Category Archives: Patrick B.

May 22, 2013 · 4:49 pm

Discovery

Author: Patrick Bredehoft

If a man empties his purse into his head, no one can take it from him.

~Benjamin Franklin

As we consider the reasons why alumni stay engaged with the Penn community after they graduate, perhaps the most compelling one is that Penn is a place where great minds come together. The love of learning brings extraordinary students to campus each year, and, as the director of the the Penn Alumni Interview Program, I love that our efforts can foster that lifelong enthusiasm for the exchange of ideas.

LGBT: Speed Mentoring

This year, prospective students and Penn alumni sat down together (or connected via Skype) in all 50 states and in 127 countries. These discussions served two pragmatic purposes: to inform applicants about Penn, and to inform the Admissions Office about applicants.  However, a far less utilitarian benefit exists as well: in the span of a few short months, more than 20,000 unique conversations took place, each one starting from an affiliation with (or aspiration to attend) the University of Pennsylvania.

Consider this: in the Penn alumni population, you have an uncommon group of graduates—global leaders in the fields of science, industry, and the humanities.  Among Penn applicants, you find tens of thousands of the world’s most talented students: young people who will shape and improve our world for decades to come.  Through Penn’s alumni interviews, these incredible people meet as strangers, but walk away having shared extraordinary ideas, deep-rooted passions, and powerful experiences. Ostensibly, these conversations are about the student, their interests, and the University of Pennsylvania, but inevitably, they blossom into more fruitful discussions.

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Below are just a few of my favorite quotes from our interviews this year.  Regardless of who shared these words, I’m glad just to know that these conversations happened:

“In addition to talking about Penn’s Computer Science Programs, we discussed English and Hindu literature, existentialism, Kafka, Camus, and ancient mythology.”

“…he spoke the challenge of providing clean water to families in Yemen…”

“Although we have very different interpretations of the currently political climate, I was completely convinced by the points he raised about financing public education…”

“…she shared her passion for books on quantum mechanics…and Ayn Rand, but she confessed that her favorite author was J.K. Rowling.”

“There were very few questions and answers, but in the course of our hour-long conversation, we shared stories, big dreams, our frustrations about the world, and even our recipes for preparing Turkish coffee!”

“He explained a few surprising connections between Spanish and Chinese, the languages he’s currently studying…”

“We spoke for over an hour and a half, almost like old friends, before I realized that I was running late for my next interview!”

Great thought is not conceived in a vacuum.  The best revelations spring from collaboration;the result of smart people sitting down to share ideas that send sparks out into the murky fields of possibility. It’s thrilling to think about these exchanges as the first in a series, and to imagine that a cohort of these students will continue these discussions on Penn’s campus this fall as members of the incoming Class of 2017!

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Filed under Academics, Interview Program, Patrick B., Volunteering

April 26, 2013 · 8:52 am

Tradition

“To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions.”

~Benjamin Franklin

Author: Patrick Bredehoft

Future Interviewers

As we look ahead a mere few weeks to the graduation of Penn’s Class of 2013, those of us at the Penn Alumni Interview Program are taking Ben Franklin’s thoughts about opportunity to heart.  With the Interview Program now under the umbrella of Alumni Relations, we’ve found a host of opportunities to engage these alumni-to-be in our global efforts to offer an interview to every Penn applicant.

Yesterday was Hey Day, where current Penn juniors mark a collective rite-of-passage in becoming seniors. It was also Final Toast, where current seniors look ahead to their lives beyond Penn, and to their new roles as university alumni. Final Toast prompts no shortage of nostalgia for the hundreds of students who attend, but it’s also a venue to discuss what it means to be an alumnus or an alumna of America’s first university—these young alumni will have opportunities to serve, to join new communities, and to make profound contributions wherever they go.

For more than fifty years, Penn alumni have been offering interviews to prospective students, in ever-increasing numbers. This past year, Penn alumni interviewed more than 22,000 students, hailing from all 50 states and from 127 countries. No matter where a young alumna is headed (and many are still trying to figure that out!), she will have the opportunity to meet with other alumni interviewers, as well as to offer something of her time at Penn to applicants who are eager to learn more.

We’re ecstatic to have registered so many Penn ’13 grads as alumni interviewers; we hope that by the time these students don their caps and gowns, more than 500 of them will have joined the Interview Program.

As we’ve spoken with these seniors, we’ve been amazed by the profound and lasting impact that this particular tradition has had on Penn’s students. Many of the seniors who sought us out had a similar refrain: “When I applied to Penn, my alumni interviewer made me even more interested in the university.  I swore that if I went to Penn, I would conduct interviews myself after I graduated.” Equally exciting for us is the second-most common comment we hear from seniors: “When I applied to Penn, I was never offered an interview.  I promised myself that if I went to Penn, I would make sure that I conducted interviews after I graduated.”

Whether young alumni join in this effort because they benefited from the experience directly, or because they want to offer future students an opportunity they never had themselves, we’re glad to be a part of a decades-old Penn tradition that provides a wonderful opportunity for applicants and alumni alike.

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March 8, 2013 · 4:09 pm

Good Fortunes: Interview Program Edition

Author: Liz Pinnie

Well folks, interviewing season for the Penn Alumni Interview Program has wrapped up, and we couldn’t be more thrilled with our inaugural year in Sweeten.  With the help of our fabulous volunteers and supportive co-workers (and lots and lots of coffee), we have managed to have a red letter year: over 22,100 applicants were offered interviews in all fifty states, as well as 123 countries.  We have over 2,440 new members, as well as ten new Virtual Interview Committees.  Interviewers have spent over 5,600 hours in Starbucks across the world and our longest participating interviewer just hit the 50 year mark! There is now a new Portal, our fancy new website is in the works, and trips are being planned to all corners of the earth to spread the interviewing word and provide training.

 

What does this mean?  This year, all over the world, Penn graduates and talented teenagers met to talk about Penn, and along the way had fascinating conversations about everything from Kafka to Cambodia, Fruit flies to Freakonomics, baking classes to Engineers without Boarders.  These conversations mean that more alumni are being engaged than ever before, more applicants have the chance to speak with an ambassador from Penn, and unique ideas and thoughts are being shared across generations and boarders.

 

One of our awesome chairs sent us the most giant fortune cookie ever- thanks Felix!

One of our awesome chairs sent us the most giant fortune cookie ever- thanks Felix!

While this has been a wildly successful year, we here in Interview Program Headquarters are not ready to rest (yet).  There is still (a lot!) of work to be done both on our end, and yours.  If you would like to help spread the word about Penn as an ambassador and member of the Penn Alumni Interview Program, please just sign up here.  If you are already a member, spread the word- we want to keep this momentum going to make this experience, for our alumni and prospective students, the best it can possibly be.

 

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Filed under Alumni Benefits, Interview Program, Liz P., Patrick B., Sweeten Alumni House, Volunteering

February 27, 2013 · 9:28 am

Community

Author: Patrick Bredehoft

BenFranklinBench_000We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.

~Benjamin Franklin

I’d like to continue reflecting on some of the many reasons why people get involved in the Penn Alumni Interview Program.  With over 600 interview committees around the world, there’s no shortage of different motivations for people to join, but in each case, the opportunity to create a microcosm of the Penn community in some far-off place looms large.

To be sure, the Penn community is diverse: the Penn undergraduate population alone includes students from all fifty U.S. states, and more than 100 countries around the world.  Those students come to Penn as teenagers with unique backgrounds, opinions, and preconceptions, but they all leave with an essential commonality: they are all Penn alumni.  What’s astonishing is that this identity endures—it becomes an aspect of self, and that connection has the power to trump other aspects of one’s identity.  Whether you move to a new city, a new state, or a new country, the odds are good that there will be at least a handful of hopeful area students applying to Penn each year, and where there are Penn applicants, there’s also an opportunity to join an Alumni Interview Committee in that region. The Penn connection allows an alumnus to become an ambassador in any new place, and to meet other Penn graduates who likewise carry the banner of their educational experience with them wherever they go.

One challenge of being a Penn alumnus is that there are aspects of the university experience that are difficult to replicate after you leave campus.  Outside of the United Nations, it’s difficult to imagine finding a similarly diverse community outside of Penn—particularly one where an individual will almost inevitably encounter so many different people in the course of a single day (through classes, activities, meals, and residential life).  Alumni who join the Interview Program become a part of a community that is both local and global.  In meeting with prospective students, they’re also creating connections between past and future members of the university community.  So, while it’s probably sentimental to claim that the Penn community transcends space and time, it’s also accurate—serving as an Alumni Interviewer provides opportunities for our graduates to hang together.

0596-SHS-AlumWeekend

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Filed under Alumni Benefits, Interview Program, Patrick B.

January 30, 2013 · 3:02 pm

Service

Author: Patrick Bredehoft

The idea of what is true merit should also be often presented to youth, explained and impressed on their minds, as consisting in an inclination, joined with an ability, to serve mankind, one’s country, friends, and family.

~Benjamin Franklin

BenAs the Director of the Penn Alumni Interview Program, I have the opportunity to work with over 9,000 Penn graduates from all around the world.  I am continually impressed by the multiplicity of reasons that lead people to get involved as alumni volunteers, as well as by the depth of their commitment to the institution.

I’ll start this series by considering the force from which other motivations follow, the idea Ben Franklin referred to as “an inclination…to serve.”

Last night, I spent some time speaking with an interviewer in California who graduated from the College for Women in the mid-1950s.  She was a trail-blazer in her own right: while at Penn, she had to petition to take Engineering and Computer Science courses, since women weren’t typically allowed to take classes in those fields at the time.  In this capacity, she worked on ENIAC, the world’s first electronic general-purpose computer, and then went on to do graduate work at Harvard and MIT.  For the past several decades, she has served as an alumni interviewer, and in that time, she has interviewed hundreds of prospective Penn students, many of them young women interested in the field of computer science. Thousands of hours of her life have been devoted to this voluntary effort, which translates into several waking months of service on Penn’s behalf.  In our conversation last night, there was a phrase she repeated several times, and it stuck with me: “This isn’t about me,” she insisted. “It’s about the students.”

The Interview Program appeals to some volunteers because it affords them the opportunity to “give back”–not monetarily donations, but with hours invested in service to others.  In some cases, this service becomes a passion, and perhaps even part of a life’s work.

The inclination to serve has been a core aspect of the Penn experience, ever since Ben Franklin penned his Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pensilvania. Franklin didn’t envision the Interview Program in those notes, but I think he would approve of its mission: sharing the experiences of our alumni with prospective students, while allowing those students to more fully represent themselves to Penn. At its root, an inclination toward service may not be teachable, but it can certainly be nurtured, modeled, and facilitated. In so doing, generations of former Penn students are embodying an ideal for generations  to come: learning endows us with certain abilities and a common purpose, made all the more valuable as it is shared with others.

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Filed under Ben Franklin, Campus Life, Interview Program, Patrick B., Volunteering

December 19, 2012 · 2:53 pm

Holiday Wishes, Courtesy of Mac and Lilli

Author: Patrick Bredehoft

As we head into the holiday season, my wife Nancy (Penn Med, ’15) tends to get a little sentimental about our animals.

Mac, the cat, and Lilli, the dog, were both born in Turkey, and traveled back to America with my wife and me when we moved to Philadelphia three years ago.  In addition to being home to practicing Jews, Muslims, and Christians, Turkey is the home of Saint Nicholas, who is known today as Santa Claus.  A host of holidays are celebrated in Turkey: religious, cultural, and political.  As teachers at a small school outside of Istanbul, my wife and I introduced our students to some of our favorite holidays: Halloween, Valentine’s Day, and Christmas.  We also introduced them to the idea of keeping a dog and cat in our home (pets are far less common among most Turkish families).  Somewhere along the way, Mac and Lilli grew closer to one another, perhaps as a result of their own journeys halfway around the world.

Every holiday, Mac and Lilli remind us of an incredible range of experiences in a country we loved, even though it was very different from our own. They remind us that friendships emerge in unlikely places, and that love is a far more valuable occupation than judgment. They remind us of our families, both near and far, and of the innumerable blessings we enjoy.

May your holidays be wonderful, wherever they take you.  May you celebrate unlikely friendships.  May you be reminded of your blessings.

macandlilli

Mac (on the left) rules and Lilli (on the right) obeys.

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October 17, 2012 · 12:29 pm

Daily Perks of Penn Park

Author: Patrick Bredehoft

As an Admissions Officer traveling for Penn last year, I knew that I was supposed to talk about Penn Park while I was on the road. It was an easy selling-point: a new campus space that very few people had seen, a significant expansion of Penn’s athletic facilities, and a bridge between the university and the city of Philadelphia. It made for great press, as well: urban renewal, convenient access, collaboration between the university and the West Philadelphia community.

I do think Penn Park is a special part of the university’s growing identity: it boasts an underground cistern that captures excess storm water, allowing every raindrop to be reused for irrigation. It brings 500 additional trees and native grass species back to the banks of the Schuylkill. It also increases Penn’s total campus green space by 25%, while reducing the campus’s carbon footprint–and opening up opportunities to convert old campus spaces into even more greenery, as with the recently-completed Shoemaker Green. It’s entirely open to the public, but hosts advanced security systems that make it safe at all hours.

But as a Center City resident, I’ve come to realize that these aren’t the reasons that I love Penn Park. I walk to work over the South Street Bridge each day, I follow my dog through the park in the evening, and I jog along the paths to find new energy at the end of an exhausting day. Each time I pass through Penn Park, I’m struck by some new aspect of what it lends to this city: seemingly endless team and club sports practices, of course, but also hosts people from beyond Penn competing and engaging with one another, couples smiling in the grass as they bask in the sun, photographers trying to capture an ephemeral sunset on the Philadelphia skyline, children still unsteady on new bikes, baseball games, tennis matches, soccer, football, Frisbee, and perhaps even a flock of geese that have stopped to rest along a much grander journey. Each time I see the place, I feel lucky to live in Philadelphia, and glad to be part of a city that continues to rediscover itself along the banks of a winding river. Penn Park is a new link in an emerald strand connecting the River Walk, Fairmont Park, Wissahickon, and more trails than anyone could properly walk in a single season.

I’m proud to be a part of Penn not just for what it is, but also for what it will be, and for the ways in which the continually-developing campus benefits the city I live in. Penn Park is one step in the university’s grander plan to transform the surrounding landscape for the better, but mostly, I’m glad that I get to walk by it each day.

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Filed under Campus Life, Patrick B., Penn Park

September 19, 2012 · 12:56 pm

Remembering Eiseley

Author: Patrick Bredehoft

One could not pluck a flower without troubling a star.  ~Loren Eiseley

A few months ago, I picked up a copy of The Star Thrower, an extraordinary collection of essays from one of my favorite nonfiction authors: Loren Eiseley.  In reading W.H. Auden’s introduction for the book, I was surprised to realize that Eiseley and I have something in common–we both worked for the University of Pennsylvania.

Of course, those careers are hardly parallel. By the time Eiseley died in 1977, he had earned a Ph.D. in anthropology from Penn, along with 36 honorary degrees from other institutions. In fact, he is the single most honored member of the University of Pennsylvania since Benjamin Franklin: he was Provost from 1959 to 1961, and the university subsequently created an interdisciplinary teaching position for him, eventually named the Benjamin Franklin Professorship– a precursor of today’s PIK professors (http://makinghistory.upenn.edu/pikintro).  He is the author of more than a dozen works, each of which is anthropological in theme, universal in scope, and lyrical in tone.  Reading an essay by Eiseley always reminds me of the first time I read Thoreau’s Walden, although Eiseley offers far more scientific grounding and his words more easily quicken my spirit.  My father first shared his copy of The Unexpected Universe with me when I was twelve years old, and Eiseley provided me with my first windows into the astonishing field of anthropology: a study of human experience that is political, historical, biological, paleontological, geological, cosmic, and in Eiseley’s case, intensely poetic.

In re-visiting Eiseley’s writing and reading more about him, I learned that he and his wife are buried in Bala Cynwyd, in the West Laurel Hill Cemetery.  Recently, I drove out to the cemetery, and after a long walk over many hills (the grounds sit on 181 acres), I found his tombstone under a big ash tree.  On a humble semi-circle of stone, Eiseley and his wife Mabel have a brief epitaph that pulls a line from his poem, The Little Treasures: “We loved the earth, but could not stay…”

My life and Eiseley’s never overlapped–he died three years before I was born–but he has been a profound contributor to my love for the earth, for science, and for humanity’s small but special place in the cosmos.  I’m proud to be part of a university whose history includes minds like Franklin’s and Eiseley’s, and I hope that for however long I stay, I can contribute to that noble tradition of exploration.  I know I still have a long way to go in the service of that effort, but as Eiseley once wrote, “Man would not be man if his dreams did not exceed his grasp…”

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