Minutes
ASEF Executive Council Meeting
May 19, 2009
Present: Drs. MacGregor, Goldfine, Hess, Saunders, Heppenstall, Schleyer, Kefalides, Asbury, Downes and Rachael Berget
Vicki and Hilary Show – The “Planning for Retirement” program went well; people stuck around for the reception. Dr. Saunders counted 26 attendees in the room at the beginning of the program, but at the end there were 51 people there. Dr. Heppenstall commented that he had looked at “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Retirement” and thought that it was extremely useful.
Penn Retirement Community – Drs. Strumpf (PASEF President), Saunders, and Paul Rozin prepared a report and submitted it to Ms. Anne Pappageorge, Vice President of Facilities and Real Estate Services. The administration wants to hire a consultant to develop a more sophisticated survey of emeritus and retired faculty to determine interest in such a retirement community.
Dr. Saunders said that PASEF is creating a committee to participate in the planning process for the retirement community. He said that he will ask Dr. DuPont Guerry to act as the ASEF representative on this PASEF committee.
Emeritus Status for Research-Track Faculty – Drs. Saunders, Goldfine and Salzberg presented at the May 12 Medical Faculty Senate Steering Committee (MFSCC) meeting about the granting of emeritus status to research-track faculty retirees. Things seemed to be going well until one MFSSC member expressed the opinion that she didn’t feel that it was “right” for Research Track faculty to get Emeritus status if Academic Clinician (AC)-track faculty don’t also have the right to that title. Dr. Saunders said that and Drs. Goldfine and Salzberg’s next stop will be Dr. Harvey Rubin, who is the incoming Chair of the University Senate. ASEF cannot move this proposal forward without the concurrence of the Medical Faculty Senate and then the University Senate. Dr. MacGregor suggested that ASEF might have to request this title for AC track faculty, too, in order to get it passed. Dr. Saunders explained the political considerations of this proposal, especially given the fact that main university campus does not have the same academic tracks as does the Medical School.
Speakers Bureau – Dr. MacGregor asked Rachael Berget to resend the memo about the Speaker Bureau to ASEF members. He has only gotten about 4 or 5 responses to date. Dr. MacGregor will reframe the memo to lay out some potential topics and issues for speakers to address.’
Ballot for Election – Rachael Berget will re-send the ballot for the ASEF 2009-2010 election.
ASEF Budget for 2009-2010 – Dr. Saunders kept his budget request for the same amount as this year, $11,000. The budget breaks down like this:
Fall Emeritus Dinner - $ 7,000
Spring lecture - $ 1,000
Spring retirement
program reception - $ 500
AROHE* dues - $ 100
Miscellaneous - $ 1,400
$10,000
This leaves a 10% cushion for unexpected expenses. This seems like the right amount for the budget because ASEF has about $500 left in this year’s budget and we have managed to cover all of our expenses. Dr. Saunders said that he cannot ask for a budget increase because everything is “so tight” for the next budget year.
21 Penn Tower Space – Dr. Saunders said that he toured the space with Jane McKinney a month ago. He said that the carpet has been cleaned and desks left behind by vacating workers have been removed. Dr. Saunders’ department has donated 4 old computers, with monitors, to the ASEF office space. He suggested that other Executive Council members ask their departments if they have anything to donate.
Fall Emeritus Dinner – Dr. Saunders has sent an e-mail to the Dean requesting his availability to attend the Emeritus Dinner. We will plan the dinner around the Dean’s availability on a Tuesday or Thursday evening in October. We have 11 or 12 retirees to recognize. Dr Saunders will draw up a list of these individuals for the Executive Council.
Dr. Saunders said that he wondered whether it was logical to have the dinner if there were only one or two honorees. Dr. MacGregor said that he thought that ASEF should hold the dinner regardless of how many retirees there are because what’s important is the socializing with people you haven’t seen in a long time. There was another discussion of where to hold this Fall’s dinner. The Inn at Penn was again praised as a better space than the BRB.
Election – Dr. Saunders again solicited a volunteer to serve as Secretary-Treasurer for the organization. There were no volunteers. He will continue to seek someone for this position.
ASEF website – Dr. Schleyer said that the recent re-design of FAPD’s website has caused some minor glitches in ASEF’s website, which is accessed through the FAPD website. He will review these mistakes and work with Julian Pugh to correct them. Dr. Schleyer said that he will also work on the obituaries that ASEF posts for recently deceased emeritus faculty. He will contact The Almanac to request permission to copy and paste their obituaries onto the ASEF website. Dr. Hess suggested that ASEF acknowledge recently deceased emeritus faculty at the Fall Dinner, and everyone agreed that that was a good idea.
ASEF Monthly Luncheons – Dr. Saunders asked Dr. Kefalides whether it would be feasible to move the Monthly Luncheons to 21 Penn Tower. Dr. Saunders suggested this because The Lenape Room is rather small. Dr. Kefalides replied that, now that ASEF can use the Hourglass Room in the University Club, the size of the Lenape Room is less of an issue. Additionally, it is easier for luncheon attendees to eat at the University Club than it would be to have food catered up to 21 Penn Tower.
Dr. Kefalides suggested that monthly luncheons should be advertised in The Almanac, which is how PASEF announces their luncheon programs. He also announced the luncheon speakers and their topics for the Fall Semester 2009:
September 2009 - John Trojanowski, M.D.; Neurodegenerative Disease
October 2009 - DuPont Guerry, IV, M.D.; Melanoma
November 2009 - Leonard Warren, M.D., Ph.D.; European scientists
December 2009 - Donald H. Silberberg, M.D.; The development of the
Department of Neurology
Dr. Saunders asked Dr. Kefalides whether he wanted to transition the scheduling of these monthly luncheons to another ASEF member, given the fact that Dr. Kefalides will be the Chair-Elect of ASEF this year (he will be the Chair of ASEF in 2010-2011). Dr. Kefalides replied that he’d like to continue organizing these programs. Dr. Saunders asked Dr. Kefalides to be on the lookout for a replacement to serve during Dr. Kefalides’ term as ASEF Chair. Dr. Kefalides replied that he has two people in mind as potential replacements.
The next meeting of the ASEF Executive Council will be on Tuesday, September 15, 2009.
Respectfully submitted,
Rachael Berget
ASEF Executive Council Meeting
April 14, 2009
Present: Drs. Saunders, Goldfine, Asbury, Schleyer, Stinnett, LaRossa, Kefalides, Dalinka, Steinberg, MacGregor, Meadows, and McCarthy and Rachael Berget
Retirement Community – Dr. Saunders reported that he and Dr. Neville Strumpf, the incoming PASEF president, met again with the team of university administrators from Mr. Craig Carnaroli’s office. Dr. Saunders said that it was impressive how well the university team had done its due diligence. Mr. Carnaroli’s administrators had contacted: 15 retirement communities across the country; three academic retirement communities; all three of the authors of papers given to them earlier by Drs. Saunders and Strumpf; and a retirement community management company.
The university is most impressed with a 13-acre site located on the other side of the South Street Bridge (just north of Naval Square). The owners want to sell the parcel for $13 million. University planners believe that this is a good site for the proposed Penn retirement community. In the course of their due diligence, the planners have become concerned about the low number of people that actually buy into a retirement community (usually about 12% of a university’s retired and emeritus faculty). The planners will do a study to determine whether Penn has the population of such faculty to support this community.
Dr. Saunders said that the university put a lot of effort into examining this issue. The “next step” survey will take place over the next 3 months or so. Dr. Saunders also said that the postal lands were not mentioned for this development. The university administrators said that there are a lot of other plans for that site.
Dr. Saunders said that the university administrators seemed particularly interested in the governance of these communities. Dr. Saunders suggested that this site should be operated like the Monell or WISTAR Institutes—people from Penn should be on the board of the retirement community. He said that the community should be seen as an arm of Penn.
Dr. Stinnett asked what form of financing—condo, rental, or co-op—does the University envision for these units? Dr. Saunders replied that the administrators did not specify that, but the Stanford University example, which is quite expensive, was not considered viable for Penn. Dr. Saunders said that next steps include identifying a manager for the community. The community’s manager will hire the contractor to build the community. The land would be purchased by the University and then leased for 99 years to the retirement community’s manager.
Dr. Saunders also said that university planners were excited about integrating the community’s comprehensive care with Penn’s Health System. He also said that Penn already has a nursing home facility. Dr. Steinberg commented that it would be nice if everything could be contained within one facility, instead of having to leave the community and go to another site for services such as health care. Dr. Saunders said that he and Dr. Strumpf had presented the planners with 3 or 4 pages of parameters for such a retirement facility.
Dr. Saunders also commented that anywhere from 5 to 8 units, or about 10%, would be graduate student apartments, in order to achieve some intergenerational benefits. Additionally, 3-7 units would be reserved for the recruitment of senior faculty candidates who are worried about caring for aging, infirm parents. Dr. Asbury commented that this retirement community would represent a great naming opportunity.
Emeritus status for research faculty – Drs. Saunders, Goldfine and Salzberg are scheduled to go before the Medical Faculty Senate Steering Committee (MFSSC) on May 12 to talk about the granting of Emeritus status to research faculty.
Speaker’s Bureau – Dr. MacGregor said that he will collect responses to the Speaker’s Bureau announcement after it goes out. He will speak to each faculty member who volunteers to participate. The topic of generating a list of community groups to whom the Speaker’s Bureau can offer its services was also discussed. Dr. MacGregor would also like to hear suggestions from Executive Council members about talks to offer, i.e., topics that they believe would be of interest to seniors.
21 Penn Tower Space – Dr. Saunders has written to Kevin Mahoney and accepted the space on behalf of ASEF. Members can gain access to the space by next week.
Dr. Asbury said that he had talked to Eric Weckel the day before the meeting. Dr. Asbury and Mr. Weckel will go over to see what’s left after the current occupants leave and then decide what else is needed.
The Second Tuesday of each month will be ASEF’s new meeting date. This will enable ASEF to book space for its Executive Council meetings much further in advance.
In a discussion of allowing ASEF members access to the new space, Dr. LaRossa wondered if it was possible to have electronic access cards made that only allow access into the ASEF office space, instead of to the whole of Penn Tower. Dr. LaRossa believes that access cards can be programmed to do this. Dr. Saunders will explore this option for allowing ASEF members entry to the new office space.
Planning for Retirement – Dr. Meadows suggested that refreshments should be offered after the Vicki and Hilary show (the “Planning for Retirement” program). The Executive Council members approved having a reception following the program.
Miscellaneous business - Dr. Meadows also suggested that ASEF should develop a strategic plan into which to fit its budget. She said that all of the organizations’ boards on which she serves have a 5-year strategic plan.
Dr. Saunders stated that ASEF will not get a budget increase next year. He emphasized, however, that ASEF has used its budget wisely this year and had covered all of its expenses. Dr. Saunders will ask for the same amount next year that ASEF got this year.
Dr. Meadows commented that she needs to hold a meeting of the ASEF Program Committee. She stated that Dr. Goldfine will serve on this Committee as an ex-officio member, and said that Dr. Pasquariello is also on the Program Committee.
Dr. Kefalides showed Council members a University Club account card that PASEF got to charge its luncheon speakers’ lunches. Dr. Kefalides suggested that ASEF should get the same card for its luncheon speakers’ charges.
Fall Emeritus Dinner - Dr. Meadows asked if any of the Executive Council members had ideas for something different that ASEF can do. She is concerned that ASEF is not drawing enough people to its Fall Emeritus Dinner. Dr. Kefalides stated that he attended the PASEF Emeritus Dinner last Fall at the University Museum. He said that the president of PASEF introduced all of the emeritus faculty, who stood around him at the front of the room. His intro was brief (there were 30 retirees). They had elegant reception and dinner. Dr. Saunders commented that he would like for this year’s Emeritus Dinner to be held in the 2nd or 3rd week of October.
The Council members expressed the belief that the BRB auditorium is too big, dark and dreary for the program part of the event. The suggestion was to return to the Inn at Penn. Rachael Berget or Julian Pugh will check out the costs of having the Emeritus event on campus vs. at the Inn at Penn. The event will be held on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thurs, not a Monday or Friday. Dr. Saunders said that he would check with Vicki Mulhern and Hilary Lopez to find out the number of emeritus and retired faculty for this academic year who will be honored at the Fall dinner.
Election of New Council Members for 2009-2010 – We have nominees for President-Elect and for the At-Large Council positions. We still really need a Secretary-Treasurer.
Website – Dr. Schleyer will work on linking to The Almanac to get obituaries for the most-recently deceased emeritus and retired faculty. Dr. Schleyer reported that Dr. Saunders will take pictures of the new space on 21 Penn Tower and have them posted on the web.
The next ASEF Executive Council meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 19, 2009.
Respectfully submitted,
Rachael Berget
ASEF Executive Council Meeting
March 17, 2009
Present: Drs. McCarthy, Stinnett, Kefalides, Hess, Downes, Schleyer, Steinberg, Heppenstall, Saunders, Goldfine, Asbury, and Dalinka
Proposed retirement community - Dr. Saunders reported that Penn Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli has called a meeting for March 24, 2009, to continue the discussion of the proposed Penn Retirement Community. Drs. Neville Strumpf and Saunders will attend this meeting. Drs. Strumpf and Saunders have outlined the parameters for the community so that they can discuss these parameters at that meeting. Dr. Steinberg asked if there was still a possibility that the retirement community could be a newly constructed building built on a new piece of land, and Dr. Saunders said that that this is still an option.
Speaker’s Bureau – Dr. MacGregor said that he will put out an announcement to ask for volunteers for the proposed ASEF Speaker’s Bureau.
Dr. Saunders said that, barring disagreement, he would renew ASEF’S membership in the Association of Retirement Organization in Higher Education (AROHE). Dr. Saunder’s presented at the AROHE Annual Meeting last year.
Dr. Saunders will send out an announcement asking for more volunteers to review Educational Databases (EDBs) for the Office of Academic Programs. Dr. Saunders believes ASEF’s contribution to the review of these documents has increased the organization’s credibility within the Medical School.
21 Penn Tower Space – Dr. Saunders believes that ASEF should take the space on 21 Penn Tower that has been offered to it by the Health System. He said that the Executive Council should let Kevin Mahoney know that ASEF wants the space. The space is supposed to be vacated by its current occupants by mid-April.
Dr. Asbury said that he spoke to Eric Weckel, the Executive Director of Space Planning and Operations. SPOTS has a whole warehouse of used office furniture. Dr. Saunders suggested that he and Dr. Asbury should visit that warehouse to select furnishings for ASEF’s new office space. Dr. Saunders also suggested asking Mr. Weckel to look over the 21 Penn Tower space after it is vacated.
Dr. Saunders said that the “study area” will have 4 or 5 carrels in it and that the smaller space will be used as a consultation area for emeritus faculty. He also suggested that the recessed wall space in that area should have the file cabinets removed and coat hooks installed. Dr. Saunders also suggested that half-height file cabinets should be place there and that a copier or coffee maker be placed atop the new cabinets. He also said that he would like to see 2 hard-wired desktop computers in that space, as well as a wireless connection to allow use of personal laptops. Dr. Saunders has two older desktop computers that are currently being stored in his laboratory that he is willing to donate to ASEF. He stated that the organization should also look into purchasing a wireless printer.
Dr. Saunders raised the possibility of ASEF starting a fundraising campaign to equip its new office space. Dr. Steinberg stated that ASEF should let the space remain as it is for the time being and wait for the economy to improve. Dr. Steinberg commented that his department has tried to raise money recently for a lecture series and that it is very difficult to get people to donate now.
Dr. Kefalides noted that when ASEF first started the membership voted down the idea of charging dues. Given that membership in ASEF is free, Dr. Kefalides does not believe that it’s wise to ask members for money now. Dr. Stinnett suggested that ASEF wait to embark on any fundraising activities. Dr. Heppenstall concurred with Drs. Steinberg, Kefalides, and Stinnett. Dr. Downes agreed, as well.
Dr. McCarthy raised the question of whether the Health System would allow the internet connection on 21 Penn Tower to remain in place for ASEF. He commented on the fact that offices have to pay monthly fees for internet connectivity and wondered whether ASEF’s budget could cover those fees every month.
Dr. Asbury stated that ASEF cannot ask for any renovations to this space at this time. He said that ASEF will have to live with the space and see what adjustments may be needed in time. Dr. Asbury also noted that there are expenses related to renovations that people may not know about; if you move one wall, you have to make expensive changes in the airflow for that area.
Dr. Saunders summarized the discussion by agreeing that the consensus is that now is not the time to do any fundraising for ASEF’s new office space. Dr. Asbury commented that ASEF needs to ensure that people are using the space all the time, that there are activities going on frequently so that the space gets used. Dr. Saunders agreed, saying that ASEF has to develop a plan for how this space is going to be used.
Dr. Steinberg added that he thought that ASEF should host an open house in the new space. The organization could offer cocktails and food at this event. Dr. McCarthy asked whether this space would be available on weekends. Dr. Saunders didn’t know the answer to that question and said that we will have to check on whether one needs to key access to enter the building on weekends. Dr. Saunders said that ASEF has to think about how to make this space effective and productive.
New Executive Council members – Dr. Saunders reminded Council members that ASEF needs a new Secretary/Treasurer, another At-Large Council Member, and a President-Elect. Anyone who has ideas for new Council members should e-mail Dr. Saunders.
Committee Updates – Data Committee – Dr. Steinberg said that the Data Committee got updates on new Emeritus and Senior Faculty since November 2007. The membership has now gone from 448 to 538 faculty members, so it’s grown by 90 new people.
Dr. Steinberg also said that he thinks that Human Resources should be doing more to educate people about retirement. He believes that PASEF and ASEF should unite to put more pressure on HR to do this. Dr. Saunders reported that Dr. Heppenstall read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Retirement and really liked the fact that it was a faculty-initiated publication.
Events Committee – Dr. Steinberg asked if the Executive Council could have more input to choosing speakers for ASEF-sponsored events in the future. He said that Dr. Kefalides has been able to get higher profile speakers for his luncheon programs than ASEF has been able to get for big events. Dr. Steinberg said that ASEF needs to be able to tap some great speakers. Dr. McCarthy suggested that ASEF could work with PASEF to find some non-medical speakers for its events. Dr. Schleyer stated that he believes that ASEF should do more in the realm of talking about medicine.
Luncheon Programs - Dr. Kefalides added that perhaps ASEF should get more input from its members about topics they’d like to hear about. PASEF’s president is really pushing hard on “hot topics”, such as Guantanamo, the economy, President Barack Obama, etc. ASEF should do more in these areas.
Dr. Kefalides said that he met with Laury Cousart at the University Club about the possibility of using the Hourglass Room (the second dining room, behind the large dining room) for larger talks. She told him that the University Club would be willing to purchase a computer AV projector for ASEF’s use.
The next ASEF Executive Council meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 14, 2009.
Respectfully submitted,
Rachael J. Berget
ASEF Executive Council Meeting
February 17, 2009
FIAP update - Dr. Goldfine, ASEF President-Elect, was sitting in for Dr. James Saunders, ASEF President. He opened the meeting with a discussion of a new IRS ruling that will affect the Faculty Income Allowance Program (FIAP), the faculty compensation program that allows faculty to reduce their duties while working toward retirement. Dr. Goldfine said that the new ruling states that if you take FIAP, you are not allowed to continue working at the same percent of effort—your percentage has to be under 20%. Dr. Goldfine said that the university is suggesting 20-25%. A faculty member who maintains a percent of effort approaching 50% could only do so with “special permission”. Dr. Goldfine also said that, if a faculty member works more than 50%, he/she would be subject to an excise tax and a penalty.
ASEF website access - Rachael Berget reported on the topic of ASEF’s ability to update their website. Rachael reported that, since the ASEF website is part of FAPD’s website, it is not possible to give ASEF access to make their own updates to their website without giving them access to FAPD’s entire website, too. ASEF will not have the ability to update their own website unless they get their own server and their website is no longer part of FAPD’s website. Dr. Goldfine said that updates to the current ASEF website need to be made in a timelier manner.
ASEF’s office space – Dr. Arthur Asbury reported on the strong possibility that ASEF would be given office space on the 21st floor of Penn Tower. Dr. Asbury said that the entire floor would be changed over to house CPUP administration, meeting and conference rooms, and ASEF. He distributed two different floor plans, given to him by Earl Marsh, for the Executive Council’s consideration.
The Executive Council discussed the merits of each floor plan. The main objectives for the ASEF office space are for it to serve as office space for the ASEF organization and as office space for retired/emeritus faculty who may no longer have an office on campus. This space will be used for activities such as consultations with students or meetings between mentors and protégés. The office space needs several work surfaces and desktop computers. Additionally, ASEF wants access to a conference room which is used primarily for ASEF meetings but can also be booked by others.
Council members talked about ways to draw people to ASEF’s new office space. Dr. Goldfine suggested that ASEF host a monthly wine and cheese reception. Dr. McCarthy thought that, with the new FIAP rules, many departments would no longer give their emeritus faculty office space if they can only work 20% of the time, so the new ASEF work spaces will likely be used a lot.
Dr. Asbury said the cost of renovations to the space will presumably be borne by UPHS. Council members discussed the possibility of combining the work/library space with the lounge area. Discussions about the layout of this space will continue once Dr. Asbury has gotten more information.
Emeritus title for Research Track – ASEF Council members went to the Medical Faculty Senate (MFS) about this matter. Dr. Jonni Moore, Chair of MFS, said that this issue will be discussed at their meeting in March, because their February meeting is already scheduled to be a financial update from Chris Kops and Peter Quinn.
Post-Bac Mentoring Program – This program has been cancelled. The new leadership in this program didn’t want to force students to participate in extracurricular activities. Students were not signing up for the sessions.
Marshall Blume’s Talk on March 11, 2009 – Dr. Blume, from the Wharton School, will speak on Wednesday, March 11, 2009, at 5:00 p.m. in the Austrian Auditorium in the CRB. The topic of his talk will be, “Retiring in This Financial Climate”. We will hang copies of the flyer for this talk around the buildings. We will also ask members to post the flyers in their departments. We will also place posters on easels in strategic, high-traffic areas of Medical School buildings.
Retirement Community – There have been several suggestions about where to place this community. Among these suggestions are the University City Sheraton Hotel, the Divine Tracy Hotel, and the International House. It is unclear whether there will be room for it on the Postal Lands development site.
Speaker’s Bureau – Dr. MacGregor stated that he believes that many ASEF members have “canned” talks that they give often. Dr. MacGregor plans on sending a letter out the ASEF members proposing that ASEF start a Speaker’s Bureau. He asked Executive Council members to send him the names of any organizations to which the Speaker’s Bureau list should be sent.
Nominating Committee – As Past President of ASEF, Dr. MacGregor will chair the Nominating Committee. The organization needs to select a new Secretary-Treasurer and a President-Elect.
Website Committee – Dr. Schleyer has some material that he wants to have put on the ASEF website. He would like to have a new picture of the Executive Council members taken and posted on the website with their names in captions beneath the picture. We need to add Drs. Heppenstall and Pasquariello to the picture of Executive Council members. Dr. Schleyer again suggested developing an ASEF newsletter.
Monthly luncheon programs – Dr. Kefalides reported that the next speaker in the luncheon series will be Dr. Geoffrey Aguirre, whose talk is entitled, “What Lurks Behind a Neuro Image?” Also, Dr. Christos Coutifaris will speak on March 30, 2009, on the ethics of assisted in vitro fertilization. Dr. McCarthy asked Dr. Kefalides if he could schedule more of these luncheon programs on a day other than Monday because that day is not optimal for everyone.
The next ASEF Executive Council meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 17, 2009.
Respectfully submitted,
Rachael J. Berget
-------------------------------------------------------------
Minutes of ASEF Executive Council
January 13, 2009
Dr. Jim Saunders opened the meeting at Noon. He announced that the "Hitchhiker's Guide" has been revised and updated. It has been reviewed by ASEF, PASEF and Dr. Walter Wales and will be distributed shortly, and posted on the ASEF Web Site.
Dr. Jim Saunders met with Vicki Mulhern and discussed how we might improve the dissemination of announcements. Changes are being made in the ASEF website so that a degree of direct access can be gained by the Association, thus facilitating the rapid update of important information.
The Office of Faculty Affairs and Professional Development is operating under a hiring freeze, and additional personnel, which could be assigned to assist the Association, must wait on a change in this policy. Since existing FAPD staff now have additional duties, every effort will be made to avoid undue burden by ASEF requests for service. A clear policy was formulated for how the Association can utilize resources in the FA{D Office.
Dr. Rob MacGregor(ASEF Past President) and Dr. Howard Goldfine (ASEF President-Elect) met with Dean Rubinstein in December to update him on Association activities and plans. Both felt it was a very positive meeting reflecting encouragement and support by the Dean.
Dr. Arthur Asbury reported that the request to the School of Medicine Administration for a dedicated space for the Association is progressing well and an announcement may be coming soon.
Considerable discussion occurred about whether faculty in the School of Medicine Research Track (a component of the Associated Faculty) should be granted Emeritus status on retirement. At present this is not the case. The central question is, what do these individuals have to demonstrate to qualify for the conferring of this honorary status? It was decided that the ASEF supports the idea that Research Track Faculty should be granted the title of Emeritus at retirement. Moreover, the thought is that this should not be a general action for all Associated Faculty, but rather targeted to the special circumstances of the Research Track. This is because faculty in this track have to pass a rigorous review of scholarly productivity by the School COAP before a promotion action can be recommended. The Council concluded that this issue should be placed before the Medical Faculty Senate Steering Committee (MFSSC), and that ASEF supports the conferring of this title on retired Research Track faculty.
Dr. Jim Saunders reported on the Post- Baccalaureate Health Program Mentoring activity sponsored by ASEF called "What it Means to be a Doctor". A number of Emeritus faculty members have already participated during the three sessions in October, November and December. There was good attendance and the meetings were judged to be very successful.
Dr. Jim Saunders, in collaboration with Dr. Neville Strumph (Chair-Elect, PSAEF) formed a team of emeritus faculty that met with the University officials in the Office of the Executive Vice President to discuss interest in, and the feasibility of, a University Retirement Community on campus for emeritus faculty. Jim had prepared a comprehensive document of background material that was presented to the EVP, Mr. Craig Carnaroli. Many issues were discussed such as potential locations on or near campus, the organization of such a community, the costs of provide comprehensive medical or long-term care, the entry and month-to-month expense, etc. Mr. Carnaroli expressed interest in the idea. The team requested that the Office of the EVP sponsor a commission to identify the wide scope of parameters of such a community that would be acceptable to Penn. Mr. Carnaroli indicated he would discuss this idea further with University leadership, but that the idea of creating such a review body seemed good. The current economic climate may not be conducive for such a project at this exact moment, but the EVP thought it would be appropriate to begin the effort to map out what such a community would look like on campus, for that time when the economic situation was more favorable.
Dr. Jim Saunders noted that several resignations have recently occurred in the At-Large positions on the ASEF Executive Council, and asked for suggestions of folks he could approach to serve in this capacity. A number of names were put forward.
Dr. Anna Meadows reported for the Program Committee. She asked Dr. Pat Pasquariello to serve as the Co-Chair on the committee and he has agreed. The late winter-early spring event of the ASEF will probably be in March 2009. It was the consensus of the Committee that an appropriate topic would be a presentation on the financial crisis and how it applies to and effects retirees. Dr. Meadows will write to the Dean of the Wharton School and ask for names of faculty that might be willing to speak.
The Vicki/Hilary meeting on "Planning for Retirement" will again be in May.
Dr. Arthur Asbury reported that dedicated space for an Association Meeting Area is currently being explored by the School Administration and an announcement is expected soon.
Dr. Marvin Steinberg reported for the Data Committee. He and Rachael Berget from the FAPD Office met with Dr. Jerry Porter (PSAEF President) to discuss ways to maintain and update an accurate and complete list of Emeritus faculty. A number of suggestions were made and ASEF will make every effort to follow them. Both Associations agreed to share Emeritus Faculty data.
Dr. Nick Kefalides announced that Dr. Robert Foster would be the luncheon speaker in February. For future lunch meetings, Dr. Kefalides is going to try line-up Drs. Clayton Kyle, Art Caplan and Christos Coutifaris.
Dr. David McCarthy has prepared an e-mail regarding volunteer service opportunities for retired physicians, with valid licenses, to practice in County Health Clinics with Malpractice Insurance covered by the State. This e-mail message will be sent to all ASEF members shortly.
Dr. Rob MacGregor is working on the development of a Speaker's Bureau.
The next ASEF Executive Council Meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 17, 2009, from 12 noon to 1:30 p.m.
Submitted,
Art Whereat
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Minutes of ASEF Executive Council
December 8, 2008
Present: Drs. Asbury, Steinberg, MacGregor, LaRossa, Goldfine, and McCarthy; Rachael Berget
ASEF Office Space - Dr. Asbury reported that he had spoken to Kevin Mahoney about the office space for ASEF. Mr. Mahoney said that he didn’t know when the Gates 1 space would open up, but he said that ASEF should go into space that’s ready to be occupied. Mr. Mahoney indicated that there were other possible locations that might be equally good. These other possibilities are emerging as the current occupants in various locations relocate to the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine (CAM).
Kevin Mahoney wants ASEF to give him three possible dates on which ASEF members can tour the CAM. This tour will probably be held in April 2009. If ASEF can’t attract at least 15 members to this tour, we may open it up to other groups.
Neal Nathanson and the Emeritus Travel Program – Dr. Saunders said that Dr. Nathanson was delighted that ASEF is willing to participate in the Emeritus Travel Program. As a reminder, this is an initiative to send emeritus faculty to international medical schools as visiting professors, or consultants, for brief periods of time. The immediate program is in Bangalore, India—an Indian donor wants to sponsor a visiting professor at a Christian hospital in Bangalore. The offer would be for one (1) week as a Visiting Professor and one (1) week as a tourist. The “tourist” week substitutes for an honorarium. The contact person at Penn for this program is Dr. Pablo Tebas, from the Department of Medicine. Dr. MacGregor sees Dr. Tebas every day and will talk to him about this program.
MFSSC Presentation – Dr. Saunders will give the Medical Faculty Senate Steering Committee (MFSCC) an update on the proposed retirement community tomorrow.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Retirement is being updated.
Notice of Dr. Mastroianni’s death – The distribution of the notice of Dr. Mastroianni’s death exposed the fact that emeritus faculty are not on the Dean’s distribution list for important announcements like this. Emeritus faculty should be on the Dean’s general mailing list. Emeritus faculty want to know what’s going on with the School of Medicine. Vicki Mulhern will check into having Emeritus faculty added to the Dean’s mailing list.
ASEF Website – PASEF’s website is not part of the Provost’s Office, so they are able to change and update their own website. Dr. Saunders has asked if ASEF could be allowed to manage its own website, but he hasn’t yet heard back about that. He’s guessing that ASEF won’t be allowed to do this and, even if they are, they don’t currently have a member who’s web-savvy enough to maintain the website. Dr. MacGregor will talk to Dr. Alan Myers, from PASEF, about how they got their own website.
Dr. Saunders said that all requests for work to be done by Rachael Berget should come to him for approval first.
At-Large Council Members: There are two senior faculty members who are interested in becoming At-Large Council Members. One of these faculty members cannot meet on a Monday, so Dr. Saunders asked Executive Council members whether the monthly meetings can be switched to Tuesday or Thursday. Dr. Steinberg stated that he had sent Dr. Saunders additional names for consideration for these positions. Dr. Saunders will follow up with these individuals.
Dr. McCarthy will prepare an e-mail message about the Community Volunteers in Medicine Program. He will send it to Dr. Saunders, who will review it and forward it to Rachael Berget for distribution to ASEF members.
Post-Baccalaureate Health Mentoring Program – This program has held three events, with a total of 39 student attendees and 8 faculty members (some of whom are ASEF members) participating. A number of Executive Council members are scheduled to participate again this Spring.
Retirement Community Survey – Dr. Saunders reported two of the percentages from the Retirement Community Survey:
65% of faculty surveyed said that they would be interested in a Penn retirement community
90% said that they supported ASEF’s continued pursuit of this project with university administration
On Friday, December 12, 2008, Dr. Saunders, Dr. Neville Strumpf (PASEF President-Elect), and Dr. Jerry Porter (PASEF President), and others will meet with Craig Carnaroli, Penn Executive Vice President. Mr. Carnaroli has also invited personnel from the Real Estate and Facilities Departments (both of which report to him) to join him in this meeting. The ASEF and PASEF leaders will gauge Mr. Carnaroli’s enthusiasm level for this project and ask him put members of his team onto making the Penn retirement community a reality.
Programming Committee – Dr. Goldfine reported that his committee is thinking of having an outside group come in and talk about what to do about your investments in this economy. Dr. and Meadows and Dr. Goldfine will start working on identifying speakers for this program.
Data Committee: Dr. Steinberg reported that he now has a list of departmental faculty coordinators. FAPD will send them an e-mail every 6 months to check on new emeriti, deceased faculty, faculty changes of address, etc.
The next Executive Council meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 13, 2009.
Respectfully submitted,
Rachael Berget
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Minutes for ASEF Executive Council Meeting November 10, 2008
Present: Drs. Saunders, Schleyer, Steinberg, LaRossa, Asbury, Goldfine, Stinnett, Dalinka, Kefalides, Meadows, MacGregor and Rachael Berget.
Emeritus Status for Research Track Faculty
A guest, Dr. Brian Salzberg, was present. Dr. Salzberg described the fact that Research Track faculty do not currently qualify to be designated as Emeritus upon retirement. Dr. Salzberg would like for ASEF to propose a resolution to the Medical Faculty Senate that would allow Research Track Faculty members to be designated as Emeritus. Dr. Salzberg said that these faculty members have no real job security (because their salaries, and continued employment, are contingent upon retention of research funding) and have given years of service to the institution, so they are deserving of the Emeritus designation.
Dr. Saunders said that this debate comes down to the requirement for scholarship. The University’s rule regarding Emeritus designation states that it is only available to members of the Standing Faculty, and Research Track and Academic Clinician Track faculty members are members of the Associated Faculty. Dr. Saunders believes that many people on “the other side of Spruce Street” would not approve of giving the “Emeritus” title to AC faculty, who do not have the requirement to publish or do research to get promoted.
Dr. Saunders said that ASEF might sponsor a resolution that states that Research Track faculty have to meet nearly all of the same COAP requirements as Tenure Track faculty. Dr. Steinberg said that he thought it would be prudent to discuss this resolution with the Provost before sponsoring it publicly. He said that ASEF might want to review all of the rights and privileges of the Research Track before proceeding.
Dr. Saunders stated that, originally, Research Track faculty members were hired as collaborators for Tenure Track faculty. During former Medical School Dean Kelly’s tenure, the clinical revenue was not sufficient to hire Tenure-Track faculty members into strictly research positions. So, the Research Track was constituted so that a person could be released from the University if his/her research funding was lost. Dr. Salzberg added that, under normal circumstances, Research Track faculty are also excluded from directing a student’s thesis committee.
Dr. Stinnett stated that one important element of the issue currently before ASEF is whether ASEF invites other groups to discuss this change with it. Dr. Stinnett then moved that ASEF sponsor the resolution that had been discussed earlier, and Drs. Schleyer and Kefalides seconded his motion. Dr. Steinberg said that he would vote against this motion because he believes that members of ASEF’s Executive Council should talk to others first before sponsoring this resolution. He said that ASEF needed more information before doing anything.
Dr. Saunders said that this is an action that does not require a Faculty Handbook change. He said that the Provost can make this decision. Dr. Goldfine suggested that Dr. Saunders also speak to Dean Rubinstein before acting upon this resolution. Only after speaking to the Dean about this topic, and getting the information it needs should the ASEF Executive Council draft this resolution and present it to the Medical Faculty Senate. This plan passed with all “Ayes”.
Dr. Saunders said that he would also discuss this matter with Dr. Harvey Rubin.
ASEF 2008 Emeritus Dinner
Dr. Saunders reported that he had gotten a number of e-mails and has had conversations about the 2008 Emeritus Dinner. He recounted these observations and recommendations from his correspondents: 1) attendance wasn’t good – we had 50 or 60 for the reception and only 38 for the dinner; 2) the venue for the evening’s program (the BRB auditorium) was too huge for the number of attendees; 3) we need to advertise the event more thoroughly; 4) we need to start “talking up” the event earlier, like in August; and 5) perhaps we should do away with a keynote speaker. Dr. Steinberg emphasized the importance of having the Dean in attendance at this event.
Dr. Meadows stated that ASEF should have a speaker that faculty want to hear, that we have to have “bread and butter topics”. She said that people come to hear about things that affect them, such as their money or their healthcare. Dr. Steinberg said that the speaker had to be vetted more thoroughly and discussed in advance with the ASEF Executive Council.
Dr. Asbury stated that he had 3 competing events that night; he said that ASEF should plan our dinner for late September or early October, before the academic year gets so busy. Dr. MacGregor stated that the dinner should be advertised as a chance to see old friends and ASEF members should invite friends personally to attend this dinner. He also suggested advertising the dinner in The Daily Pennsylvanian and in The Almanac. Dr. Saunders said that we have to start the whole process of planning and advertising the dinner earlier next year and Dr. Kefalides echoed the sentiment that the selection of the speaker is critical.
Global Health Programs Inquiry
Dr. Saunders read an e-mail that he received from Dr. Neal Nathanson about an inquiry that Dr. Nathanson’s global health programs office had recently gotten. Dr. Nathanson asked Dr. Saunders if Penn would be willing to send faculty to international medical schools as visiting professors or consultants for brief periods of time. Dr. Gail Morrison had suggested that Dr. Nathanson contact Dr. Saunders about the potential for Emeritus faculty to take advantage of this offer. Dr. Saunders said that he thought that ASEF should enthusiastically endorse this activity.
Replacement of At-Large Council Member
A number of potential candidates was discussed. The names of those persons will only be included in the minutes after they have been contacted to determine whether they are interested in serving as an At-Large Council Member.
Retirement Community Survey
Dr. Saunders talked about next steps for the data ASEF has collected thus far from its Retirement Community Survey. He listed several things that ASEF should do to begin the process of floating the idea of a Penn faculty retirement community the administration: 1) Identify Board of Trustee members who are real estate developers; 2) Contact the chair of the Board of Trustees; 3) Contact President Gutmann; and 4) Contact the Medical Faculty Senate and the University Faculty Senate to advocate for this project.
Dr. Meadows said that she thought that ASEF should have some idea as to how big a project this retirement community would be prior to advocating for it. Dr. Saunders said that John Trojanowski really started this idea. Another interesting possibility for this retirement community is that the residents could be potential research subjects for Dr. Paul Rozen, who is a gerontologist in the Psychology Department. Dr. Saunders also said that viable retirement community should have between 200 and 250 units in it.
Dr. Saunders stated that he would like to get Penn Executive Vice President Craig Carnoli involved in these discussions. ASEF would have to sell this to the institution as something that is morally and ethically responsible to do, because it would definitely be more profitable for the university to put office space on this land.
Post-Baccalaureate Mentoring Sessions
Dr. Kefalides and Dr. MacGregor reported that they had participated in one of the Post-Baccalaureate Mentoring sessions. They had 19 students, who had lots of questions. They said that they had an animated discussion with these students on what it means to be a doctor. Dr. Saunders said that program director Sally Carty told him that she was very happy with that session. The next session is scheduled for November 18, 2008.
AROHE (Association of Retirement Organizations in Higher Education) Meeting
Dr. Saunders reported that his poster got moved to the main session of this meeting and that AROHE members had voted him onto their board. One of the ideas that Dr. Saunders brought back from the meeting is an organization newsletter. If ASEF does this, should it be print or electronic? Dr. Schleyer suggested that it would be much more cost effective to post the newsletter as a webpage. Dr. MacGregor added that he thought that a newsletter is a great way to stimulate interest and get people involved. Drs. MacGregor, Goldfine and Saunders will revisit this topic at their next Committee meeting.
PASEF Database
PASEF is currently working on creating its own list/database of members, similar to the one that ASEF already has.
ASEF Office Space
Dr. Asbury stated that Earl Marsh told him that there is space available on the ground floor of the Gates Building. The Gates Building would be ideal, but the 4th or 5th floor of the Maloney Building would be OK, too.
Sayre Clinic as Emeritus Volunteer Site
Dr. Schleyer asked about the Sayre School site. He said that ASEF Council Members should talk to Dr. Bernie Johnson about what is going on at that site. Dr. Schleyer said that Dr. McCarthy said that ASEF should no longer advertise the Sayre School/Clinic as a viable volunteer site because Sayre will not allow faculty members without their own malpractice insurance to voluntarily practice there.
Programming Committee – Dr. Goldfine said that his committee is thinking of having TIAA-CREF come in and talk about retirement. He would like to have them come in and do a presentation aimed at ASEF members. Dr. Goldfine is thinking of hosting this in January or February 2009.
ASEF Luncheon Program
Dr. Kefalides said that Dr. Don LaRossa is the November 2008 luncheon speaker. Dr. Alan Pack will be the speaker in December, and Dr. John Trojanowski will be a speaker in 2009. Dr. Meadows suggested that ASEF should ask the people that attend Dr. Kefalides’ Luncheon Program to fill out a questionnaire to find out what they want from ASEF.
The next ASEF Executive Council meeting will be held on Monday, December 8, 2008.
Respectfully submitted by
Rachael J. Berget, M.Ed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Minutes of ASEF Executive Council Meeting
Monday, October 6, 2008, 12:00 noon
Present: Drs. Dalinka, Schleyer, Steinberg, MacGregor, Kefalides, Hess, Meadows, Downes, Asbury, and FAPD support staff person Rachael Berget.
ASEF Fall Emeriti Dinner – Dr. Meadows said that she had talked to Julian Pugh about ordering food for 50 people for the reception and the dinner. She recommended a caterer she has used in the past, “Feast Your Eyes Catering”, to Julian for this event. When asked about the possibility of additional people showing up for the complimentary reception, Dr. Meadows said that we could easily call the caterer up to several days before the event and increase the count for the reception. Dr. MacGregor suggested that Council members talk up the Emeriti dinner in their departmental meetings. He said that ASEF Council members should encourage people to come to the reception because it’s free. He asked Rachael to send out the announcement again and to print out the invitation flyer and post it throughout the School of Medicine and CHOP. He also suggested that the announcement be sent to Chairs’ secretaries.
Post-Baccalaureate Program: Council Members discussed how to get more ASEF members to volunteer for this program. Dr. Steinberg said that Dr. Saunders wants more ASEF members involved. Dr. Schleyer asked whether the Post-Bac program would also welcome basic scientists as mentors in this program. Dr. MacGregor suggested that each Council member should think about someone who would be a good volunteer for this program and send that person’s name to Dr. Saunders or to Rachael Berget.
ASEF Senior Faculty Survey – Dr. Steinberg reported on the responses to this survey. He noted that the compiled survey data was sent to the Dean and department chairs. Dr. MacGregor asked how the Council can develop some action plans based on the survey results. Dr. Steinberg mentioned that he sent a memo to all senior faculty about the ASEF Senior Faculty Survey results and the availability of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Retirement on the ASEF website. Dr. Steinberg also said that ASEF needs to work with HR to ensure that there are enough information sessions about retirement being offered to faculty members. Dr. Asbury commented that the retirement/estate planning sessions offered by Marcie Merz, J.D., are very helpful. He said that every time he listens to her presentation at this session, he comes away having learned something new. Dr. Kefalides suggested that ASEF should host the Vicki Mulhern/Hilary Lopez retirement planning twice a year. Council members also discussed the possibility that the speaker for ASEF’s spring program could be an expert on the topic of combining retirement health benefits with Medicare and any other federal or private health benefits.
Emeritus Status for Retired Research-Track Faculty – Dr. MacGregor said that Dr. Saunders has been approached by a retired Research Track faculty member about his/her perception that it is unfair for Research-Track faculty to be denied emeritus status. Rachael reported that conferral of Emeritus status upon faculty members will start being “minuted” in the Provost’s Staff Conference (PSC) minutes in the near future, making it easier to keep track of new emeritus faculty. ASEF Executive Council will return to this topic of discussion next month. Dr. Stan Schwartz has been appointed the new Chief of Medicine at Presbyterian Hospital, replacing Dr. Jack Ende, so he has to step down from the ASEF Executive Council. Dr. Meadows suggested that the Executive Council should look at a list of faculty who have recently been made emeritus to see who would be a good person to replace Dr. Schwartz on the Executive Council. Rachael Berget will prepare a list of faculty who have become emeritus over the past 3 years and send it to ASEF Executive Council members. Each Executive Council member will then send the name of one person that they believe would make a good new Council member to Dr. Saunders.
ASEF/PASEF Retirement Community Survey – Rachael Berget reported that, to date, there have been approximately 195 responses to the ASEF/PASEF Retirement Community Survey. She reported that response has been overwhelmingly positive to the question of the university developing a retirement community for faculty on, or near, campus. Dr. MacGregor said that he thinks a panel of retired faculty talking about what they’re doing would be really interesting.
Education Committee – Dr. Schleyer questioned how retired faculty members can renew their Pennkeys. Pennkeys are good up until 5 years after retirement, after which they expire. Dr. Schleyer also said that he believes that ASEF should do an electronic newsletter to inform people about topics such as how to renew a Pennkey.Dr. Steinberg reported that the Sayre Clinic only wants faculty volunteers who have malpractice insurance. The West Chester Clinic will cover volunteers, but Sayre will not. Dr. Schleyer said that it is his understanding that the Sayre Clinic is not working well, that it is not functioning. Dr. MacGregor mentioned that Dr. McCarthy is writing a description of the community medical practice sites for the ASEF website. Dr. Steinberg said that, at some sites, you can become an unpaid employee of the Public Health Service and, in so doing, be covered by their malpractice insurance.
ASEF Office Space – Kevin Mahoney told Dr. Asbury to talk to Earl Marsh (in the Office of the Health System Architect) about the potential space for ASEF. Mr. Marsh has come up with a functional space on the 5th floor of the Maloney Building, in HUP. The space has one room that is 336 square feet (with room for 6 carrels), has a conference room that will seat 16 people, a lounge of 240 square feet, a coat closet, and a small pantry. The space is about 996 square feet with a circulation of about 440 square feet, for a total of approximately 1500 square feet. Dr. Asbury stated that if any of the Executive Council members should see Dean Rubenstein or Kevin Mahoney, they should mention the space to them. Dr. Asbury said that the Dean believes that ASEF is real resource to the School of Medicine
The next ASEF Executive Council meeting will be held on Monday, November 10, 2008, in Room 104 Stellar Chance.
Minutes prepared and respectfully submitted by,
Rachael J. Berget, M.Ed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MINUTES - ASEF EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
MARCH 3, 2008
Attendees: James Saunders, Arthur Whereat, Heinz Schleyer, Howard Goldfine, Rob
Roy MacGregor, Marvin Steinberg, Nicholas Kefalides Anna Meadows and Rachael
Berget.
Jim reported that he will attend the AROHE meeting. The abstract of his talk was submitted. The $100.00 dues will be paid. He noted that the dues are greater for organizations that have budgets greater than $100,000 and inferred from that that some similar groups must have such large budgets.
He also reported that he met with Grace Hershman on Feb 4, 2008 to discuss if and how ASEF might interact with her program. She expressed great enthusiasm for the possible participation of our members. She thought that her students would welcome meeting with senior faculty to discuss a variety of topics. It was envisioned that groups of 15 students would meet with one or two senior faculty on a monthly basis. In order to launch the enterprise, it was thought that it would be well to have 12 or more faculty members volunteer to be available. It was proposed that an Email be distributed to determine the degree of interest. It was suggested that it might be useful to have Grace meet with
the Council to learn more and solicit ideas.
There was again a discussion of the disappointing attendance at the Lonsdorf lecture. Ideas were expressed about how to excite more interest. It was thought that the topic might not have been very exciting. Ideas were proposed to attract more attendance at the upcoming Mashner Talk and Social. Rachael distributed a notice that has been prepared to announce the Vicki/Hilary meeting.
Rachael was asked about Meghan's replacement and she replied that the job description had been altered.
Nominating Committee - Rob said that more names are needed. There was a consensus that more members would be advisable. Perhaps co-chairs could be named and become members of the Council. Downes and Larossa were mentioned as possible new members.
Data Committee - There is a need for more and current information. The "contact person" in each department needs to communicate names of new emeriti and data relevant to these names.
Education Committee - Heinz said that there is a need to streamline the announcements and to get them out sooner. He is working on getting a more complete listing of events on the website. Jim said that he would get a President's Letter out before the end of March.
The next meeting will be April 14, 2008.
Arthur F. Whereat
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MINUTES OF ASEF COUNCIL MEETING
FEBRUARY 4, 2008
Attendees: James Saunders, Howard Goldfine, Anna Meadows, David McCarthy, Heinz Schleyer, Rachael Berget , Marvin Steinberg, Nicholas Kefalides and Arthur Whereat
Jim opened the meeting announcing that he had submitted the budget request for 2008-2009. This included a request for an additional $2500 for the spring social event (which will be a celebration of our 5th anniversary) and an additional $2500 for the following year.
Jim asked the members to review the abstract of his AROHE presentation. Anna suggested that more might be said about the Hilary/Vicki program and other efforts to prepare senior faculty for issues to be faced, e.g., long term care insurance, selection of retirement community, activities in which to participate, etc. Jim emphasized the importance of the relationship between ASEF and the Office of Faculty Affairs and Professional Development. Howard suggested that it should be mentioned that our organization is unique because we represent only a school (Medical School) within a University. Dave mentioned that ASEF helps the Dean in promoting collegiality of the Medical School with the rest of the University.
Howard was disappointed with the number that turned up for the Lonsdorf talk and reception. There was discussion of how we might entice more people to turn out for such programs.
Rachael said that no date had been confirmed for the Hilary/Vicki program. The Mashner talk will be held on April 9, 2008 in the BRB Auditorium and the reception-to-follow will be on the 14th floor. It is hoped that the talk will be widely advertised and a major effort expended to entice attendance at the reception.
The issue of who will be offered honoraria was discussed. There was agreement that honoraria would not be appropriate for faculty or emeriti of the University.
Jim thought that, when in LA, he would search for someone who had wide experience in an organization such as ours who might be a speaker at our anniversary meeting.
Nick precipitated a discussion of reimbursement for expenses to which a tax has been added.
Jim has a meeting scheduled with Grace Hershman and anticipates asking how our organization might help with stimulating and informing undergraduates and post- baccalaureates about medical careers.
Another round of data searches was distributed and a few responses were obtained.
Jim has been taking a History course in the University and had the idea that it would be interesting and fun for attendees to get together after the session and discuss what they had heard.
Program Committee - Howard mentioned the Lonsdorf talk and reception. He anticipates that the Hilary/Vicki program will be scheduled in late April or early May. He will get a title from Mashner and also bring his talk to the attention of PASEF.
Data Committee - Marvin said that we now have a good data base. The Office of Faculty Affairs is collating and organizing the data.
Service Committee - David was able to communicate with Sayre. Since they are not yet funded, they are not ready to enroll people. They hope by the Fall of ’08 they will have their insurance plan in place. Their greatest need will be for internists.
Education Committee - Heinz suggested that we post a picture on the website that shows officers of the Council in an informal pose. He is updating information, such as Council membership and chairs, event calendar, etc.
Jim mentioned that we will soon have to nominate Chairs of the Committees.
The next Council meeting will be March 3, 2008.
Arthur F. Whereat
--
MINUTES OF ASEF COUNCIL MEETING
November 26, 2007
Attendees: James Saunders, Rob Roy MacGregor, Anna Meadows, Howard Goldfine, David McCarthy, Marvin Steinberg, Heinz Schleyer, Victoria Mulhern, Elisa Spiewak, Rachael Berget, Meghan Mulrooney, Anna Delaney, Kelli Wilson
Dr. Saunders opened the meeting affirming that Dr. Hess has resigned from ASEF due to health concerns. In accordance with ASEF Bylaws and with the approval of the committee, Dr. Saunders assumed his role as president.
Anna Delaney, Director, Academic Programs, asked the committee members to consider service as a member of a sub-committee of the School of Medicine COAP (Committee on Appointments and Promotions) to review educational databases for faculty candidates being considered for promotion This sub-committee performs a critically important role in a faculty member’s promotion review. A motion to send out an email to the ASEF membership asking for volunteers was passed. Anna Delaney will write the email proposal and forward it to Dr. Saunders before the end of the week. The committee will approve the email before it is sent out to the membership. It will be emailed either just before or just after the holiday break.
Rachael Berget was then introduced to the group. She is the new Associate Director of Faculty Professional Development in the Office of Faculty Affairs. She will provide administrative support to the ASEF organization.
Dr. Saunders initiated a discussion of ASEF’s direction: summary of what the organization has done in the past and how it will move into the next stage. Dr. Saunders expressed a desire for ASEF to identify more sustainable programs and to make a greater impact on the community.
Suggestion: A program for undergraduate pre-med students(majors in Biomedical/ Science fields)- Monthly Speakers from ASEF could speak to interested students how they “ended up” in Medicine, roads, pitfalls, rewards, etc. This would provide a service to the Penn community and would also give ASEF a chance to reach a broader population.
Dr. Saunders pointed out that the ASEF organization is approaching its 5th anniversary and asked the committee to consider the following:
Is there value or non-value in rolling in to the PASEF organization? Are there strengths in being part of a larger organization? Will ASEF be able to continually attract new members and initiate sustainable programs?
It was resolved that the committee should look up emeritus groups at other institutions to see what sorts of activities they are involved in and what kind of resources they have. The AROHE organization might have some of that information.
Dr. Goldfine introduced the idea of a Spring Party as a social function, which could also be useful to publicize ASEF’s committees and the May Retirement meeting. April was the suggested month for this function, and it was determined that beer, wine and hors d’oeuvres would be served. An informal social gathering with no set program might also be a good way to bring in more faculty members who might have overlooked previous ASEF functions.
Dr. Steinberg recapped successful ad hoc activities: changes in the FIAP wording, advances in the quest for space, benefits booklet, responding to the Provost regarding retiree benefits, website, and presence in the Medical Faculty Senate Steering Committee
Dr. Goldfine updated the group on the February session. Dr. Richard Lonsdorf, an emeriti of the Law School, has agreed to speak on Medicine and Law (he has background in both).
Dr. Steinberg requested more information on volunteering opportunities (clinics). Dr. McCarthy resolved to look into the West Philadelphia clinic and to find out more about malpractice insurance for clinic work.
Dr. Meadows suggested that the committee might improve communication by sending a succinct monthly email with a link to the website and also bullet points highlighting events and volunteer opportunities.
Dr. Saunders has a meeting scheduled with the Dean about space and plans to schedule a meeting with Kevin Mahoney about the same issue.
The next meeting is scheduled for January 7, 2008.
MINUTES OF ASEF COUNCIL MEETING
MAY 29, 2007
Attendees: MacGregor, McCarthy, Hess, Whereat, Alavi, Meadows, Kefalides and Mulrooney
Minutes of the March 19, 2007 meeting were approved.
Rob asked for a review of the Spring Meeting. It was judged to have gone well. Attendance was thought to be pretty good, mostly by people who had not attended previously. It was a consensus that the spring meeting program should continue to be primarily a presentation by Vicki and Hilary. Jane attended a Vicki/Hilary program delivered to the Pediatric Department and obtained some informative data. It is hoped that Vicki and Hilary will continue to hold meetings with department chairpersons.
Education Committee: The website is “coming along nicely.” It was suggested that volunteer activities should be posted on the website but should be highlighted in some fashion to attract attention. It was also suggested that perhaps the ASEF should obtain access to the Almanac or Penn Medicine to promote such opportunities.
Program Committee: The Fall Meeting will take place in October and plans are being formulated. There was a discussion about whether or not there should be a speaker. Several names were offered and will be considered by the subcommittee. The meeting will be at the Inn at Penn and will be scheduled for the middle of the week.
Nick reported that the recent luncheon was attended by 12 and was very well received. Dr. Longnecker gave an interesting talk. The next luncheon will be in September.
Data Committee: The survey has not yet been completed. Postcards will be sent out next week requesting data, particularly Email addresses. An important goal is to obtain current information about all emeriti, e.g. where living (if living) and best way of communicating with them. Unfortunately, at present there had been no way of tracking emeriti after they left employment. Department chairs have been asked to give us a contact person who will keep track of these people.
Service Committee: Information regarding the Chester Clinic in now on our website. Again we discussed how to effectively distribute information about such activities. It was suggested that we might Email new opportunities to emeriti as they come up, as well as post them on our website. Rob again mentioned dormitory “live-ins.” David Fox is the person to contact if one is interested. The Freshman Reading Project was again mentioned and I will write up a description.
Rob suggested that someone from the Council should attend the departmental seminars on retirement. He judged that 20% of the departments have held such seminars.
A draft of The Faculty Retirement Brochure has been distributed to various administrative offices, but has not yet been reviewed by the legal office. It is hoped that it will be ready for distribution to the faculty by the fall. It will contain details of all aspects of preparing for retirement. The FIAP brochure that we received was sent only to Council members.
The next meeting will be on September 17, 2007.
MINUTES OF ASEF COUNCIL MEETING
APRIL 30, 2007
Attendees: Rob Roy MacGregor, Marilyn Hess, Nicholas Kefalides, John Mikuta, James Saunders, Anna Meadows, Marvin Steinberg, Jane Alavi, Meghan Mulrooney, Elisa Spiewak
Rob opened the meeting and asked for approval of the minutes of the March meeting.
We are fortunate to have obtained the 1962 Room (in the Morgan Bldg.) for the Spring Meeting of ASEF. Meghan has put a poster announcing the meeting on our website. Rob asked for suggestions for how to spread the word. Notices will be sent to all the Chairs of departments. Council members were asked to take posters and place them in their departments where they will likely be seen. It was also suggested that an Email be sent one week before the Spring Meeting.
Rob sent a letter to department Chairs requesting that they inform their staff about the Vicki/Hilary presentation. He also requested name of a “contact’ in the department that we could use, and he estimates that we have received a response from about two-thirds of the Chairs.
Six departments have requested that ASEF make a presentation to their staff.
Marvin reported that the federal statute which affords protection for malpractice claims for volunteer work has been passed. The involved clinic has to apply for such protection and obtain approval. The names of participating physicians must be submitted and the individual physicians must hold a valid state license.
Education Committee. Luis was not present but sent his report to Rob. His committee has formulated a Mission Statement. The mission includes:
1.mounting a website which encompasses a host of items
2.gather educational opportunities that are now available and develop new programs, including a list of investigators willing to review grant proposals.
3.develop a newsletter.
Program Committee: Anna reported on the Life After Medicine program. A discussion followed regarding the need for another such program. It was suggested that another program might have as a subject the advantages of and how to prepare for moving to a retirement community. Dr. John Esterhai may be a source of information in preparation of such a program.
We discussed how many general meeting should be scheduled each year. It was decided that four meeting a year was satisfactory, i.e. the reception for new emeriti, the Vicki/Hilary meeting and two others.
Luncheons: Nick reported that the last luncheon starring Harvey Friedman was a success. The next is to be May 22 and David Longnecker will speak. Larry Earley may be invited in the fall.
Data Committee: Surveys have been distributed. There is a commercial organization called “Survey Monkey” that would expedite the activity. They would distribute the survey, receive the responses, and compile the data – all for $19.90 per month.
Committee members will call emeriti once per year.
Notices of deaths will be posted. It was suggested that emeriti be informed that they may have Email via the University after they retire, which would make communication better.
Service Committee: David reported that a Mission Statement has been formulated.
It was suggested that a list of volunteer opportunities be posted every month via Email.
Rob mentioned that Penn Travel is looking for speakers for cruises. It was also mentioned that freshman students would like senior physicians to participate in mock interviews.
Only 10 ballots have been returned to date. Rob announced that the FIAP plan brochure has been distributed.
The next Council meeting is scheduled for May 29, 2007.
MINUTES OF ASEF COUNCIL MEETING
March 19, 2007
Attendees: MacGregor, McCarthy, Hess, Mikuta, Saunders, Steinberg, Whereat, Alavi, Goldfine, Blasco, Spiewak, Mulrooney
Rob opened the meeting at noon and asked for the subcommittee reports
Service: David reported on proceedings of a recent meeting. He asked for suggestions of how best to list activities on the Web. For example, he would like to advertise the West Chester clinic. A discussion ensued regarding malpractice liability. A state statute that offers immunity from malpractice claim only if the “standard of care” conforms to community standards, and if no harm to the patient results. We are waiting for anticipated passage of a federal statute which may offer more protection. John would like to encourage recruitment of ASEF members to give talks at retirement facilities. He would like the membership to be canvassed to see who might be willing and then match them with a facility that is receptive. Members of the Council offered some names and topics. Please contact David with names and topics.
Program: Howard reported on the “Life After Medicine” symposium. It was judged a success even though Richard Davis failed to show up. The Council discussed selection of a time for the Spring meeting with Vicki and Hilary. Either May 22, 23 or 24 is the likely date. Howard suggested that we might consider a meeting to discuss retirement facilities and perhaps have members who are residents describe their experiences. It was suggested that John Esterhai might be able to get someone from ACT to speak at a meeting. Marilyn asked about the West Phila. Nursing School project which offer advice and assistance to provide care for elderly citizens. Olivia Mitchell’s talk was so well received that it was suggested that might be repeated or someone with her background might be recruited. Dave suggested that a talk about Long Term Care Insurance would be valuable. The Council wondered if the Dunlop Auditorium noon concerts that Dode Barker arranged could be revived. Nick will be taking ove r the monthly luncheons.
Education: Luis reported that his committee is working on the Five Year Plan and anticipates that it will be ready for the next Council meeting.
Next was a discussion of how to disseminate ballots for the election of the new Executive Council members. Ballots will have to be distributed before June. It was proposed that ballots be distributed by mail, Email and Fax in order to reach everyone. Rob will include an invitation to the spring meeting. Biblio of the candidates should be included. The president-elect will be Jim Saunders. At-large members will be Don LaRossa and Jack Downes.
The Wales committee brochure is supposed to be ready for distribution. Vicki’s check list for prospective retirees should be ready for distribution soon.
Data: Jane distributed the new survey that her committee prepared. Question was raised about concerns about confidentiality of the data acquired.
Rob had been asked to inquire if any emeriti would be interested in serving as “house mothers” in the dormitories, such as Helen Davies has done for many years.
The next meeting will be April 30, 2007.
MINUTES OF ASEF COUNCIL MEETING
January 8, 2007
• Luis Blasco was welcomed as new chair of the Education Committee
• We discussed the 4 committees’ draft mission statements and plans for the next 2-3 years:
Data – regarding the mission of maintaining accurate records of current contact info and status, the committee was advised to talk with the alumni office, particularly regarding recent deaths. Also, the Development office apparently keeps track of contact info on all retired faculty. This needs to be checked out. It was also agreed that we were the organization most interested in keeping this contact info current and accurate. Meghan will check to be sure that results of Jane’s faculty survey are on our website. The committee liked the idea of our contacting each emeritus member by phone once a year, to verify contact data, to check on their welfare, and to encourage them to use our services (meetings, website, list-serv, etc).
Service – people questioned specific strategies for the committee’s ferreting out information about volunteer activities, and then for how to get the attention of ASEF members about their existence. One idea was to send out a monthly email highlighting a volunteer opportunity – perhaps written by a faculty member who is doing that volunteering – to include good contact information for the program wanting volunteers. Then each monthly bulletin would be archived on our website, creating a growing list of volunteer opportunities. The group liked the plan for all departmental chairs to be surveyed for their volunteer faculty needs, and in addition, suggested that the committee ask the same question of the IRB human subjects committee, the CRC, Dean of Students, Dean for International Programs, etc. People thought that creating links from the ASEF website to organizations needing volunteers was a great idea and asked Dave will work with Luis to do this. John Mikuta has agreed to spearhead the effort to develop a faculty of members willing to talk about issues relevant to retirees and to offer this to area retirement communities. Jim is also very interested in this, and Rob asked Jim, Dave, and John Mikuta to have a conference call or meeting about getting this going and to report at the next meeting. Dave will also find out who does the pre-med advising for undergrads here at Penn. Jim thought that it originated in the biology department.
Programs – Howard & Anna couldn’t attend so we didn’t discuss their plan in detail. However, it was asked whether or not they could be a bit more explicit regarding which things they wanted to organize, and roughly when. It was also suggested that they might advertise programs being sponsored by other parts of the university but of likely interest to our members. Finally, a lecture from someone knowledgeable about health plans, the university’s options, medicare part D, and the like – perhaps from the Leonard Davis Institute – was thought of great interest.
Education – we didn’t discuss their mission statement or plan, but will do so at the next meeting. Luis has contacted at least 4 people interested in participating and plans an organizational meeting before our February Executive Council meeting.
• List-serv: Ben came from IT and said that we could start the list-serv with an email to all ASEF members for whom we have email addresses. We would announce the intent of the list serv, and tell folks that they could opt out if they didn’t want to receive mailings from this address. Ben and Meghan will decide on a non-confusing email address and let me know. Then I will frame a letter to go out explaining what it’s all about and we will start!
• Maintaining Penn email address after shift to emeritus status: Ben said that all mail.med faculty are entitled to maintain their email addresses after going emeritus. He didn’t know about uphs or departmental addresses but most people thought that members with those addresses were also entitled to continue. The question is whether or not the administrators in each dept. know and will protect emeriti from being deleted. Warning about this possibility should be part of our advice to seniors who are nearing retirement. Ben will check to be sure that those other email address servers recognize their responsibility for keeping emeriti on their server unless asked to d/c.
• Request for space – Rob met with Kevin Mahoney, who is in charge of space in the medical complex. He gave us a form to fill out to request space. We discussed requesting 1,000 sq. feet, preferably in Maloney, with space for a meeting, carrels, phone extensions, computers with internet access, wi-fi capability, a printer & copier, and access to dictation service. The target time for this would be after completion of the CAM building.
• Responses to Rob’s letter to chairs of departments re: discussing retirement issues at a departmental meeting – about 20% of chairs have responded, with several requesting a talk by Vicki or Hilary, and with one of us also present to comment.
• Next Executive Council meeting will be in 6 weeks - 2/19