December 18, 2012

Location

Penn Tower 21

Present

Drs. Kefalides, Saunders, Meadows, Broennle, Bloch, Steinberg, Jeanne Myers; Dr. Ross Webber (PASEF), Kayvon Nikoo, Rachael Berget, Victoria Mulhern (FAPD).

Absent

Drs. Susan Heyner, David McCarthy, Harvey Rubin, Richard Salcido, and Charles Stanley.

The meeting was called to order by Dr. Meadows at 2:30 p.m.

Vicki Mulhern's Report

The search for the Vice Dean for Diversity and Multicultural Affairs is underway. There is a pool of qualified national candidates being considered for this position. Vicki also reported that PSOM has a partnership underway with the Annenberg School on veterans' issues. Among the projects underway in the partnership is a play that is being written about the plight of veterans returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Dr. Meadows asked if ASEF or PASEF could help with this initiative. Vicki said that she would talk to the leaders of this partnership to determine whether there is a role for ASEF or PASEF in this. Dr. Meadows replied that ASEF and PASEF would like to do something.

Vicki also reported that planning is underway to mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of Penn's School of Medicine. This anniversary will take place in 2014-2015. Vicki also discussed that Medical Faculty Senate (MFS) was visited by Marcia MartinezHelfman, Esq., the University Ombudsperson. Vicki also reported that Dr. Emma Meagher is the interim head of Admissions since Dr. Steve Galetta left Penn for NYU.

Vicki said that the Clinician-Educator Track is undergoing a thorough review now. A meeting with all of the Vice Deans of the Schools of the Health Sciences is scheduled to discuss how all of these Schools operate their Clinician-Educator tracks. Vicki also told the group that, since July 2012, PSOM has recruited 113 full-time faculty. During that time, there have also been 15 retirements and 24 terminations. As of December 18, 2012, PSOM has 1,976 active faculty.

The Chair searches that re going on include the Departments of Pediatrics and Neurosciences. There are currently Interim Chairs serving in Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Genetics, Microbiology, Family Medicine, and Physiology. There are 2 departments currently undergoing standard departmental review, Cell and Development Biology and Medicine.

Rachael announced that ASEF will no longer be able to use Conference Room D because it is being converted into office space. The administrator in UPHS who schedules conference rooms has promised to find alternate space for ASEF's monthly meetings.

Visit of Dr. Gail Morrison – Dr. Morrison will come to the ASEF meeting on January 22, 2013. She will make a presentation on the proposed new Perelman School of Medicine education space. Dr. Morrison and Ms. Lisa Katz, the administrator from Penn Medicine Development, will bring lunch to this meeting.

Dr. Meadows reminded Executive Council members that some of them had made a 5- year commitment to medical education.

Discussion of working more closely with PASEF: Dr. Meadows stated that she wanted to talk about how ASEF could work more closely with PASEF. Dr. Webber stated that there was a fair amount of pessimism among the PASEF Executive Committee about PASEF’s ability to have an impact as an organization.

Dr. Meadows commented that PASEF has had a hard time getting the University to give them a space of their own. She asked if it would make it easier for PASEF to get its own space if a big group of faculty joined PASEF. Dr. Webber said that the only place PASEF has to hold meetings is in the University Club. He said that the Hourglass Room is not ideal because the acoustics are bad and the light that comes in the large windows makes it very difficult to do a PowerPoint slideshow there.

Vicki Mulhern suggested that PASEF should use the University’s Diversity Plan to get money because PASEF is encouraging the continued participation of emeritus faculty. Dr. Webber responded that Dr. Roger Allen, PASEF’s immediate past president, has used that argument and was basically laughed at for even coming up with that suggestion.

Dr. Meadows said that PASEF and ASEF should agree on a date for the join Emeritus event so that she can write a letter to President Guttman to invite her to attend this joint event. Dr. Webber asked Dr. Meadows to draft the joint letter of invitation to Dr. Guttman. Dr. Webber also commented that PASEF does not yet have a Program Committee for the 2013-2014 academic year. Dr. Meadows suggested that PASEF and ASEF get their current Program Committees together to work on the joint invitation letter to Dr. Guttman.

Program Committee

The ASEF "Planning for Retirement" program will be held on Thursday, February 14, 2013 at 3:30 p.m. in Reunion Auditorium in the John Morgan Building. The invitation to this program will also be sent to PASEF because the "Vicki and Hilary" show is for EVERYONE.

Luncheon Programs

Jim Saunders noted that with PASEF and ASEF both hosting luncheon programs that comes to 2 luncheon programs per month for 8 months=16 luncheon programs per year. Dr. Saunders said that this requires an enormous amount of effort and coordination. He proposed that the total number of luncheon programs should be reduced to 8 per year (1 per month) and that ASEF and PASEF should split them. Dr. Webber expressed concern about this plan because he said that PASEF does not have a problem with drawing a good crowd (approx. 30 people each month) to their luncheon programs.

Dr. Saunders commented that the there is a thematic reading group in Wharton. The discussions are lead by a faculty discussant. Dr. Saunders asked if we could take these kinds of discussions and turn them into something like a "Senior Honors Seminar". A suggestion was also made to expand speakers beyond just Penn faculty members.

The meeting adjourned at 3:30 p.m. to begin preparations for ASEF’s Winter Holiday Party. Respectfully submitted, Rachael J. Berget, M.Ed. FAPD