February 7, 2023 Volume 69 Issue 22

At present, Achilles tendon injuries have few options for remedy beyond intensive physical therapy and surgeries. Even then, recovery is not guaranteed and can differ significantly from person to person. But with the help of a new five-year grant totaling almost $8 million from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, faculty in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania are launching the Penn Achilles Tendinopathy Center of Research Translation (PAT-CORT). The center’s driving goal is to discover more consistent and less intense options for treating and even preventing these types of injuries from occurring.

“Despite the high frequency and increasing prevalence of tendon injuries in young and old patients, effective treatment methods have stagnated over the last two decades,” said Louis J. Soslowsky, the Fairhill Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, vice chair of orthopaedic research at Penn, and the founding director of PAT-CORT. “We believe that this stasis is due to the lack of fundamental understanding of tendon disease causes and progression, which limits development of novel treatments. Our goal is to develop new insight and technologies that uncover the mechanobiologic basis of Achilles injuries across many environments, ranging from the nucleus to the cell to the tissue microenvironment and, finally, to patients as a whole.”

Dr. Soslowsky will be joined in leading the new center by Robert Mauck, the Ralston Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and director of Penn’s McKay Orthopaedic Research Laboratory, and Casey Humbyrd, an associate professor of orthopaedic surgery and medical ethics & health policy and the chief of the foot and ankle division at Penn.

Instead of patients having to rehab or settle in for surgeries that take months of recovery, Dr. Soslowsky and his team hope that they can make discoveries about how and why the Achilles tendon breaks down, which will allow for the development of therapeutic targets or rehabilitation strategies that strengthen or rebuild the Achilles tendon.

Several projects are already slated for the center:

• One that will explore the relationship between the remodeling of chromatin—the material that makes up chromosomes— and how cells in tendons operate, led by Su Chin Heo, an assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery, and Melike Lakadamyali, an associate professor of physiology.
• Another to study how the microenvironment outside of tendon cells is influenced by the transfer of information through the protein structure that gives cells their shape, led by Nathaniel Dyment and Joel Boerckel, assistant professors of orthopaedic surgery.

Work to provide cells and tissue in various stages of disease progression for the projects will be led by Josh R. Baxter, an assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery and director of the Human Motion Laboratory, and Daniel Farber, an associate professor of clinical orthopaedic surgery.

“Ultimately, this work will better define the mechanisms of action of current rehabilitative regimens and provide new insight to guide small molecule and biologic treatments that improve the efficacy of Achilles tendinopathy treatment,” said Dr. Soslowsky.

Veterans coming to Penn Dental Medicine for dental care now have a new resource to help cover the costs of their treatment—the Penn Dental Medicine Veterans Dental Care Fund. This fund was recently established through a $100,000 gift from a Penn Dental Medicine alumnus and his wife with hopes that it will inspire fellow alumni to support the fund and help it continue to grow.

“This generous donation will have a far-reaching impact on the lives of the veterans we serve,” said Penn Dental Medicine’s Morton Amsterdam Dean, Mark S. Wolff. “We are tremendously grateful to have this fund as an ongoing resource to help those veterans in need.”

Veterans will be eligible to benefit from the fund depending on their treatment plan needs and financial limitations.

Having served as an army officer himself, the alumnus who made the donation (who wishes to remain anonymous) shares that he has seen first-hand through his service and years of practicing dentistry the need among many veterans for help with their oral health care.

“Veterans often have limited dental coverage through the VA,” he said. “We felt that by starting this fund, it was a way we could support them in appreciation of their service and help improve their quality of life. Better oral health will help them live healthier, happier, and more secure lives.”

He recalls that his earliest experience caring for a veteran had a profound effect on him. As a dental student, one of his full denture patients was an army veteran—a man in his 40s who had lost all his teeth due to a combination of poor oral hygiene, substance abuse, and limited financial resources. “He was so appreciative of the dental care we provided,” he said, “and we hope this fund can not only aid similar veterans in desperate need of dental care, but also inspire current dental students to help the veterans who risked their lives for our country.”

According to the 2020 census, there are approximately 56,000 veterans in Philadelphia County alone, and in recent years, Penn Dental Medicine has expanded its effort to reach veterans in need of a dental care home. The fund’s donors hope that with grass-roots support from other alumni, the fund will expand to be provide even greater support for veterans coming to the school for care.

“Donations to this fund will go directly to servicemen and women who otherwise would not be able to afford urgently needed dental care,” noted Elizabeth Ketterlinus, Penn Dental Medicine vice dean of institutional advancement. “Everyone benefits from the selfless services of these veterans. They deserve not only our gratitude, but our ongoing support in times of need.”

Gifts to the Penn Dental Medicine Veterans Dental Care Fund can be made online and for more information on supporting the fund, contact Elizabeth Ketterlinus, vice dean of institutional advancement, ekett@upenn.edu.

The Aresty Institute of Executive Education at the Wharton School has announced the launch of a portfolio of executive certificates and programming in the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) space. Created in collaboration with the Wharton ESG Initiative, these online programs pair Wharton’s world-class financial acumen with pioneering ESG research to prepare executives for the current challenges of ESG integration.

“The future of business is changing at an incredibly accelerated rate,” said Patti Williams, vice dean of Wharton Executive Education. “Wharton is launching these programs to serve as a partner in progress for leaders as they navigate shaping that future. We are convening the brightest business and academic minds to spark the much-needed exchange of knowledge and insights, and we’re doing it in an accessible, flexible way.”

The suite of ESG programming is designed specifically for executives and leaders who are charged with high-stakes ESG decisions in real time. Once considered a niche field, ESG is now cited as “the #1 factor impacting business strategy” by Forbes. Wharton’s programming equips participants with tangible insights for immediate impact, while maximizing learning and integrating seamlessly into executives’ busy schedules.

Programming options include a four-week foundational offering, Wharton ESG Essentials, for those needing to develop fluency in ESG, with an added path to continue studies for an additional four weeks in one of three Wharton ESG Executive Certificate programs—for financial professionals, senior leaders, and strategists. These advanced certificates are designed to catapult executives to the forefront of ESG decision making. All programs feature a blended online structure, with cohorts meeting virtually for two hours live online once a week (Wharton ESG Essentials for four weeks total; Wharton ESG Executive Certificates for eight weeks total) and completing self-paced online sessions when convenient for them.

Sessions will be led by award-winning and tenured Wharton faculty who are pioneering the academic research and leading the dialogue in the rapidly evolving ESG field.

“We’re not advocates, we’re not taking a position, we’re trying to help you do the analysis,” said Witold Henisz, vice dean and faculty director of the Wharton ESG Initiative and academic director of executive education ESG programming. “We are providing an increasingly important set of tools for executives—the skills and strategies to value ESG factors as well as address them—in real time. These are factors that have been left out of the models, left out of the toolkits to businesses’ detriment, and as we’re doing the research that informs the next generation, we want to equip our current leaders for the frontier as well.”

Broadcasted and facilitated in real time from an interactive online classroom, the programs prioritize live engagement and employ a host of instructional modalities to enhance the learning experience: in-class discussions, case work, small-group breakout sessions, and role playing.

Wharton ESG executive programming begins online in April 2023 and is now accepting applications. Prospective participants can learn more and apply at WhartonExecESG.com.

Samuel G. Jacobson, the William C. Frayer Professor Emeritus of ophthalmology in the Perelman School of Medicine and the founding director of Penn’s Center for Hereditary Retinal Degenerations, died in January. He was 78.

Dr. Jacobson earned a BA in 1966 from the University of Illinois, then completed his MD there four years later. He completed his internship and residency at the Rush-Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center, Chicago, then pursued a PhD in psychophysics at the University of London, which he received in 1977. Dr. Jacobson entered the field of inherited retinal diseases when clinical specialists were rare, there was little medical or scientific interest in genetic blindness, and there were no treatments. After earning his PhD, he served residencies at MIT and Harvard in Cambridge, as well as a fellowship at the Moorfields Eye Hospital in London. In 1983, he joined the faculty of Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami, where he established the institute’s first program for inherited retinal degenerations.

In 1995, Dr. Jacobson joined Penn’s faculty as a professor of ophthalmology. In addition, he founded and was the inaugural director of the Center for Hereditary Retinal Degenerations, which advanced understanding of the molecular mechanisms and therapies for diseases previously considered incurable. In 1997, he was appointed the F.M. Kirby Professor of Molecular Ophthalmology. During his time at Penn, Dr. Jacobson also directed the retinal function department of the Scheie Eye Institute and became beloved by patients and their families for the care with which he treated them and helped them understand their conditions. Dr. Jacobson was also highly respected in the scientific community for his clinical development of numerous retinal-disease treatments, including gene and RNA therapies for several forms of retinitis pigmentosa, Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), cone-rod dystrophies, and many other retinal conditions.

Dr. Jacobson served on the Foundation Fighting Blindness’s Scientific Advisory Board, and received the foundation’s Board of Directors and National Trustee Awards. “Sam Jacobson was a hero in the fight against blinding retinal diseases. He gave selflessly to the foundation, the global retinal research community, and patients and families,” said Jason Menzo, chief executive officer at the foundation. “His decades of unparalleled passion and dedication to research were instrumental in moving our mission forward and advancing treatments into and through clinical trials. His impact and legacy will be forever lasting.”  Dr. Jacobson received the Antonio Champalimaud Vision Award in 2018 for his revolutionary work that led to LUXTURNA, the first gene therapy approved by the FDA for the eye or any inherited condition. Also in 2018, he was awarded the Proctor Medal for his research on LCA.

In his free time, Dr. Jacobson was an avid Philly sports fan. He is survived by his wife, Jean; his daughter, Maxine; and his brother, Fruman (Marian). In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory can be made to the Eugenia R. Jacobson and Max M. Jacobson, MD Memorial Scholarship Fund (#12772236) at the University of Illinois Foundation.

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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.

During the University Council Meeting on Wednesday, February 1, President Liz Magill discussed the appointment of John L. Jackson, Jr., current dean of the Annenberg School for Communication, as Penn’s 31st Provost, effective June 1, 2023 (Almanac January 31, 2023). She thanked Interim Provost Beth A. Winkelstein, who she described as a trusted partner, a problem-solver, and a steady leader with an unwavering commitment to Penn.

President Magill congratulated Nader Engheta, the winner of the Benjamin Franklin Medal (Almanac January 31, 2023) and the winners of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Service Awards (Almanac January 24, 2023). She also announced the appointment of René Vidal  as the latest Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor (Almanac January 17, 2023) and that two Penn students were awarded Churchill Scholarships (Almanac January 24, 2023).

Karen Kille, manager of Quality of Work- Life programs in the Division of Human Resources, presented on employee resources to support families, including:

• Flexible hybrid or remote work schedules that support Penn’s needs. There are 1,221 staff members who live in 42 states outside of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and 787 staff members are fully remote, according to Workday data.
• Assistance for growing a family, including family medical leave, short-term disability, and a paid parental leave policy. There are also fertility benefits, a lactation support program, childcare resources, and adoption assistance.
• Tuition benefits programs and public service loan forgiveness (PSLF) assistance.
• Adult and elder care resources, such as consultations, advocacy assistance, legal and financial consultations, and connections to peer support.
• MindWell at Penn assists with emotional well-being resources.

Laura Perna, vice provost for faculty, described family resources for faculty. The dual career program provides funding to offset the costs of hiring and retaining spouses and partners of standing faculty. The Faculty Handbook outlines a parental leave and teaching leave policy that is unique to the needs of faculty.

There has been an extension of the proba- tionary period for non-tenured standing faculty members for reasons such as the birth or adoption of a child, becoming a caregiver, a serious health condition, a catastrophic event, or military service. In spring 2021, the Provost added pandemic impact statements as an option in the faculty review process.

Jessica Bolker, director of the Family Re- source Center, discussed support for students and postdoctoral trainees with children. Approximately 1 in 10 graduate and professional students have children—40% report having children under the age of 2, and 23% of postdocs report having children.

These populations face challenges, but Penn provides resources and benefits, such as backup childcare at subsidized rates and free access to a platform to search for caregivers. There are online resources, programs and activities for families designed to create a Penn parenting committee, and educational events.

The Family Resource Center assists student and postdocs. It also has a Student Parent Advisory Board that works with the staff to ensure relevant programming and resources.

During the new business portion of the meeting, a representative from Fossil Free Penn spoke about the eviction of UC Townhomes residents, which is scheduled for February 21, and expressed a desire for low income families to continue to use the area.

A postdoc representative on council spoke about low salaries  in major cities such as Philadelphia. He noted a trend in rising salaries for postdocs.

Robert Watson, president of the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly, called for student representation on the University’s Board of Trustees as is the case, in various forms, at Cornell University, Duke University, University of Virginia, and Temple University.

The next University Council meeting is on Wednesday, February 22 and includes an open forum (Almanac January 17, 2023).

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

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Agenda

Wednesday, February 15, 2023
3–5 p.m. EDT

1. Finalize the minutes of December 7, 2022, and January 18, 2023 meetings
2. Report from the Tri-Chairs
3. Update from the Office of the President
   Discussion with President Liz Magill
4. ChatGPT and Its Implications for Your Teaching
   A conversation with Bruce Lenthall, executive director of the Center for Teaching and Learning
5. Moderated internal discussion
6. New business

Eight faculty from four University of Pennsylvania schools have been elected 2022 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) fellows. They are among more than 500 researchers honored for their “scientifically and socially distinguished achievements.”

Since 1874, AAAS, a scientific society aimed at advancing science, engineering, and innovation “throughout the world for the benefit of all,” has annually named a class of fellows. This year, the work spans 24 scientific disciplines.

William Beltran is the Corinne R. and Henry Bower Professor of Ophthalmology in the department of clinical sciences and advanced medicine and director of the division of experimental retinal therapies in the School of Veterinary Medicine. His research focuses on inherited retinal degeneration, a major cause of blindness in dogs and humans worldwide. Working with canines who suffer from forms of retinal degeneration that closely mimic human disease, Dr. Beltran has helped develop effective gene therapies with promising results for treating both early- and late-stage disease.

Brian D. Gregory is professor of biology and graduate chair in the School of Arts and Sciences’ department of biology. Dr. Gregory has pioneered the development and use of high-throughput sequencing and computational biology approaches to study the structure, modification, and interactions of ribonucleic acid (RNA), primarily working in plants. Elucidating the dynamics of RNA, Dr. Gregory’s studies have highlighted previously unappreciated regulatory processes that affect how genes are expressed or silenced. His insights into RNA regulation have important implications in plant biology but also extend to understanding gene regulation in other species, including humans.

Insup Lee is the Cecilia Fitler Moore Professor in the department of computer and information science and director of the PRECISE Center. He holds secondary appointments in the department of electrical and systems engineering and in the Perelman School of Medicine’s department of biostatistics, epidemiology, & informatics. His research seeks to assure and improve the correctness, safety, and timeliness of life-critical embedded systems and involves finding fundamental and practical solutions to problems of modeling, control, simulation, operation, formal design, and implementation of cyber-physical systems and internet-of-medical things. 

Guo-li Ming is a Perelman Professor of Neuroscience in the department of neuroscience and a member of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine. She received her medical training on child and maternal care from Tongji Medical University in China and her PhD from the University of California, San Diego. After postdoctoral training at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, she joined Johns Hopkins University. Research in the Ming Lab centers on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying neuronal development and its dysregulation using mouse systems and patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells.

Eric J. Schelter is a professor in the department of chemistry in the School of Arts and Sciences. His primary areas of focus lie in synthetic inorganic and organometallic chemistry to address problems in critical metals separations, develop new materials with quantum properties, understand the roles of f-elements in biology, and gain insight into their unique chemical bonding.

Theodore Schurr is a professor in the department of anthropology in the School of Arts and Sciences, director of the Laboratory of Molecular Anthropology at Penn, and a consulting curator in the physical anthropology and American sections of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. For more than three decades, Dr. Schurr has conducted anthropological genetics research, combining ethnographic field research with the laboratory analysis of DNA samples collected for his projects.

Warren D. Seider is a professor in the department of chemical and biomolecular engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science who has made significant contributions to the fields of computer-aided process analysis, simulation, design, and control. Dr. Seider works on phase and chemical equilibria, azeotropic distillation, heat and power integration, Czochralski crystallization, algae growth to biofuels, nonlinear control, and safety and risk analysis. He is recognized for foundational research, simulation software, teaching, and service contributions to the field of computer-aided process design and control.

Karen I. Winey is the Harold Pender Professor in the departments of materials science &engineering and chemical & biomolecular engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Dr. Winey’s research, which focuses on the nanoscale structures in ionomers and associating polymers to improve mechanical and transport properties, has recently reported new structures in several precise ionomers. She has contributed to polymer science, particularly in the understanding and manipulation of unique polymer nanocomposites and ion-containing polymers.

The Center for Global Women’s Health (CGWH) has been awarded a $30,000 grant through It’s On Us PA, a statewide campaign that aims to end sexual assault by bringing together college and university presidents, superintendents, administrators, teachers, students, families, and community members to reframe the conversation around sexual violence and pledge to be part of the solution.

The grant provides funding from January 2023 through May 2024 to implement strategies on campuses, such as improving awareness, prevention, reporting, and response systems regarding sexual violence in schools; removing/reducing barriers that prevent survivors of sexual violence from reporting and/or accessing vital resources; and demonstrating significant, proactive, and sustainable leadership to change campus culture and improve the climate around sexual assault.

“Once again, the CGWH is partnering with the Netter Center After School Program and using a peer mentoring co-facilitation model to train nursing students to co-facilitate the ‘Bringing in the Bystander’ program with West Philly High School students,” said Monique Howard, senior director of women’s health initiatives at the center. “In teams, they will implement the program for 100 West Philly High School students. In addition, the students will design sexual violence prevention videos that will be played on social media. We are very excited about the continued partnering of these two centers and are hopeful that this work will support other violence prevention programming that is conducted in this community.”

Additionally, students will learn how to identify risk factors for sexual violence and safely intervene as active bystanders to prevent assault. The program will use the evidenced-based Bringing in the Bystander (BIB) training program, which is a bystander intervention that is specific for high school students.

The goal of the Successful Bystander Program is to reduce societal and cultural norms that prevent youth from acting in the role of bystander. The Successful Bystander Program will use a co-facilitation, train the trainer model, and use the Bringing in the Bystander (BIB) intervention to teach individuals how to identify a situation, and safely diffuse, distract, or intervene in instances where sexual violence may occur.

SP2 associate professor Yoosun Park and co-author Michael Reisch of the University of Maryland have been awarded the 2023 Frank R. Breul Memorial Prize by Social Service Review (SSR), long considered the most prestigious journal in the field.

Drs. Park and Reisch received the award for their article “To ‘Elevate, Humanize, Christianize, Americanize’: Social Work, White Supremacy, and the Americanization Movement, 1880–1930,” which appears in SSR’s December 2022 issue. The Breul Prize is awarded annually to the best article published in SSR in the preceding year, as judged by the publication’s editor, after seeking input from the editorial board.

The article studies the relationship between the history of social work in the massive Americanization movement, a national endeavor that flourished around the turn of the twentieth century. Drs. Park and Reisch trace the field’s role in the “movement’s sedimentation of whiteness as the national identity” and the ways in which “Americanization” was applied not only to immigrants—both white and racialized—but also to Indigenous Americans and African Americans.

Drs. Park and Reisch argue that social work’s engagement in the Americanization movement was central to the solidification of an “ethnoracial hierarchy” whose logics continue to shape the nation and the profession today. They conclude the article with a call upon the field “to reassess its unquestioned assumptions and the actions built upon them.”

The authors examined multiple primary sources, including four significant periodicals associated with social work, analyzing articles containing keywords related to Americanization as well as discussions of race, eugenics, heredity, culture, racialized populations, and national groups.

Dr. Park, a scholar of social work history, first came across the fact that social workers were involved in the Americanization movement while researching her dissertation on the representation of immigrants and immigration in early social work discourse, and notes that social work’s involvement in Americanization has been almost entirely erased from its disciplinary histories.

For Drs. Park and Reisch, their discoveries have not stopped with the article; the piece is an introductory version of their forthcoming book on the subject. “I am learning a lot; have learned a lot, even since the publication of this paper,” said Dr. Park.

SSR writes in the prize announcement, “Park and Reisch’s eye-opening article documents the intertwined stories of racism and Americanization that characterized the field of social work as it was developing. Synthesizing the histories of multiple racialized groups of people, Park and Reisch show how ethnoracial hierarchies forged in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries continue to shape the profession’s approach today. This article was selected for the award because of the pioneering nature of its topic and the breadth and depth of the authors’ analysis. Drs. Park and Reisch remind us that sometimes the best way to be timely is to look to the past.”

Through the prize, SSR pays tribute to the career of Frank R. Breul, an educator, administrator, and editor of SSR while on the faculty of the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice at the University of Chicago.

Pawel Popiel, a George Gerbner Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication, was named a Privacy Papers for Policymakers (PPPM) award winner by the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) — a global non-profit focused on data protection headquartered in Washington, D.C.

The PPPM A-wards recognize leading privacy scholarship that is relevant to policymakers in the U.S. Congress, at federal agencies and for international data protection authorities. Six winning papers, one honorable mention, a student submission and a student honorable mention were selected by a diverse group of leading academics, advocates and industry privacy professionals from FPF’s Advisory Board.

Dr. Popiel’s report, co-authored with internews advocacy and research advisor Laura Schwartz-Henderson (formerly an Annenberg staff member), was titled “Understanding the Challenges Data Protection Regulators Face: A Global Struggle Towards Implementation, Independence, & Enforcement.” In the paper, the authors analyze the challenges facing data protection authorities in Africa and Latin America.

Since 2018, more than sixty countries around the world have enacted or proposed new data protection laws, with those numbers steadily increasing each year. However, while these regulatory agencies have immense public responsibilities to enforce data protection laws, they often face significant challenges.

“Our report draws on academic and policy literature, and extensive conversations with data protection regulators and civil society advocates in Africa and Latin America to assess these challenges,” Dr. Popiel said.

The paper identifies two key obstacles to effective data protection oversight (resource constraints and threats to agency independence) and advocates for best practices and recommendations aimed at tackling these challenges, including collaboration among regional DPAs and between regulators and civil society.

This report is part of the Advocating for Data Accountability, Protection, and Transparency (ADAPT) project by Internews, an international media support nonprofit. ADAPT seeks to foster  coordinated advocacy effort to promote rights-respecting privacy policies and help internet users understand what protections currently exist to keep their data, and themselves, safe online.

PPPM provides institutions a platform to share their critical privacy research and proposed policy solutions with policymakers and regulators in the U.S. and abroad.

University of Pennsylvania parents and educators can now browse and borrow more than 1,500 award-winning and notable books for children and young adults, all highlighting diverse characters and experiences, as part of a new initiative at the Penn Libraries. 

“This initiative will help enable the next generation of University of Pennsylvania educators to bring award-winning children’s literature into their classrooms, advancing education and literacy in local schools and beyond,” said Brigitte Weinsteiger, the Gershwind & Bennett Family Senior Associate Vice Provost for Collections & Scholarly Communications at the Penn Libraries. “Research reveals that reading fiction from diverse perspectives develops empathy in the reader; this collection will help us foster that understanding and tolerance in young readers and bring us close to reflecting the diversity of our local and global communities.” 

The new and growing collection features English-language books, with selections suitable for the youngest readers up to 12th graders, that have won or been nominated for awards related to diversity. The collection also includes books from the Penn Graduate School of Education’s annual Best Books for Young Readers lists, which emphasize diversity across “gender, race, ability, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, and socioeconomic class.”

This initiative is part of the Penn Libraries’ recent and ongoing efforts to recognize the importance of children’s literature in scholarship and cultural heritage. 

Traditionally, the libraries’ children’s literature collections, aside from notable special collections, were primarily built through the purchase of Newbery and Caldecott award winners and other occasional purchases. There was not a systematic approach to purchasing general, circulating collections more broadly. Starting in 2015, with the release of the first GSE Best Books for Young Readers list, the Penn Libraries began to collect children’s books, including books for young children, young adult books, graphic novels, and comic book compilations more extensively than ever. More recently, a group of librarians identified and purchased over 1,000 books to create the Immigrant and Refugee Experiences in Children’s and Young Adult Literature collection. 

These changes reflect the “modernization” of an area that has been historically underrepresented in many academic library collections, said Nick Okrent, coordinator and librarian of humanities collections at the Penn Libraries. Like some other types of mass media—Mr. Okrent cited women’s magazines as an example—children’s literature wasn’t, until fairly recently, considered a priority for collection or for serious academic study.  

However, there is growing recognition that the literature which is consumed widely in our country is in many ways as important as the high literature that is more typically studied in academia. “If you think about it, many more people have read Doctor Seuss than have read Tolstoy or Dostoevsky,” Mr. Okrent observed. “Children around the world are growing up with stereotypes and norms and tropes—everything that we talk about when we talk about literature.” 

To build this new collection, Mr. Okrent and other libraries staff identified dozens of literature awards for books featuring characters from diverse backgrounds—including race, ethnicity, class, ability, and sexual orientation—and purchased the books that were winners and finalists for those awards going back several years. The libraries will continue to receive over 150 books annually through this relationship.

The new initiative was spurred in part by heightened scholarly and pedagogical interest in children’s literature in academic programs at the University of Pennsylvania, including Penn’s Graduate School of Education. For professor Jessica Whitelaw, who lectures in the reading/writing/literacy division at Penn GSE, this newest collection represents a “fundamental, important, and significant enhancement” for students.  

The study of children’s literature is central to coursework at the GSE. “Children’s literature and literature for young adults is really a cornerstone of the K-12 literacy curriculum,” Dr. Whitelaw noted. “At GSE, students study the cultural production of children’s literature and the ways it can play an important role in cultivating necessary social dialogue and critique. Diverse literature is an essential way that we think about teachers and students engaging with critical literacy.” 

The Penn Libraries’ concerted and intentional efforts to expand these collections also come on the heels of an explosion of recent interest in the genre from publishers, who “found they had a viable audience in adolescents” following the runaway popularity of the Harry Potter and The Hunger Games series in the early 2000s, said Melissa Jensen, an award-winning novelist who teaches courses in children’s and young adult literature in Penn’s department of English.  

Ms. Jensen welcomes the “burgeoning pantheon” of new books for young readers, sharing that her own interest in studying and writing children’s and young adult literature was inspired in part by what she found lacking in literature as an adolescent. A voracious reader as a child, Ms. Jensen soon found herself skipping ahead to books meant for adults, not always understanding the themes and takeaways until later in life. 

But books written about and for young people can be particularly effective in cultivating an interest in literature during those formative years. “When we give them books that are written so specifically for a young audience, they get it, and they’re going to pick up the next book,” Ms. Jensen said. “While young readers can get great value from many ‘grown-up’ texts, giving them a book that’s written for a young reader is going to engage them in a vivid way that a literary novelist writing for a general audience won’t.” 

Children’s literature can also help provide teachers, parents, and students with a framework for conversation. “Classrooms are social spaces,” Dr. Whitelaw points out, and as classrooms are more diverse now than ever before, the literature needs to reflect that. “Even the youngest of children are considering different perspectives, points of view, and interpretations, and [the classroom] becomes this wonderfully dynamic space for centering diversity.”  

Dr. Whitelaw said picture books, as “multimodal texts”—those that combine the written word and visuals to convey meaning—are especially interesting as a topic of study. In the context of an expanding communicative landscape, GSE students consider how color and shape convey meaning and how things like movement, time and space are conveyed multimodally. “And around issues of diversity and representation, what meanings and often subtle messages and ideas are being portrayed, not just in the words, but in the visuals?” 

As children learn to cultivate empathy and a sense of self, just seeing characters they can relate to in the books they read, Ms. Jensen noted, is transformative. “Anything from the kid next door to the superhero, it’s going to be empowering. It’s going to be reassuring.” 

The collection will continue to grow over time, likely by several hundred new books each year, as new awardees and nominees are announced and new GSE picks are selected. A dedicated display in Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center, situated on the first floor, provides easy access and ongoing visibility for library visitors. 

“These books are especially colorful and especially appealing to the eye,” Mr. Okrent noted. “It’s the kind of collection that appeals to people simply walking past, who may take notice and see representations of people who lived lives or had experiences like theirs.”

To explore the collection, visit https://www.library.upenn.edu/blog/new-collection-award-winning-childrens-books-centers-diversity-equity-inclusion-and. 

Conferences

11        Future of Cybersecurity: Regulatory Impacts on Conglomerates, Silent Warfare, and Global Cooperation Efforts; annual conference of the Penn Asian-Pacific American Law Students Association, the Center for Technology, Innovation & Competition, and the Asian Law Review; 9:15 a.m.-6 p.m.; Fitts Auditorium, Carey Law School; register: https://tinyurl.com/carey-conf-feb-11 (Carey Law School).

Films

9          Flee; follows the story of a man under the alias Amin Nawabi, who shares his hidden past of fleeing his home country of Afghanistan to Denmark for the first time; 7:30 p.m.; room 543, Williams Hall (Cinema & Media Studies).

13        Aftershock Processing; discussion about Aftershock, a story of two families joined by the preventable deaths of their loved ones due to childbirth complications (view movie before the session); 3 p.m.; Zoom webinar; register: https://tinyurl.com/aftershock-feb-13 (Nursing).

Fitness & Learning

Center for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships

Unless noted, online events. Info: https://curf.upenn.edu/events.

7          Summer Humanities Internship Program (SHIP) Info Session; 11 a.m.

            PURM Information Session; 3 p.m. Also February 14, 1:30 p.m.; fireside room, ARCH.

Readings & Signings

9          Book Launch: Fool Proof; Tess Wilkinson-Ryan, Carey Law School; noon; room 100, Golkin Hall; register: https://tinyurl.com/wilkinson-ryan-launch-feb-9 (Carey Law School).

Special Events

13        Kashmir Week; a week-long series of events to give a voice to the Kashmiri people, who have been subject to dispossessions throughout history; all day; rooms 108 and 208, ARCH; full schedule: https://tinyurl.com/kashmir-week-schedule (Radical South Asian Collaborative). Through February 17.

Talks

7          Designing Interfacial Phenomena for Water, Energy, and Sustainability; Samantha McBride, Princeton University; 10 a.m.; Wu & Chen Auditorium, Levine Hall (Mechanical Engineering & Applied Mechanics).

            Demography and Infectious Disease; Jessica Metcalf, Princeton University; 4 p.m.; room 3C8, DRL, and Zoom webinar; join: https://tinyurl.com/metcalf-talk-feb-7 (Mathematics).

            The Future of the Indo-Pacific: Insight from the U.S. and Australian Militaries; Tony Bennett, U.S. Army War College; Joseph England, U.S. Army; Rachel Sullivan, civil affairs officer; 4 p.m.; Perry World House; register: https://tinyurl.com/pwh-talk-feb-7 (Perry World House).

8          Navigating Competing Norms: Reflections from Conducting Behavioral Science Research in Global Health; Harsha Thirumurthy, medical ethics & health policy; noon; room B102AB, Richards Building, and Zoom webinar; register: https://tinyurl.com/thirumurthy-talk-feb-8 (Medical Ethics & Health Policy).

            Between Starshine and Clay: Navigating Resistance and Building Partnerships Toward Criticality in Secondary English Language Arts; Chandra Alston, North Carolina State University; 12:15 p.m.; Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion, Van Pelt Library (Graduate School of Education).

            Ukrainian Journalists’ Experience and Self-Perception in Times of War; Dariya Orlova, National University of Kyiv; 12:15 p.m.; room 300, Annenberg School (Center for Media at Risk).

            Queer Velocities: Time, Sex, and Biopower on the Early Modern Stage; Jennifer Eun-Jung Row, University of Minnesota; 3:30 p.m.; room 344, Fisher-Bennett Hall (Grnder, Sexuality, & Women’s Studies).

            What Can Be the Fixed-Point Set of Which Groups Acting on What Spaces?; Sylvain Cappell, New York University; 3:45 p.m.; room A4, DRL (Mathematics).

            Ranking Legal Scholarship; Amanda Watson, University of Houston; 5:30 p.m.; room 240A, Silverman Hall; register: https://tinyurl.com/watson-talk-feb-8 (Carey Law School).

9          Intelligentsia of Nano-Architected Hierarchical Materials; Julia Greer, California Institute of Technology; 10:30 a.m.; Wu & Chen Auditorium, Levine Hall (Materials Science & Engineering).

            The Shape of Time: Korean Art After 1989; Hyunsoo Woo and Elisabeth Agro, Philadelphia Museum of Art; noon; room 623, Williams Hall (Korean Studies).

            Combining Causal and Joint Modeling Methods to Address Practical Issues in HIV Clinical Trials; Byan Blette, DBEI; 2 p.m.; room 701, Blockley Hall (Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics).

            Software Security Challenges in the Era of Modern Hardware; Riccardo Paccagnella, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; 3:30 p.m.; Wu & Chen Auditorium, Levine Hall (Computer & Information Science).

            Context Dependent Switch in Fibroblast Function; Anne Karina Perl, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital; 4 p.m.; room 11-146, Smilow Center (Penn-CHOP Lung Biology Institute).

            Leveraging Evolutionary Mismatches to Study Gene-by-Environment Interactions; Julien Ayroles, Princeton University; 4 p.m.; Tedori Auditorium, Levin Building, and Zoom webinar; join: https://tinyurl.com/ayroles-talk-feb-9 (Biology).

            Origins and Epistemes; Paul Galvez, University of Texas, Dallas; 5:30 p.m.; Arthur Ross Gallery, Fisher Fine Arts Library (Arthur Ross Gallery).

            Dinner & Career Talk; Kalyne Coleman, TV and stage actor; 6 p.m.; room 208, ARCH; RSVP: https://bit.ly/kalyne-at-penn (Makuu).

10        Building and Using Virtual Models of the Tricuspid Valve Toward Better Understanding, Diagnosis, and Treatment of its Diseases; Manuel Rausch, University of Texas at Austin; 2 p.m.; room 534, 3401 Walnut Street (Penn Institute for Computational Science).

            Quantitative Constraints on Earth's Past Climate from Inert Gases in Ice; Sarah Shackleton, Higgins Research Laboratory; 3 p.m.; room 358, Hayden Hall (Earth & Environmental Science).

            Animism and Underdevelopment in One Hundred Years of Solitude; Hector Hoyos, Stanford University; 4:30 p.m.; room 543, Williams Hall (Spanish & Portuguese).

14        Painted Valentines: The Artful Love Affair Between Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg; Jonathan Katz, history of art; noon; Café 58, Irvine Auditorium (Knowledge By the Slice).

            Decarbonizing Cities with Smart City Technologies in Korea; Albert Tonghoon Han, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology; 1 p.m.; Kleinman Forum, Fisher Fine Arts Library; register: https://tinyurl.com/han-talk-feb-14 (City & Regional Planning).

            Schooling Against the Prison: Education Policy in the Age of Incarceration; Marc Lamont Hill, Temple University; 4 p.m.; Bodek Lounge, Houston Hall; register: https://forms.office.com/r/w8KC31fCiJ (SP2).

GRASP Lab

Hybrid events in various locations and Zoom webinars. Info: https://www.grasp.upenn.edu/events/.

7          Augmented Reality Glasses: A 50-Year Adventure; Henry Fuchs, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; 3 p.m.; room 225, Towne Building.

8          System Resilience and Guaranteed Performance in the Face of Unexpected Adversity; Melkior Ornik, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; 3 p.m.; room 307, Levine Hall.

10        Academic Research: Exploration vs Exploitation; Rodney Brooks, Robust.AI; 10:30 a.m.; Wu & Chen Auditorium, Levine Hall.

Penn Dental

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

7          Oral Health as a Window on Your Overall Health: The Problem of Integrating Oral Health Services into the Health System; Angus Corbett, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Alicia Risner-Bauman, Care Center for Persons With Disabilities; 5:30 p.m.

9          Comparing Neural and Structural Drivers of In Vivo Bite Force Production; Myra Laird, basic & translational sciences; noon.

10        Granulomatous Disease in Veterinary Oral Medicine; Jamie Anderson, dentist; noon.

13        Roots of Wisdom; Lisa Askie, University of Sydney; 5:30 p.m.

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This is an update to the February AT PENN calendar, which is online now. Submit events for future AT PENN calendars and weekly updates to almanac@upenn.edu.

In celebration of the beauty of winter, the Morris Arboretum is offering special winter admission prices through February 28, 2023. General admission fees are discounted for everyone, and children under three remain free. 

Below are the reduced rates. Tickets can be purchased online or on-site. Morris Arboretum’s winter hours are Monday–Sunday, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Special Winter Admission

• Members: Free
• Adults: $12
• Seniors (65+ years): $11
• Youth (3-17 years): $6
• Children (Under 3): Free
• Retired Military (must have ID): $10
• Active Military and Five Family Members (must have ID): Free
• Walk In or Bike In: $10 (Kids $5)

Here are some tours and walks that you can enjoy at Morris Arboretum this season:

Bare Naked Trees Tour

Saturday, February 11 & 25, 2023, 11 a.m.
Meet at Widener Visitor Center. Weather permitting, free with arboretum admission.
Join an experienced guide for a new tour to explore the beauty of “bare naked trees” in winter. Without their leaves, deciduous trees reveal a variety of shapes and sculptures to admire. The tour features weeping, round, pyramidal, and vase-shaped trees, and highlights the many colors and textures of tree barks. This tour provides a beautiful and unique view of the garden in winter. Visit morrisarboretum.org for details.

Garden Highlights Tour

Saturdays and Sundays, 1 p.m.
Meet at Widener Visitor Center. Weather Permitting, free with arboretum admission.
Our knowledgeable guides will design a tour around the interests of the attendees. Every tour is different, so come back as many times as you’d like. Visit morrisarboretum.org for details.

Wellness Walks

Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m.
Meet at Widener Visitor Center. Weather Permitting, free with arboretum admission.
Get outside for some exercise among the beautiful trees in winter! Join an experienced guide for a brisk 1.5-mile walk along paved paths and get your heart rate up. See a unique view of the garden, experience the variety of the shapes of trees without their leaves, and look for winter resident birds like cardinals, woodpeckers and blue jays! Visit morrisarboretum.org for details.

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 January 23-29, 2023. 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 January 23-29, 2023. 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: 12 incidents (5 aggravated assaults, 3 robberies, 2 assaults, 2 indecent assaults) with 3 arrests were reported for January 23-29, 2023 by the 18^th District, covering the Schuylkill River to 49th St & Market St to Woodland Avenue.

The Trustees’ Council of Penn Women (TCPW) is accepting applications for its Annual Grants Program and encourages members of the University community to apply.
Grants ranging between $1,000-$3,000 will be available to individuals or organizations which promote:

• Women’s issues
• The quality of undergraduate and graduate life for women
• The advancement of women
• The physical, emotional and psychological well-being of women

Favorable consideration will be given to projects that:

• Affect a broad segment of the University population
• Foster a greater awareness of women’s issues
• Provide seed money for pilot programs that have the potential to become ongoing self-supporting programs

To apply, visit the TCPW Grant website. Applications must be submitted no later than February 20, 2023. Awards will be announced in the spring of 2023 and funds will be distributed in July/August 2023 for projects in the 2023-2024 academic year. For more information, contact Terri Welsh at welsh@upenn.edu.

The McCabe Fund Advisory Committee is calling for applications from junior faculty in the Perelman School of Medicine (PSOM) and the School of Veterinary Medicine for the annual Thomas B. and Jeannette E. Laws McCabe Fund Fellow and Pilot awards. The McCabe awards were established in 1969 by a gift from Thomas B. and Jeannette E. Laws McCabe to the Perelman School of Medicine. The purpose of this gift is to support junior faculty who initiate fresh and innovative biomedical, clinical, and surgical research projects. Tenure track faculty are not eligible. Applications from clinical track physicians are encouraged and will receive special consideration. Eligible faculty are those who have received either limited or no external research funding while in their first through third years on the faculty at PSOM or Penn Vet. Junior faculty in these schools should contact their department chair for information and application forms. The guidelines and instructions to determine eligibility are also available on the PSOM website: https://www.med.upenn.edu/evdresearch/mccabe-fund.html.

The deadline for submission is Wednesday, May 10, 2023. The McCabe Fund Advisory Committee will select the winners at its annual meeting in June.

Last year there were four winners of fellow awards of $50,000 each:

• Tiffany Chao, Otorhinolaryngology
• Samuel Shin, Neurology
• Lova Sun, Medicine
• Jennifer Zhang, Surgery

There were sixteen Pilot Award winners who received $30,000 each:

• Michaela Anderson, Medicine
• George Anesi, Medicine
• Nicolas Bamat, Pediatrics
• Shivani Bhatt, Pediatrics
• Candice Chu, Pathobiology, Penn Vet
• Farouk Dako, Radiology
• Dana DiRenzo, Medicine
• Taneeta Mindy Ganguly, Neurology
• Maureen Griffin, Clinical Sciences, Penn Vet
• Anna Massie, Clinical Sciences, Penn Vet
• Rafe McBeth, Radiation Oncology
• John McGinnis, Medicine
• Sarah Schrauben, Medicine
• Catherine Sharoky, Surgery
• Visish Srinivasan, Neurosurgery
• Raghavi Sudharsan, Clinical Sciences, Penn Vet

The Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania will provide research project grants to initiate promising new cancer research projects. Support for these pilot grants comes from an American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grant (ACS IRG). Projects that have relevance across multiple types of cancer are encouraged. Proposals that span basic, translational, clinical, or population science research are welcome. The objective of these grants is to facilitate the collection of preliminary data, which will enable the successful competition for national, peer-reviewed research grants.

Four ACS IRG pilots will be awarded in the amount of $60,000 each to junior faculty members (faculty members within six years of their initial appointment). All ACS IRG pilot applicants must identify a mentor at the time the application is submitted and provide the mentor’s NIH Biosketch and a brief statement describing the mentor’s supervisory experience.
Covered costs include direct costs only, such as laboratory personnel costs (non-faculty), data management or research nursing support, laboratory supplies, animals, and small equipment; no travel or patient costs are allowed.

Eligibility

• Junior-level faculty members (assistant professor or equivalent within six years of initial faculty appointment) who do not currently hold nationally peer-reviewed funding are eligible
  • Career development/mentored grants, such as NIH K awards, are allowed
  • Smaller foundation grants are allowed as long as they are not a result of a national peer-reviewed competition and do not have overlapping aims with the proposed pilot
• Citizens, non-citizen nationals, and permanent residents of the United States and its possessions or territories are eligible
• CHOP-based faculty members are eligible
• Faculty on tenure, clinician-educator, and research tracks are eligible
• Non-faculty (e.g., residents, fellows, instructors) are not eligible
• Past recipients of an ACS IRG Pilot Project are not eligible
• One of the four pilots is reserved for a junior faculty member who identifies as being part of a group that is underrepresented in science. The ACS uses the NIH definition of “Populations Underrepresented in the Extramural Scientific Workforce” (https://diversity.nih.gov/about-us/population-underrepresented). Thus, applicants are asked to review these criteria, which are quite broad, and let us know if they fall into the group as defined.

Funding Level

The funding level is $60,000 per project-direct costs only. The project period is July 1, 2023-June 30, 2024. The application deadline is April 1, 2023 and can be accessed at https://www.med.upenn.edu/apps/pgacc/users/sign_in.