Last Friday, Penn continued to make history with one of the biggest celebrations in the University: unveiling the Time to Shine multimedia show and showering appreciation on our donors, supports, alumni and friends with the festivities on Penn Park.
By now, you may have seen some of the thousands of images that capture the excitement of our spectacular, especially since all alumni and friends were invited to join in the extravaganza by tweeting or instagramming with the hashtag, #PennTimeToShine. The reaction was amazing and I wanted to share with you my favorite 10 tweeted or instagrammed moments from last Friday. (Also feel free to check out our Proud Penn twitter users by clicking their handles – The opinions and views expressed through these twitter accounts are the opinions of those individuals and do not reflect the opinions or views of the University or myself.)
10. @wharton: New York City artist Hani Shihada created a sidewalk chalk mural in celebration of #penntimetoshine: http://ow.ly/i/1VDV7
1. @momofink: amazing moment, amazing show @Penn! #penntimetoshine RT @train: Philadelphia Angels in a tribute to Boston! http://t.co/LkpEooy8fC
For additional social media accounts of Time To Shine, please visit our Penn Athletics’ You Tube page for a time-lapse video of our Penn Park event, taken from the very top of Franklin Field and visit our Storify page, Making History — It’s Time to Shine, highlighting many of the tweets and pictures sent during the night at sfy.co/cHQh.
Did You Know…that Penn’s Making History campaign celebration, Time to Shine, is tomorrow? Over 14,000 alumni, students, faculty, staff and guests will celebrate on Penn Park with headlining acts Train and John Legend, C’99. The event is free, but registration closes at noon EDT tomorrow, April 19th. Register here. The show will go on, rain or shine. Please note backpacks and umbrellas will not be allowed in Penn Park.
During the event, screens around the park will showcase your Instagram photos with the #PennTimetoShine hashtag. Can’t make the event? Share your Penn Pride with us – post your photo of you and your friends or your clubs on Instagram (wearing your Penn gear) with the hashtag #PennTimetoShine and you’ll be featured during the celebration (and of course you can follow along on Instagram and twitter too).
The Regional Clubs team already got into the spirit:
Penn Alumni Regional Clubs director Tara Davies’ post. L-R: Molly Rand, Marge Tinsley, Laura Foltman, Tara Davies, Kiera Reilly and Casey Ryan (not pictured: Denise Bowden).
Casey Ryan, C’95, post. Follow Casey on Instagram @IrishWombat
Kiera Reilly, C’93, post. Follow Kiera on Instagram @KieraReilly
Today, I’m going to take a more personal direction on my entry. Ten years ago I started Philadelphia’s gay (but inclusive) rugby club – the Philadelphia Gryphons
An opportunity to start an amateur team from scratch was starting me in the face and I jumped in full of passion. Looking back, I realize that working at Penn and launching a team worked mutually to teach me a lot.
It was January 24, 2003 and I was supposed to meet a friend out that night but they had to cancel when a flat tire ruined his plans. Luckily for me, I had made it out to the bar before getting the call. (I might be a social, friendly person, but I actually hate those moments when I’m solo in social places. Yes, somehow, eventually, I start to chat with someone or someone chats with me, but those minutes beforehand are painful).
A scrum is one of the ways to pull a ball in play – akin to lining up at the line of scrimmage in American football.
In the middle of those painful minutes, I noticed a dozen men in a variety of rugby jerseys, drinking, chatting and being gregarious. Wanting to overcome that wee bit of anxiety that I was feeling, I asked one of the jerseyed men, “Is this all about rugby? I noticed your jerseys.” I was directed to a fellow with a sign in sheet. That man, Lars, explained that the Washington Renegades and New York Gotham Knights had planned to come to Philadelphia to encourage the formation of a gay rugby team. Later, I eventually found out that one of the reasons they were creating excitement for gay rugby was to honor their memory of their teammate, Mark Bingham, who died in United Flight 83 on September 11, 2001. He lived a bicoastal life and had found so much enjoyment in playing for the San Francisco Fog, that he helped New York start its team.
I was excited. I never played football since my parents thought that it was too violent. So as a 30-year old, I could make my own decisions, right? Yet, I was aware of rugby as the most popular sport in Irish and British culture due to my own background as an Irish-American. Plus, I had played soccer and missed the camaraderie on being on a team sport. This was what could fill a need that I didn’t know I had until I wrote my name down on the contact list that night.
The team photo after a long weekend of playing rugby in Atlanta with Cochetti, C’06, Cruz, C’97, CGS’04, GEX’12 , Ryan, C’95 and Weinstein, G’09.
Within the week after the initial sign up, I received an e-mail from Lars putting all of us interested folks in touch with each other. Replies started to fly out, “It was great to meet all of you” and “I can’t wait to start to play.” I knew time was of the essence. Penn’s adopted adage aut inveniam viam aut faciam (we will find a way or make one) rang through my head; if I wanted to play rugby and I needed to make a team…I sent out a reply all e-mail inviting all to meet at Fadó to talk rugby.
That e-mail got some great responses and one of who was a Wharton PhD candidate, Sam C., W’97, GEN’01, G’03, GRW’04, to be accurate, who traveled between New York and Philadelphia who offered to be captain for the first year until the team got on its feet. As our newly elected captain, he invited John McMullen, who had coached Penn’s Men Rugby Club in 2000, to serve as our team’s first and current coach.
A lineout is another of the ways to pull a ball in play – akin to a throw in soccer.
Named President by acclamation, I saw our first goal for the team as recruitment; there are 15 players on a side in a rugby match and to successfully scrimmage we were going to need at least 30 men. Like our Regional Clubs, the Gryphons held membership drives – going to the places where our target audience would be, reaching out to them and explaining the excitement of rugby. Soon after we launched those efforts, Joe Cruz, C’97, CGS’04, GEX’12, Phil Cochetti, C’06, Chris Hatfield, CGS’02, and Dave Weinstein, G’09, joined our team. In six-month’s time, we were able to play our first match and that solidified us as a cohesive group. Behind the scenes, the club worked to join the Eastern Pennsylvania Rugby Union (EPRU), our local branch of USA Rugby – the governing body for rugby in the States. To prepare for recognition by the EPRU, I took a crash course in 501(c)(3) and (c )(7) status and drafting by-laws from my fellow rugby-players whose day jobs were that of lawyer to help me draft our documents. I use this invaluable information from this exercise to help support my Regional Club volunteers to this day.
By 2004, we had recruited a strong team, including a new Penn player, Joe S., L’04, we had tax exempt status to help earn funds, and we set out to play in the Bingham Cup in London, the biennial international, non-professional, gay rugby tournament started in 2002. This was the vulcanizing events for our young team, traveling to rugby’s birth country to play in the spirit of friendship, sportsmanship and inclusiveness and subsequently winning the Bingham Bowl (quite literately a bowl from the cupboard of the Esher Rugby Club’s Clubhouse.) It was simply amazing.
Obligatory team shot whilst in London, with Ryan, C’95 and Weinstein, G’09.
The team continued on. I stepped down from the Presidency after an amazing two years. (Another post-graduation Penn thing I’ve learned, term limits for volunteers are a good thing.) Yet I was still engaged with the board. I would volunteer for events and continue to play. Yet there comes a time when life asks you to move on and I last played my last match in March 2008. I decided to retire from the team that I was thrilled to see come to fruition; work and family obligations were pulling me away from the game and team I loved. I managed to stay in touch and go to our home pitch in Southwest Philadelphia to watch a match when the Gryphons were playing at home and I wasn’t working the weekend for Penn.
I always felt a warm reception when I was able to make it to these matches. Some original players still played and would wave hi when they saw me during their warm ups. I had befriended some of the newer folks and they would welcome me over to the team’s camp to watch the match with the club. I still was a Gryphon.
That’s yours truly running with the ball.
However, I wasn’t going to be allowed to remain a passive member of the club. At the beginning of this year, the current President, Phil Cochetti, reached out to me and dove straight to the point, “I have a big favor to ask and I can’t let you say no.”
“Okay, Phil,” I said, bracing myself.
“I need to ask you to chair our Anniversary Committee. You started this team 10 years and we need to celebrate this milestone. Plus with all your work in Alumni Relations, you are the only person I can think of to do with me and two other volunteers.”
If anything, Phil is very adept in using brevity to be extremely persuasive, so he had himself a chair. The 10th Anniversary Party is happening at the end of this month. Over the last four months, I have been relying on my skills in outreach that my class reunion committee volunteers used in order reengage our former players and to encourage them to meet the current team. The committee has been e-mailing, calling, Face-booking, texting and tweeting to reconnect all members of the team. I stole a page from Classes and Reunions’ suggestion book and spearheaded an Alumni Day at our Spring season home opening, which served as a pre-reunion event for our Anniversary.
The Gryphons Alumni gathering after the match, “The Third Half” named such since a 80 minute rugby match is played in two halves with Cochetti, C’06 and Ryan, C’95.
Due to my days as a staff writer in Wharton External Affairs, I have been inspired to write equally persuasive joint letters from Phil and me to our players, supports and alumni.
“So this Anniversary gala will be a celebration of the work and dedication of the team over the last ten years from our beginnings to our future which you are an integral part of – we will highlight our history, thank our outstanding volunteers and celebrate the devotion of our current players – all of this will culminate in an official public announcement about what will be a once-in-a-lifetime event for team. We want you there to join in this excitement.
We call our former players and supporters alumni and invite them to remain active in the day to day life of the team. Like at Penn – probably because so many of us when to Penn – being a Gryphons is a lifelong relationship with the Club as being a Penn Alumnus starts when you enter campus as a freshman.
Another team photo circa 2005.
In returning back to the club, I have met our newest generation of Gryphons – a group of gentlemen committed to our LGBTA community – where the A standing for our straight allies – and playing rugby to the best of their abilities. In our ranks are several Penn students and a recent alumnus, Femi Fadugba, G’12, Tony Solitro, GR’14, Eddie Goodwin, GR’14, Eric Wong, GR’16 and Hank Bink, GR’16. The Gryphons are seasoned and new to the sport, gay and straight, team players and former solo sports enthusiasts. They are the embodiment of that martial quote from Shakespeare’s Henry V, “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers. For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.”
This is a great reward for all of us involved. For me, personally, I thank the mutual benefit of work and my extracurricular life where I can share skills I hone, the knowledge I learn and the relationships I build between the two so simply. To paraphrase Mr. Franklin, that lesson (that I’ve been taught) is indeed the great aim of my post-Penn learning.
We raised $4,302,890,707 in our Making History Campaign. Wow, that’s a lot of money. If you haven’t yet visited the final report website, you should in order to see how much of an impact the legacy of this campaign will have on the University.
The “Number”
Yet our campaign was crafted to be different; we emphasized engagement goals for ourselves that focused on increasing every alumnus’s access and interaction with the University whether it was on campus and out in the world. We took these objectives seriously and created or retooled over 25 programs during the life of the campaign that increased alumni engagement.
I wanted to highlight 10 of my favorite engagement programs that have come about due to the campaign.
10. Trustees’ Council of Penn Women (TCPW) Summer Networking Receptions: Over the summer, TCPW, whose charge is to support, foster and promote the advancement of women’s issues within the University, hosts Summer Networking Receptions for Penn alumnae and current Penn students to make social and business contentions. Bringing Penn alumnae together and spotlighting a female executive from the region as the keynote speaker for the reception, TCPW provided exclusive opportunities for networking.
TCPW Summer Networking Reception – Chicago (2012).
9. Social Media: Social Media has been around since 1994 started by now defunct brands like TheGlobe, GeoCities and SixDegrees. Sites like My Space and Friendster, which started in 2002-2003, were the watershed portals of the Social Media trends that made way for Facebook in 2004 and Twitter in 2006. Facebook and Twitter burst onto the scene and soon became the ubiquitous means of staying in touch with over 500 million Twitter users and over one billion Facebook users. It was obvious that having a presence online would be valuable. While an ever-changing social landscape, this nexus of online communities and outlets will evolve and Penn will plan to stay in the forefront of new media.
Since the start of the campaign, seven years ago, Penn has since joined Twitter (with 4,244 followers) and Facebook (with 51,276 likes) in 2009. Also, that year, Penn started to manage its presence on LinkedIn with 26,728 members. As of summer and fall 2012, Penn has joined the ranks of Instagram and Pinterest.
8. Quaker Yellow Pages: The Quaker Yellow Pages were launched to help our alumni support businesses of Penn alumni. Alumni can find the products and services advertised by fellow alumni. Individuals are encouraged to post a listing to promote your own product or service for free. Simply select one of the choices below. Penn Dental was inspired to create their own Quaker resource, the Find a Penn Dentist tool, which will give you the names of Penn Dental alumni who practice in your area.
7. Penn To You:Penn To You: More than a School Night embraces Penn’s unofficial motto: Never stop learning. In the classroom, in the community, and in the wider world, Penn people bring an intense intellectual curiosity to everything they do. Penn to You is designed to bring Penn alumni, parents, and friends together for an evening of intellectual and social engagement. Each event will feature one of Penn’s 12 schools and will include conversation, presentations and panel discussions with select faculty—many of whom were recruited through the Making History Campaign.
Penn To You – Chicago featuring Ezekiel Emanuel and Barbara E. Kahn (2012).
6. Penn Spectrum: In 2010, University held its first-ever weekend-long alumni conference devoted entirely to celebrating diversity, Penn Spectrum. After three years of taking the event on the road, Penn Spectrum returns to campus, capping the momentum of our diverse alumni. All alumni are welcome. More information will be available on the Penn Spectrum page.
Penn Spectrum on the Road – Washington, DC (2011).
5. Frankly Penn:Frankly Penn, the Penn Alumni Blog, was established in March 2011 to represent life at the University of Pennsylvania. The team of bloggers consists of alumni, students, staff and faculty from around Penn –both on campus and beyond. This mixture of voices illustrates the dynamic and robust spirit of the University to all who read it. Led by the communications team at Penn Alumni, the blog has had 89,992 views and 564 posts, plus the blog has been continuously updated, Monday through Friday, since its launch.
4. Family Programs:Penn Alumni Families provides Penn Alumni family-specific events for our Philadelphia area alumni with children ages 12 years and under. This new series provides an opportunity for alumni to enjoy Penn events with an emphasis on programming for their children. With the success of Family Day at Mask & Wig and 40 Winks with the Sphinx, look for more events in Philadelphia and in the regions.
40 Winks with the Sphinx (2011).
3. Penn Quotient: The Penn Quotient was developed at our Winter Board Retreat as an easy way to determine how you can best show your loyalty and support for your alma mater. It’s a simple checklist to identify those things you are already doing and to explore those you have yet to try.
Complete the checklist once a year to achieve a perfect score:
The real reason for reunions, Alumni Weekend (2011).
2. Penn Alumni Office Hours: As a student at Penn, you could take part in the opportunity to ask in-depth questions and to explore points of interest with your professor outside of class during his or her office hours. Penn Alumni Office Hours provide this same opportunity to alumni by hosting a virtual Office Hours webinar presentation featuring one of Penn’s dynamic faculty members, who will focus on a topic or issue of their choice.
From the ease of your computer, you can attend these free webinars and submit questions and comments both in advance of and during the program. If you are unable to visit the Office Hours live, all Office Hour webinars will be recorded and made available through the Penn Alumni Relations site.
1. Penn Alumni Interview Program: The Penn Alumni Interview Program involves the largest number of Penn Alumni who volunteer for a single project. During Making History, we were able to transition seamlessly the program from the Admissions to Alumni Relations. Capitalizing on the synergies that exist in the Alumni Relations office as well as the leadership of our dedicated staff, the Interview Program was able to steward our Interview Program chairs and interviewers to conduct 21,750 interviews which represents 68% of the total candidates that applied to Penn.
Penn alumni interviewers help high school students learn more about Penn, and they help the Admissions Office learn more about applicants to the university. As the Interview Program has the goal of being able to offer an interview to every student who applies as a prospective undergraduate, the Interview Program team will be traveling out to our alumni to help provide training and the information our alumni interviewers will need to help Penn see its goal come true.
Look at all this Penn Pride. (Homecoming, 2011).
Author’s note: I am currently out of the office on a business trip. At the time I submitted this entry, all statistics sited in this blog were accurate.
Traffic was horrible from the airport, the I-610 loop was under construction and it was going to take longer than the 29 minutes that the web predicted it would take for us to get from the airport to our hotel. I took advantage of the time with Rob to discuss the plan for event.
The event was going to be in the home of a Penn alumnus. The timing of the event was 7:00pm to 9:00pm. In my introduction, I’ll mention your time at Cornell, UC Santa Barbara, UCLA, Caltech, and the University of Arizona since Penn alumni like to know where their professors when to school. It would be no problem for me to take you into town in order to meet up with an old friend.
The view of Houston from Westheimer Road.
We’re only four years apart in age, so we also chatted about the similarities and differences between our Ivy League educations. We dove into our motivations for choosing the schools that we did. We concluded that our two almae matres offered many of the same opportunities which were set against the most opposite of backdrops.
*******
Earlier, I recognized Rob and tried to get his attention before boarding the plane. However, the procedure was a little hectic and I lost my chance. Luckily, when we landed, I was able to get off the plane quickly enough to wait for him and introduce myself.
“Excuse me. Professor Kurzban?” I asked.
“Yes?”
“Hello, I’m Casey Ryan from Alumni Relations.”
“Oh, great. You’re going to be taking me to tonight’s event?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Good. Oh, by the way, just call me Rob” he said and after a beat, “And how did you know who I was?”
“I Googled you. Your vitae had your picture attached.”
Over 45 Penn Alumni listening to Rob.
We have a hectic job of coordinating travel plans, hotel rooms, and taxis for our professors. While we cultivate a great rapport with faculty via e-mail, we sometimes don’t get the opportunity to meet them in person until we both arrive at the airport even though we all work on the same campus.
The minor awkward moment of finally meeting Rob, in this case, quickly melted away into a conversation that ranged from our high school and college experiences to the culture of Washington D.C. these days, to his area of expertise (evolutionary psychiatry), to cities that he visits often for potential future events with our clubs. We had over an hour in the car and miles of access road closures to get acquainted before arriving at our hotel.
Rob wrapping up, revisiting his Walt Whitman quote.
At our appointed time, we headed over to the Greater Uptown house to help set up. Our hosts Wayne and Therese warmly invited us in as Berkely, the Club President, and Stephanie, a Club Board Member, were placing the finishing touches–including name tags and a thoughtful “Welcome to Texas” goodie bag. We tested the setup of the room for good acoustics and found power sources for the laptop and projector. When we finished getting everything ready for the event, we clinked wine classes in another quick toast to the fine state of Texas. By 6:50 PM, Penn Alumni had arrived and were mingling – all obviously excited for Rob’s talk about the research in his book, Why Everyone (Else) is a Hypocrite: Evolution and the Modular Mind.
Rob started his chat with a quote from Walt Whitman to illustrate the point of his discussion. “Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.” To compliment Rob’s talk, I started tweeting @CaseyJamesR.
CaseyJamesR: Kurzban in #Houston discusses evolutionary psychology with @Pennalumni
CaseyJamesR: “Evolution is a very competitive process,” Rob Kurzban in #Houston with @Pennalumni
CaseyJamesR: “Self-esteem is not a major predictor or cause of almost anything'” Kurzban in #Houston with @Pennalumni
Alumni mingling and chatting about the presentation.
Unfortunately, I was only able to post three tweets during the night since other event duties kept me busy throughout his lecture. However, I was able to glean what evolutionary psychology posits: our mind has many different modules, specialized units designed by the process of evolution by natural selection. The metaphor Rob used to explain modularity was that our mind is similar to a smart phone in that it has many apps that work to process numerous and unrelated tasks (n.b. Rob clearly stated that he wasn’t saying that the mind is just like a smart phone, but the comparison helps to convey the variety of functions represented in a collection of individual modules).
These modules focus on many different aspects of our social lives, such as finding a mate, evaluating self-preservation and making moral assessments. Usually they work together seamlessly. However, there are times that modules produce contradictory beliefs. This contradiction leads to an outcome that would be hypocritical.
Rob was able to share many colorful examples of the contradictory results, ranging from minor outcomes like not looking both ways to cross the street to scandals that have rocked many political careers. In the end, the alumni of Houston were engaged with Rob’s work and the Q&A session extended for over an hour. At the conclusion of the event, we thanked the Penn Club of Houston and the Greens for their Texas-sized hospitality.
And of course, no trip to Texas would be quite complete with the requisite bar-be-que!
It’s St. Valentine’s Day and I thought there could be no better use of my Top Penn List blog entry for today then an open love letter to the University.
Things that I Love about Penn:
10. Art. There is treasure trove of public art on campus as well as in numerous galleries (read more herein When the Students Aren’t Here). Places like ICA and the Arthur Ross allow staff, students, and visitors to take in some art during the work day.
A temporary exhibit at the ICA.
9. Van Pelt-Dietrich Library. As a current student or a staff member, one can take advantage of the impressive collection of novels ranging from current best sellers to the classics. However, there are some additional treats in Van Pelt, like movies, foreign language materials and very comfortable lounge chairs. Plus, you can even find places to get food and drink in the building.
8. Classes. There are so many classes on Penn’s campus that it’s difficult to choose. I’ve mused about the courses I would take if I had the chance again in my “Do Over” list.
7. Architecture. We work, go to school and live in the very large and dynamic University of Pennsylvania Campus Historic District, a district that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Many of our beloved buildings are noted on this list. My own office building, E. Craig Sweeten Alumni House (aka Delta Tau Delta) from 1914, makes the grade.
Furness Building, interior .
6. Intellectual Access. We try to capitalize on the educational opportunities here on campus. Why, just this very year, Sweeten staff members have started a book club. In fact, our first reading assignment came from the one featured by the Penn Reading Project for 2012-2013, John Patrick Shanleys’ Pulitzer Prize winning play, Doubt. The club has continued throughout the year featuring a variety of short stories selections and this year’s One Book, One Philadelphia selection, The Buddha in the Attic.
5. Sports. Penn’s NCAA and club sports make for great athletic viewing here in our corner of West Philadelphia. From Franklin Field to the Palestra (both also on the National Registry), from Dunning-Cohen Champions Field to Hamlin Tennis Center of Penn Park and beyond, there are many opportunities to watch Penn take on their collegiate foes in the battle for the bragging rights of being the best.
One of the very first iterations of the vision that is now Penn Park.
4. Ben Franklin. Speaking of bragging rights, we have Ben Franklin; Boston’s native son came to Philadelphia and he ended up adopting us. A printer by trade, a scientist by fame and a founding father, he gives 100 dollar bills their nickname and gave life to our great institution.
Our founder in front of College Hall (P.S. College Hall is on the National Registry).
3. Co-workers. I am really excited to have a cadre of colleagues who help make work not seem like so much work. You have read some of the stories from Kristina, Lisa Marie, Liz Pinnie, Aimee, and former staffers like Leigh Ann and Elizabeth. Their insight and funny stories can give you a little glimpse of how they make Sweeten seem like a home.
2. The Penn Museum. One of our biggest treasures on campus is the Penn Museum; I always find an reason to visit from the Crystal Ball to the temporary exhibits. The Arts and Crafts and Eclectic style building (which – surprise, surprise – lands it on the National Registry) houses our internationally renowned educational and research institution dedicated to the understanding of cultural diversity and the exploration of the history of humankind.
1. A Piano in the Office. Sweeten has a lot going for it – it’s located in the center of campus, it’s a converted fraternity house, it’s on aforementioned National Registry – but to me, the most noteworthy aspect of Sweeten is the piano in the main room. While it is a pretty discussion piece, any member of the Penn community can stop by to tickle the ivories during the 9-5 business day. Many times, I have come downstairs for a cup of coffee to find someone playing and brightening up the day with a Chopin étude, a Mozart minute or a good old-fashion song about Pennsylvania.
The inviting piano in Sweeten.
What are the top ten things you love about Penn? I send my best wishes to everyone out there for a very happy St. Valentine’s Day.
The first national King holiday was observed in 1986, eighteen years after Dr. King’s death. By 1988, Pennsylvania Secretary of Labor and Industry Harris Wofford, and his executive assistant, Todd Bernstein realized in the two years since the national observance started, it was becoming for millions just another day off. To address the lack of commitment and understanding of Dr. Kings lifetime of service to others, these two men decided to organize a day of service- a day with the theme, “A Day On not A Day Off.”
Dr. King, delivering his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
At Penn, the African American Resource Center (AARC) hosts Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium for Social Change. Starting on January 12 and extending through February 1, there are presentations, discussions, service events and more scheduled for the Penn community.
John Legend, C ’99, (né Stephens) returned to Penn to give the Lecture in Social Justice at Irvine Auditorium as part of the University’s annual MKL commemorations on January 16. Joining him was Camille Charles, director of the Center for Africana Studies and professor of sociology at Penn.
Charles opened the conversation by asking Legend to recall his journey to Penn. He spoke about his early childhood in Springfield, OH, his travels to Penn and going to college at the precocious age of 16. He shared a humorous anecdote about whether he would finish his last year at Penn or join to Lauryn Hill’s tour – Lauryn chose someone else to play piano and he finished Penn. This story highlighted the difficult journey of breaking into the music business.
Legend also shared accounts of launching the Show Me Campaign which works to end the cycle of poverty in the United States and around the world. Impressively, he also sits on the boards of the Education Equality Project, Teach for America and the Harlem Village Academics.
John Legend (Photos by Steve Mincola.)
On Monday’s Day of Service, there were several community events:
Children’s Banner Painting: to paint commemorative posters and banners while listening to stories and songs about Dr. King’s life.
Helping Hands at Houston Hall: to create personal gifts that will be donated to West Philadelphia area shelters, homes, hospitals and charities.
MLK Mentoring Project: to mentor students from the Upward Bound Program, featuring volunteers from the Penn chapter of the National Association of Black Social Workers, BGAPSA, and interns from the Christian Association.
Philadelphia Reads: Literacy Project: to create books on tape to promote literacy for Philadelphia youth.
Community Beautification Projects: to clean, paint and organize at Martha Washington Elementary School, Sayer High School, Sayre Recreation Center, and the Community Education Center in West Philadelphia.
Though Dr. King’s birthday was January 15, there is over a week of MLK Symposium for Social Change events which are open to the Penn community should you find yourself on campus. For more information, you can visit the AARC’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium for Social Change calendar.
While we are hopeful for the year and are committing to affirm our resolutions, I wanted to share with you my top Penn list of the Penn events I’m looking forward to in 2013.
10. Ben’s Birthday Bash (January)
“Life’s Tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.”
Our founder, Benjamin Franklin, is celebrating his 307th birthday this year on January 17. In his honor, many of our Penn Alumni Regional Clubs will be hosting get-togethers during the month of January all throughout the world. Visit the Regional Club’s Ben’s Birthday Bash page to join Penn alumni in a city near you for this year’s festivities!
9. The Interview Program Training (year-round)
Each year, thousands of Penn alumni volunteers interact with tens of thousands of prospective Penn students around the world. This volunteers interviewers help high school students learn more about Penn, and they help the Admissions Office learn more about applicants to the university. As the Interview Program moves forward with the goal of being able to offer an interview to every student who applies as a prospective undergraduate, the Interview Program team will be traveling out to our alumni to help provide training and the information our alumni interviewers will need to help Penn see its goal come true. More information will be available on the Penn Alumni Interview Program page.
8. Penn Spectrum 2013 (Philadelphia: September 20 -22, 2013)
Panel discussion: Penn and the Importance of Community Involvement
In 2010, Penn Spectrum was the University’s first-ever weekend-long alumni conference devoted entirely to celebrating diversity. After three years of taking the event on the road, Penn Spectrum returns to campus, capping the momentum of our diverse alumni. All alumni are welcome. More information will be available on the Penn Spectrum page.
Alumni Weekend is one of Penn’s two hallmark weekends which invite all alumni back to their intellectual home away from home. This year, our alumni classes – ending is threes and eights – will return for their quinquennial reunions as campus opens up its doors for all alumni to celebrate, engage and reminisce.
6. Healthy Cities: Healthy Women (Washington, DC & London, UK: October)
In 2009, Penn Nursing, The Trustee’s Council of Penn Women and Penn Alumni jointly launched a series of global Healthy Cities: Healthy Women events focused on women’s health in urban areas and the pivotal role that women play in developing and sustaining healthy lives, families and communities around the world. Other Healthy Cities: Healthy Women events in Miami, Philadelphia, New York and Los Angeles have brought together local, national and international experts coupled with leading faculty from a variety of the University of Pennsylvania’s schools and centers to focus on challenges and multi-disciplinary solutions related to urban women’s health. This year Nursing’s flagship event will be traveling to Washington, DC and London, UK.
5. Penn Alumni Volunteer Appreciation Event (Philadelphia: March 2, 2013)
Our Penn Alumni volunteers work hard year round, so once each year we throw them a party! This year’s Volunteer Appreciation Event will be held in Houston Hall. All 10,000+ Penn volunteers—including Penn parents and friends—are invited to Dr. Gutmann will attend as well to thank those present for sharing their time and talents. The reception is followed by the Penn vs. Harvard basketball game.
A full Hutchinson gym for last year’s Appreciation Event
Homecoming is Penn’s other hallmark weekend. The enthusiasm of watching our Quakers take on the Tigers of Princeton spreads throughout campus as alumni return and join students in a festive weekend in West Philadelphia. Now toted as Homecoming featuring Arts and Culture as Penn, this event highlights many of the rich talents of our fellow Pennsylvanians, from their athletic prowess, their craft in film and their detail in art for all alumni to reveal in.
3. Hey Day/Final Toast (April 24, 2013)
Following a tradition that reaches back to 1916, Penn juniors celebrated Hey Day by donning red shirts, strutting along Locust Walk carrying canes and biting into straw hats. A celebration that is unique to Penn, Hey Day marks the “moving up” of juniors to the senior class. This year’s event began with a class picnic, followed by the boisterous class procession.
Penn President Amy Gutmann met the students at College Hall, where, before officially declaring the current junior class seniors, she gave them “one final test.” After the students roared out their answers, Gutmann said, “You’ve passed. Now, by the power vested in me by the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, I hereby declare you, seniors. Congratulations.”
In the meantime, the soon-to-be-graduating class celebrates the arrival of the juniors on College Green at the Final Toast. This event, sponsored by the Penn Traditions program, brings together the senior class to welcome juniors into the alumni community with great food, live music, and a toast as the class of 2013 “moves up” into their senior year on Hey Day.
2. Graduation (May 13, 2013)
The University of Pennsylvania’s 257th Commencement will be held on Monday, May 13, 2013 in Franklin Field, located at 33rd and South Streets. That morning the Class of 2013 will parade into our revered football stadium and will exit as the newest members of the Penn Alumni Network after Dr. Gutmann has “freely granted all rights, honors and privileges pertaining” their degrees to our most recent alumni.
1. Campaign Celebration (Philadelphia: April 19, 2013 and other locations this year and beyond)
The Making History Campaign ended December 31, 2012. While we don’t have final numbers yet, we are looking forward to share the outcome with the Penn community with our Campaign Celebrations.
As you know, Penn makes history by shaping the future. We started with the revolutionary ideas, passionate people, and practical pursuits that have always defined Penn and added our 18 amazing schools and centers on one compact campus, a university-wide culture of collaboration, and a genuine desire to do good, and the result is a university singularly prepared to bring new vision and fresh solutions to the most important issues of our day.
Making History Kick-off, October 2007
The University will be kicking off the Campaign Celebrations in Philadelphia in April and around the world for the next year and half. We look forward to seeing you at one of our parties soon.
Since it is that time of year – a time of wonder and joy, a time of hope and miracles – I wanted to highlight some of the wonderful research and symposia that the University of Pennsylvania has shared with the world this year.
During this time, I wish you and your loved ones a wonderful holiday season and fantastic 2013.
10. Penn Study: Anti-Tau Drug Improves Cognition, Decreases Tau Tangles in Alzheimer’s Disease Models
Penn Medicine research that was presented at the 2012 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) shows that an anti-tau treatment called epithilone D (EpoD) was effective in preventing and intervening the progress of Alzheimer’s disease in animal models, improving neuron function and cognition, as well as decreasing tau pathology.
For more information, please read the Penn Newspress release.
9. Nursing, Veterans, and PTSD: First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden with Penn Nursing
First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden visited Penn Nursing this April for “Nursing, Veterans, and PTSD,” part of a national program charging nurses to identify, treat, and conduct research on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). They announced a major initiative by more than 150 of America’s leading nursing organizations and more than 450 nursing schools to ensure our nation’s nurses are prepared to help meet the unique health needs of service members, veterans, and their families.
Attention to PTSD is a significant component of Joining Forces, the First Lady and Dr. Biden’s project created to champion wellness, education, and employment among military service members and their families. PTSD is a serious and widespread anxiety disorder affecting veterans, and the symptoms can be terrifying.
8.Penn Researchers Show Relationship with Working Dogs Protect Handlers from PTSD
Melissa Hunt, the associate director of the clinical training program in the School of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, has long been interested in this dynamic as it relates to people and their pets. But a chance encounter propelled her to study it in an extreme case: search-and-rescue dogs and their handlers. “Search-and-rescue dogs are not just pets; they’re partners,” Hunt said, meaning this dynamic is even stronger — and the stakes even higher — for people who work with animals.
For more information about Melissa Hunt’s research, please read the Penn Newspress release.
7. Penn Study: For Cardiac Stenting Procedures, Wrist Access Offers Cost Saving Benefits over Groin Access
An example of a stent (image courtesy of Wikipedia).
“Radial artery access is the primary mode of access for catheterization procedures in Europe, Canada, and Japan, but has not gained widespread acceptance in the United States, possibly stemming from concerns about increases in procedure time, radiation exposure, and access failure in patients,” said Matthew D. Mitchell, PhD, senior research analyst in the Center for Evidence-based Practice at Penn Medicine. “This study suggests that the adoption of radial catheterization could be a more viable option for many hospitals and health systems, lowering costs and reducing complications for patients.”
For more information about the findings, visit Penn Medicine’s press release.
6. The Perelman School of Medicine received the largest capital gift during the Making History Campaign to name the Smilow Center for Translational Research
A father and son team, Joel and William Smilow, gave the Perelman School of Medicine the largest capital gift during the Making History campaign to allow doctors to take the findings of medical investigations and put that into practice quickly and effectively. President Amy Gutmann recognizes that “the Smilow Center for Translational Research provides a state-of-the-art environment where eminent physicians, researchers and scientists at Penn Medicine will work side-by-side to advance medical science.”
In addition to the Smilow Center, the Smilow’s gift also establishes the William Smilow Professorship in the field of cardiovascular medicine and the William Smilow Award for Innovation in Clinical Excellence. The exact amount remains undisclosed.
For more information, click here to view the full release.
5. New Medication Shows Promise as Lipid-Lowering Therapy for Rare Cholesterol Disorder, Penn Study Finds
Penn researchers reported in The Lancet that lomitapide, a first-in-class microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP) inhibitor, substantially and stably reduced LDL cholesterol (the “bad” cholesterol) in patients with the orphan disease homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH). Lomitapide works by inhibiting MTP, which is required for the production of VLDL — the precursor to LDL.
A rendering of a Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL) receptor (image courtesy of Wikipedia).
For more on homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia and lomitapide, visit the full press release.
4. The Barbara and Edward Netter Center for Community Partnerships 20th Anniversary
The Netter Centercelebrated its anniversary in November by hosting an international two-day conference examining perspectives on higher education, community development and community health partnerships.
The conference theme was “The Role of Higher Education-Community-School Partnerships in Creating Democratic Communities Locally, Nationally and Globally.” It featured various thematic panels on such topics as education, poverty, health promotion, community engagement and university assisted community schools presented by university presidents, educators, administrators and professionals from across the country.
The event capped off its first night with keynote speaker Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers and former president of the United Federation of Teachers. Remarks throughout the conference were given by Dr. Rebecca Bushnell, Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences; Craig Carnaroli, Executive Vice President; and Jeffrey Cooper, Vice President, Office of Government and Community Affairs.
3. Penn Medicine Receives NIH Grant to Help Local Residents Move Forward After Asbestos Exposure
The communities of West and South Ambler are working to recover from the ramifications of their town’s long-closed asbestos factory. Residents in these communities remain at risk of environmental exposure and a potentially increased risk of developing mesothelioma, a rare cancer which is caused almost exclusively by exposure to asbestos. Researchers at the Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET), Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, have been awarded a $1.2 million grant to develop an educational program using the communities’ history of asbestos products manufacturing and resulting asbestos exposure. Funding for the program is provided by the Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA), which is administered by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
For more on the asbestos cleanup, read the Penn Newspress release.
2. Two Penn Perelman Medical Center Leukemia Patients Remain in Remission after Receiving Genetically Engineered T-Cells
A bone marrow smear from a patient with precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. (image courtesy of Wikipedia).
“Our results show that chimeric antigen receptor modified T cells have great promise to improve the treatment of leukemia and lymphoma,” says the trial’s leader, Carl June, MD, the Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy in the department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Director of Translational Research in Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center. According to Dr. June, “It is possible that in the future, this approach may reduce or replace the need for bone marrow transplantation.”
For more details, please visit the following link.
1. Penn Medicine Physicians Complete Their 1,000th Heart Transplant at HUP
The 1,000th patient received the transplant on Sunday, December 2, 2012 and is doing well. Celebrating its 25th Anniversary, the Penn Medicine heart transplant program, part of the Penn Transplant Institute’s multi-organ transplant center at HUP, has been at the forefront of medical care and clinical advances in the area of heart failure and heart transplantation, including offering multiple organ transplantation – such as heart-lung and heart-liver transplants.
The program performs more adult heart transplants per year than all other Philadelphia area hospitals combined, making it one of the top three heart transplantation programs in the nation.
For more information about this remarkable milestone, please see Penn Medicine’s full press release.
I had planned to share with you a story about a trip to Boston for the Penn To You event, Taking a Personal Approach to Cancer: Penn Medicine’s Leading-Edge Discoveries And What it Could Mean for You and Your Family. The discussion would have showcased The Perelman School of Medicine and featured numerous distinguished faculty. This research was featured in the The New York Times this week if you are interested in learning more. However ,we had to cancel the program due to the impending arrival of the now-called Superstorm Sandy.
As we are in the middle of the holiday season, I’d like to remind you that there are still many affected by the storm’s aftermath and here are some stories which highlight what Penn and Penn alumni have done to disseminate the reality of the destruction and the means to improve the situation.
The immense size of Hurricane Sandy, feature the cold front heading toward the storm (picture courtesy of Wikipedia).
However, I was pleased to see that Penn was covering the storm closely and giving updates and commentary throughout and after the crisis.
In Sandy’s Costly Aftermath from the Knowledge@Wharton site, Howard Kunreuther, co-director of Wharton’s Risk Management and Decision Processes Center, uses one word to describe Sandy, “horrendous.” He continues, saying that “it’s the worst of the century because of a combination of factors – its incredible reach along the East coast, its incredible damage to New York City and Long Island and the incredible amount of flooding along the New Jersey coast, including Atlantic City.” Talking about the financial impact of the storm along, Kunreuther has heard that cost of the story could reach as high as $50 billion citing that risk of business interruption could be very severe if it takes a long time for some companies to start functioning again and would likely lead to this gigantic price tag.
From Penn’s Center for High Impact Philanthropy’s blog entry, Hurricane Sandy: How Can I Help?, one learns that the best help would-be philanthropists can provide is cash donations to first responder nonprofits, not product donations. The simple reason is that cash allows these nonprofits to get what is needed faster and more cost-effectively and to respond flexibly as needs change.
Lastly, from Penn News’ Helping Those Impacted by Hurricane Sandy, the University acknowledges that many of our neighbors in New Jersey and New York continue to struggle in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. To assist, the University of Pennsylvania’s faculty, staff, and students have undertaken a number of efforts to support the victims of this terrible natural disaster. That means there are several organizations actively supporting those whose lives have been upended by the storm and are accepting donations from those who want to help, including The American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund and The Robin Hood Relief Fund.
In this season of giving, I urge you to remember those who could use a little more help this year.
Frankly Penn 