Penn to Build New College House Near 40th and Walnut Streets
The University of Pennsylvania Board of Trustees today approved the design for a new 250,000 sq. ft. residential building, New College House West. The building will become the second to be built specifically designed as a college house, Penn’s residential system that brings together undergraduates, faculty, staff and graduate students to form shared communities within the larger context of Penn's vibrant campus.
The new undergraduate college house will occupy a site bounded by Locust Walk, Walnut Street and 40th Street, adjacent to the West Philadelphia branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia, which will remain open.
“This exciting project will serve as a new western gateway to campus,” said Penn President Amy Gutmann. “Since the College House system was introduced in 1998, it has become enormously successful, forming intellectually dynamic and supportive, shared communities within the larger Penn community. Life in a college house has come to define the undergraduate experience at Penn, providing learning and co-curricular opportunities outside of the conventional classroom.
“New College House West will enable more Penn students to participate in the College House system, and it will also give us the capacity and flexibility to continue renovating existing student housing.”
Designed by Philadelphia-based, internationally-renowned Bohlin Cywinski Jackson Architects, the firm that recently completed the New College House at Hill Field, the three-year 450-bed residence will house sophomores, juniors and seniors. With a mix of 6- and 5-bedroom two-bath suites and 4-, 3- and 2-bedroom one-bath suites, New College House West will also provide many programmatic common areas including study, living, seminar and music practice rooms.
Penn will continue its commitment to sustainable design, targeting LEED Silver certification for this project. The design introduces both a private courtyard for residents and green roofs and maintains public green spaces adjacent to Locust Walk, north of Harrison College House and east of Rodin College House, as well as the space near Gregory College House. These common green spaces are openly accessible to public pedestrian access and available as gathering spaces and for University and community events. During construction alternative spaces will be identified on Penn’s campus for hosting such events.
The $163-million project will begin construction in spring of 2018 and is expected to open for occupancy in fall of 2021.
Marybeth Gasman: Judy & Howard Berkowitz Professor in Education
Marybeth Gasman, a Penn GSE professor of higher education, has been named the Judy & Howard Berkowitz Professor in Education.
A noted education historian, Gasman’s areas of expertise include the history of American higher education, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), minority serving institutions (MSIs), African American leadership, and fundraising and philanthropy. Gasman is the founding director of the Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions (Almanac January 21, 2014). The Center, which launched in 2014, works to amplify the contributions and support MSIs and those scholars interested in them. Dr. Gasman holds secondary appointments in History, Africana Studies, and the School of Social Policy and Practice at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Gasman has written or edited 22 books, and eight have won research awards, including Educating a Diverse Nation, published in 2015. She has written over 200 peer-reviewed articles, scholarly essays, and book chapters. In addition to her numerous academic publications, she is a regular contributor to The Chronicle of Higher Education, Diverse, Inside Higher Education, The Washington Post, and The New York Times. Her research has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Time, CNN, and on National Public Radio. An outspoken and prolific writer, Gasman has penned 350 opinion articles for the nation’s newspapers and magazines and is ranked by Education Week as one of the most influential education scholars in the nation. Last year, she was named one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices in Education.
“Marybeth Gasman is both passionate and highly productive – a wonderful combination in a scholar of her caliber,” said Penn GSE Dean Pam Grossman. “The reach and scale of her work on minority-serving institutions is unrivaled, and this endowed chair underscores GSE’s commitment to the impact of her work."
Dr. Gasman has raised over $22 million in grant funding to support her research and that of her students, mentees, and MSI partners. In addition to her teaching and research duties, she serves on the board of trustees of The College Board as well as Paul Quinn College, a small, urban, HBCU in Dallas, Texas.
Dr. Gasman has received the University of Pennsylvania’s Provost Award for Distinguished Ph.D. Teaching and Mentoring (Almanac April 14, 2015) and served as the dissertation chair for nearly 65 doctoral students since she joined the university in 2003.
The Judy & Howard Berkowitz Chair was endowed in 1995 with a gift from Judy and Howard Berkowitz. This Chair was donated by the Berkowitz family in order to facilitate a study of ethnic relations, cultural pluralism, and diversity as they relate to education. The Chair was most recently held by Penn GSE’s Professor Stanton Wortham, who became dean of the Boston College Lynch School of Education in the summer of 2016.
Carnegie Grant for Perry World House: Building a New Hub for Penn's Growing International Activities
The University of Pennsylvania’s Perry World House has been awarded a two-year $498,000 grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York for research and programming to impact critical emerging global policy issues.
Through this grant, Perry World House, Penn’s recently-launched global research and policy center, will work to bridge the gap between academia and the policy world around the most pressing issues in global affairs.
“This is a remarkable opportunity to do the work that matters most in connecting academic research and insights to policy change,” said Michael Horowitz, principal investigator, associate director of Perry World House, and professor of political science. “The grant will support our work on emerging and complex global policy issue areas where academics have great research, insights, and roles to play.”
The grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York enables Perry World House, through its Global Innovation Program, to create a series of multi-disciplinary workshops that connect academics and policymakers in several critical global policy areas; support policy-relevant research linked to each workshop; and create new media platforms – podcasts, video shorts, blogs, etc. – to disseminate findings from these workshops in ways that will generate faster and broader change.
The Global Innovation Program is the vehicle through which Perry World House advances its research and policy agenda, bringing Penn’s academic knowledge to bear on major global policy challenges. The Global Innovation Program houses two inaugural research themes: Global Shifts: Urbanization, Migration, and Demography and the Future of the Global Order: Power, Technology, and Governance. In each theme, the Global Innovation Program convenes interdisciplinary dialogues that bring together the worlds of policy and academia to generate impactful research products that influence policymaking in global affairs.
“We see ourselves as a catalytic force across the whole of the University of Pennsylvania,” said William Burke-White, Richard Perry Professor of Law and inaugural director of Perry World House. “This grant could not be timelier, both in terms of our role within Penn and the absolute need for a more synergistic relationship between the academic and policy worlds in the global policy realm.”
The Perry World House grant was one of 30 grants the board of Carnegie Corporation of New York approved under its International Program in its September 2017 quarterly meeting.
For more information on Perry World House, please visit: https://global.upenn.edu/perryworldhouse
Summary Annual Report for the University of Pennsylvania Basic Plan
This is a summary of the annual report of The University of Pennsylvania Basic Plan (Plan No. 028) sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania, EIN: 23-1352685, for the period January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016. This annual report has been filed with the Employee Benefits Security Administration, as required under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).
Basic Financial Statement
Benefits under the plan are provided through unallocated insurance contracts and a trust fund. Plan expenses were $19,598,831. These expenses included $7,475 in administrative expenses and $19,591,356 in benefits paid to participants and beneficiaries. A total of 23,052 persons were participants in or beneficiaries of the plan at the end of the plan year.
The value of plan assets, after subtracting liabilities of the plan, was $813,770,105 as of December 31, 2016, compared to $721,672,541 as of January 1, 2016. During the plan year the plan experienced an increase in its net assets of $92,097,564. This increase includes net unrealized depreciation in the value of plan assets; that is, the difference between the value of the plan’s assets at the end of the plan year and the value of assets at the beginning of the plan year or the cost of assets acquired during the plan year. The plan had total income of $111,696,395, including employer contributions of $51,295,139, employee rollover contributions of $2,687,742, gains from investments of $57,702,479 and other income of $11,035.
Your Rights to Additional Information
Under ERISA, you have the right to receive a copy of the full annual report, or any part thereof, upon request. The items listed below are included in that report for the University of Pennsylvania Basic Plan:
1. An accountant’s opinion;
2. Financial information;
3. Information on payments to service
providers;
4. Assets held for investment;
5. Insurance information; and
6. Information regarding pooled
separate accounts in which the plan
participates.
To obtain a copy of the full annual report, or any part thereof, write or call the office of the Plan Administrator, c/o Joanne M. Blythe, Retirement Manager, University of Pennsylvania, 3401 Walnut Street, Suite 527A, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6228, (215) 898-9947. The charge to cover copying costs will be $5 for the full annual report or 25 cents per page for any part thereof.
You also have the right to receive from the Plan Administrator, on request and at no charge, a statement of the assets and liabilities of the plan and accompanying notes, or a statement of income and expenses of the plan and accompanying notes, or both for the University of Pennsylvania Basic Plan. If you request a copy of the full annual report from the Plan Administrator, these two statements and accompanying notes will be included as part of that report. The charge to cover copying costs given above does not include a charge for the copying of these portions of the report because these portions are furnished without charge.
You also have the legally protected right under ERISA to examine the annual reports in the offices of the Employer at the address for the Plan Administrator, above, and at the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C., or to obtain a copy from the U.S. Department of Labor upon payment of copying costs. Requests to the Department should be addressed to: Public Disclosure Room, Room N-1513, Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20210.
Summary Annual Report for the University of Pennsylvania Matching Plan
This is a summary of the annual report of The University of Pennsylvania Matching Plan (Plan No. 001) sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania, EIN: 23-1352685, for the period January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016. This annual report has been filed with the Employee Benefits Security Administration, as required under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).
Basic Financial Statement
Benefits under the plan are provided through unallocated insurance contracts and a trust fund. Plan expenses were $159,296,517. These expenses included $16,129 in administrative expenses and $159,280,388 in benefits paid to participants and beneficiaries. A total of 25,548 persons were participants in or beneficiaries of the plan at the end of the plan year.
The value of plan assets, after subtracting liabilities of the plan, was $4,079,727,416 as of December 31, 2016, compared to $3,814,913,677 as of January 1, 2016. During the plan year the plan experienced an increase in its net assets of $264,813,739. This increase includes net unrealized depreciation in the value of plan assets; that is, the difference between the value of the plan’s assets at the end of the plan year and the value of assets at the beginning of the plan year or the cost of assets acquired during the plan year. The plan had total income of $424,110,256, including employer contributions of $62,359,199, employee contributions of $66,003,530, employee rollover contributions of $12,029,317, earnings from investments of $283,501,806 and other income of $216,404.
Your Rights to Additional Information
Under ERISA, you have the right to receive a copy of the full annual report, or any part thereof, upon request. The items listed below are included in that report for the University of Pennsylvania Matching Plan:
1. An accountant’s opinion;
2. Financial information;
3. Information on payments to service
providers;
4. Assets held for investment;
5. Insurance information; and
6. Information regarding pooled
separate accounts in which the plan
participates.
To obtain a copy of the full annual report, or any part thereof, write or call the office of the Plan Administrator, c/o Joanne M. Blythe, Retirement Manager, University of Pennsylvania, 3401 Walnut Street, Suite 527A, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6228, (215) 898-9947. The charge to cover copying costs will be $5 for the full annual report or 25 cents per page for any part thereof.
You also have the right to receive from the Plan Administrator, on request and at no charge, a statement of the assets and liabilities of the plan and accompanying notes, or a statement of income and expenses of the plan and accompanying notes, or both for the University of Pennsylvania Matching Plan. If you request a copy of the full annual report from the Plan Administrator, these two statements and accompanying notes will be included as part of that report. The charge to cover copying costs given above does not include a charge for the copying of these portions of the report because these portions are furnished without charge.
You also have the legally protected right under ERISA to examine the annual reports in the offices of the Employer at the address for the Plan Administrator, above, and at the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C., or to obtain a copy from the U.S. Department of Labor upon payment of copying costs. Requests to the Department should be addressed to: Public Disclosure Room, Room N-1513, Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20210.
Summary Annual Report for the Supplemental Retirement Annuity Plan of the University of Pennsylvania
This is a summary of the annual report of The Supplemental Retirement Annuity Plan of the University of Pennsylvania (Plan No. 002) sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania, EIN: 23-1352685, for the period January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016. This annual report has been filed with the Employee Benefits Security Administration, as required under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).
Basic Financial Statement
Benefits under the plan are provided through unallocated insurance contracts and a trust fund. Plan expenses were $37,422,465. These expenses included $1,201 in administrative expenses and $37,421,264 in benefits paid to participants and beneficiaries. A total of 24,625 persons were participants in or beneficiaries of the plan at the end of the plan year.
The value of plan assets, after subtracting liabilities of the plan, was $1,036,688,990 as of December 31, 2016, compared to $922,588,956 as of January 1, 2016. During the plan year the plan experienced an increase in its net assets of $114,100,034. This increase includes net unrealized depreciation in the value of plan assets; that is, the difference between the value of the plan’s assets at the end of the plan year and the value of assets at the beginning of the plan year or the cost of assets acquired during the plan year. The plan had total income of $151,522,499 including employee contributions of $47,480,662, employee rollover contributions of $32,348,437, gains from investments of $71,640,352 and other income of $53,048.
Your Rights to Additional Information
Under ERISA, you have the right to receive a copy of the full annual report, or any part thereof, upon request. The items listed below are included in that report for the Supplemental Retirement Annuity Plan of the University of Pennsylvania:
1. An accountant’s opinion;
2. Financial information;
3. Information on payments to
service providers;
4. Assets held for investment;
5. Insurance information; and
6. Information regarding pooled
separate accounts in which the plan
participates.
To obtain a copy of the full annual report, or any part thereof, write or call the office of the Plan Administrator, c/o Joanne M. Blythe, Retirement Manager, University of Pennsylvania, 3401 Walnut Street, Suite 527A, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6228, (215) 898-9947. The charge to cover copying costs will be $5 for the full annual report or 25 cents per page for any part thereof.
You also have the right to receive from the Plan Administrator, on request and at no charge, a statement of the assets and liabilities of the plan and accompanying notes, or a statement of income and expenses of the plan and accompanying notes, or both for the Supplemental Retirement Annuity Plan of the University of Pennsylvania. If you request a copy of the full annual report from the Plan Administrator, these two statements and accompanying notes will be included as part of that report. The charge to cover copying costs given above does not include a charge for the copying of these portions of the report because these portions are furnished without charge.
You also have the legally protected right under ERISA to examine the annual reports in the offices of the Employer at the address for the Plan Administrator, above, and at the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C., or to obtain a copy from the U.S. Department of Labor upon payment of copying costs. Requests to the Department should be addressed to: Public Disclosure Room, Room N-1513, Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20210.
Summary Annual Report for University of Health and Welfare Plan for Retirees and Disabled Employees
This is a summary of the annual report of the University of Pennsylvania Health and Welfare Plan for Retirees and Disabled Employees (Plan No. 530), sponsored by The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, EIN 23-1352685 for the period that began on January 1, 2016 and ended on December 31, 2016. The annual report has been filed with the Employee Benefits Security Administration as required under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). Please note that not all employees are eligible to participate in the Plan. Please consult your Plan materials for specific eligibility information.
Retiree benefits were provided through a combination of self-insured payments from the University’s general assets, payments from a trust fund established to fund retiree benefits, and insurance contracts with third-party insurance companies.
Medical, Dental and Prescription Drug Benefits
Insurance Information
The Plan has contracts with Aetna Health, Inc., Keystone Health Plan East, Amerihealth and Metropolitan Life Insurance Company to pay medical and dental claims incurred under the terms of the contracts. The total premiums paid for the plan year ending December 31, 2016 were $1,094,156.
Basic Financial Information
The value of Plan assets, after subtracting liabilities of the Plan, was $407,178,000 as of December 31, 2016, compared to $355,132,650 as of January 1, 2016. During the plan year the Plan experienced an increase in its net assets of $52,045,350. This increase includes net unrealized depreciation in the value of Plan assets; that is, the difference between the value of the Plan’s assets at the end of the year and the value of assets at the beginning of the year or the cost of assets acquired during the year. The Plan had total income of $71,830,495 including employee contributions of $6,494,623, employer contributions of $26,498,131 and gains from investments of $38,837,741.
Plan expenses were $19,785,145. These expenses included $2,389,250 in administrative expenses and $17,395,895 in benefits paid to participants and beneficiaries.
Life Insurance Benefits
The Plan has a contract with Aetna Life Insurance Company to pay life insurance claims incurred under the terms of the contract. The total premiums paid under this contract for the plan year ending December 31, 2016 were $494,995.
Your Rights to Additional Information
You have the right to receive a copy of the full annual report, or any part thereof, on request. The items listed below are included in that report:
1. An accountant’s opinion;
2. Financial information;
3. Information on payments to service
providers;
4. Assets held for investment; and
5. Insurance information.
To obtain a copy of the full annual report, or any part thereof, write or call the office of the Plan Administrator, c/o Joanne M. Blythe, Retirement Manager, University of Pennsylvania, 3401 Walnut Street, Suite 527A, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6228, (215) 898-9947. The charge to cover copying costs will be $5 for the full annual report or 25 cents per page for any part thereof.
You also have the right to receive from the Plan Administrator, on request and at no charge, a statement of the assets and liabilities of the Plan and accompanying notes, or a statement of income and expenses of the plan and accompanying notes, or both. If you request a copy of the full annual report from the Plan Administrator, these two statements and accompanying notes will be included as part of that report. The charge to cover copying costs given above does not include a charge for the copying of these portions of the report because these portions are furnished without charge.
You also have the legally protected right under ERISA to examine the annual reports in the offices of the Employer at the address for the Plan Administrator, above, and at the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C., or to obtain a copy from the U.S. Department of Labor upon payment of copying costs. Requests to the Department should be addressed to: Public Disclosure Room, Room N-1513, Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20210.