Summer Fun

With summer vacation right around the corner, many parents are in search of summer camp programs. Penn offers a wide variety of summer camps and training programs in sports, music, film, art, international relations and more.

Sports camps at Penn include programs in basketball, rock climbing, field hockey, baseball, rowing, volleyball, football, swimming, fencing, gymnastics, lacrosse, softball and other activities. Penn also hosts a summer band camp, a model United Nations program, a career-builders program, a film program and a program at the Penn Museum, among others. A complete list of Penn’s summer offerings for youngsters can be found at http://summeratpenn.upenn.edu/sports.asp.

Staffers become Eco-Reps

More than 40 staff members from schools and offices throughout the University came together on March 4 to learn about the Green Campus Partnership’s new Staff Eco-Reps Program. Eco-Reps are self-selected Penn employees who are volunteering to reduce Penn’s environmental footprint through improved awareness, behavior changes and peer advocacy.

An Eco-Reps pilot program began last fall with undergraduate students and has expanded this semester to include staff. The aim is to develop staff leadership and knowledge in sustainability and to empower the Eco-Reps to champion Penn’s environmental and conservation goals outlined in the Climate Action Plan.

The group will meet monthly to learn the “how-to’s” of sustainability and exchange information. This isn’t a closed group; staff Eco-Reps will continue to recruit members throughout the spring. Staff or faculty interested in taking part or in scheduling an informational presentation for their office should email sustainability@upenn.edu.

Models of excellence

The winners of the 2010 Models of Excellence Awards have been selected and top honors go to Penny Creedon of the Graduate School of Education, who introduced innovative student recruitment processes that enabled the school to meet its student expansion goals; and the Out on a Limb Adventure Team at the Morris Arboretum, which designed a unique experience that significantly increased the number of visitors. Out on a Limb gives visitors a bird’s-eye view of the forest to help them better understand that environment.

Five ISC employees on the Alex’s Virtual Lemonade Stand Team will receive honorable mention for their use of innovative technology, such as blogs and videoconferences, that helped to connect 38 schools across the country and one in Taiwan to support the fundraising efforts of their team partner, Lower Merion School District, to raise money for pediatric cancer research. Also, the 13-member Non-Profit Institute Team is being recognized with an honorable mention for enhancing the leadership and management skills of local nonprofit leaders.

Three outstanding managers are finalists for the 2010 Model Supervisor Award: Sharon Moorer Aylor, executive director of staff and labor relations, Human Resources; Janice Orlov, budget director in finance and administration, Wharton School; and Carol Pooser, executive director of external affairs, School of Arts and Sciences. The award will be presented by Penn President Amy Gutmann at ceremonies scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on April 6, at the Annenberg Center. The Models of Excellence winners, chosen from a field of 26 nominations that included 179 staff members, were selected for their contributions to Penn that embody the standards of the program: creativity, leadership, extraordinary service and cost-effectiveness. The Penn community is invited to attend the award ceremonies. For more information or to receive an invitation, call HR at 215-898-1012.

Conference on women’s health

Penn’s School of Nursing, in partnership with the International Council on Women’s Health Issues, will host the ICOWHI’s 18th Congress on women’s health issues, April 7-10. The theme of the conference is “Cities and Women’s Health: Global Perspectives” and the sessions will focus on the impact that contemporary urban life has on the well-being of women who face gender inequities and gender-specific cultural, economic and medical challenges.

The conference will bring together health care professionals, urban planners and policymakers in an effort to better understand the needs of urban women around the world. Scheduled speakers include Penn President Amy Gutmann; Melanne Verveer, ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues for the U.S. Department of State; Vivian W. Pinn, associate director for research on women’s health at the National Institutes of Health; and Sheela Patel, founder and director of the Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres in Mumbai, India. For more information visit http://www.nursing.upenn.edu/penn-icowhi.

Penn scientists named Sloan Fellows

Five Penn scientists have been named Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellows for 2010: Iwan Barankay, an associate professor of management at Wharton, who studies personnel economics and political economy; Justin Khoury, an assistant professor of physics in SAS, who researches theoretical particle cosmology; Elliot Lipeles, also an assistant professor of physics in SAS, who researches experimental particle physics; Nicole Rust, an assistant professor in psychology in SAS, who researches behavioral neuroscience and Ben Taskar, an assistant professor in computer and information science in SEAS, who researches machine learning and applications to computational linguistics and computer vision.

The Sloan Research Fellowships’ $50,000 grants will allow the recipients to continue their research for the next two years. Each year 118 fellows are selected from across the nation.