Serving on Transition Teams	Print Issue
December 16, 2008, Volume 55, No. 16

President-elect Barack Obama recently selected three Penn people to serve as members of his transition team:

Dr. Jonathan Moreno, the David and Lyn Silfen University Professor and professor of medical ethics and the history and sociology of science, will lead the President’s Council on Bioethics Review Team and serve as the co-leader of the Department of Health and Human Services Agency Review Team.

Laurie O. Robinson, director of the Criminology Department’s Master of Science Program, will serve on the Department of Justice and Civil Rights Agency Review Team. Her appointment puts her in the midst of a 20-member group charged with reviewing the Justice Department to provide incoming appointees with information on strategic, policy, budgetary and personnel matters. She was previously an assistant attorney general in the Clinton administration. “Laurie not only knows the inside of the Justice Department —having served there for seven years—but she is also an ideal person to serve as a bridge during the transition between academia and Washington. We’re proud to have her there representing Penn and the Jerry Lee Center of Criminology,” said Dr. Lawrence W. Sherman, director of Penn’s Jerry Lee Center of Criminology.

Dr. Kevin Werbach, an assistant professor of legal studies and business ethics at the Wharton School will serve as co-leader of the Federal Communications Commission Agency Review Team. Dr. Werbach organizes the annual Supernova Technology Conference and formerly served as counsel for new technology policy at the FCC.

According to the official Transition website, “The Agency Review Teams for the Obama-Biden Transition will complete a thorough review of key departments, agencies and commissions of the United States government, as well as the White House, to provide the President-elect, Vice President-elect, and key advisors with information needed to make strategic policy, budgetary, and personnel decisions prior to the inauguration. The Teams will ensure that senior appointees have the information necessary to complete the confirmation process, lead their departments, and begin implementing signature policy initiatives immediately after they are sworn in.”