February 25, 2014

Location

21 Penn Tower, Ballam Board Room

Present

Drs. Baum, Bloch, Goldfine, Heyner, MacGregor, Meadows, Myers, Paterson, Saunders, Steinberg; Victoria Mulhern (FAPD) Kayvon Nikoo (FAPD)

Absent

Broennle, Deren, Collins, McCarthy, Stanley

The meeting was called to order by Meadows at 12:05 pm and the minutes of January 28 were accepted.

President's Report

Meadows reported that four new council members will be on the spring ballot: Sandra Sue Kramer, Virginia Lavolsi, Jamie Wheeler, and Brian Salzberg. Myers reported that the date for Penn Tower demolition is scheduled for June 2015. Earl Marsh was instructed to relocate people in new space, and he will contact ASEF personally.

Medical Faculty Senate

Myers reported that the Dean presented a new strategic plan, including the following points: there will be 1. Lower clinical reimbursement 2. Decline in NIH funding 3. Expectation that student scholarships will increase by $300 million, 4. International programs will include China and Botswana. Council discussed the difficulty of resolving faculty commitment to teaching a class as opposed to one on one instruction.

Administration

Mulhern told the Council that there is no space in Smilow Center. She reported new faculty numbers for a total of 2100. Meadows asked how this compares with other institutions, and Mulhern replied that it is very difficult to compare, e.g. Harvard has 6,000. The Road to Retirement meeting went very well, with 78 attendees and almost half from the School of Medicine. She requested that people on the Panel meeting (March 20) to take time to urge attendees to think carefully about retirement. She said that 95% of individuals struggle with the idea of retirement and their identity. Steinberg commented that the most important aspect is making sure sufficient funds are available. Saunders commented that fear and depression should be discussed, not avoided. Mulhern stated that some faculty anticipate a career change, while Meadows remarked that it depends upon the age at retirement. Paterson suggested providing a list of volunteer options. Steinberg has worked on a list that doesn't require insurance. Mulhern said that the University has a list of active volunteer positions. Nikoo will list volunteer opportunities on the website.

PASEF

MacGregor reported that Angela Duckworth will be the PASEF Spring speaker on in May.

A presentation at the last PASEF meeting included a discussion of request by the the University Faculty Senate to the Trustees to divest of any tobacco stocks PASEF supported this action. President Gutmann demurred, on the grounds that this was a slippery slope that could lead to other divestment. Meadows pointed out that other Universities except Yale are so doing. Discussion revolved around the world-wide problems of tobacco and promotion by tobacco companies of addiction in young people. The Executive Council of ASEF unanimously approved a motion to support the Penn Trustees in their action to divest Penn from tobacco stocks.

Mulhern reported that the Medical Faculty are aware of the divestment issue but have not yet voted.

Spring program

Gary Gilliland will present the ASEF Spring Program , "Personalized Medicine" on April 22 at 4:00 pm in the BRB Auditorium. Meadows proposed a Spring walk of the campus architecture, led by architect David Hollenberg when the weather is good. The middle of May was selected and she will contact him for preferences.

Retirement Communities

Goldfine has data from 10 communities that house more than 10 Penn people each. Heidi is pulling the data together and information will be on the website. He proposed having Michelle Baradi speak about the communities.

Other Business

Myers announced that there will be a memorial service for Nick Kefalides on April 18 in the Austrian Auditorium at 4:00 pm. This information will be put on the website.

Meadows asked when ballots are sent out and the by-laws say 30 days before elections; we need the ballot to be finalized by March 15th to be sent out on March 25th. Discussion regarding new President elect; we will have a pool of new Council members, therefore there is no urgency.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:20 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Susan Heyner,