For the alumni volunteer leaders with the James Brister Society, the mission to improve campus for people of color continues.
When Michael Barrett thinks about his time at Penn, his mind often wanders to the undergraduate engineering lectures he sat through—and how intimidating they often felt to him as a Black student in a mostly white room. “I remember sitting in a very large classroom and hearing one of my administrators say, ‘Look to the left and look to the right. One of you won’t be here next year.’ It was a way to weed out students,” Barrett says. “But I’ve always felt that if you were able to get to Penn and successfully matriculate there, why should it be that we think of ways to weed you out?”
Michael Barrett and Patricia Martin serve as cochairs of the James Brister Society and as Penn Trustees. (Image: The Pennsylvania Gazette)
Now, Barrett ponders that question on a near-daily basis. And as cochair of the James Brister Society, he works alongside fellow cochair and Penn Trustee Patricia Martin and more than 150 other alumni to promote a more welcoming and culturally diverse University.
Founded in 1993 and named after James Brister, the first African American to earn a Penn degree, the group’s stated goals include advocating for the advancement of and improving the environment for faculty, students, and administrators from diverse backgrounds; strengthening alumni affiliations with the University and promoting mentoring and networking between alumni and students; and encouraging the University to utilize alumni from diverse backgrounds as leaders.
Ultimately, Martin and Barrett want to strengthen the pipeline they’ve created for alumni of color to the University’s most influential boards and fully integrate communities of color into the alumni structure. That way, the lived experiences of former students of color can better guide Penn’s approach to issues of social justice.
“We always talk about the phrase ‘there’s strength in numbers.’ But there’s strength in diversity as well—in diversity of thought, diversity of color, diversity of background,” Barrett says. “That’s an important pillar that all of us want to strive for. As we look back at our undergraduate or graduate years here, we ask ourselves, ‘How do we make sure that we’ve left a mark? How do we ensure that the people here today go farther than we did?’”
Deepfakes, digital doubles, and the law: Jennifer Rothman on protecting identity in the AI era
The evolution of AI technology may require more robust copyright laws and guardrails that protect people’s control of their own identities, says the Penn Carey Law professor.
Penn buildings achieve LEED certifications, showcasing commitment to sustainability
Three recent building projects at the University of Pennsylvania have earned LEED Platinum, Gold, and Silver certifications, underscoring Penn’s ongoing commitment to sustainable design and construction.
Exposure to air pollution worsens Alzheimer’s disease
New research from Penn Medicine finds living in areas with high concentration of air pollution is associated with increased buildup of amyloid and tau proteins in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, accelerating cognitive decline.
Understanding order to disorder at the atomic scale opens possibilities for next-generation electronic devices
A Penn team has developed insight into the chemical and geometric mechanisms underlying the synthesis of new 2D materials, paving the way for next-gen devices, biomedical applications, and cleaner, quicker energy conversion and storage.
