donor ambassadors at blood donation sites. The importance of ethnically compatible blood for sickle cell patients cannot be understated. The Red Cross’s sickle cell account manager, La Valle Warren, is a dynamic speaker and advocate. Her program, including questions and comments, usually lasts about one hour.

Also, volunteer to be a blood transporter, dispatch duty officer, or disaster action team member. You can also contact Ned.Bloom@redcross.org or (267) 634-3766, with any questions or comments.

Become a Dropsite Volunteer

Dropsite volunteers are located throughout the University and provide the site for collections during our annual school, food, gift and change drives. All that is required is for you to set up a collection area, put up a flyer, and collect the donations. There are only three or four activities per year.

Penn VIPS provides the collected donations to local agencies and schools which makes a huge difference to members of the surrounding community.

Drives take place according to the following schedule:

• March–Change Drive to benefit the Scholarship Program  
• August—School Supplies Drive
• November—Food Drive
• December—Toy/Gift Drive
• December—Coat Drive

Dropsite volunteers advertise the various drives, help designate the beneficiaries of the drives, and help with the distribution of the donated items.

Leveling the Playing Field

The program director of the new Philadelphia location of Leveling the Playing Field (LPF), a non-profit that helps kids from under-resourced communities become involved in youth sports through the collection and redistribution of gently used/excess sporting equipment, is requesting your assistance. In order to support their mission, it is critical to get members of the community active and engaged through volunteering at their warehouse. Volunteers help sort, organize, and inventory all of their incoming donations so that they can quickly get them back into the hands of kids who need them. They can host individuals, families, or larger groups at the warehouse by creating closed events upon request. To participate, contact:

Danielle Miller
Program Director - LPF Philadelphia
404 Elmwood Avenue, Sharon Hill, PA 19079
(570) 709-9538
www.levelingtheplayingfield.org

Leftover Conference Bags, Tee-Shirts, Pens, etc.?

Donate them to Penn VIPS. We will share them with school children and members of the community.

Warm regards,

—Isabel Sampson-Mapp, Associate Director
Netter Center for Community Partnerships