Monthly Archives: February 2018

Penn Serves LA Annual Social

By Jane Gutman, CW’73, PAR’14, PAR’16

 Penn really MUST be the oldest university in the United States!  Our Penn Serves LA community gathered to celebrate the 312th birthday of our founder, Ben Franklin…and also to toast one another and our volunteer efforts.

Penn Serves LA hosts eight or nine service events each year, and every January we gather for social purposes. We are grateful to Elizabeth Kopple for offering her home for our festivities, and to the thirty plus people who came together to share experiences and stories, and to connect with one another. As is often the case at our events, our attendees spanned over forty years and represented all undergraduate and many graduate and professional schools.

Over wine, appetizers, and dessert, the group socialized, and each person provided a thirty-second self-introduction. People gave a host of reasons for their commitment to service, some spoke of particularly affecting events they had attended and others described non-profits they had or planned to start.

We had the pleasure of a brief talk by Richard Walden, C’68, L’72 who started LA-based Operation USA, an international disaster relief, and development agency in 1979.  A terrific story-teller, Richard explained how one idea developed into something much larger, and how he managed to get planes, warehouses and endless medical supplies donated to deliver $400 million in aid in 100 countries over the past 38 years. It was inspiring to realize that by staying small and agile, by not accepting financial support from the government and by remaining focused (in this case on education and health), a non-profit can make a world of difference.

Our founder was a man full of terrific ideas and, like Ben, our Penn Serves alumni volunteers know how to have a good time and to motivate and encourage one another to do good work to make our city a little stronger and better.

Please join us for upcoming events, mark your calendars for Ben’s bash next January, and send in any ideas you have for future projects.

Hurrah Pennsylvania!

Upcoming Events

About Penn Serves LA

Penn Serves LA logo volunteering with Penn Alumni in Los Angeles

Penn Serves LA impacts the Los Angeles community by engaging University of Pennsylvania alumni, parents and families in meaningful community service activities.

Since our founding in 2012, we have done everything from serving meals to the homeless to restoring the environment to fixing homes. Six times annually, we find another great opportunity to learn about interesting nonprofits, lend a hand and enjoy a fun experience with fellow alumni.

Join Us

We invite the Penn community in Los Angeles (alumni, parents, and kids) to join us at a future event, to help spread the word and to help us plan future activities. Join us, meet new Penn people, demonstrate what service means to your kids and friends, and help fellow Quakers make a little bit of difference in our complex city!

If you have an established nonprofit that you would like us to consider for future events or announcements, please let us know. We are looking for new nonprofits to serve in meaningful ways.

Contact Us

Questions? Want to join our email list? Reach us at pennserves@gmail.com.

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram and Twitter!

The Penn Serves LA Team

Michal Clements, W’84 | Justin Gordon, W’05 | Jane Gutman, CW’73, PAR’14, PAR’16 | Leanne Huebner, W’90 | Jamie Kendall, W’04 | Irene Park, C’05 | Kiera Reilly, C’93 | Michelle Wattana, C’09 | Denise Winner, W’83, PAR’21

Read about our previous events:

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Filed under Jane G., Penn Serves, Penn Serves LA, Volunteering

Applying to Penn Nursing? Read this first.

By Monica Muzzi, Nu’93

I’m in the process of interviewing applicants for Penn Nursing and, invariably, the question of my own experience at Penn Nursing is raised. In reply, I always use one word: tough. And it was. The curriculum was rigorous and the clinicals were long. By junior year, we were going into the hospital twice a week from 7 am to 3 pm, every college student’s nightmare. Most of my roommates’ classes didn’t start until 10:30 and they had, maybe, 2 classes a day. At times, when I was tired from studying the previous night, but had to be to the hospital for clinicals early the next morning, and expected to answer questions intelligently, I wondered why I was choosing this profession. I would prepare extensively for these clinicals, not wanting to embarrass myself or disappoint my preceptor or professor only to have some question my choice to ‘limit myself’ to nursing. I can’t count the number of times I was asked, “you seem so smart, why not go on to become a doctor,” as if nursing is just a segue or pause before moving onto medical school and not its own unique field. Also, as you can imagine, the early morning clinicals curbed or precluded some fun, well, ‘college experiences’ the night before. I think the first medication that I learned about in nursing school was Pepto Bismol.  But I made it through and even went back for my Master’s.

Monica Muzzi Penn Nursing #93tothe25th

Photo from The Compass shows Monica Muzzi as a nursing student.

Now, twenty years later, I am still a nurse (I did not ‘go on’ to become a doctor). I’ve worked in clinical care, as a manager, an educator and am an entrepreneur. In every job, I’m asked where I get my drive, grit, and passion for patient care and nursing education. And, I think back to the tough times at Penn, that instilled resilience in us. I greatly appreciate the caliber of the faculty and staff and how they taught us, through their own actions, that we could accomplish anything. Meeting and exceeding potential was expected. Empowering others (both patients and colleagues) wasn’t just suggested, it was implied as a necessary component of a nurse leader. And we are all leaders in our own way, no matter our path, no matter our position or earnings. Telling an infertility patient that she is pregnant is as meaningful and inspiring to me now as it was 20 years ago. If I had to pick five words to describe the essence of me, who I am, what I believe in, one of these words would be Nurse. Without a doubt or hesitation. This I also relate to the high school applicants. How many can say the same? #grateful.

Penn Nursing 1993 graduates

Angela Sabatino Collingwood, Truc Vo and Monica Muzzi, all Nursing ’93, line up for Penn Commencement in May 1993

Penn Class of 1993 25th Reunion Countdown

The weekend of December 15 – 16, 2017, marked 21 weeks until the 25th Reunion of the Penn Class of 1993 (May 11 – 14, 2018)! Meet us at the Button!

Join us we count down the weeks to our reunion #93tothe25th:

  • Do you have old photos or mementos from our time at Penn? Photos of Spring Fling? Football at Franklin Field? Classes at DRL? We are taking a trip down memory lane and would love for you to share your memories with our class in a future post. Please email us upenn1993@gmail.com!
  • Follow us on Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram.
  • Classmates are invited to join our Facebook and LinkedIn groups.
  • Donate to The Penn Fund in honor of our reunion! We want to break the 25th reunion participation giving record and every gift matters!

Book Your Hotel Room for Alumni Weekend NOW!

The Marriott Downtown (where we had a Penn 1993 and a Penn Alumni room block) is sold out for Alumni Weekend. There are alternative hotels near by. We recommend booking ASAP! Please see our class website for additional details.

Penn Class of 1993 25th Reunion #93tothe25th

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Filed under 25th Reunion, Class of 1993, Penn Nursing

Bulkpacks and History Classes

By Rob Williams, C’93

Penn History bulkpack from Prof. Childers' class

History 2 bulkpack from Campus Copy Center, photo courtesy of Rob Williams, C’93

Ah, bulkpacks — because we didn’t have Blackboard or Canvas, Google, or on-line library resources to easily connect us on-line to thousands of e-book and journal articles!  I can’t say I miss the grainy, poorly copied, sometimes off-center, and often hard to read copied-for-the-millionth-time pages.  As a former adjunct at American University teaching graduating seniors and now as an adjunct associate professor with Georgetown University’s MSFS program, most students today have easy access to materials that will not make you prematurely put you in reading glasses or add 15 pounds to a backpack.  I have to say, I am fairly certain none of them have ever thumbed through a card catalogue and wandered the stacks looking for books.  But, maybe, that experience represents our good-ole-days.

Penn history bulkpack

Table of Contents for Prof. Childers’ History 2 Bulkpack. Photo courtesy of Rob Williams, C’93

As for Professor Childers’ history course, it started me down a path I did not fully appreciate at the time–into a career protecting the United States and its position in the world.  Combined with Professor Walter McDougall‘s courses in Diplomatic History, Professor Daniel Deudney‘s course in International Relations Theory, and Professor Thomas Naff‘s courses on the Middle East, they opened doors into different worlds, contextualized our present, and sketched for us an arc of history while equipping us with ways to critically think about the world system, which is our heritage.  They helped us to better understand a world that is ours to care for, or not.  To learn from humanity’s collective historical mistakes.  To properly frame the present.  To do better for the future.  Indeed, Childers and MacDougall offered us insights into the importance of Allies and Alliances, balancing other countries that challenge the world order, and managing well internal stresses as countries rapidly change while being shaped by technological developments. Lessons we would be foolish to ignore today.

Penn Class of 1993 25th Reunion Countdown

The weekend of December 8 – 9, 2017, marked 22 weeks until the 25th Reunion of the Penn Class of 1993 (May 11 – 14, 2018)! Meet us at the Button!

Join us we count down the weeks to our reunion #93tothe25th:

  • Do you have old photos or mementos from our time at Penn? Photos of Spring Fling? Football at Franklin Field? Classes at DRL? We are taking a trip down memory lane and would love for you to share your memories with our class in a future post. Please email us upenn1993@gmail.com!
  • Follow us on Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram.
  • Classmates are invited to join our Facebook and LinkedIn groups.
  • Donate to The Penn Fund in honor of our reunion! We want to break the 25th reunion participation giving record and every gift matters!

Book Your Hotel Room for Alumni Weekend NOW!

The Marriott Downtown (where we had a Penn 1993 and a Penn Alumni room block) is sold out for Alumni Weekend. There are alternative hotels near by. We recommend booking ASAP! Please see our class website for additional details.

Penn Class of 1993 25th Reunion #93tothe25th

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Filed under 25th Reunion, Class of 1993, Memories of Penn

Trouble in the Library: The History of Fisher Fine Arts

By: Jorge Penado, C’19
International Relations Major
Work-Study Student, Sweeten Alumni House

Picture1

Source: National Register of Historic Places

Gargoyles, Shakespearean-inspired writing on windows and a German-English architectural feud on Penn’s campus? The history of the famous Fisher Fine Arts Library holds a complicated yet interesting past that many of its students and alumni may not be aware of. While nowadays the library is regarded as one of Penn’s most unique buildings, on par with College Hall and The Quad, it wasn’t always accepted as that. Soon after its completion in the late 19th century, a transition in leadership in the university led to a complete re-evaluation of the architectural legacy of Penn. This shift would challenge the very existence of the building until it grew to be appreciated as a staple of campus a generation later.

Frank Furness (1839-1912), the Victorian architect of the library and native Philadelphian, entered the world of architecture early on in his life in 1857. After returning from serving in the Union in the Civil War, he eventually found himself back in Philadelphia where he began his own career through various architectural partnerships. After working on other famous projects like the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, his company was eventually hired to construct Penn’s first university library in 1888. Furness would invoke various unique designs in the construction of the library such as the interconnected nature of the five stories through the tower’s staircase or inscriptions on the windows chosen by Furness’s brother, Horace Howard Furness, a Shakespearean scholar and Penn faculty.  The library was completed and dedicated in 1991 but would soon face various obstacles to its continued existence.

Picture2

Source: University of Pennsylvania Fine Arts Library Image Collection

Furness’s architectural style, which aligns closely with a German-model focused on graduate studies and technical scientific research with expansive room instead of the English-model focused on undergraduate education and socialization, would lead to some controversy. Furness’s greatest supporter, then-Provost William Pepper Jr., was in the German-model camp and actively supported Furness and similar projects like the School of Engineering and the Wharton School. However, once Provost Pepper retired, his successor, Provost Charles Custis Harrison, was much less supportive of the German-model and preferred the English-model as seen with his construction of The Quad. Provost Harrison would challenge the design of the library by even questioning the “historically-incorrect gargoyles,” on the exterior of the library. This clash of visions would lead to Provost Harrison cancelling Furness’s future architectural projects and would even label the library an embarrassment to Penn, seriously considering cloaking the building in a different style.

Lucky for us, the library was never cloaked and was actually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1985. The building would be restored and expanded from 1986 to 1991 with the primary benefactors being Anne and Jerome Fisher to whom the building is now dedicated. Through a turbulent history, the Fisher Fine Arts Library fortunately still stands on the east side of College Green with its red sandstone and Venetian Gothic architecture being a definite landmark of Penn’s campus.

Picture3

Source: University of Pennsylvania Flickr Account

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Penn Class of 1993 Remembers Penn vs. Princeton Basketball

By Kiera Reilly, C’93

During our time at Penn, Penn vs. Princeton basketball games were not to be missed. No matter how good (or not) the Penn and Princeton teams were, the games we played against each other were always nail-biters, exciting and exhilarating. We were blessed to see the start of a fabulous Penn run of Ivy titles when the team clinched the Ivy League title our senior year (our Ivy Stone is on the outside of the Palestra for a reason).

The Class of 1993's Ivy Stone on the front wall of the Palestra at the University of Pennsylvania

The Class of 1993’s Ivy Stone on the front wall of the Palestra.

When Penn played Princeton at the Palestra on January 6th this year (winning  76 – 70 – click for story here), we asked classmates to share their memories of Penn vs. Princeton basketball back in the day. Here is what they shared.

NOTE: Penn plays Princeton at 6pm tonight at Jadwin Gym. If you’re not at the game you can watch on ESPNU! Go Quakers! Beat Princeton!

Eli Faskha, ENG’93, W’93

Eli shared a Penn basketball stub and program from our win over Princeton 64 – 46 at the Palestra on January 30, 1993.

Penn vs. Princeton Basketball stub from Jan. 30, 1993 games at the Palestra

Penn vs. Princeton Basketball stub from Jan. 30, 1993 games at the Palestra courtesy of Eli Faskha, Eng’93, W’93

Stephen Jung, C’93

There was always a fun energy at the Palestra. Since it wasn’t a shallow bowl, even the upper level felt close to the action. One of my best memories was the Penn-Princeton game our freshmen year. Penn’s down 49-50 with 2 seconds on the clock. Paul Chambers is on the line for a one-and-one (I though it was Vince Curran until I saw video online). Chambers misses the free throw, but Hassan Duncombe swoops in for the offensive rebound and put-back. Penn 51-Princeton 50. The place went nuts. I remember throwing streamers from the stands after the first Penn basket of the game. Then there was Ivy Day, when we planted ours in the courtyard. I worked at a Med School lab for 2 years after graduation, so I caught some games then. I even saw a Penn-Princeton game at Jadwin. It wasn’t the Palestra.

Read the post from last year Happy 90th Birthday to the Palestra which includes photos of basketball programs that Stephen shared.

Stephen also shared photos from the Penn vs. Yale game on March 5, 1993 (the start of our Spring Break). Penn beat Yale 71 – 49 and clinched the Ivy League title for 1992 – 1993.

Kiera Reilly, C’93

Unfortunately for me, I didn’t go to basketball games my freshman year, so I missed the Chambers, Curran, Duncombe era. But our junior and senior years were pretty special. I think it was our junior year that we went to the Penn-Princeton game after a club board meeting – all of us didn’t have tickets and somehow we snuck in and were up in the corner. And it was craziness and so much fun.

Joel Yarbrough, W’93

64 – 46

Wendy Spander, C’93

Matt Maloney & Jerome Allen and playing in NCAA tourney!!

Patrick Matthews, C’93, W’93

February 1990, Penn 51 Princeton 50. Hassan Duncombe!

Brian Newberry, C’93

What a lousy place to see a game Jadwin Gym was…

Kathleen Paralusz, C’93

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Penn, Princeton and Pete (Carrill).

I can’t remember what year it was but I remember Penn students unrolling those two long banners right behind the bench during that game.

James Saint, C’93

Great memories, one of which was standing in front of a much older alumnus. I’m thinking he was probably at least 60. He kept bugging me to sit down, I was blocking his view. He was the ONLY ONE SITTING DOWN. Finally he started yelling at me. So I sat down. After a few seconds when nobody else in front of him sat down, I turned to him and said, “Well that worked didn’t it?” And stood back up. He left. Maybe he was a Princeton alumnus. Who knows.

Second best: late 1991-1992 season just before the Quakers busted out, Barry Pierce missed a three pointer at the buzzer that would have beat Princeton, from the right corner. It just felt good to put a scare into the Princeton fans in the Palestra. It also felt hopeful for the future.

Ari David Sherwood, Eng’93

Tim Krug’s dunk down the lane against Princeton in the ’92-’93 undefeated season putting an exclamation point on the 64-46 win at the Palestra.

Kiera Reilly, C’93

Kruuuuuuuuuuug!

David Foster, Eng’93

There is no beating this moment: Maloney 3 to put us up by 10, and immediate Princeton time out. This is the moment we knew this season was going to be something special:

Ari David Sherwood, Eng’93

That block by Krug was epic, and Maloney was a stone cold assassin. What a fun team that was. And that video really shows how great the crowds were back then. We need to see those kinds of crowds again at the Palestra. I think Donahue is slowly getting us back there. Go Quakers!

Let’s Go Quakers!

Beat Princeton!

Fight On Penn!

Penn Class of 1993 25th Reunion Countdown

The weekend of February 2 – 3, 2018, marked 14 weeks until the 25th Reunion of the Penn Class of 1993 (May 11 – 14, 2018)! Meet us at the Button! We’re a bit out of order – our last post noted 23 weeks until our reunion with Photos from Yesterday.

Join us we count down the weeks to our reunion #93tothe25th:

  • Do you have old photos or mementos from our time at Penn? Photos of Spring Fling? Football at Franklin Field? Classes at DRL? We are taking a trip down memory lane and would love for you to share your memories with our class in a future post. Please email us upenn1993@gmail.com!
  • Follow us on Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram.
  • Classmates are invited to join our Facebook and LinkedIn groups.
  • Donate to The Penn Fund in honor of our reunion! We want to break the 25th reunion participation giving record and every gift matters!

Book Your Hotel Room for Alumni Weekend NOW!

The Marriott Downtown (where we had a Penn 1993 and a Penn Alumni room block) is sold out for Alumni Weekend. There are alternative hotels. We recommend booking ASAP! Please see our class website for additional details.

Penn Class of 1993 25th Reunion #93tothe25th

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Filed under 25th Reunion, Class of 1993, Kiera R., Penn Basketball

Class of 1993 – Photos from Yesterday

Editor’s note – We asked classmates to share photos from when we were students at Penn. Classmates sent us photos and shared their memories.
By Jennifer Jarett, C’93
SDT sorority Masquerade Ball April 1991 at Penn

Jill Varon, Leslie Sacks (’92), Jonny Segal, Adam Bernstein, Jen Hendler, Byron Stier, Mike Mishkin, Lauren Stein at the SDT Masquerade Ball, April 1991

What I can say is that none of those photos feels like they took place yesterday—they all feel like they took place about ten years ago. I still see many of the lovely faces in them, and none of them look like they are even ten years older. I never took physics, so I can’t provide the quantum mechanics vs. general relativity explanation of how this works.
Sigma Delta Tau Spring Formal 1993 at Penn

SDT Spring Formal, April 1993, photo courtesy of Jennifer Jarett. Deb Jaffe, Allison Bieber McKibben, Ruth Center. Next row: Alyssa Mendelsohn, Amy Eisenberg Boyers, Jill Lavine, Laurie Bieber, Lauren Stein, Jaci Israel Leit, Deb Zarnow, Tara Wortman Gabbai, Jennifer Jarett. Next row: Jennifer Eisenberg Bernstein, Lori Bean Geisinger, Marni Goldman Altman, Melissa Rogal, Gabbi Gould, Julie Steinberg Rubinstein, Jen Hendler. Bottom row: Allison Feder Fleigler, Rachel Cohen, Suzy Q. Schlensky Aronoff, Jill Buchwald Rothstein, Stacey Graff Kaufman, Erin Ziegler Schoor, Heather Caslow Pavell, Jill Varon, Jami Brodey, Joanna Fein.

I guess I never wanted to be weighed down by the responsibility of carrying around a bulky camera, so absolutely one of the best things about being in a sorority was the ability to buy photos from various events. If not for that, I would have little proof that I ever socialized in college. Well, there were certainly clues in my first semester report card, but that doesn’t bring back fond memories like these photos.
Do you have photos from Penn? We would love to share them in a future post. Email us upenn1993 [at] gmail.com.

Penn Class of 1993 25th Reunion Countdown

The weekend of December 1 -2, 2017, marked 23 weeks until the 25th Reunion of the Penn Class of 1993 (May 11 – 14, 2018)! Meet us at the Button! Our 24 Week countdown post was published in November for Giving Day. You can read it here.

Join us we count down the weeks to our reunion #93tothe25th:

  • Do you have old photos or mementos from our time at Penn? Photos of Spring Fling? Football at Franklin Field? Classes at DRL? We are taking a trip down memory lane and would love for you to share your memories with our class in a future post. Please email us upenn1993@gmail.com!
  • Follow us on Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram.
  • Classmates are invited to join our Facebook and LinkedIn groups.
  • Donate to The Penn Fund in honor of our reunion! We want to break the 25th reunion participation giving record and every gift matters!

Book Your Hotel Room for Alumni Weekend NOW!

The Marriott Downtown (where we had a Penn 1993 and a Penn Alumni room block) is sold out for Alumni Weekend. There are alternative hotels. We recommend booking ASAP! Please see our class website for additional details.

Penn Class of 1993 25th Reunion #93tothe25th

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Filed under 25th Reunion, Class of 1993, Memories of Penn

Penn vs. Cornell Football 1992

By Eli Faskha, ENG’93, W’93

Editor’s note: In addition to the academic papers Eli shared with us a few posts ago, he also sent photos and sports ticket stubs.

Billy Goldstein, Eng’93, and I drove to Ithaca to visit a friend that was hosting a party, but we were there for the Penn-Cornell game. I remember the crowd was smallish, and the 50-or-so Penn fans made a lot more noise than the home fans. After the half, the third quarter started late because the field was full of drunk Cornell students and they had to be escorted off the field!

Penn defeated Cornell 14 – 7 to end the season with a 5 -2 Ivy and 7 -3 overall record.

Penn Football vs Cornell 1992 Ivy League Football

Ticket stub from the Penn vs. Cornell Football game at Cornell on November 21, 1992. Photo by Eli Faskha, ENG’93, W’93

Here’s the article from The Daily Pennsylvanian before the game.

The DP Penn vs. Cornell Football 1992

Back page of The Daily Pennsylvanian discussing the upcoming Penn vs. Cornell football game, Nov. 20, 1992

The Daily Pennsylvanian Penn Football 1992

The Daily Pennsylvanian, Nov. 20, 1992 page 9

The DP articles from the Monday after the game.

The Daily Pennsylvanian Penn Football 1992

Back page of the DP on November 23, 1992

The Daily Pennsylvanian Penn Football 1992

Page 9 of the DP on November 23, 1992

Penn Class of 1993 25th Reunion Countdown

The weekend of November 17 – 18, 2017, marked 25 weeks until the 25th Reunion of the Penn Class of 1993 (May 11 – 14, 2018)! Meet us at the Button!

Join us we count down the weeks to our reunion #93tothe25th:

 

  • Do you have old photos or mementos from our time at Penn? Photos of Spring Fling? Football at Franklin Field? Classes at DRL? We are taking a trip down memory lane and would love for you to share your memories with our class in a future post. Please email us upenn1993@gmail.com!
  • Follow us on Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram.
  • Classmates are invited to join our Facebook and LinkedIn groups.
  • Donate to The Penn Fund in honor of our reunion! We want to break the 25th reunion participation giving record and every gift matters!

BOOK YOUR HOTEL ROOM FOR ALUMNI WEEKEND NOW!

The Marriott Downtown (where we had a Penn 1993 and a Penn Alumni room block) is sold out for Alumni Weekend. There are alternative hotels. We recommend booking ASAP! Please see our class website for additional details.

Penn Class of 1993 25th Reunion #93tothe25th

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Filed under 25th Reunion, Class of 1993, Penn football