June 16, 2026 Volume 72 Issue 37

June 12, 2026

Dear Members of the Penn Community,

I will conclude my service as President of the University of Pennsylvania as planned on June 30, 2027, at the close of the upcoming academic year.

When I accepted the honor of leading Penn, my goal was to help restore stability during unanticipated leadership transitions, refocus our community on Penn’s mission, and strengthen Penn for the future during a challenging time for higher education. With your partnership, resilience, and dedication, we have accomplished these objectives and much more. Penn has tremendous momentum and is exceptionally well positioned for the future. Although I greatly enjoy serving as President, now is the right time for Penn to begin its next chapter under new leadership. Ramanan Raghavendran, chair of the Board of Trustees, will share additional information about the search process in a separate communication.

When I stepped into the presidential role, I had been at Penn for more than 12 years, serving as Executive Vice President and Dean under three presidents: Amy Gutmann, Wendell Pritchett, and Liz Magill. While that provided me with a broad view of Penn’s scope, there is no substitute for being in this role; serving as President allowed me to learn each day from the people, ideas, and achievements that define this University and its extraordinary breadth. In many respects, I felt kinship with our first-year students who encounter and embrace all that Penn has to offer. While my career has been in academic medicine, it has been illuminating to reacquaint myself with other fields, from poetry to political science, from finance to fine arts.

Penn’s strength has always been—and always will be—our faculty, students, staff, alumni, and supporters. Spending time with so many of you has been a joy and an honor. When I met with Penn Rhodes Scholar Om Gandhi, I asked him why he pursued a new engineering project focused on CAR-T cells when his project on pediatric brain cancer was making great progress. His answer: “I’m working on both!” That is Penn student ambition. Religion professor Justin McDaniel took his class on existential despair to Woodland Cemetery late one evening to read together the concluding chapter of Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man. That is experiential learning and will be remembered when these students reflect on their time at Penn. Dr. Jean Bennett believed it might be possible to correct blindness caused by gene defects. This first FDA-approved gene therapy is now a reality for children who had previously never seen their mother’s face. These anecdotes, among countless others, define Penn for me.

I have come to appreciate that Penn’s greatness comes from a culture that encourages people to challenge assumptions, cross boundaries, and pursue knowledge in service to others. In our laboratories, classrooms, and Philadelphia neighborhoods, I have witnessed Penn people fulfill Benjamin Franklin’s vision—using knowledge for the greater good. You have inspired my thinking and leadership and shaped my understanding of what makes this institution so exceptional.

Together, we have built upon a foundation of academic excellence. We have made education more accessible and affordable, witnessed multiple medical breakthroughs, championed recognition of faculty and students, and strengthened a culture of inclusion, collaboration, respect, and thoughtful debate.

The momentum we have built will continue. We have important goals to achieve together in the coming year. Penn Forward has launched an ambitious set of actionable initiatives that will further enhance access, catalyze discovery, and extend our reach, nationally and globally, positioning Penn to lead in a rapidly changing world for years to come. I look forward to continuing that work with you while partnering with the Board of Trustees to ensure a seamless leadership transition.

As I said when I began this role, “Like you, I love Penn.” That will never change. I am confident in the University’s trajectory and grateful for the opportunity to continue serving this remarkable community over the coming year. Thanks to all of you, Penn’s future is extraordinarily bright.

—J. Larry Jameson, President

June 12, 2026

Dear Members of the Penn Community,

President Jameson has communicated that, as planned, he will conclude his service as Penn’s tenth president in June 2027. The Board respects his decision. This fall, we will begin the comprehensive process laid out in Penn’s Statutes to identify the University’s next President, who will take office on July 1, 2027.

Dr. Jameson stepped in at a pivotal moment, and what he has accomplished in two and a half years has been simply extraordinary. His work is far from finished. The next twelve months include further accelerating Penn Forward and its nine initiatives designed to build greater trust with those we serve, accelerate bold discoveries, and extend Penn’s geographic reach and impact. I know the Board and the Penn community are fully committed to supporting him in advancing these critical initiatives.

We will share additional information about the search process in the months ahead. In the meantime, please join me in thanking Dr. Jameson and in supporting him through this important year.

—Ramanan Raghavendran
Chair, Board of Trustees

Penn’s School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2) has announced its 2026 award winners. SP2 Award recipients were recognized for their outstanding achievements by Dean Sara S. Bachman at the school’s 2026 Commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 16, 2026, at the Palestra.

The Excellence in Teaching Award

The Excellence in Teaching Award is presented to members of the standing and non-standing faculty in recognition of excellence in teaching and mentoring.

Full-Time Faculty:

Allison Werner-Lin is an associate professor in the School of Social Policy and Practice. Her research addresses the intersection of genomic discovery and family life. Her work is among the first to explore the psychosocial challenges unique to women and men of reproductive age who carry a genetic mutation that confers elevated risk of cancer. Dr. Werner-Lin has served as an investigator on multiple interdisciplinary, NIH-funded grants examining dissemination and implementation of emerging genomic technologies in reproductive, pediatric, adolescent, and emerging adult contexts. Presently, Dr. Werner-Lin is an investigator on a Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot Grant with the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where she is examining barriers to cascade genetic testing in families of pediatric cancer survivors. For over a decade, Dr. Werner-Lin served as an advisor to the National Cancer Institute, where she oversaw a program of psychosocial research addressing hereditary tumor predisposition syndromes, including Li-Fraumeni syndrome and inherited bone marrow failure syndromes. She is a member of the scientific committee governing the International Meeting on Psychosocial Aspects of Hereditary Cancer, and in 2019 she was a visiting scholar at the Hastings Center for Bioethics. In 2021 she served as the director of research at the Association of Oncology Social Work. 

Kim McKay is a senior lecturer who teaches in both the MSW and MSSP programs of SP2. They have more than 25 years of social work experience, including case management, administration, supervision, policy, and clinical work. They have taught undergraduate and graduate students in social work programs for 15 years. Dr. McKay has taught many courses throughout the social work curriculum, with a particular focus on the integration of gender and sexuality. At SP2, Dr. McKay currently teaches reproductive justice policy and policy analysis in the MSSP program and human behavior in the social environment and LGBTQ+ social policy in the MSW program. Dr. McKay loves teaching and working with students and has been recognized with multiple teaching awards. They direct the certificate in LGBTQ+ policy & practice and deeply appreciate their time spent with students working towards this graduate certificate. 

Part-Time Lecturers:

is a senior fellow in the Wharton School’s Center for Leadership and Change Management.  She has been on Penn’s faculty since 2009, teaching in the Wharton School, the School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2), and the Positive Psychology Center.  She has received teaching awards from both the Wharton School and SP2’s Master of Science in Nonprofit Leadership program. For a decade, Dr. Myers served as the executive director of Job Crafting LLC, an organization dedicated to helping individuals and organizations cultivate greater purpose and engagement in their work. Through her research and consulting, Dr. Myers coaches international leaders, executives, and board members across corporations, nonprofits, governments, and mission-critical teams. Her work focuses on empowering leadership, the science of human thriving, collaboration in high-stakes contexts, and training the trainer to scale change.

Reggie Jones has been at SP2 as a part-time lecturer for over a decade. She uses a feminist anti-oppression social work lens to bring critical awareness, engagement, and analysis of the field of social work practice into the classroom. Empowering future social workers to interrogate what they know and to cultivate curiosity that helps them reclaim subjugated knowledge and alternative narratives/histories are foundational to her teaching pedagogy. For over 15 years, Ms. Jones was the director of counseling services at Bryn Mawr College; she later became the inaugural associate dean for health & wellness at Bryn Mawr College, where she led the college’s psychological and medical services. Ms. Jones retired from her role as associate dean at Bryn Mawr in 2023 to focus on her private practice and consultancy work. Ms. Jones provides individual and group psychotherapy, as well as clinical supervision, and her clinical work is grounded in liberation, group process, community healing, and experiential learning. Ms. Jones also consults with organizations to develop and facilitate trainings that support the creation of more affirming and healing-centered spaces. Ms. Jones is also a faculty member at Bryn Mawr College’s Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research and at Bryn Mawr College-Nonprofit Executive Leadership Institute (NELI).

Hal Levin Award

This award is presented to a meritorious student in the Doctor of Philosophy in Social Welfare Program who is continuing the process of completing coursework. The awardee is Tony Shaw.

Dr. Ram Cnaan Award

This award is presented to a meritorious student in the Doctorate in Clinical Social Work program who has completed the third year of course work. The awardee is Jen Panhorst.

Wilson-Spigner Award for Social Policy Excellence

This award is presented to a graduating student in the master of science in social policy program who has a demonstrated record of intellectual inquiry and academic excellence and who is committed to using research to analyze and shape social policy locally, nationally, and/or globally. The award is named in honor of the Reverend Dr. Welford Robinson Wilson II, and his daughter, Carol Wilson Spigner, the first faculty director of the MSSP program, who have increased equity and equality among underrepresented groups through research-based change in policy and organizations. The awardee is Jaelyn Liu.

Excellence in Social Impact Award

This award is presented to a meritorious graduating student in the Nonprofit Leadership Program who has a record of academic excellence and has shown promise in using their talents and knowledge to create positive social impact. The awardee is Krista Smith.

Richard J. Estes Global Citizenship Award

This award is presented to a graduating international student in the Nonprofit Leadership Program who embodies a commitment to social impact, has a record of academic excellence, and is committed to using their talents and knowledge to make a difference in the world. The awardee is Sina Barzegar.

Rosa Wessel Award

This award is presented to a meritorious graduating student in the master of social work program who is selected on the basis of academic performance and one or more of the following: exemplary student leadership, innovative activities in the field practicum, and exceptional community service. The awardee is Jeanne Chang.

Dr. Ruth Smalley Award in International Social Welfare

This award is presented to a member of the master of social work graduating class who, through their writing, participation in class discussions, and experience, has demonstrated an interest in, and a working knowledge of, the international and cultural dimensions of social work practice, and the application of practice to research. The awardee is Elizabeth McGuinn.

Student of Excellence

The award is given to a graduating SP2 student who has had a positive impact on the SP2 community through their collegiality, service, and community engagement inside and outside of the classroom. The awardee is Jeanne Chang.

Dovie Watson and Katharine Dalke will assume new leadership roles with the Penn Medicine Program for LGBTQ+ Health in July. Dr. Watson, an infectious disease physician and researcher who specializes in HIV prevention and health equity in the LGBTQ+ population, will serve as director of research and evalu-ation. Dr. Dalke, a psychiatrist with a focus on LGBTQ+ health equity who is engaged in health policy work at the state and national levels, will serve as the director of strategy and alignment.

The new roles complement the continuing work of Kevin Kline, who started as the program’s inaugural medical director in 2023 (Almanac September 5, 2023).

Since the Program for LGBTQ+ Health launched in 2013, it has evolved from a faculty-driven passion project into a system-wide initiative that meets the sometimes-unseen needs of LGBTQ+ patients. The program offers navigation services and access to physicians across a wide range of specialties, from primary care to behavioral health to dermatology, who are trained in LGBTQ+ inclusive care. The program served nearly 400 patients this past fiscal year and has received nearly 2,000 patient requests since 2022.

“This work is often seen as something unique, but it’s also just part of what quality care should look like for every patient,” said Rosemary Thomas, the program’s director of operations. “We’re fortunate to have a diverse group of faculty and staff who are deeply committed to carrying it forward.”

Drs. Dalke and Watson bring their skills and expertise to their new roles at a moment when the program is adopting a new strategic plan, developed with input from across the health system, that focuses on clinical care, the work environment, and community engagement. A key initiative will be creating a community advisory board, an effort supported through a gift from the late Bob Schoenberg, founding director of the Penn LGBT Center.

In her new role, Dr. Watson, an assistant professor of medicine in infectious diseases, will work with the many Penn researchers who are studying different aspects of LGBTQ+ health. She hopes to ensure that Penn’s research in the field is truly community-engaged and taps into the wisdom and needs of Philadelphia’s vibrant LGBTQ+ community, and “to figure out how to do that in a sustainable way that’s not extractive of the community,” she said.

Dr. Dalke, the Benjamin Rush Associate Professor and vice chair for clinical operations in psychiatry, will be the program’s liaison with the health system and University. “My role is oriented to helping the program be successful in achieving its strategic goals and priorities,” she said. “Penn has led academic healthcare organizations in this area for a long time, and while we have a lot of internal support, there are many external headwinds to navigate.”

An innovative new initiative that aims to use the power of AI to crack the code of animal behavior and help Pennsylvania farmers and agriculture has launched at Penn Vet’s New Bolton Center.

Dat-AI-Lab, a collaboration between Penn Vet researchers and AgriGates, a Philadelphia-based agri-tech firm, has already begun working with animals from the Swine Teaching and Research Center and New Bolton Center’s dairy herd, collecting data that may one day better inform livestock care and management and advance animal husbandry in an agriculture-rich state.

“AI opportunities in animal agriculture are limited only by imagination and science-backed research and implementation,” said Andrew Hoffman, Penn Vet’s Gilbert S. Kahn Dean. “We look forward to engaging stakeholders, connecting investors, founders, and innovators with the academic AI ecosystem at Penn and our partners, and meeting the grand challenges and opportunities for the future.”

Last year, AgriGates received a grant from the state’s first $10 million round of Agriculture Innovation Grants. Daniel Foy, co-founder of AgriGates and the new lab, said that the money helped kickstart Dat-AI-Lab, which stands for Data, Analysis, and Technology for Artificial Intelligence in Livestock Animal Behavior. In addition, Pennsylvania’s Center for Poultry Livestock Excellence has contributed over $200,000 over the past three years to help develop the AI and machine-learning technology to study animal behavior and, most recently, to help create the lab.

“Animal behavior is an underappreciated, universal economic indicator for the identification of clinical problems and the early diagnosis of health and welfare in animals,” Mr. Foy said. Human observation is still “the gold standard in large animal care,” but today’s farms often face labor limitations, he said. Technology like AI helps collect huge amounts of data humans alone cannot and turn it into information valuable to farmers. “This is about giving us tools—the picks and the hard hats—to build a new foundation for animal agriculture and the ability to mine for new insights and values.”

Thomas D. Parsons, another chief collaborator in the lab, directs both Penn Vet’s Swine Teaching and Research Center and the Center for Stewardship Agriculture and Food Security. His work in advancing electronic sow feeding stations and open pen housing to replace confining gestation stalls has changed the way many pigs are housed, especially in Pennsylvania, and resulted in more humane, more efficient feeding practices. And other research done through the center has had a large and beneficial impact on animal agriculture in Pennsylvania and beyond.

Dr. Parsons, the Marie A. Moore Professor of Animal Welfare and Ethics, said the new lab’s work will continue that mission. “This is actually our 25th anniversary of the swine center,” he said. “I see the Dat-AI-Lab as really the next chapter in the swine center’s journey.” He also said there is a significant potential benefit for animal experts like himself and fellow researchers in working hand-in-hand with AI experts. “We spend a lot of time studying animal behavior and trying to understand the implications for animal health, animal welfare, and animal productivity, but it turns out that’s an extremely labor-intensive task in terms of how we have to analyze the data. There’s a tremendous opportunity with this new technology to really allow us to become much more efficient in our work.” 

Part of the lab’s task will be building databases of knowledge of species-specific animal behavior. Eventually, said Mr. Foy, the information will be used to make better and more timely decisions about important areas like animal health and welfare. “We need to think about how we use the animals themselves to tell us how we should be better managing them,” Mr. Foy said. “Using technology to do that is going to give us these digital eyes and ears for diagnostic and predictive capabilities.”

This is particularly important at a time when fewer people are getting involved in agriculture, he said, and additionally, farmers need added resources. .

Initially, Dat-AI-Lab will focus on New Bolton Center’s swine and dairy animals, but Mr. Foy said the center has received interest from other research institutions in the U.S. and Europe about studying other species as well.

Kendal Renee (Van Wambeke) Barbee, a coordinator, manager, and associate director in several Penn departments and schools, most recently the Registrar's Office, died on April 1, 2026. She was 54. 

Ms. Barbee earned her Bachelor of Social Work from Calvin University and her Master of Education from Azusa Pacific University. In 2000, she joined Penn’s School of Engineering & Applied Science as associate director of the office of academic programs. In 2006, she moved to the College of Arts & Sciences, where she served as an academic coordinator. 

Seven years later, she accepted a position as associate director of the undergraduate division of the Wharton School, and in 2018, she became a manager in the department of biostatistics and epidemiology in the Perelman School of Medicine. In 2024, she moved to the Registrar's Office. “Her work mattered to her because people mattered to her,” said Ms. Barbee’s family in an online tribute. “She believed in equality for everyone, in giving others a chance, and in doing the right thing even when it was not easy.” 

Ms. Barbee is survived by her children, Jordan Barbee and Cameron Barbee; her husband, Dennis Barbee; her mother, Carla Van Wambeke (Ladwig); her father, Joel Van Wambeke; her dog, Hudson; and a large extended family of cousins, relatives, and close friends. 

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Abramson Cancer Center at 3535 Market Street, Suite 750, Philadelphia, PA 19104, or at https://www.pennmedicine.org/giving/fund-for-abramson-cancer-center/donate. 

To read more about Ms. Barbee, visit https://www.loganfuneralhomes.com/obituary/Kendal-Barbee.

Bonnie Lee Crosfield, a former receptionist at the Penn Museum, died on March 6. She was 83. 

Ms. Crosfield joined the staff at the Penn Museum in 1980 and worked there until her retirement in 2023. During her time there, she came to love her work and became a treasured member of the Penn Museum community. “She was the center and life force of museum culture for all of us lucky enough to have known her,” said her former colleagues in an online tribute. “She went way beyond her job description to help foreign students find safe and reasonably priced apartments, told them where to shop, babysat their children, and typed and edited their papers (long before computers were in fashion) and dissertations. She would be sure visitors knew where to find the mummies and explain how to gaze through the crystal ball to see each other upside down. If you needed to know how to reach a professor excavating in the deserts of Iran or in the rain forests of Guatemala, you knew Bonnie would have the information and help you reach out to them.” In 2018, Ms. Crosfield was honored with an endowed seat in the Penn Museum’s restored Harrison Auditorium. 

Ms. Crosfield is survived by her children, Michaela Kim Crosfield and Alain Crosfield (Sefanit); and her grandchildren, Christine Lee Crosfield, Quinn Vincent Crosfield, and Daniel Evan Crosfield. 

To read more about Ms. Crosfield, visit https://www.pennsylvaniaburialcompany.com/obituaries/bonnie-crosfield.

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To Report A Death

Almanac appreciates being informed of the deaths of current and former faculty and staff members, students and other members of the University community. Call (215) 898-5274 or email almanac@upenn.edu.

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

A stated meeting of the Penn Board of Trustees took place Friday, June 12, 2026.

After Trustees Board Chair Ramanan Raghavendran called the meeting to order, Charles Howard, University Chaplain and Vice President for Social Equity & Community, gave the invocation. 

Mr. Raghavendran presented six resolutions, each of which was approved:

• To revise the procedures for proxy voting
• To amend and restate the conflict-of-interest policy of the Trustees
• To revise the structure of the Trustee committees and their charters
• To identify the committees that will include faculty and student liaisons
• To amend the statutes of the Trustees
• To designate M. Elizabeth Magill as President Emerita

President J. Larry Jameson reported that during academic year 2025-2026, Penn made significant progress on its strategic priorities. He thanked those who had made Penn’s Commencement activities and Alumni Weekend so successful. He also noted Drs. Albert Maguire, Jean Bennett, and Katherine High were awarded the 2026 Breakthrough Prize (Almanac April 28, 2026). President Jameson presented a resolution of appreciation for Gregory J. Pellicano, upon his retirement as vice president for audit, compliance, and privacy, and another to appoint Timothy Susanin to that role. Both resolutions were approved.

During the academic report, Provost John L. Jackson, Jr., highlighted the strategic plans and initiatives of Timothy Rommen, vice provost for the arts, and Sanya Carley, vice provost for climate science, policy, and action. Provost Jackson then presented a resolution on faculty appointments and promotions, which was approved.

Executive Vice President Mark F. Dingfield gave the financial report. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2026, the total net assets for the consolidated University are forecasted to increase by $2.8 billion to $36.7 billion ($25.8 billion for the academic component and $10.9 billion for the health system). An increase in net assets from operations of $591 million is projected for the consolidated University. Cash is projected to increase $294 million to $3.3 billion for the consolidated University ($2.0 billion for the academic component and $1.3 billion for the health system).

Jonathan A. Epstein, Executive Vice President of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System and Dean of the Perelman School of Medicine, announced the extension of the appointment of Kevin Mahoney as UPHS CEO through June 2031. Vice Provost and Dean of Admissions E. Whitney Soule reported on the incoming the class of 2030. Committee chairs then provided reports regarding meetings held on Thursday, June 11, 2026.

The Budget & Finance committee presented 12 resolutions, which were approved. The Governance Committee presented three resolutions—to elect the executive committee, to elect the investment board, and to re-elect Trustee Harlan Stone—each of which was approved.

Mr. Raghavendran presented resolutions of appointments to the Penn Medicine and other boards, which were approved.

The next Board of Trustees meetings are scheduled to take place on Thursday, September 24.

This report advances a set of targeted, actionable recommendations in response to the committee’s two charges, focused on aligning faculty classifications with current practice, strengthening teaching-focused faculty pathways and expanding participation in Faculty Senate processes. In particular, we call on SEC to take the following steps:

• Vote to recommend a new teaching professor track within the associated faculty category and the creation of a process to replace the existing full-time lecturer track in the Academic Support Staff category and to enable all current full-time lecturers and senior lecturers to opt into this new track or another track more aligned with their current job and responsibilities.
• Vote to expand participation in Faculty Senate processes by establishing a standing committee focused on issues affecting associated faculty and academic support staff and including associated faculty and academic support staff as non-voting members of existing Senate committees and with the goal of moving toward a unified faculty governing body that includes all full-time faculty. 

Below we describe each of our three charges in more detail.

1. Seek feedback from campus stakeholders (including from each of the schools) on the proposal to revise the title and description of ranks currently within the ‘Academic Support Staff’ category that was developed by SCOF during 2024-2025 and revise as needed and explore if and how to replace that category with a new teaching track that acknowledges the pedagogical work done by individuals hired in this track and seeks to identify improved professional pathways for faculty who currently fall under this category.

In response to this charge, the committee undertook a multi-stage process that included review of prior Senate reports, analysis of Faculty Handbook provisions, consultation with the Vice Provost for Faculty, and comparative review of models at peer institutions. The committee also examined existing models within Penn, including those in GSE and SEAS, as well as teaching-focused faculty tracks at peer institutions including Boston University, Columbia University, and the University of Washington. These models were considered in relation to Faculty Handbook structures governing standing faculty and associated faculty with particular attention to rank, promotion, and evaluation processes.

Across multiple Senate reports, persistent concerns have been documented regarding the professional status, advancement opportunities, and evaluation processes of full-time lecturers and senior lecturers. While the largest concentration of full-time lecturers is in SAS, data provided by the Vice Provost for Faculty indicate that such appointments exist across a wide range of schools, including Annenberg, GSE, Law, Nursing, PSOM, SEAS, SP2, Wharton, and Weitzman. These patterns confirm that the issues associated with the lecturer track are institutional in scope rather than school-specific, even as schools have developed localized titles and appointment structures in response.

Our review affirms a consistent finding that although lecturers and senior lecturers are formally classified as Academic Support Staff—a category historically associated with temporary or support-oriented roles—they frequently hold long-term or effectively career-length appointments and play central roles in the instructional, advising, and programmatic missions of their departments and schools. These roles include sustained responsibility for curriculum development, coordination of multi-course sequences, mentorship of students, and, in many cases, service and scholarly or applied contributions aligned with school and University priorities.

Over several decades, schools have attempted to address this misalignment within the constraints of existing Faculty Handbook structures. These efforts include the expansion of renewable lecturer categories, the creation and extension of the senior lecturer rank, and, in GSE and Nursing, the addition of advanced senior lecturer ranks. SEAS has moved toward the use of practice professor appointments to provide clearer pathways and greater stability for those who would previously have been hired as full-time lecturers. While these approaches have provided partial solutions, they have resulted in a patchwork of school-level practices that do not resolve the underlying structural issue at the University level.

In light of these limitations, the committee reviewed several potential models for addressing this structural issue, drawing on both existing practices within Penn and approaches adopted at peer institutions. 

One approach would extend the current lecturer-based framework by formalizing a three-step progression (e.g., lecturer, senior lecturer, advanced senior lecturer) across schools. While this model builds on existing Faculty Handbook professional designations and may offer a more incremental path to reform, it does not fully resolve concerns regarding clarity of role, alignment with broader faculty rank structures, or the continued perception of these positions as primarily support-oriented. 

A second approach draws on the practice professor model currently in use in SEAS, which situates teaching-focused faculty within an existing associated faculty track. This model offers greater clarity in expectations and promotion pathways, though it may be too broad of an umbrella in its inclusion of those who come with traditional academic qualifications alongside those with a great deal of industry experience for whom the practice professor category has traditionally been applied. This raises important questions about how to evaluate such a diverse group of faculty for promotion. 

A third approach, increasingly adopted at peer institutions, is the establishment of a distinct teaching professor track, with ranks aligned to assistant, associate, and full professor and situated within the associated faculty category as defined in the Faculty Handbook. This model most directly addresses concerns regarding status, clarity, and advancement by aligning teaching-focused roles with existing faculty rank structures while explicitly recognizing the centrality of pedagogical contributions.

During our deliberations, the committee concluded that the establishment of a teaching professor track, situated within the associated faculty category, represents the most effective and coherent model for addressing the underlying challenges identified across multiple years of Senate inquiry. This model provides the greatest clarity in rank structure, aligns expectations for appointment, review, and promotion with existing Faculty Handbook frameworks, and more accurately recognizes the central pedagogical and programmatic roles of these faculty. It should also be noted that our discussion with colleagues from the health schools and SEAS indicated that current associated faculty and academic support staff outside of the lecturer track might also be better placed into this track indicating potential broader benefits of such a track beyond those currently classified as full-time lecturers.  

In light of these findings, we offer the following recommendations.

SEC should vote to recommend the creation of a new teaching professor track within the associated faculty category with ranks aligned, as appropriate, to assistant, associate, and full professor. As part of this action, SEC should also endorse the creation of a process through which all current full-time lecturers and senior lecturers would be offered the option of opting into this new track or, in collaboration with their school leaders, another track most aligned with their current roles and responsibilities with the goal of eventually eliminating the existing lecturer track within the Academic Support Staff category prior to the hiring of new teaching track faculty. 

Second, following these actions, SEC, in collaboration with the Provost’s Office, should engage in structured consultation with key stakeholders—most notably current full-time lecturers and senior lecturers, as well as leadership from Penn’s 12 schools—to further develop the details of the teaching track appropriate for each school. This process should include refinement of rank definitions, evaluation criteria, compensation and benefits and related Faculty Handbook language, with the goal of formal revision and implementation in a timely manner. Part of this process should be to take the findings from this year to develop a best practices document for a teaching track to ensure that the changes are most effectively developed and implemented. 

2. Continue to explore how the Faculty Senate could more effectively represent the interests of non-standing faculty by addressing questions offered in SCOF’s 2024-2025 report. Consider the convening of an advisory subcommittee that includes equitable representation of standing faculty, associated faculty, and academic support staff from across the University to assist in this exploration.

In addressing the question of how the Faculty Senate can more effectively represent the interests of non-standing faculty (members of the associated faculty and academic support staff), the committee began by reviewing prior Faculty Senate reports and examining existing governance structures both within Penn and at peer institutions. The committee consulted with several schools at Penn that have established formal mechanisms for shared governance that include associated faculty and academic support staff faculty, including PSOM, Dental Medicine, Vet, and Nursing. In addition, the committee reviewed governance models at peer institutions, including Columbia University, Northwestern University, and New York University and consulted with experts at each of these peer institutions to better understand the affordances and challenges associated with each of their respective models.

Leaders from schools within Penn reported robust structures for the incorporation of associated faculty and academic support staff within shared governance. The Vet School has a Faculty Council where all tracks are offered comparable voting privileges. PSOM, Vet and Nursing have Faculty Senates that afford associated faculty and academic support staff faculty voting privileges on areas relevant to their expertise. Leaders from these three schools noted that they have continued to further incorporate associated faculty and academic support staff into shared governance and that this has allowed them to feel more valued while offering them the opportunity to more effectively share their expertise with the broader school community. Based on their positive experience with a unified governance model and concerns about how two separate models might further marginalize associated faculty and academic support staff, leaders from all four schools favored a unified governing model for the University-wide Faculty Senate. 

Across our peer institutions we found similar governing structures to the ones that we found within the four Penn schools consulted. In particular, leaders from all three of these peer institutions have a unified governing body that includes representation of both tenure and non-tenure line faculty. In the case of Columbia certain positions such as senate chair are reserved for tenure-line faculty though the majority of the seats are open to both tenure line faculty and non-tenure line faculty. NYU has tenure and contract faculty councils of equal numbers that meet together along with the broader university governance constituencies including administrators and students while also meeting separately as appropriate to discuss issues solely relevant to their respective constituencies. Northwestern reformed its faculty senate in 2010 with the incorporation of non-tenure line faculty one of its foundational principles. Here, non-tenure line faculty are eligible for all positions including senate chair and can participate on any senate committee. They also include a non-tenure line faculty standing committee that reports to the faculty senate on issues relevant to their tracks. 

As these conversations developed, it became increasingly clear that the question of representation could not be considered in isolation from broader structural changes in higher education. The presence of associated faculty and academic support staff at Penn aligns with a larger national trend. This is shaped by multiple factors, including financial pressures, growing reliance on tuition revenue, the need to develop and sustain high-quality academic programs that attract and retain students, and facilitating standing faculty’s focused effort on research.

Within this broader context, the committee recognized the importance of acknowledging concerns about the erosion of tenure, particularly with respect to tenure density, academic freedom, and shared governance. Some standing faculty expressed concern that faculty without tenure protections may feel less able to speak freely, potentially weakening the collective voice of the faculty. At the same time, the committee’s discussions underscored the vital role that associated faculty and academic support staff play in the academic life of the University. They are central to supporting Penn’s mission of ensuring high-quality teaching, advising, and program development adaptable to changing times and responsive to shifting needs. In many cases, they also speak in support of academic freedom and the broader academic mission of the institution even as they may be among those most vulnerable to potential risks associated with speaking out. Their inclusion in formal governance processes therefore has the potential to strengthen, rather than diminish, faculty voice by aligning representation with the full scope of faculty contributions to the academic mission. Indeed, the leaders we consulted both within Penn and at peer institutions reported that this was precisely the outcome. 

Guided by these considerations, the committee’s review of peer institutions and internal models revealed a clear and consistent pattern that the inclusion of non-tenure line faculty in university governance structures is the norm rather than the exception. In this respect, Penn’s current governance structure is notably out of step with its peers. The committee also found that both peer institutions and schools within Penn that include non-tenure line faculty in governance operate with unified governing bodies rather than parallel or separate systems. In these cases, unified structures are often accompanied by internal caucuses or committees that allowed for focused discussion without creating separate governance structures. Even in cases such as New York University, which had been characterized in earlier reports as having separate governing bodies, governance is in practice organized through a single university-wide body that includes both tenure and non-tenure line faculty, alongside caucus structures that may meet separately as appropriate. This finding, combined with concerns raised during committee deliberations about the limitations of “separate but equal” representation, led the committee to conclude that a unified governance structure including standing faculty, associated faculty and academic support staff should be the ultimate goal. Such a structure would more fully reflect the composition of the faculty and support more integrated participation in shared governance.

At the same time, the committee recognizes that movement toward such a model will require a phased approach. Incremental steps can provide opportunities to pilot different forms of collaboration, build familiarity and trust, and allow faculty across categories to develop shared practices for engaging in university-wide deliberation. The committee recommends that this phased approach include periodic review with clearly defined criteria for assessing progress and determining next steps toward a cohesive unified governing structure that includes standing faculty, associated faculty and academic support staff. 

As initial steps in the direction, the committee offers the following initial recommendations.

First, the committee recommends that SEC vote to establish a committee focused on issues affecting associated faculty and academic support staff. This committee should be led by associated faculty and academic support staff and, in collaboration with SEC, identify a set of charges for each academic year. It would report annually to SEC, providing a structured mechanism for ongoing consultation and communication. We further recommend that the chair of this standing committee be invited to serve as a non-voting participant on SEC in order to strengthen coordination and continuity across governance structures. This step falls within the current purview of SEC and would not require fundamental changes to existing Faculty Senate structures. It therefore represents a practical and immediately actionable step that could be implemented as early as the 2026–2027 academic year. Over time, this standing committee could also work in collaboration with SEC to explore more comprehensive models of representation, including the structure and composition of a unified governing body and the mechanisms through which different faculty groups might be represented within it. 

Second, the committee recommends that the Senate Executive Committee (SEC) vote to approve the inclusion of full-time associated faculty and academic support staff as non-voting members of existing Senate committees. This approach would create opportunities for participation in committee work while allowing the Senate to assess how expanded membership functions in practice.

The committee views its work this year, particularly through the advisory subcommittee, as an initial pilot for the kinds of collaboration envisioned in these recommendations. Composed of members nominated by SEC representatives, the subcommittee worked in collaboration with the standing faculty members to create a structured space for sustained dialogue, feedback, and shared problem-solving across faculty tracks. This process not only informed the committee’s recommendations but also demonstrated the capacity and willingness of associated faculty and academic support staff to engage constructively in Senate-related deliberations. It also revealed that many faculty concerns related to the academic mission cut across faculty tracks and that working together can help us to better understand our many similarities while also helping us to better understand how we might best be able to support one another in relation to our differences. As such, it provides a strong foundation on which to build, both as a model for future collaboration and as a potential starting point for implementation. 

Several current members of the advisory subcommittee have expressed interest in continued participation and could help support the initial formation of this new faculty committee, as well as serve as non-voting members of existing Senate Committees. We hope that SEC will take advantage of this momentum to begin to expand faculty representation within the faculty senate. 

Committee Members:

Hydar Ali, Dental Medicine
Nelson Flores (chair), GSE
Carmen Guerra, PSOM/Medicine 
Julia Hartmann, SAS/Mathematics 
Jeffery Saven, SAS/Chemistry
Roger Allen, PASEF non-voting representative

Advisory Subcommittee Members:

Dave Aizenberg, Professor of Clinical Medicine (General Internal Medicine)
Bill Ashmanskas, Senior Lecturer in Physics
Sara Byala, Senior Lecturer in Critical Writing
Lizzie Collins, Lecturer in Foreign Languages (French)
Sarah Doherty, Lecturer in Theatre Arts
Feride Hatiboglu, Lecturer in Foreign Languages (Turkish)
Alicia Kachmar, Practice Assistant Professor of Nursing 
Kate Ledwith, Full-Time Lecturer, SP2
Nupur Patel, Assistant Professor of Clinical Restorative Dentistry
Sudev Sheth, Senior Lecturer of International Studies (Wharton) and History
Swapneel Sheth, Practice Associate Professor of CIS (SEAS)
Emily Slocum, Lecturer (Nursing)
Caroline Watts, Senior Lecturer (GSE)
Elizabeth Woodward, Clinical Associate Professor, Biomedical Sciences (Vet Medicine)

SCOA was formally placed in reserve status for the 2025-2026 academic year. However, it convened by request to the Faculty Senate from the Vice Provost for Research to review a proposed Policy for Reviewing Alleged Research Misconduct. The finalized policy was effective January 1 and published in the January 16 issue of Almanac. SCOA members unanimously recommended the adoption of the proposed policy following a friendly amendment. The Faculty Senate Executive Committee voted to adopt the proposed policy (as recommended by SCOA) at its meeting on December 10, 2015, and as reported in the December 16, 2025, issue of Almanac.

General Committee Charge

The Committee on Faculty and the Administration: The Committee oversees and advises the Executive Committee on matters relating to the faculty’s interface with the University’s administration, including policies and procedures (e.g., the Patent Policy) relating to the University’s structure, the conditions of faculty employment (such as personnel benefits), and information. In general the Committee deals with the matters covered by the following sections of the University’s Handbook for Faculty and Academic Administrators: I.A.-D., G.-H.1., I.-K., II.E. III., V., VI. (henceforth referred to as the “Faculty Handbook”).

2025-2026 SCOA Membership

Geoffrey Aguirre, PSOM/Neurology, chair
Markus Blatz, Dental Medicine
Chenoa Flippen, SAS/Sociology
Christopher Marcinkoski, Weitzman
Lea Ann Matura, Nursing
Amy Sepinwall, Wharton
Shu Yang, SEAS/MSE

Members ex-officio:
Kathleen Brown, SAS/History, Faculty Senate Chair
Eric Feldman, Law, Faculty Senate Past Chair
Roy Hamilton, PSOM/Neurology, Faculty Senate Chair-Elect
Charles Mooney, Law, PASEF non-voting member

The Faculty Senate Grievance Commission (hereafter the commission) of the University of Pennsylvania is an independent committee consisting of three faculty members appointed by the Faculty Senate Executive Committee. This commission is available to all members of the Penn faculty and academic support staff who allege they have been subject to actions contrary to the University procedures, policies, or regulations; that are discriminatory; or that are arbitrary or capricious (see https://facultysenate.upenn.edu/governance/faculty-grievance-commission/). During academic year 2025–2026, John Paul MacDuffie (Wharton, Chair-Elect), Sarah Kagan (Nursing, Chair), and David Margolis (Past Chair, PSOM/Dermatology, Chair).

The commission received six new and one renewed grievance over the course of the year. The grievances were associated with promotion issues, employment issues, and scientific integrity. The commission, led by the chair, explored each grievance. Exploration included, as appropriate to the grievance, communication with parties involved and review of pertinent documents. The commission discussed each grievance and the information obtained through exploration of it, assessing it against the criteria under which the commission operates (viz. actions contrary to the University’s procedures, policies, or regulations; that are discriminatory; or that are arbitrary or capricious). Discussion continued until the commission achieved consensus amongst its three members. To date, none of the new grievances has resulted in a hearing. The number of queries is similar to numbers of grievances submitted in prior years. The commission continued a conversation, begun in the 2024-2025 academic year, with the tri-chairs of the Faculty Senate to clarify the charter governing its work.

Background

The Faculty Senate Committee on Students and Educational Policy (SCSEP) oversees and advises the Executive Committee on matters relating to the University’s policies and procedures on the admission and instruction of students, including academic integrity, admissions policies and administration, evaluation of teaching, examinations and grading, academic experiences, educational opportunities (such as study abroad), student records, disciplinary systems, and the campus environment/climate. In general, the Committee deals with the matters covered by the following section of the University’s Handbook for Faculty and Academic Administrators: IV.

2025-2026 SCSEP Specific Charges

• Investigate the impact of recent changes to federal student loan and financial aid policies on the undergraduate student experience. 
• Investigate the impact of the adoption and usage of artificial intelligence technology on student learning and on standards for academic integrity. 
• Explore the ways in which existing and new first year courses cover concepts of civics skills, especially as they relate to communication across theoretical divides and highlight existing strengths and areas for improvement.

SCSEP elected to focus its work this year on the impact of artificial intelligence on student learning and educational policy. The following report reflects the Committee’s findings and recommendations.

1. AI will impact all fields and disciplines. 

All education, including higher education, will be reshaped in deep ways by AI. AI will fundamentally change the way we teach and what we teach. We have to determine what aspects of each discipline are fundamental and should be taught. Many faculty, staff and students separate into two camps: 1) one group is enthusiastic about the use of AI in teaching and 2) a group based in the humanities and qualitative social sciences that is critical of AI and the role AI companies are playing in society and within the university and that is skeptical about the role that AI can play in certain types of teaching. Even techno futurists acknowledge that there has to be some limit on AI use so that students will learn foundational skills and creative writing.

Recommendations: 

• Need centralized guidelines about acceptable and unacceptable use of AI (i.e., what are the broad guardrails on AI use that address concerns of students and faculty) consistent with Penn’s mission.
• In most courses, a certain percentage of grades will come from authentic assignments that reflect engagement and skill, and the other percentage allows use of AI to a greater or lesser extent. 
• The University should engage in research on the effects of AI assisted learning. More data on this are needed. Learning outcomes in courses in which similar pedagogical approaches are used can be compared to previous years to help determine the impact of AI on learning and critical thinking and to help drive policy changes as AI becomes embedded in higher education.

2. Faculty need training and support in use of AI. 

There is a critical need to train faculty and instructors in the practical use of AI, in how to modify their grading and assignments to take AI into account and how to best allow students to use AI. The training of faculty/instructors likely needs to occur at the institutional or school level and needs to be conducted urgently. 

Recommendations: 

Faculty should be shown options for the use of AI in education. It is important that faculty retain academic freedom and flexibility in the classroom. The best approach is to ensure that the faculty are informed and encouraged to experiment with AI. 

3. Students are anxious about AI. 

The vast majority of students use AI to some extent. The ones who do not use AI feel that AI is unfairly used by other students to give them an advantage. Students are unclear when they can use AI and to what extent. They are asking for guidance for AI use for each of their courses and asking for engagement with their instructors to better understand how they can use AI. The guidance from instructors needs to be clear and explicit at the start of the course in order to allay anxieties about whether and how a student can use AI. Students expressed a need to better understand how course policies on AI were developed for their courses.

Recommendations:

All students must learn Penn’s institutional policies on the practical and ethical use of AI in courses when they become available.  For new students, this can be part of orientation. 

At the start of each semester, professors should address AI in their course policies. From the perspective of students, having a statement on AI policy in a course syllabus is insufficient. Having a conversation between instructors and students at the start of semester laying out what is acceptable use of AI in that course and why is much preferred since this will help to level the playing field and lower stress for students. 

Policy regarding AI in instruction and student learning needs to be nuanced and differ amongst disciplines. Curricula need to be modified to reflect the strong impact of AI and its ubiquitous use in writing assignments. 

4. AI is being used in creative ways throughout campus. 

AI is used as a chatbot to provide information to students and faculty. AI is used as a tutorbot to help answer questions on class lectures when notes are unclear and to develop exam guides. Efforts should be made to facilitate sharing of ideas and to make faculty aware of creative uses of AI on campus to inspire them to try experiments of their own. 

Broader impacts

Ultimately, we as an institution have to think about how we provide the best possible education in the time of AI. Penn should think about how it can distinguish itself from institutions that use AI in generic ways. A more human-centered learning approach, instead of AI-centered learning, is likely to be more beneficial to students and more consistent with Penn’s mission.

This is a time of both alarm and opportunity. Alarm because we need to move rapidly to understand how AI impacts our education and research missions, and to understand how to manage the impact of AI in these missions. In thinking about these things, it represents an opportunity to re-shape or re-affirm the missions and values of Penn. This time also presents a great opportunity for research at Penn on AI impacts on student learning and assessment that can help guide us in the near future. 

SCSEP 2025–2026 Committee Members

Seema Bhatnagar (chair), PSOM/Anesthesiology and Critical Care
Vance Byrd, SAS/FIGS
Ted Chinburg, SAS/Mathematics
Roopali Kulkarni, Dental Medicine
Greg Ridgeway, SAS/Criminology
Akhilesh Reddy, PSOM/Pharmacology
Dylan Small, Wharton

Ex Officio:
Kathleen Brown, SAS/History, Faculty Senate Chair
Eric Feldman, Law, Faculty Senate Past Chair
Roy Hamilton, PSOM/Neurology, Faculty Senate Chair-Elect
Gail Morrison, PSOM/Medicine, PASEF non-voting member

The Senate Committee on the Economic Status of the Faculty (SCESF) is charged by the “Rules of the Faculty Senate” to:

Gather and organize data on faculty salaries and benefits;

Issue an annual report on the economic status of the faculty; and

Represent the faculty in the determination of University policy on salary issues.

SCESF did not produce a report during the 2025-2026 academic year and encourages the faculty to review the themes discussed in the May 2025 report. In keeping with practices of previous years, SCESF offers below the publicly viewable tables provided to the committee by the Provost’s Office and prepared by the Office of Institutional Research & Analysis.

To view the 2025-2026 SCESF tables, click here to read the PDF supplement. 

Click here to read the 2026 committee reports of the Faculty Senate. In addition, the reports are available online in the "Governance" section of this issue. 

The following holidays will be observed by the University in the upcoming fiscal year (July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027) on the dates listed below:

• Independence Day, Friday, July 3, 2026
• Labor Day, Monday, September 7, 2026
• Thanksgiving, Thursday and Friday, November 26 & 27, 2026
• Christmas Day, Friday, December 25, 2026 
• New Year’s Day, Friday, January 1, 2027 
• Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Monday, January 18, 2027
• Memorial Day, Monday, May 31, 2027
• Juneteenth, Friday, June 18, 2027

Each year, the President, Provost, and Executive Vice President assess the feasibility of observing Penn’s traditional Special Winter Vacation. Thus, the Special Winter Vacation granted to faculty and staff will be on December 28 through December 31, 2026. If an employee is required to work to continue departmental operations for part or all of this period, the Special Winter Vacation can be rescheduled for some other time.

Staff members who are absent from work either the workday before a holiday, the workday after a holiday, or both days will receive holiday pay if that absence is charged to pre-approved paid time off or to sick time substantiated by a written note from the staff member’s healthcare provider.

Vacations and holidays for hospital employees or those staff members in collective bargaining units are governed by the terms of hospital policies or their respective collective bargaining agreements.

—Division of Human Resources

The Division of Public Safety is committed to enhancing the quality of life for the campus community by integrating the best practices of public and private policing with state-of-the-art technology. A critical component of a comprehensive security plan using state-of-the-art technology is Closed Circuit Television (CCTV).

As prescribed by the University Policy “Closed Circuit Television Monitoring and Recording of Public Areas for Safety and Security Purposes” (Almanac April 29, 2008), the locations of all outside CCTV cameras monitored by Public Safety are to be published semi-annually in Almanac. The locations and descriptions of these cameras can also be found on the Division of Public Safety website: www.publicsafety.upenn.edu/about/penncomm#cctv.

The following existing cameras meet those criteria:

University of Pennsylvania Cameras

39th St. & Baltimore Ave. (Vet School, Hill Pavilion)
40th St. & Baltimore Ave.
41st St. & Baltimore Ave.
42nd St. & Baltimore Ave.
43rd St. & Baltimore Ave.
31st & Chestnut Sts. (Left Bank)
33rd & Chestnut Sts.
34th & Chestnut Sts.
36th & Chestnut Sts.
38th & Chestnut Sts.
40th & Chestnut Sts.
4040 Chestnut St. (front)
41st & Chestnut Sts.
43rd & Chestnut Sts. 
46th & Chestnut Sts.
Steve Murray Way & Chestnut St.
38th St. & Hamilton Walk
36th St. & Locust Walk
37th St. & Locust Walk (1&2)
38th St. & Locust Walk
39th St. & Locust Walk
40th St. & Locust Walk
41st & Locust Sts.
42nd & Locust Sts.
43rd & Locust Sts.
39th & Ludlow Sts.
40th & Ludlow Sts.
34th & Market Sts.
36th & Market Sts.
38th & Market Sts.
40th & Market Sts.
40th & Pine Sts.
41st & Pine Sts.
42nd & Pine Sts.
36th & Sansom Sts. (Franklin Bldg.)
38th & Sansom Sts.
39th & Sansom Sts.
4040 Sansom St. (rear)
Steve Murray Way & Sansom Sts.
33rd St. & Smith Walk
34th & Spruce Sts.
36th & Spruce Sts.
37th & Spruce Sts.
38th & Spruce Sts.
39th & Spruce Sts.
40th & Spruce Sts.
41st & Spruce Sts.
42nd & Spruce Sts.
43rd & Spruce Sts.
31st & Walnut Sts. (Left Bank)
33rd & Walnut Sts.
34th & Walnut Sts.
36th & Walnut Sts.
37th & Walnut Sts.
38th & Walnut Sts.
39th & Walnut Sts.
40th & Walnut Sts.
41st & Market Sts
41st & Walnut Sts.
43rd & Walnut Sts.
4119 Walnut St.
100 Block of S. 37th St.
Blockley Hall (bike racks 1-8)
Blockley Hall (roof)
Boat House (exterior cameras 1-4)
BRB II (loading dock–exterior)
BRB II (roof–rear and front)
Caster Building (rear entrance)
Caster Building (bike racks 1&2)
Chemistry Building (bike racks 1-4)
CineMark
College Green (1&2)
College Green (lower)
College Hall (exterior basement)
CRB (roof)
CRB-Stemmler Hall (main entrance)
CRB-Stemmler Bridge (interior)
CRB-Stemmler Bridge (main entrance hall)
English House (Law School bike rack)
Fels Center (bike rack)
Fels Institute of Government
Fisher-Bennett Hall (overseeing Levine Bldg.)
Franklin Building
Franklin Building Annex
Franklin Field
Garage 40 (rooftop)
Generational Bridge (1&2)
Gittis Hall (Chestnut Street Basement Stair Door)
Gregory College House (bike rack)
GSE on Plaza 1
GSE on Plaza 62
Harnwell College House
Harrison College House (1&2)
Hayden Hall (east door & west door)
High Bay Garage (entrance)
Hilton (Homewood Suites–1&2)
Hollenback (lower level rear parking)
Hollenback (rooftop)
Housekeeping Annex (parking lot)
Houston Hall/Penn Commons
Irving & Preston Sts.
James G. Kaskey Memorial Park (BioPond & Trail)
Jerome Fisher (main entrance)
John Morgan Building (Hamilton Walk)
Jon M. Huntsman Hall (Bike Rack)
Jon M. Huntsman Hall (Loading Dock)
Jon M. Huntsman Hall (NE corner)
Kane Park (Spruce Street Plaza)
Law School (Sansom St.)
Left Bank (loading dock)
Levy Dental (loading dock)
Levy Dental (rooftop)
Love statue
Memorial Garden Walkway by Van Pelt
Meyerson Hall (bike racks 1&2)
Mod 7 (North)
Mod 7 (SE)
Mod 7 (West)
Museum (33rd St.–exterior)
Museum (Kress entrance–exterior)
Museum (Kress entrance–interior)
Museum (loading dock–exterior)
Museum (upper loading dock–exterior)
Museum (Warden Garden–main entrance)
Museum (Stoner Courtyard–lower courtyard) 
New College House West (Bike Rack)
Old Vet Quad (west gate)
Osler Circle Courtyard
Palestra (1&2)
Pennovation Works
Pennovation Works (gate)
Pottruck (bike racks 1&2)
Public Safety Annex Building (2-5)
Richards Labs (rear door)
Ringe Squash Court Parking
Rodin College House (bike rack)
Rosenthal (parking lot)
Ryan Vet Hospital (main entrance area)
Schattner (coffee shop)
Schattner (bike rack)
SEAS (Courtyard)
Shoemaker Green (1-8)
Singh Center (courtyard)
Singh Center (east loading dock)
Singh Center (Nano roof terrace north)
Singh Center (nitrogen loading dock)
Singh Center (roof terrace south)
Singh Center (west loading dock)
Solomon Labs (1-4)
Spruce 38 Garage (Entry/Exit)
St. Leonard’s Court (roof, rear)
Steinberg Conference Center
Steinberg Hall-Dietrich Hall (Joe’s Café)
Steinberg Hall-Dietrich Hall (trolley)
Stellar-Chance Labs (loading dock)
Stellar-Chance Labs (main entrance)
Stellar-Chance Labs (roof–rear)
Stellar-Chance Labs (roof–front)
Tandem Accelerator Laboratory
Translational Research Labs, 30th St. (lower level South)
Translational Research Labs, 30th St. (lower level North)
Translational Research Labs, 31st St.
Translational Research Labs, 31st St. (upper level)
University Meeting & Guesthouse Courtyard
University Meeting & Guesthouse Parking Lot
Van Pelt-Dietrich Library (Button)
Van Pelt-Dietrich Library (Ben Statue)
Van Pelt-Dietrich Library (Mark’s Café 1&2)
Van Pelt Manor (bike rack)
VHUP (bike rack)
VHUP (dog walk 1&2)
W.E.B. Du Bois House (Bike Rack)
W.E.B. Du Bois House (facing Radian Plaza)
Weiss Info Commons (front door)
Weiss Info Commons (rear door)
Wharton Academic Research Building Bike Racks
Wharton EMBA (loading dock)
Williams Hall (bike racks 1-3)
WXPN/World Café Live
WXPN/World Café Live (SW side–lower level)
1920 Commons (38th & Spruce roof)

Penn Park

Field 1
Field 1 (bike rack)
Field 2
Field 2 (bike rack)
Field 2 (NE corner)
Field 2 (SW corner)
Field 2 (north bike rack)
Field 4 (South Street Bridge)
Lower 30th & Walnut Sts. (1&2)
Paley Bridge (1&2)
Paley Bridge (entrance walkway)
Paley Bridge (walkway to Penn Park)
Parking Lot (SW corner)
Parking Lot (NE corner)
Penn Park (NE corner)
Penn Park (North)
Penn Park (Plaza)
Penn Park Drive (entrance)
River Field
Ropes Course
Ropes Course Maintenance Bldgs.
Softball Stadium (bike racks 1&2)
Softball Stadium (men’s restroom)
Softball Stadium (women’s restroom)
Tennis Center
Tennis Center (Field 4)
Tennis Center (Field 4 walkway)
Tennis Center (Transit Stop)
Utility shed
Walnut St. Bridge (Pedestrian Walkway)
Walnut St. Bridge (Upper)
Weave Bridge (Bower Field) 
Weave Bridge (East)
Weave Bridge (Hollenback)
Weave Bridge (Penn Park ramp)

Penn Medicine Cameras

Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

33rd Street (facing South St.)
33rd Street (facing Civic Center Blvd.)
34th St. Pedestrian Bridge
Alley between Pavilion and Penn Museum (facing South St.)
Convention Ave. (facing Health Sciences Dr.)
Convention Ave. (facing SEPTA station)
Convention Ave. (SEPTA station stairs)
Convention Ave. (stairs to Pavilion walkway)
Convention Ave. and Civic Center Blvd.
Convention Ave. and Health Sciences Dr.
Driveway between Penn Museum and Lot 7
Dulles Bldg. (bike racks-Spruce St.)
Emergency Department (driveway 1-4)
Emergency Department (ambulance entrance/exit)
Emergency Department (driveway)
Emergency Department (entrance/exit)
Gates Bldg. (fire exit door-Spruce St.)
Lot 7 Parking Garage (driveway entry/exit)
Lot 7 Parking Garage (entrance from Pavilion walkway)
Maloney Bldg. (entrance–36th & Spruce Sts.)
Miller Plaza (adjacent to Stemmler)
Pavilion (employee entrance)
Pavilion (main entrance/exit)
Pavilion (outdoor seating area, corner of Convention Ave.)
Pavilion (valet driveway/patient & visitor drop-off entrance/exit)
Pavilion (walkway between Pavilion and Penn Museum)
Penn Tower/HUP Bridge/Civic Center
Penn Tower Bridge (Hospital side)
Ravdin Bldg. (Driveway–Civic Center Blvd.)
Rhoads Bldg. (1st floor–Hamilton  Walk)
Rhoads Bldg. (1st floor–patio)
Rhoads Bldg. (basement–dock ramp)
Rhoads Bldg. (loading docks 1&2)
Rhoads Bldg. (loading dock ramp)
Rhoads/Stemmler bike rack
Security Booth (top of loading dock ramp)
SEPTA walkway
Spruce St. between 34th & 36th Sts. (facing east)
Spruce St. between 34th & 36th Sts. (facing west)
Spruce St. (Founders Bldg. Construction Area)
Spruce St. (Maloney entrance & morgue driveway)
Spruce St. (Morgue, Maloney Ground –36th St.)
Spruce St. (west fire tower door)
Stair Tower between Penn Museum and Lot 7 from Pavilion walkway
Stair Tower to loading dock 
White Bldg. courtyard
White Bldg. (entrance–Spruce St.)

Perelman and Smilow

3600 CCB Building and Garage
3600 CCB-Ll01 (NW Corner E/W)
3600 CCB-Ll01 (NW Side E/W)
3600 CCB-Ll01 (SW Corner E/W; entrance to Lot 51)
3600 CCB-Ll01 (SW Side E/W; loading Dock)
3600 CCB-L1 (NE Entrance)
Civic Center Blvd. at East Service Dr.
Convention Ave & Health Science Dr.
Discovery Walk (between Museum and Pavilion)
East Service Dr. & Health Sciences Dr.
East Side of Pavilion 
Emergency Department Driveway
Entrance to Loading Dock (Health Sciences Drive)
Health Sciences Dr. (outside loading dock–1& 2) 
Health Sciences Dr. and Convention Ave (NW)
Main Entrance
Main Entrance Driveway along Convention Center
NE Entrance
Perelman (front door)
Perelman (loading dock)
Perelman Parking garage entrance (Health Sciences Dr.)
PCAM staff entrance (Convention Ave.) 
Southwest Health Science Drive\
West Service Drive
West Side of Pavilion

Penn Presbyterian Medical Center

Advanced Care Canopy (bench)
Advanced Care Canopy (ED 1&2)
Advanced Care Canopy (Trauma 1-4)
Cupp Lobby (entrance)
Heart and Vascular Pavilion (front entrance)
Heart and Vascular Pavilion (rear entrance)
Heart & Vascular Pavilion (rooftop)
Helipad
Mutch Bldg. (roof)
Presby Garage (9 floors)
Powelton Ave.
Powelton Ave. (dock)
Wright/Saunders Bldg. (main entrance)
Wright/Saunders Bldg. (Powelton Ave. entrance)
38th St. (Healing Garden)
38th St. (Advanced Care Building)

3930 Chestnut Street

39th & Chestnut Streets (intersection)
Front Main Entrance
Loading Dock Entrance
Patio Seating Area
Parking Lot Bike Rack
Parking Lot (Front) 
Parking Lot (Rear) 
Substation #4

Max Cavitch, an associate professor of English and co-director of the psychoanalytic studies program in the School of Arts & Sciences, has been named an International Scholar of the British Psychoanalytic Council. He has also received the Dora Maar House Residential Fellowship in Ménerbes, France, and has been named a Jennifer Egan Creative Approaches to Mental Health Residential Fellow at the Mesa Refuge in northern California.

Dr. Cavitch joined Penn’s faculty in 1999, after receiving his BA from Yale and his PhD from Rutgers. He teaches courses on many forms and phases of American and Anglophone literature of the modern period. His teaching and research interests also include animal studies, cinema and media studies, comparative literature, poetry and poetics, gender and sexuality studies, and psychoanalytic studies.

Heather Greysen, a clinical lecturer of biobehavioral health sciences in Penn Nursing, has been awarded the Kathy N. Shaw Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Perelman School of Medicine’s Center for Healthcare Improvement and Patient Safety (CHIPS). This award recognizes her exceptional dedication and effectiveness as an educator and mentor in the field of quality improvement and patient safety.

Sarah Gronningsater, an associate professor of history in the School of Arts & Sciences, has been awarded the William Nelson Cromwell Book Prize by the American Society for Legal History (ASLH) for her acclaimed book, The Rising Generation: Gradual Abolition, Black Legal Culture, and the Making of National Freedom. The award is presented to an early career scholar for the best book in American legal history. The author of the winning book receives a prize of $5,000. The foundation awards the prize after a review of the recommendation of ASLH’s Cromwell Prize Advisory Committee.

Dr. Gronningsater is a historian of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century United States, with particular interests in slavery and abolition, and in the history of American democracy. She works at the intersection of legal, political, constitutional, and social history.

Melissa Lee, the Klein Family Presidential Associate Professor of Political Science in the School of Arts & Sciences, has won the American Political Science Association’s Politics and History Section’s Mary Parker Follett Prize for her article “From Pluribus to Unum? The Civil War and Imagined Sovereignty in Nineteenth Century America.” The prize is awarded annually to the best scholarly article in politics and history. Dr. Lee is also the director of the World House Student Fellows Program at Perry World House. Her research focuses on the international and domestic politics of state building and state development.

Sarah Guérin, an associate professor of the history of art in the School of Arts & Sciences, has received the 2026 John Nicholas Brown Prize from the Medieval Academy of America for her book French Gothic Ivories: Material Theologies and the Sculptor’s Craft (2022). 

Dr. Guérin received a BSc from the University of Saskatchewan and her PhD from the University of Toronto. Before joining Penn’s faculty in 2016, she was an assistant professor at the Université de Montréal and held postdoctoral positions at Columbia University and the Courtauld Institute of Art. Her teaching focuses on art history in Medieval Europe, 700–1400.

Lynda Kellam, the Director of Research Data & Digital Scholarship in the Penn Libraries, has been named to the Library Journal’s Movers & Shakers 2026 list as a community builder. The annual feature highlights more than 50 emerging leaders and innovators in the library world. It recognizes librarians, staff, vendors, and partners who demonstrate creativity, courage, and leadership in advancing library services, combating censorship, and supporting their communities. 

Recently, Dr. Kellam was also appointed to the governing council for ICPSR, an international consortium of 800+ academic and research bodies. ICPSR is the oldest and largest data archive in the country. Each fall, six members are approved by the membership to serve four-year terms on the ICPSR Council, joining six ongoing members.

In her role at Penn, Dr. Kellam leads a team supporting research data management, data science and visualization, GIS and mapping, digital humanities, AI and machine learning, ScholarlyCommons, and digital projects. A co-editor of Databrarianship: The Academic Data Librarian in Theory and Practice and co-author of Numeric Data Services and Sources for the General Reference Librarian, Dr. Kellam has authored book chapters and peer-reviewed articles on research data services, data literacy, and the integration of data into library instruction and scholarly communication.

Dr. Kellam is a co-founder and steering committee member of the Data Rescue Project, a collaborative initiative to preserve vulnerable public data sets, which received the National Digital Stewardship Alliance Excellence Award in 2025 and the ProQuest/GODORT/ALA “Documents to the People” Award in 2026. When data on public health, the environment, gender identity, census research, and diversity initiatives began to disappear from federal websites in January 2025, Dr. Kellam helped organize and coordinate the volunteer-powered Data Rescue Project (DRP), which backs up federal data—files and their metadata and documentation—in formats that can be freely accessed by users through ICPSR’s online repository DataLumos. As of June 2026, volunteers had identified and preserved over 2,900 at-risk data sets from more than 90 different federal agencies and offices. 

She also serves on the governance board of the Data Curation Network, on steering or planning committees for projects focused on public data preservation and humanitarian archives, and on the Assembly of Reviewers for CoreTrustSeal repository certification. She serves as the Secretary of IASSIST, an international organization of data professionals.

Dr. Kellam holds a PhD in American history and an MLIS from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, as well as an MA in political science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she held Fulbright and MacArthur fellowships that supported research on women and nationalism in Croatia.

James Ker, a professor of classical studies in the School of Arts & Sciences, has won the most prestigious scholarly award in classical studies for his monograph, The Ordered Day: Quotidian Time and Forms of Life in Ancient Rome (2023): the 2025 Charles J. Goodwin Award of Merit of the Society for Classical Studies (SCS). Up to three book prizes are presented annually at the SCS Annual Meeting.

At Penn, Dr. Ker is also the graduate chair of Greek and Latin languages and literatures and the faculty advisor for the post-baccalaureate program in classical studies. His research focuses on the cultural history of the Roman world, both in antiquity and in its reception.

Serena Mayeri, the Arlin M. Adams Professor of Constitutional Law in Penn Carey Law and a professor of history, has received the Law and Society Association (LSA)’s 2026 James Willard Hurst Book Prize. The prize recognizes her book, Marital Privilege: Marriage, Inequality, and the Transformation of American Law (2025).

Awarded annually to the best work in socio-legal history published in the previous year, the Hurst Prize recognizes scholarship that illuminates the interrelationship between law and society, including the ways legal institutions shape and are shaped by social, political, and economic change.

Marital Privilege traces how, beginning in the 1960s, advocates and ordinary Americans transformed the legal primacy of marriage—the dense web of laws that had long tied rights, benefits, and protections to marital status—into a regime Dr. Mayeri describes as “marital privilege.”

Drawing on archival research, legal documents, and historical case studies, Dr. Mayeri brings to life both landmark and lesser-known cases that reshaped American family law and public policy. She traces the theories and evolving strategies of litigants, advocacy organizations, legal scholars, and social movements that challenged marital supremacy, while also examining how reforms intended to advance equality and individual autonomy could simultaneously reinforce disparities of wealth, power, and access.

The LSA praised the work in its award announcement. “Combining sweeping ambition, doctrinal acumen, and a keen sense of historical contingency, Marital Privilege provides a magisterial account of a crucial transformation of American law,” the committee wrote.

“I have long admired the scholarship the Hurst Prize recognizes, so to be in the company of scholars who have received this award is especially meaningful to me,” Dr. Mayeri said.

The prize is one of 15 annual awards through which the LSA honors scholars for groundbreaking publications and significant contributions to the study of law and society.

Dr. Mayeri’s scholarship focuses on constitutional law, legal history, reproductive rights and justice, and equality law in the United States. Her first book, Reasoning from Race: Feminism, Law, and the Civil Rights Revolution (2011), received the Littleton-Griswold Prize from the American Historical Association and the Darlene Clark Hine Award from the Organization of American Historians.

Zachary Lesser, the Edward W. Kane Professor of English in the School of Arts & Sciences, has won the 2025 Innovation Award from the British Shakespeare Association for Shakespeare Census, an online database of all extant copies of Shakespeare editions before 1700. 

Dr. Lesser received his PhD in English literature from Columbia University and his BA in Renaissance studies and religious studies from Brown University. His teaching and research focus on Shakespeare and early modern drama, the history of material texts, bibliography and editing, early modern political and religious debate, and digital humanities.

Robert H. Mundheim, the University Professor of Law and Finance Emeritus and former dean of the Carey Law School, has received the University in Exile Award from the New School for Social Research (NSSR). The award was presented at a special ceremony on May 14 in New York City.

Established in 1998, the award commemorates the founding of the University in Exile at NSSR in 1933, which provided refuge to scholars fleeing persecution in Europe. Today, the New University in Exile Consortium continues that mission, supporting scholars at risk around the world. The recognition carries particular resonance for Mr. Mundheim, who fled Nazi Germany with his family as a child.

The first University in Exile became the home of rescued, largely Jewish, refugee scholars from Germany and France. The New University in Exile Consortium is a global group of colleges and universities that continues to provide a haven for scholars at risk. Today, members of the New University in Exile Consortium host nearly 300 exiled scholars from 30 countries.

“As an exile (albeit not a scholar in exile), I am immensely proud to receive this award from the University in Exile and the New School,” said Mr. Mundheim. “I have been associated with them for roughly 30 years and share their focus on the critical importance of an intellectually open educational environment.”

Mr. Mundheim joined Penn Carey Law’s faculty in 1965 and served as dean of the school from 1982 to 1989. During his tenure, he led efforts to strengthen the school’s commitment to professionalism and public service, including establishing a mandatory public service requirement for graduation that remains in place today. He also launched the campaign to build Penn Carey Law’s Tanenbaum Hall and advanced a significant expansion of the school’s endowment.

“This well-deserved recognition reflects Bob’s longstanding contributions to NSSR, as well as the wise and steady leadership he has brought to higher education throughout his distinguished career,” said Sophia Z. Lee, dean and Bernard G. Segal Professor of Law. “At Penn Carey Law, his influence continues to be felt through the enduring public service graduation requirement he initiated. We are proud to celebrate this moment with him—and honored to count him among the leaders who have shaped our institution and its values.”

Widely regarded as a leading business lawyer, Mr. Mundheim has built a distinguished career spanning academia, private practice, business, and government service. He is currently of counsel to A&O Shearman LLP in New York City, where his work focuses on corporate governance. From 1977 to 1980, he served as general counsel to the U.S. Treasury Department, where he played a prominent role in negotiating the release of U.S. hostages in Iran. He later served as co-chairman of Fried Frank, and, in 1992, became senior executive vice president and general counsel of Salomon Inc., before returning to Shearman & Sterling (which later became A&O Shearman) in 1999.

Annenberg School doctoral candidate Valentina Proust and doctoral student Arelí Rocha have been named co-recipients of the 2026 James D. Woods Award.

Given in memory of Annenberg graduate student James D. Woods, the award is granted to outstanding graduate teaching assistants.

Valentina Proust was nominated for the award by Annenberg School Dean Sarah Banet-Weiser and Penn President Emerita Amy Gutmann for her work as a teaching fellow for their course COMM 2898: The Art and Ethics of Communication. Dean Banet-Weiser and Dr. Gutmann praised Ms. Proust’s willingness to learn new material, her dedication to mentoring students, and her warmth, generosity, and professionalism. “Over our many years of teaching at Annenberg, Valentina stands out as one of the most insightful, proactive, caring, and expert teaching fellows we have had the privilege and pleasure of working with,” Dean Banet-Weiser and Dr. Gutmann said.

In her own work, Ms. Proust examines how social movements use mediatized memory to shape their discourses, with particular attention to the effects of grief, mourning, and hope.

Arelí Rocha was nominated by lecturer Murali Balaji for her work as a teaching fellow for two courses: COMM 2860: Media and Masculinity and COMM 3650: Media and the Apocalypse. Dr. Balaji commended Ms. Rocha’s willingness to lead class discussions, her willingness to use her own expertise in AI to bring nuance to classroom lessons, and her ability to adapt her teaching methods to different classes. “Arelí has demonstrated tremendous growth as a teacher and shows great care for our students,” Dr. Balaji said. “Some of the students remarked that Areli is the best teaching fellow they have had in their time at Penn.”

In her own research, Ms. Rocha explores technological and discursive constructions of reality and personhood, with particular interest in the multimodal semiotic signs that influence ideas, representations, and interactions with non-human entities.

Ala Stanford, a professor of practice in biology, has been announced as a new inductee into the Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania Class of 2025. Dr. Stanford is a nationally celebrated public health leader, surgeon, and founder of the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium. A practicing physician for more than 20 years, she became a national voice for health equity during the COVID-19 pandemic, founding the consortium and directly serving more than 100,000 Philadelphians without access to testing and care.

Dr. Stanford has since gone on to establish and lead the Dr. Ala Stanford Center for Health Equity to expand access to care in Philadelphia; she has also served as regional director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for the mid-Atlantic region. Board-certified in both pediatric and adult general surgery, Dr. Stanford is the author of the best-selling book, Take Care of Them Like My Own: Faith, Fortitude, and a Surgeon’s Fight for Health Justice.

In 2025, Dr. Stanford was also named to Philadelphia Magazine’s Top 150 Most Influential Philadelphians list, which noted her run to become the next U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania’s Third Congressional District.

Emily Steiner, the A. M. Rosenthal Professor of English in the School of Arts & Sciences and the undergraduate faculty director of the Wolf Humanities Forum, has been elected a fellow of the Medieval Academy of America. 

Dr. Steiner received her BA from Brown University and her PhD from Yale. She is the author of Documentary Culture and the Making of Medieval English Literature, Reading “Piers Plowman,” and John Trevisa’s Information Age: Knowledge and the Pursuit of Literature, c.1400. She has co-edited several collection of essays, and her articles have appeared in The Yearbook of Langland Studies, New Medieval Literatures, Studies in the Age of Chaucer, Representations, New Literary History, and Exemplaria, among others.

Rachel Watkins, an associate professor of anthropology in the School of Arts & Sciences, has received the American Anthropological Association (AAA) Presidential Award. The award is presented annually to honor extraordinary contributions to anthropology. 

In addition to her academic duties at Penn, Dr. Watkins is also an associate curator of the biological anthropology section at the Penn Museum. Her work focuses on African American biohistory and social history, including: skeletal biology, Black feminist critiques of science, the ethical treatment of human remains, and descendant community engagement. 

Dr. Watkins began her training at Howard University, studying the remains of people in the William Montague Cobb anatomical collection, and ancestral remains unearthed from the New York African Burial Ground in lower Manhattan. Dr. Watkins also consults with organizations and groups to support historic preservation and interpretation guided by descendant communities. Her research has been published in journals such as American Anthropologist, Current Anthropology, Historical Archaeology, and the American Journal of Biological Anthropology. She is a member of the American Anthropological Association’s Commission for the Ethical Treatment of Human Remains.

Liliane Weissberg, a professor of French and Francophone, Italian, and Germanic Studies in the School of Arts & Sciences, has received the 2026 Alexander von Humboldt Research Award for her research on German-Jewish literature and culture.

Dr. Weissberg focuses on German and American literatures from the late eighteenth century to today, literary and psychoanalytic theory, and German-Jewish studies. She completed her PhD at Harvard University and also studied at the Freie Universität Berlin. Dr. Weissberg’s work has been supported by a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship and the Alexander von Humboldt Research Award. Her research has been published widely, both in the United States and Germany.

Bo Zhen, the Jin K. Lee Presidential Associate Professor of Physics & Astronomy in the School of Arts & Sciences, has been elected a 2026 Optica Fellow for his pioneering discoveries of topological phenomena in photonics and his advancement of scientific understanding of light-matter interaction in nano-photonic systems.

This distinction was awarded to 121 members from 24 countries for their significant contributions to the advancement of optics and photonics through research, business, education, engineering, and service to Optica and its community. Dr. Zhen, who joined the Penn faculty in 2018, earned his doctorate in physics from MIT and his BS in mathematics and physics from Tsinghua University.

Spotlight on University City: University City is the region’s leader in education, science, and innovation. The 2.4-square mile neighborhood boasts world-class institutions that catalyze nearly 85,000 jobs in fields including medicine, higher education, technology, real estate, and hospitality. University City is a transportation hub with some of the most bicycle-and pedestrian-friendly streets in the city, serves as a destination for culture seekers and food lovers, and is home to some of the most significant development projects and life science breakthroughs in the region. With diverse demographics, signature public spaces, a rich blend of housing and rental options, top-notch schools and hospitals, and amenities aplenty, University City is one of Greater Philadelphia’s neighborhoods of choice.

Real Estate Development: At a time when economic uncertainties continue to plague new construction and development plans, University City has fared considerably well. Our neighborhood is on pace to add 2.7 million square feet of new construction, including nearly 184 new units of multi-family housing, and surpass $12 billion in cumulative real estate value, nearly doubling the same total from 2020. Progress on major residential, institutional, public space, and mixed-use projects marked another busy year of groundbreakings, topping outs, and ribbon cuttings in the neighborhood. On the office side, University City’s occupancy rate fell slightly in 2025 to 80.6%, but remains the top rate in downtown Philadelphia, and among the highest in the greater Philadelphia region. Occupancy rates are on the upswing, according to CBRE, and University City’s access to nearby amenities, proximity to multiple transportation options like William H. Gray III 30^th Street Station, and connection to major anchor institutions will continue to attract companies seeking to do business in a premier employment and innovation hub.

Employment: While some job centers have struggled to retain employees as workplace patterns have shifted, University City’s employment numbers remain steady due to new development, institutional expansions, and a burgeoning life sciences scene, and 2025 saw nearly 15,000 jobs posted by our neighborhood’s main employers. 79% of University City’s 84,000+ jobs pay over $40,000 a year, compared to just over 60% for Philadelphia as a whole. University City accounts for approximately 11% of all jobs within Philadelphia, despite representing only 1.69% of the city’s total footprint, and over 25% of our workforce commutes from neighboring counties in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. A large percentage of jobs are clustered at local hospitals and universities, but growth associated with nascent technology firms and the commercialization of research is also creating more employment opportunities at every rung of the career ladder. Leaders at the local, regional, and national levels are taking note of existing jobs and those on the horizon and are actively working to invest in and accelerate our status as a regional leader in life sciences and biotech, including newly created industry partnerships in healthcare and life sciences.

Higher Education: True to its name, University City offers top options in the region and nation for undergraduate and graduate studies. Over 51,000 students are enrolled in undergraduate or graduate programs at our institutions of higher education, and whether they come from around the city or around the world, scholars are drawn to our neighborhood for its access to nearby employment opportunities, the beautiful urban campuses, and the vitality of the surrounding community. Both the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University fared well in recent U.S. News & World Report rankings, with Penn ranked the 7^th best national university and tied for the top undergraduate business program in the country, while Drexel excelled in similar lists for most innovative schools and was ranked second nationally for its co-ops/internships.

Healthcare: The neighborhood’s medical institutions—Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP), Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), and Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center—combine to account for just under 52% of all jobs in University City, making them an essential component of the local economy. Both CHOP and HUP receive annual accolades for quality of care and as top national workplaces: in the 2025/2026 U.S. News and World Report rankings, both HUP and CHOP earned spots on the honor rolls for top national hospitals, and CHOP placed 38th on Forbes’ list of best large employers for 2026. Our local hospitals are also leading the way in new treatments, procedures, and medical technologies, and the forthcoming arrival of CHOP’s Morgan Center for Research and Innovation will add to our robust inventory of dynamic research facilities and labs.

Transportation: Need to get around the neighborhood? You’re in luck. University City boasts excellent options for bicyclists, pedestrians, and commuters using public transit, earning Walkscore.com’s “paradise” status for all three modes of transportation. Of the University City residents who work outside their homes, 66% commute via foot, bike, or public transit. We welcome an estimated 63,000 inbound commuters every weekday who arrive via public transit, SEPTA regional rail, and other forms of transportation, and the total of 5.6 million Amtrak riders using 30th Street Station is the highest number of passengers since we began tracking this figure in 2010.

People: University City is home to a diverse cross-section of over 53,000 residents, comprised of young professionals, families, and longtime community members. Due in large part to the nearly 30,000 students living in University City who are enrolled at local universities, our population skews young (median age of 26.35), highly educated (68% of residents aged 25 or older hold at least a bachelor’s degree), and transient. Our local population is also very diverse—according to the diversity index, there’s a 66% chance that two random people meeting in our neighborhood will be of different ethnicities, compared an average of 46% across Philadelphia as a whole.

Life in the Neighborhood: How do you define a great place to live? For University City, it comes down to fantastic amenities, an excellent dining scene, diverse housing options, world-class transit, parks and public spaces galore, and communities with distinct and unique personalities. Options for housing are as varied as the residents, with historic homes, walk-up apartments, stylish high-rises, dormitories, and more. Over 100 acres of public space and parks offer respite from the city streets and places for people to relax, recharge, and spread out. The streets, sidewalks, and transit stations combine to offer excellent options for traveling within the neighborhood or to points beyond, and our neighborhood has again earned a “paradise” distinction from Walkscore.com for walking, biking, and transit. An eclectic dining scene caters to every appetite, featuring a blend of longstanding mom-and-pop restaurants, cuisine from around the globe, and outposts of local and national chains.

Innovation: University City is a nationally recognized hub for advances in science, research, and medicine. Cutting-edge innovations originate out of 2.4 million square feet of lab space in research hubs including the Wistar Institute, Pennovation, B+labs, and uCity Square, among others. This confluence of labs, benches, and clinics contributed to Philadelphia ranking at #7 in top U.S. metros for life sciences research and development talent, according to CBRE. Discoveries initiated in University City spark billions of dollars in economic growth and attract international attention in fields like biotech, robotics, and medicine. In 2025, 205 patents were issued to University City businesses and institutions, who also accounted for $1.02 billion in NIH funding, representing 45% of all total NIH funding across the entire state of Pennsylvania, and over $33 billion in cumulative R&D spending since 2000.

For the full report, visit https://issuu.com/universitycity/docs/the_state_of_university_city_2026_3ab36aad984b11.

—University City District

Children’s Activities

6/17     June Storytime; storytime and an exercise in mindfulness, featuring a reading of Be a Tree! by Maria Gianferrari, which reminds us of our connection with trees and inspires audiences to step back and take in the world around them; 10:30 a.m.; Outdoor Classroom, Morris Arboretum & Gardens; free with admission (Morris Arboretum & Gardens).

Fitness & Learning

6/20     Cathead Basket Making Workshop with Janine Wang; participants will learn traditional weaving techniques to construct their own classic cathead basket in the Shaker tradition; 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m.; Institute of Contemporary Art; register: https://tinyurl.com/cathead-basket-jun-20 (Institute of Contemporary Art).

6/21     Sunday Reset with Dope Botanicals; using Shaker-inspired principles of simplicity and everyday practice, explore how to build herbal supports that are honest and repeatable; 2-4 p.m.; Institute of Contemporary Art; register: https://tinyurl.com/sunday-reset-jun-21 (Institute of Contemporary Art).

College of Liberal & Professional Studies

Online webinars. Info: https://www.lps.upenn.edu/about/events.

6/22     Penn LPS Online Certificates: Meet Us Mondays; 12:30 p.m.

            Master of Applied Criminology and Police Leadership Virtual Information Session; 2 p.m.

Morris Arboretum & Gardens

In-person events at Morris Arboretum & Gardens. Info: https://www.morrisarboretum.org/see-do/events-calendar.

6/20     Meditation in Motion; join instructor Aimée Alegría Barry for a workshop in meditation techniques that include qigong stretches, tai chi walking, guided meditation and more; 10:30 a.m.; fee: $35/general, $30/members. 

Talks

6/16     Mobilizing for Protest in India: Lessons from the Anti-CAA and Farmers’ Movements; Mandeep Punia, journalist; Gurpreet Singh Sangha, activist for farmers in India; Jawaharlal Nehru University; 10 a.m.; online webinar; register: https://tinyurl.com/pwh-panel-jun-16 (Perry World House).

6/19     From Personal Story to Social Impact: The Journey Behind “Seeds of Futures”; José Mauro Rocha de Barros, Global Possibility Network; 11 a.m.; Zoom webinar; register: https://tinyurl.com/rocha-talk-jun-19 (Graduate School of Education).

This is an update to the Summer AT PENN calendar, which is available now. To submit events for future AT PENN calendars and weekly updates, email almanac@upenn.edu.

Division of Public Safety
University of Pennsylvania Police Department Crime Report

About the Crime Report: Below are the Crimes Against Persons and/or Crimes Against Property from the campus report for June 1-7, 2026. The Crime Reports are available at: https://almanac.upenn.edu/sections/crimes. Prior weeks’ reports are also online. –Eds.

This summary is prepared by the Division of Public Safety (DPS) and contains all criminal incidents reported and made known to the Penn Police, including those reported to the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) that occurred within our patrol zone, for the dates of June 1-7, 2026. The Penn Police actively patrol from Market Street to Baltimore Avenue and from 30^th Street to 43^rd Street 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 DPS at (215) 898-7297. You may view the daily crime log on the DPS website.

Penn Police Patrol Zone
Market Street to Baltimore Avenue and from 30^th Street to 43^rd Street

Philadelphia Police 18th District
Schuylkill River to 49th Street & Market Street to Woodland Avenue

Below are the Crimes Against Persons from the 18th District: 9 incidents and 1 arrest were reported for June 1-7, 2026 by the 18^th District, covering the Schuylkill River to 49th Street & Market Street to Woodland Avenue.

The Division of Public Safety offers resources and support to the Penn community. DPS developed a few helpful risk reduction strategies outlined below. Know that it is never the fault of the person impacted (victim/survivor) by crime.

• See something concerning? Connect with Penn Public Safety 24/7 at (215) -573-3333.
• Worried about a friend’s or colleague’s mental or physical health? Get 24/7 connection to appropriate resources at (215) 898-HELP (4357).
• Seeking support after experiencing a crime? Call Special Services - Support and Advocacy resources at (215) 898-4481 or email an advocate at specialservices@publicsafety.upenn.edu
• Use the Walking Escort and Riding services available to you free of charge.
• Take a moment to update your cellphone information for the UPennAlert Emergency Notification System
• Download the Penn Guardian App which can help Police better find your location when you call in an emergency.
• Access free self-empowerment and defense courses through Penn DPS.
• Stay alert and reduce distractions; using cellphones, ear buds, etc. may limit your awareness.
• Orient yourself to your surroundings. (Identify your location, nearby exits, etc.)
• Keep your valuables out of sight and only carry necessary documents.

The Office of the University Registrar has announced the release of the 2026–2027 University Catalog for the University of Pennsylvania on June 9, 2026.

This edition of the University Catalog includes all degree-granting programs, many certificates offered across the University, and courses at all levels that are associated with these programs. 

The catalog also includes the Pennbook, the Faculty Handbook, and many academic policies and resources. Many thanks to everyone who contributed to the work of compiling and publishing this latest catalog. Thank you.

The University Catalog can be found at https://catalog.upenn.edu. Please submit questions and comments to Fresh Service. 

—Margaret Kip, University Registrar 

This is the last issue of Volume 72 of Almanac. The first issue of Volume 73 (which will span the 2026-2027 academic year) will be published on Tuesday, July 14. To submit items for that issue, email almanac@upenn.edu.