May 2022 Newsletter for Graduate & Professional Students

Vice Provost for Education
Newsletter for Graduate & Professional Students

May 2022

Announcements from
Vice Provost for Education Karen Detlefsen, Ph.D.

Congratulations to Graduates
My heartfelt congratulations to all the graduate and professional students graduating this year. I wish you the best in your future endeavors. Please come to celebrate with your family and friends at the Graduate Student Center’s commencement breakfast on Monday, May 16, from 8-11AM.

New Initiatives
This has been, in many ways, a difficult year, but the opportunity that many of us had to return to learning and collaborating together in person on campus has been a significant step forward as we emerge from the pandemic. We are committed to continuing our work next year on enhancing graduate student life at Penn.

 This year has also brought new initiatives to support graduate and professional students. During this first full year of the Graduate Emergency Fund, we have given over $52,000 in grants to nearly 90 graduate and professional students facing unanticipated expenses. Staring on July 1st, 2022, funded PhD students will continue to receive PSIP coverage for half a year (with the option to apply for a second half year) while on medical or family leave. We also made several improvements to the PhD graduation process by permanently allowing virtual and hybrid defenses as well as electronic dissertation deposits, and by eliminating the $50 dissertation deposit fee.

Make Sure Your Voice is Heard – Complete the GPSS Today!
In Mid-April, you received an invitation to participate in the Graduate & Professional Student Survey (GPSS)  I encourage you to take a few minutes to respond before the May 16 deadline--this's this coming Monday, so please complete the survey very soon! The primary focus of the survey is student satisfaction with Penn resources and services, as well as the quality of campus life at Penn. Your responses help us to improve our offerings to support students - and, if you complete the survey, you'll be entered to win one of 20 pairs of AirPods, courtesy of GAPSA!
 

Celebrating / Recognizing Graduate Student Achievements

This spring, several graduate and professional students have earned significant honors and awards.

Ten students have been selected to receive 2021-22 Graduate Leadership Awards in recognition of their contributions to graduate and professional student life at Penn. Congratulations to  Jason Andrechak (PhD, Bioengineering, SEAS); Tatiana Corcoran (LLM, Law); Magali Duque (JD, Law); Nawar Naseer (MPH and PhD, Cell & Molecular Biology, PSOM); Prioty Sarwar (PhD, Cell & Molecular Biology, PSOM); Christian Tabedzki (PhD, Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, SEAS); Mica Tan (DMD, Dental); Mrinalini Verma (MS and MLA, Design); Corey Wills (MES, SAS and MCP, Design); and Natalie Zamora (MSEd, Education).

Congratulations to the newest cohort of Provost’s Graduate Academic Engagement Fellows: Joyce Kim (Higher Education); Laura Ogburn (Teaching, Learning & Leadership), and Erin Purvis (Neuroscience).

The 2022 Penn Prize for Excellence in Teaching by Graduate Students winners were recently announced. Congratulations to PhD students Stacey Bevan (Nursing); Thomas Brazelton (Mathematics); Deion Dresser (Romance Languages); Elizabeth Dunens (Higher Education); Jesse Hanlan (Physics & Astronomy); Paul He (Computer & Information Science); Bryce Heatherly (East Asian Languages & Civilizations); Tessa Huttenlocher (Sociology); Tyler Leigh (Communication); Chloe Ricks (Political Science); Jeremy Rubin (Biostatistics); Michael Shea (Comparative Literature); Jessica Weakly (Mechanical Engineering & Applied Mechanics); and Alexandra Zborovsky (History).

Six graduate and professional students and alumni have received 202-23 Fulbright Grants. Congratulations to Gavin Blasdel (Ancient History); Amira Chowdhury (Social Work); Becca Lee (GAS ’21); Amin Marei (Education); Wil Prall (Biology), and Chloe Zhou (Education). 

Sarah Gzesh, a PhD student in social welfare in SP2 has been selected to receive the 2022-23 Marymount Fellowship.

Abiola Oyebo, a PhD student in Mathematics, has been named the 2022-23 Chisum Fellow.

Sangsoo Lee, a PhD candidate in Sociology and Demography, has been named the Y.H. Park Fellow in Korean Studies for 2022-23.

Four Penn Dental Medicine students have been named 2022 Delta Dental Community Scholars: Alisa Lee, Shan Yu, Viviana Portillo, and Diya Sabrina Chandra.

Shaquilla Harrigan, a PhD candidate in Sociology and Fontaine Society Fellow was awarded the 2022 Women of Color at Penn (WOCAP) Graduate Student Award.

Rishi Goel, an MD student in the Perelman School of Medicine, and recent graduate Kingson Lin, MS, have received the prestigious Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans.

Learn more about these and other graduate & professional student honorees and the awards they received.

Grad Students in the News

Law School students Simone Hunter–Hobson, Chayla Sherrod, and Layla June West are leading three of the School’s seven prestigious law journals, including the oldest one in the United States. It’s a first for Black women in Penn’s history.

PhD candidate Shelley Zhang discusses migration, the arts, and identity in Penn Today's "Understand this ..." podcast.

PhD candidate Ania Vu brings her Vietnamese roots, Polish upbringing, and experience studying in America to her compositions.

PhD students Charles Ro and Valeria Seminario uncover how archives influence the way we learn in Penn course.

JD/MBA student Benjamin Nadolsky has been appointed to President Biden’s Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board

Visit the Penn Grad News page for more Penn Grad Students making news!

Upcoming Events and Activities  

Setting Summer Writing Goals
Friday, May 14, 9:00-10:00 AM (ET) & Friday, May 21, 4:00-5:00 PM (ET)
Kick-start your summer writing practice with helpful tips and resources from the Weingarten Learning Resources Center. Learn how to set time for writing and create a balanced schedule that promotes productivity and rest! Cosponsored by WLRC and the Grad Center. Learn more and register at gsc.upenn.edu/events

Commencement Celebration & Breakfast
Monday, May 16, 8:00-11:00 AM
Graduate Student Center, 3615 Locust Walk
All graduating graduate and professional students and their families and friends are invited to stop by the Grad Center for a free pre-commencement celebratory breakfast. We'll help you with any last minute adjustments to your robe and hood before you join the procession on Locust Walk. Please register in advance to assist us in planning.

Dissertation Boot Camp
Weekdays, June 6 - 17 at the Grad Center
Application Deadline: May 20
Dissertation Boot Camp is a two-week writing retreat for advanced doctoral students to help you meet goals and deadlines towards completing your dissertation, by offering an environment and support for intense, focused writing time. Participants must attend all sessions. Participants also discuss their writing process, share goals, and offer support to build structures of accountability within a community of writers. Learn more and apply: gsc.upenn.edu/dissertation-boot-camp

See more upcoming events and activities:

• Grad Center Events Calendar
• Grad Center “Events Around Campus” Calendar
• University Life Calendar of Events

Tips for Success in Graduate & Professional School

Read about the Pivotal Role of the Graduate Program in Student Mentoring.

Highlighted Opportunities

Apply to be a Grad Center Fellow!
We're seeking creative and motivated graduate students to serve as Grad Center Fellows for the 2022-23 Academic Year. Fellows work as part of the Grad Center team to develop programs and resources that enhance the quality of personal development, social and cultural life, and to foster the graduate and professional student community at Penn. Learn more and apply!

Join the Family Center Team: Use Your Experience to Help Us Support Student Parents
Penn’s Family Center is looking for passionate students to join us this Spring 2022 semester as Family Center Fellows! Our Fellows are integral to the team as they research, coordinate, and help deliver programming for Family Center members and the Penn community. The Family Center supports students and post-docs who are parents too. We are hiring for the following positions:

• Family Fun Fellow
• Education Fellow
• Operations/Communications Fellow

Summer Graduate Assistant Opportunity
The University of Pennsylvania Division of Student Engagement is seeking current Penn graduate and professional students who are interested in serving this summer as graduate assistants (GAs) for the Penn Rising Scholar Success Academy (PennRSSA), an adaptive, pioneering program serving rising seniors attending public and public charter high schools in the School District of Philadelphia. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to penn-rssa@upenn.edu .

Perry World House/Foreign Affairs Emerging Scholars Policy Prize
Deadline: May 11
This $10,000 prize recognizes outstanding essays with new ideas on how to tackle the world’s biggest policy challenges. Advanced PhD candidates and early career scholars from all disciplines are encouraged to apply, and the winning entries will be published in Foreign Affairs magazine.

Building Data Skills Workshop
Deadline: June 1
Are you interested in learning more about research computing or programming? Penn Libraries and the Graduate Student Center are offering a series of intensive Data Carpentries workshops for Penn graduate and professional students during the week of August 21. Space is limited and we anticipate high demand! Learn more and apply: bit.ly/May2022DC

CPRIT TRIUMPH Postdoctoral Fellowship
Deadline: June 30
Three-year multi-disciplinary postdoctoral fellowship program for trainees with Ph.D. or M.D./Ph.D. degrees interested in clinical and/or translational cancer research at MD Anderson Cancer Center. 

Teach for China Fellowship Program
Deadline: June 30
Teach For China is an educational non-profit program under The Lead Foundation. The fellowship program opens to all Chinese students graduating before July 15, 2022. TFC is hoping to recruit fellows to participate in the two-year teaching program and serve schools in rural areas of the country.

To see additional fellowships and award opportunities, visit CURF Resources for Graduate Students and Grad Center Grants and Fellowships webpages. For general information about graduate funding and need-based aid, please visit the Graduate Funding and Finances section of the Graduate Resource Guide.   

About the Vice Provost for Education

The Vice Provost for Education oversees undergraduate and graduate education at Penn, developing and implementing policies that promote academic excellence, innovative teaching and learning, and interdisciplinary knowledge across the University. The Vice Provost chairs the Council of Graduate Deans, the Council of Professional Master’s Degree Deans, the Council of Undergraduate Deans, the Graduate Council of the Faculties, and the Faculty Advisory Council for Access and Academic Support Initiatives.