Letter from the President
September, 2009
Letter from the President
Dear Colleagues:
As we begin a new academic year, I am pleased to report to you on the progress we have made during the past year and to let you know of some of our plans for the coming year. As your new President, I am fortunate to have the advice and counsel of Past President Jim Saunders and President-Elect Nick Kefalides. Two recent additions to our council are Jeanne C. Myers, Biochemistry and Biophysics and Vivianne Nachmias, Cell and Developmental Biology. The full list of members of council is on our website: http://www.med.upenn.edu/asef/. There you will also find other information of interest to senior and emeritus faculty including the invaluable “Hitchhiker’s Guide to Faculty Retirement”.
The mission of ASEF has been and continues to be to maintain connections between retired faculty and the university, to provide resources for faculty approaching retirement and to provide opportunities for service to the school, the university and the community.
During the past year, as a result of the opening of the Perelman Center and the relocation of the hospital administration to the new facility, we were provided with three rooms on the 21st floor of the Penn Tower. These are now open to all members and are furnished with workstations, desks, storage facilities, a lounge, and a small office for private consultations. Although the furnishing is still incomplete, we hope you will make use of these and to let us know how they can be improved to facilitate your activities. I would like especially to thank Art Asbury, Jim Saunders, Jane E. McKinney, Kevin Mahoney, and Dean Rubenstein for making this space possible. We are planning to have a reception in our new space on Wednesday, September 30, from 4:00 to 6:00 PM and hope to see many of you there.
Nick Kefalides continues to organize lunches at the University Club on a monthly basis. These are held either in the Lenape Room or the Hourglass Room, depending on the size of the anticipated attendance. Since Nick is serving a similar function with our sister organization PASEF, these lunches are now advertised on both websites and are attracting people from various schools and departments. They have admirably served to bring retired faculty back to campus and to stimulate discussions and interactions that would not have taken place without them. A full program is planned for the fall; the schedule will be sent out to all members and will be posted on our website.
On October 27th, we will have our annual reception and dinner honoring new retirees. The reception will start at 5 pm and will take place in the lobby of BRB II/III followed by introduction of the new retirees and an address by Dean Rubenstein. This year we will be honoring Angelina Castro, M.D., George W. Drach, M.D., Charles C. Clark, Ph.D., David R. Goldman, M.D., John Monroe, Ph.D., Edward N. Pugh, Jr., Ph.D., Alan Rosenquist, Ph.D., Alan Schreiber, M.D., Alfred Sellers, M.D., Michael E. Seltzer, M.D., Ph.D., Howard M. Snyder, M.D., and Peter Sterling, Ph.D. The dinner will be held on the 14th floor. Please join us in honoring our colleagues and greeting your old and new friends. You will receive more information by email or by mail.
Based on recent surveys, Jim Saunders continues to explore with a small committee, including PASEF President Neville Strumpf, the possibility of a Penn-sponsored retirement community on or near campus. This concept was enthusiastically supported by the Medical Faculty Senate Steering Committee and the University Senate Executive Committee. The administration has expressed interest in this and plans to hire outside consultants to study the feasibility of this project.
On November 3, 2009, Vicky Mulhern from the Office of Faculty Affairs and Hilary Lopez from Human Resources will present material on retirement of interest to all our members. These talks are always informative and leave ample time for discussion. The talk will be held in Reunion Hall, in the John Morgan Building.
We continue to assist the Sub-Committee on Education of the School COAP in the evaluation of Educational Data Bases for candidates under consideration for promotion. This activity is greatly appreciated by COAP and anyone willing to undertake a review please contact Kelli Wilson (the Coordinator in the Curriculum Office, Suite 100, kellijw@mail.med.upenn.edu).
Lastly, I urge you to be involved with ASEF. The Association is generously supported by the Dean, and administrative liaison for the Association is provided through the Office of Faculty Affairs and Professional Development. Service opportunities in local clinics and other venues are listed on our web site under descriptions of the work or our committees. Please let me know if you have any interest in participating in our activities (goldfinh@mail.med.upenn.edu).
Best wishes,
Howard Goldfine, Ph.D.
President, ASEF