Association of Senior and Emeritus Faculty

The Association of Senior and Emeritus Faculty (ASEF) serves to enhance the careers of the emeritus faculty by encouraging them to remain a part of the community of scholars in the School of Medicine. The Association also serves to support the senior faculty by raising awareness of the full range of retirement options available to them, whether they are planning to retire within two years or two decades.

Penn Libraries

˘The workshops listed below are being offered exclusively to ASEF and PASEF members. Seating is limited and computers will be provided for hands-on sessions. You will need your PennKey to register. For information on obtaining a PennKey visit the PennKey website or email pennkey@isc.upenn.edu. If your desired workshop is full let us know by completing this form. We will be in touch if space becomes available. Also complete the form if you are interested in a workshop topic but are unable to attend on the date offered.

Tech Seminars

ASEF End-of-the-Academic-Year Reception

When: Tuesday, June 19, 2012, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.

Where: ASEF Headquarters on 21st Floor of Penn Tower.

Why: Meet with old friends and make new ones.

Alan Myers - "The Moon Tilt Illusion"

Professor Myers' research is focused on "adsorption thermodynamics" and if you are curious what that is, google it.

Since arriving at Penn from U.C. Berkeley in 1963, Myers published 150 papers and 3 books, one of which (with co-author Seider) was "Introduction to Chemical Engineering and Computer Calculations", Prentice-Hall (1976). His career included sabbatical leaves at the University of Graz, the Institute of Physical Chemistry in Moscow, and the University of Tokyo. Myers received the S. Reid Warren teaching award in 1983 and had the unusual experience of having his daughters (Andrea and Sonia) as chemical engineering students at Penn.

Dr. Myers received a Founder's Award from the International Adsorption Society in 2010 in Osaka, Japan. His hobbies include long-distance running but recently the ravages of aging have transformed running into walking.

Jane Vanderkooi - "Life in West Philadelphia"

Jane Vanderkooi is Professor Emerita of Biochemistry and Biophysics in the Perelman School of Medicine. She is a renowned expert on protein dynamics and the influence of water on protein stability, with 234 publications and book chapters on this subject.

Vanderkooi holds with D.F. Wilson a US Patent on an apparatus for imaging an internal body portion of a host animal.

Vanderkooi reflects upon her life in Philadelphia as she prepares to move to Colorado.

James Saunders - "Harry's Journey"

Dr. James C. Saunders is Emeritus Professor of Otorhinolaryngology in the Perelman School of Medicine. He is an expert on the connection between hearing loss and aging. Saunders uses laser interferometry to examine the development of the middle-ear system, which is related to the overall process of hearing maturation and aging.

A past-president of ASEF, Saunders is now leading a university-wide Committee for the establishment of a Penn Retirement Center.

In his spare time, Saunders is writing a historical-fiction novel entitled "Harry's Journey", which is based upon 170 letters written from the western front in France during WWI and preserved by family relatives. This prologue describes an incident in which Harry is wounded and survives exposure to chlorine gas.

Rob Roy MacGregor - "Our Experience with Downsizing"

Dr. Rob Roy MacGregor is an Emeritus Professor in Infectious Diseases at the Perelman School of Medicine. He was section chief and was co-investigator in Penn's AIDS Clinical Trials Unit. His interests include HIV clinical research in opportunistic infections such as TB and various aspects of HIV-related epidemilogy. He was clinical director for the initial trial of gene therapy to modify patients' CD4 cells to resist HIV infection at Penn, now in an expanded phase. MacGregor has had several extended visits to Botswana in recent years, where he has mentored and conducted a study of tuberculosis/HIV interaction.

MacGregor has been active in PASEF's Executive Committee since 2004 and helped to establish PASEF's sister organization ASEF in the School of Medicine in 2003, including serving as ASEF's president.

Dr. MacGregor's poignant essay about downsizing is a experience shared by most emeritus faculty.

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