1/23
Staff
Staff Q&A with Jane Pablos
Jane Pablos, the residential services manager (RSM) at Du Bois College House, has worked at Penn for 30 years.
Penn staff make the Philadelphia area a better place through side gigs
The 12th piece in Penn Today’s Side Gigs for Good series highlights staff who mentor and empower Latino professionals, lead Girl Scout troops, donate hand-knitted items to people in need, and connect Philadelphia children with music opportunities.
A champion for period products in Pennsylvania schools
Kayla Cook ensures that all middle and high school students in a Lancaster school district have access to dispensing bins, which hold tampons, pads, and liners in every individual women’s or gender-neutral bathroom stall.
Q&A with Penn Vet’s Karen Verderame
Verderame, an outreach educator at the School of Veterinary Medicine, discusses her kinship with misunderstood animals, introducing students to veterinary medicine, the black market for insects, her favorite part of her job, and the dreaded spotted lanternfly.
A semester of community on campus
Penn’s fall semester officially began in August, as many students returned to campus. While staff, faculty, and postdocs are largely in West Philadelphia year-round, the fall marks a reset and starting point for many. The late summer and mild fall weather brings the natural beauty of campus to life.
A series on wellness and well-being
A roundup of the six-part series from Penn Today that focuses on University resources available to students, faculty, staff, and postdocs for their mental, physical, technical, and financial health.
IT safety and well-being
Nick Falcone from Information Systems & Computing discusses resources the Penn community can use to secure data and privacy.
Bridging cultures and building connections at the Lauder Institute
How the Institute’s managing director Kenric Tsethlikai’s native roots laid the seeds for international success.
Faculty-led Task Force charged with reviewing the Guidelines on Open Expression
Chaired by Senior Vice Dean Lisa Bellini of Penn Medicine and Faculty director Sigal Ben-Porath of the SNF Paideia Program, the Task Force includes faculty, students, and staff members.
Building community, one meal and conversation at a time
The Conversations for Community and Dinners Across Differences programs, launched last fall, foster spaces conducive for difficult conversations while recognizing shared humanity.
In the News
How Penn coaches and staffers are playing a vital campus role while budgets get slashed
Among the unique circumstances that the pandemic has brought to campus, up to a third of Penn’s 200 full-time athletic staffers, including coaches, took on COVID-related duties during the fall semester to avoid being furloughed amid deep budget cuts.
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‘History is being made.’ Colleges scramble to create archives that will record life during the pandemic
Penn is archiving the community’s experiences of the coronavirus pandemic. “What we generally get in our archives is the raw data of an institution’s history, the decisions that are made, when certain things happened,” said acting university archivist J. M. Duffin. “We rarely get anything that’s part of the human side. In order to understand the human side, we need to try to get people’s direct testimony of their experiences.”
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Running club chases down theft suspect in University City
The Annenberg (Lunchtime) Running Club was lauded for its role in capturing a man accused of theft during one of their triweekly outings. “Running is typically a useless sport where you turn fat cells into heat, but occasionally it can be useful, and here was one of those opportunities,” said founding member Kyle Cassidy.
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Should Colleges Let Students Choose Their First Roommate? Some Say No.
Ryan Keytack of College Houses said that Penn tries to accommodate mutual roommate requests, but also encourages students to “experience something new.”
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Hand-shaking Tips for Making the Right Impression
Joseph Barber of Career Services wrote about the impact a firm, dry, and confident handshake can have on first impressions.
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Why I Learned to Respect the FBI
Jonathan Zimmerman of the Graduate School of Education described his college experience of being interrogated by the FBI and how it impacted his views on the organization over time.
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