Pathways to Purposeful Careers: The Unique Narratives of Penn’s Career Advisors
As part of an ongoing effort to explore the people that make University Life a diverse community of educators and humans, I sat down with an ordained minister, a chicken expert, a geographer, an actor, and a podcaster.
What do they have in common?
Each of them works as part of the University of Pennsylvania’s Career Services team.
These five individuals joined the University Life strategic communications team to discuss their own unique career paths and all things career planning. Over takeout lunch from their favorite University City restaurant (Greek Lady), they chewed over the notion that each of their stories demonstrates that discovering a purposeful and meaningful career involves exploration, reflection, and ever-evolving pathways.
I was admittedly nervous about an hour-long lunch with five folks that I have never met. What would we talk about besides resumes and cover letters? What if it ironically seems like a job interview? We soon bonded over chicken tenders and how my preferred condiment was lovingly abbreviated as “honey must—” on our receipt.
Career Services is a storytelling genre. What connects resumes, interviews and networking is telling stories about oneself. It is why I was so interested in hearing the stories that brought an ordained minister, a chicken expert, a geographer, an actor, and a podcaster to the University of Pennsylvania.
“What I've appreciated about our office is really, that every person working in it doesn't have to have the same cookie cutter background,” Senior Associate Director Dr. Sharon Fleshman said. “There's this interesting thing about different people and what they bring.”
Dr. Fleshman’s words could not be truer; I was about to learn about each of their authentic selves and their own, unique career trajectories.
Dr. Sharon Fleshman
she/her
Senior Associate Director
Dr. Sharon Fleshman has been a stalwart at Career Services since the turn of the century. In her role, Sharon provides career advice to students in three schools: the School of Nursing, the Graduate School of Education, and the School of Social Policy and Practice.
Sharon empowers students seeking social impact careers to define their own paths by discovering and articulating their skills, strengths, and work values. Reflecting on her own experience, Sharon graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. She continued her education with master’s degrees from New York University’s Stern School of Business and Westminster Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Northern Seminary in Illinois. Dr. Fleshman is an ordained minister who emphasizes spirituality, vocation, and social justice in her sermons and ministry.
When she graduated from Penn, Sharon never thought that she would be working at her alma mater. She began her professional career in consulting but, in retrospect, found it isolating. From there, she ended up working in the nonprofit industry, trying to discover what fit well with her interests. With her career taking some “interesting turns,” she thought to herself, ‘Why not Career Services’?
“I always felt like the irony was that I never really used Career Services as a Penn student except for submitting resumes for on-campus recruiting.”
Sharon’s journey at Penn started at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Being an African American, female-identifying student in the male-dominated field of STEM forged Sharon’s philosophical approach to social equity and wellness. She is passionate about the work and leverages her role in Career Services to lean into helping first-generation students of color navigate the stress of an Ivy League education. Sharon’s passion for her work also extends beyond the walls of Career Services and into the Penn community where she serves as the co-chair of the JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion) Committee.
Her experience as an ordained minister has honed her listening skills, especially when advising students and teaching them to mine their own stories to discover their passions. She loves helping students understand their sphere of influence and impact, giving them the confidence to share their story with a future employer. Sharon emphasizes the importance of “giving students permission to share stories that highlight their strengths and impact.”
With her work expanding across three different schools, Sharon champions an underlying, collective focus on social impact. Since the death of George Floyd sparked a nationwide discussion on diversity, equity, and inclusion issues, there has been a need to help students navigate its impact in the career field, discovering whether employers are committed to social justice in the workplace.
Twenty-two years after joining Career Services, Sharon is still passionate about helping students make career connections and discovering socially impactful careers. “Social impact can come from any career field. You can still have your values whether you are working in finance or social work. How do you align those with your career?”
Dr. Joseph Barber
he/him
Director, Graduate Career Initiatives
Every path of Dr. Joseph Barber’s career has had a creative bent, whether that is researching chicken behavior or advising Penn graduate students.
Joseph presides over the newly formed position of Director of Graduate Career Initiatives. He oversees two teams that work with graduate and postdoc students. “It’s an emerging and evolving position whereby we’re trying to be more efficient with bigger picture, scalable, exciting initiatives.”
Oddly enough, Joseph’s creative journey began researching animal behavior as a doctorate student at University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Delving into statistics was not exactly his cup of tea, but Joseph did love the process of thinking of new and interesting research questions about chickens. And writing engaging, funny titles. As he was submitting an article to be published in a journal, one of the anonymous reviewers told him that his title — Queues at the Canteen: Why Do Chickens Get Together When They Eat — had to be dialed back. It turned him away from the world of formal scientific publishing forever.
He eventually edited and co-authored a book on chickens. Analyzing the evolution and behavior of modern fowl, The Chicken: A Natural History explores the evolution of the domesticated chicken and provides a comprehensive, illustrated guide to understanding how chickens live, think, and act both alongside people and independently.
Not wanting to be the chicken expert forever, Joseph found a position that valued his research and his English accent in the United States. He worked as a Research Fellow at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Orlando. After a consulting role completed during the Recession, Barber found himself reimagining his career once again.
At Penn, he found a role in Career Services that checked all the boxes: providing him access to literature to assist his research, allowing him to teach animal behavior as an adjunct at Hunter College, and welcomed his sense of humor. Joseph found a career that leveraged his STEM background that understood the graduate population and the challenges they experience.
“Every day requires me to be creative. It requires me to see the world through other people’s eyes, which is exactly what an animal behaviorist does, but within other species. It requires me to find ways to get information across and communicate effectively.
“Anything that I do here connects with what I enjoy doing most — creativity.”
His ability to find new doors and windows in his career enables Barber to instill optimism in his students. By nature, doctoral studies can feel very isolated. From his own personal experience, Joseph said that the challenge with academia is that there is not a lot of positive reinforcement. Whether it is the competitiveness of publishing or demands of funding, critical feedback is in the forefront, and rarely is there someone telling students they are doing a fabulous job or complimenting their skills.
Joseph strings together the evolutionary thread that connects chickens with graduate students.
“In the world of animal behavior, people do more of the things they are positively reinforced to do. If there is no positive reinforcement (or transferrable professional skills), people will lose the ability to see all the skills they have. By providing optimism to teach students that they do have skills and versatility, they are in a much better position no matter what career they pursue. It is 125% of what we do at Career Services.”
Every year is like an Etch-a-Sketch. There is a whole new set of students that come in with the same wonder, awe, uncertainty, and doubt. His job is to reinforce positivity, teach versatility, and support their career explorations.
Lisa Giang
she/them
Administrative Coordinator
Like many young college graduates, Lisa found herself in the throes of a pandemic-stricken job market. Lisa joined Career Services in January 2022, and it was their fourth job in less than 18 months.
“I exemplify what career trends look like during the pandemic. I did not stay a year at a single job. There was a lot of uncertainty. Even if COVID had not happened the year I graduated, I still would not have known where I was going to end or what I was going to do.”
As an Administrative Coordinator, Lisa works in a joint role that supports graduate and postdoc students, as well as the nursing, education, and social policy programs. Lisa does a lot of the work behind the scenes, providing much of the support behind advising appointments and collaborating with the data and resources team to create the First Destination Survey (FDS); providing a snapshot of post-graduation employment and continuing education outcomes.
She found her niche in Career Services after thinking outside of the box and exploring jobs that utilized her skill sets and interests but did not align with the traditional trajectory of her major. After receiving her bachelor’s degree in Geography and Urban Studies from Temple University, Lisa moved to a career as a GIS Analyst. It was technical work using programming that they learned in their undergraduate studies. Lisa soon realized that fully remote and technical work did not give her inspiration.
“I needed something where I could be creative when I want to be. I wanted something where I could collaborate with people more frequently than when I was in my home cubicle office.”
She leveraged her technical background and was drawn to the data aspects of the role.
As a young adult, Lisa can relate to college students’ hesitancies about taking advice from a more established career advisor. Giang’s experience as a young person that has lived through post-pandemic employment shifts offers them a perspective that is valuable in the Career Services office.
“In a way, COVID offered what felt like narrowed opportunities. It felt like it changed the way people conceptualize work and how it interacts with their personal lives.”
At Temple, Lisa had internships in a variety of nonprofits including education programs and refugee resettlement services. She hopes to use these experiences to help support Penn students explore their future professions.
J. Michael DeAngelis
he/him
Senior Digital Resources Manager
Michael DeAngelis famously quit during his first interview at the University of Pennsylvania.
His path to Career Services ironically began out of desperation for employment. Shortly after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Theatre Arts from Muhlenberg College, Michael moved to New York City three days prior to the attacks on the World Trade Center. It was a tough time to pursue a theater administration career on Broadway, and he left for Philadelphia, his hometown, a year later. A job at a theater company did not last, and a job at a video store inside of a mall left him feeling miserable and unfulfilled.
Michael had several Penn connections. His mother worked at the Penn Children’s Center, and his father is an alumnus of the Graduate School of Education. Michael was auditing classes in the theater department and realized that he enjoyed being on campus. In his second interview at Career Services, he was asked a hypothetical question about what would happen if he was ever offered his ideal theater job.
“Without hesitation, I said I would quit. In my head, I am screaming, ‘what are you doing?’ But I could not pass on my dream job. I left thinking that I had talked myself out of a job.”
As soon as Michael left the room, the former Director of Career Services told her staff to hire him because you cannot beat an honest person.
“I very quickly found that it was a place that was going to let me use my other interests and talents, and it could help me grow in other ways.”
In his role as Senior Digital Resources Manager, Michael helps Career Services embrace technology to keep pace with an industry that was progressively evolving from an analog to a digital space. He focuses on technology, communication, and innovation within the department. He learned coding, blogging, and eventually podcasting. Eighteen years and three positions later, he is fortunate that he is allowed to experiment and try unusual ways to connect with students.
“It is an office that embraces creativity. That is not why I came to the job. That is what kept me in the job.”
Michael continues to expand his creative passions as a professional podcaster, actor, director, and playwright, noting that he could not replicate that success without the stability and support he received at Penn Career Services. He serves as the managing director of The Porch Room film and theater company, and he wrote several plays that have received award recognition. He produced two plays Off and Off-Off Broadway.
DeAngelis integrated his theater skills into Career Services as a method of preparing students for mock interviews. While assessing Rhodes Scholarship applicants, he discovered that applicants sometimes lacked the ability to articulate their skills through an engaging narrative. Drawing on his performing arts background, he developed a program for using improv techniques for preparing for an interview.
“It is all about getting out of your head, not overthinking things, just being in the moment. There are no questions to which there is a right or wrong answer. They just want to know you. If you say your favorite movie is Star Wars, so much that you can talk about it for three minutes, it is okay.”
Michael is also the co-creator, writer, and producer of the podcast comedy Mission: Rejected. He co-hosts CS Radio, the official podcast of University of Pennsylvania Career Services.
Natty Leach
he/him
Senior Associate Director
Like so many others in his department, Natty fell into Career Services as a ‘happy accident.’ He was a Resident Assistant as an undergraduate student at New York University. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in Media, Culture, and Communication, he realized that a career in higher education appealed to him. He worked at Temple University as a Pre-Health Advisor during his graduate studies in Educational Leadership. Even though he did not have any interest in the health profession, Leach thought of it as a chance to be creative and welcomed the learning curve.
Natty recently moved to a Senior Associate Director position with Wharton undergraduate students after working with the College of Arts & Sciences since 2017.
Career advising allowed him to find connections. He enjoys looking at different careers, job descriptions, and students’ backgrounds, and seeing how the pieces fit together.
Introspectively, that is how Natty sees himself. He tried to find a throughline to what connects his interests outside of work. He is an avid guitarist and gamer.
“Both interests help me feel adaptable and find connections in disparate ways. I can make a strategy out of something that might be harder to connect with.”
Last year, Natty utilized his creative talents and took over co-hosting duties of CS Radio, the official podcast of University of Pennsylvania Career Services. Leach joins Senior Digital Resources Manager J. Michael DeAngelis to have deep and rich conversations about career planning on a weekly basis.
For their 100th and 101st episodes, Natty and Michael intersected tabletop gaming and case interviews. They conducted a short Dungeons and Dragons session with three Career Services counselors and several gamers. The hosts figured the thought processes were similar enough that the counselors can absorb the information from the players’ characters and work out a solution.
Podcasts are another element of Career Services humanizing its office and allowing students to see opportunities in different lights.
“We have seen so much that students value transparency in everything, especially with DEI initiatives. It is making sure that employers really value what they say they value, but also where they can find a human element. I see our podcast as an extension of that. Those types of things in our office are where we can be humans and just talk and have fun. Even if we are having conversations that are broadly related to career services.”
Whether it is a podcaster, guitarist, or a gamer, Leach loves to talk to students and let them think through their own stories and who they are. An important interview skill is having the confidence to be able to bring any question, however philosophical or vague, back to the root of their authentic self.
“You’re always going to be successful answering a question if you’re able to ground it in an example of who you are, what you’re bringing to the team and work environment.”
The Penn Community Celebrates Campus Pride
The University of Pennsylvania Recognized as one of Campus Pride’s 2022 “Best Of The Best” Colleges & Universities for LGBTQ+ Students
Campus Pride, the preeminent resource for LGBTQ+ leadership development, diversity inclusion and advocacy within higher education, announced the annual Best of the Best Colleges and Universities for LGBTQ+ students in the United States, naming the University of Pennsylvania to this year’s list of campuses creating a safe, welcoming environment for students, faculty, and staff alike.
The announcement from Campus Pride features 40 four-year campuses from across the country. These campuses have achieved 5 out of 5 stars on the Campus Pride Index (CPI), the definitive national benchmarking tool measuring LGBTQ-friendly policies, programs, and practices. To earn a ranking of 5 out of 5 stars, campuses receive a percentage score from 90 to 100 based on their LGBTQ-inclusive policies, programs, and practices. The methodology to determine this year’s Best of the Best List was based on an overall score of 93 percent or higher.
Check out video messages from our campus colleagues celebrating the Center.
The significance of Indigenous People’s Day
The second Monday in October is Indigenous People’s Day. The date, which had formerly been named after Christopher Columbus, was marked as a federal recognition of the contributions and resilience of Indigenous peoples and their inherent sovereignty, in a 2021 proclamation made by President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
Indigenous People’s Day was first proposed by Indigenous people at a 1977 United Nations conference to counteract anti-Indigenous discrimination, as well as the inaccurate narrative that Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas, which had been inhabited for millennia by over 600 Indigenous nations.
While Native people have long celebrated their cultures with or without federal acknowledgement, Penn Today spoke with students Nyair Locklear of the Tuscarora Nation and an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe and Ryly Ziese, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. Both are involved in Natives at Penn, an organization that supports students, faculty, and staff interested in Native issues, raises awareness, and builds community at the University.
Nyair Locklear of Raeford, North Carolina, is of the Tuscarora Nation and an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe. She is a fourth-year in the College of Arts and Sciences, studying health and societies.
In the school system I grew up attending, they only honored “Columbus Day.” We learned about Christopher Columbus’ contributions to Western society—and very little about his horrendous impact on Indigenous people. Despite not even knowing about Indigenous Peoples’ Day, that didn’t stop me from celebrating my Native heritage. As an eighth grader, I started wearing traditional native attire and jewelry to school every second Monday of October and declared to anyone who looked twice that I was “celebrating Anti-Columbus Day.”
For me, Indigenous Peoples’ Day has always been about standing against colonialism, celebrating my culture in a visible way, and making sure that my peers knew that Native people are not “extinct”—an actual comment I’ve received many times, even at Penn).
Imagine my surprise the first time I realized that although I stood alone in my actions in school, there were many others across Turtle Island and beyond doing the same thing I was. I felt seen and understood outside of just my home community, and I felt proud to be in solidarity with other Native Americans.
As I’ve developed my personal connection with my tribe, my family, and Natives at Penn, Indigenous Peoples’ Day has also become a day centering community and reflection. I don’t want other Indigenous youth to feel as I did for many years, alone in my hurt for everything that was taken from my ancestors and for everything we still endure today. I want to celebrate the achievements of Indigenous people and the perseverance of our culture after all this time. On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, I can see myself in all of my communities—Lumbee, Tuscarora, Natives at Penn, and Native American. I am part of a global community of Indigenous People who are grappling with complex emotions and remembrances. Even though I am reminded of all the work that is still to be done, I take the time to acknowledge all the people who came before me doing the same work, and all the beautiful things we can still celebrate.
Ryly Ziese, of Cookson, Oklahoma, is a second-year student in The Wharton School, concentrating in finance. She is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation.
Indigenous People’s Day recognizes the resilience of my ancestors and the legacy I carry with me. It is a day dedicated to the impact colonialism had on my family and many others. If it weren’t for the assimilation my great-great grandparents faced, I would be speaking Cherokee, telling old Cherokee family stories, and potentially feel more in tune with my culture.
Growing up, I felt as if I had to make up for lost time and experience as much of the Cherokee culture as I could. I attended an all-Native American high school set in the heart of the Cherokee Nation, one of the best decisions I could have made. The resources there were incredible. I got to learn how the nation worked politically, and the school would bring in storytellers and powwow dancers so we could learn from our elders.
Coming to Penn was definitely a shock. Everyone here is very goal-oriented and focused on the future; some of my classmates grew up knowing they wanted to go to Penn since the 8th grade. The native youth I saw were more carefree and fun. In my high school, we didn’t know who was going to which college. It’s about living in the moment.
Indigenous People’s Day is also celebration of the strength of modern-day Indigenous people. I use the past as a motivator to continue to follow my dreams and fight for what I believe in. There’s a stereotype that natives are bad with money. There’s not a lot of natives in finance or consulting. I want to show young female natives that it’s not impossible to achieve, and to help Cherokee Nation citizens with financial stability. Every day, I work to be the voice my great-great grandparents never got to use.
Penn’s Climate Week organizers will mark Indigenous People’s Day with an event on Oct. 10 from 4 to 6 p.m. “Native Land, Native Knowledge: A Conversation and Rap Performance About the Climate Crisis” features alumni Megan Red Shirt-Shaw C’11 (Oglala Lakota) and Talon Bazille C’15 (Crow Creek Dakota and Cheyenne River Lakota).
Student Spotlight: Melissa Echeverry, Master’s in Social Work Program, Graduate Teaching Fellow, and Graduate Resident Advisor in La Casa Hispanica
Pues según alguien me cuenta:
dicen que la luna es una
sea del mar o sea montuna.
Y así le grito al villano:
yo sería borincano
aunque naciera en la luna
“According to what someone told me: They say the moon is always one, By the sea or by the mountains. So I yell to the villain, I would be Boricua Even if I was born on the moon.”
As a Puerto Rican, I carry Puerto Rico with me everywhere I go. Puerto Rico is with me in my language, in my thoughts, and in my heart. Because regardless of where I am, I will always be “boricua”. That’s the sentiment I feel, unites us Latin Americans the most, that love for our heritage.
Our heritage shapes our ways of being and feeling. It’s the reason we connect despite our many differences, and why fundamentally we are all brothers and sisters. Precisely because it unites us in that way, we must celebrate it. This is why creating exposure and coming together as a community for events such as Latinx Heritage Month is so important. La Casa Hispanica is a community at Penn that understands and is dedicated to creating that space for students to celebrate heritage. La Casa Hispanica is part of the modern languages program in Gregory College House, designed to create a safe space for students to practice their language skills while learning about different cultures and involving themselves in a welcoming community. Melissa Echeverry, the Graduate Resident Advisor for La Casa Hispanica, sums it up best with, “My goals are to have La Casa Hispanica be a place where people are practicing Spanish but that they can also feel like they can be their authentic selves and bring that into Spanish conversation.”.
Melissa is of Mexican and Colombian roots, something she displays proudly as part of her identity. Coming from a Mexican and Colombian background meant that she had to overcome many obstacles throughout her life, such as learning the English language and helping her parents navigate many aspects of daily life, especially translating important documents. Additionally, she faced a challenge most minorities face, a lack of belonging. Melissa often felt like she was not fully accepted in undergraduate communities, “neither here, nor there”. That challenge inspired her to create a safe space to experience “Latinidad”. To be her authentic self, essentially, she created the community in La Casa Hispanica that she wished she had as an undergrad.
Last week, I had the wonderful opportunity to interview Melissa about her life, culture, and vision for Casa Hispana.
What’s your name?
- My full name is Melissa Araceli Echeverry
Where are you from?
- I am from Los Angeles, but I was born from immigrant parents from Mexico and Colombia.
What are you studying?
- I’m pursuing my master’s degree in Social Work
What are your goals for the future?
- This has always been a difficult question for me. I always do what I am passionate about. I have been very fortunate that my family has supported me and that I’ve been able to travel and get to know many different cultures and return to school after so many years. I think my goal for the future is to work in Latin American communities. Right now, I’m studying health care systems because it is so difficult for Latin American communities with the various circumstances such as documentation, health insurance, and even language barriers. My goal is to ultimately help Latin communities navigate the healthcare system.
Tell us a little about your upbringing. What is your connection to the Latin American community?
- I grew up in Valle de San Fernando with my parents. I felt like I grew up very quickly because I had to learn how to read documents, become a translator for my parents, and understand what people were saying, or at least pretend that I did. I was the first, not only to go to school, but to leave my home to study. I was actually 17 when I left my home to go to college, which, in retrospect, I think is crazy, but it is achievable. I got a degree in Political Science and stayed an extra semester to study abroad at the University of Belgrano in Buenos Aires. I chose a program that allowed me to study and work as a volunteer because I was interested in joining the Peace Corps, but wasn’t sure if that was something that I would enjoy doing. Thus, I decided to join this program in order to explore different cultures whilst also volunteering and I loved it. I got to experience what life is like outside the U.S and how political and sociological systems differ. What stood out for me was learning from different perspectives. That’s why I enjoyed my time traveling, because I really enjoyed learning through all the different perspectives, and it opened the doors to understanding how different cultures work
La Casa Hispanica and Latinx Heritage Month
What is La Casa Hispanica?
- La Casa Hispanica is a Modern Language House, housed at Gregory College House, in which we create an opportunity for students to just be in community and practice Spanish.
Who can be a part of La Casa Hispanica?
- Anyone is welcome to join, regardless of your Spanish-speaking level. We really want to create a safe space for you to not only practice Spanish but also learn about all the different cultures of all the places that speak Spanish. This is because I often feel like we present Hispanic culture from one point of view, as if it is the only way in which Hispanic cultures look like, and that’s not true. Hispanic culture looks very different across different cultures and, even within a specific culture, it can look very different. That’s something I wanted to make sure we talked about in La Casa Hispanica. Additionally, we are going to practice our Spanish and learn about different cultures through activities such as cooking, games, and conversations because it is an opportunity to build community and make students feel more comfortable. The real purpose of La Casa Hispanica is to build community, learn about cultures in creative ways that also allow you to learn a little more about yourself as you improve your language.
What is your role in La Casa Hispanica, and why did you choose this role?
- Technically, I am a teaching fellow, and I coordinate La Casa Hispanica. I chose this role because when I was an undergrad I didn’t really find my community. As a 17-year-old first-generation college student who also wasn’t living in the dorms because I wasn’t aware that the housing application was separate from the college application, there was so much I didn’t know and it was especially hard to find a place where I fit in. I also felt that some spaces didn’t accept me as I was. I felt like I wasn’t part of “ni de aqui, ni de alla” — neither here nor there. Thus, when Gwen (Gregory House Director) approached me with the opportunity to be as creative as I wanted to be and to create that space, I was thrilled. I finally created the space that I wish I would’ve had as an undergrad, and I am able to experience my “Latinidad” in the way I want to and that was genuine to me. I just want to continue encouraging people to be their authentic self.
What are your goals with La Casa Hispanica?
- My goals are to have La Casa Hispanica be a place where people are practicing Spanish, but that they can also feel like they can be their authentic selves and bring that into Spanish conversation.
What is La Casa Hispanica doing to celebrate Latinx Heritage Month?
- Casa Hispana is going to be doing a couple of things. We hosted a bring your own mug event on Tuesday September 20th, because our class is on Tuesday and I wanted to make sure all our members could participate. They can learn more about mes de latinidad while making something to share with Gregory as a whole. Another thing is that Philadelphia is really great at having free events to celebrate our culture. Specifically, for “Mes de Latinidad”, they have an entire website with links and it spans a lot of different cultures across the city. We can’t go to all of them due to time constraints, but I highlighted certain events on the weekend that we can all go to. Really, this is about bringing exposure to the Latino community in Philadelphia. It’s about how we can celebrate Latinx Heritage month, not just here at Penn, but with the wider community, with events like the Mexican Independence Day Parade, the Puerto Rican Day Parade, etc. This is a wonderful opportunity for anyone who wants to join because it is all free.
Can you tell us about other events that La Casa Hispanica will hold, that the Penn community might be interested in?
- We are trying to do smaller events to see how it goes, and later we want to expand and do events for the wider Penn community. For now, it is just a little too early.
Any advice for the Latin American community at Penn?
- I think at Penn there are a lot of opportunities to be part of a community and I believe it’s very important to be part of a community where you are seen. As a minority, you can often feel like you don’t belong and college is difficult both academically and emotionally, so I think it’s important that we be intentional in looking out for each other. Join spaces where you can be yourself and where you can connect with others. Be intentional in creating a community where you feel seen.
We are going to play a short game of hot takes, but a Latin American version! Choose one of the two possible options:
Arepas (Latin American food) or Empanadas (similar to Latin American food)?
- I have to go with Arepas Colombianas, but I want to make it clear that it is Arepas with queso.
Daddy Yankee or Bad Bunny?
- That is such a hard question because if you asked me two months ago, I would’ve said Daddy Yankee hands down. However, Bad Bunny’s last album was so good, because it was able to incorporate so many different styles. Therefore, just because of that last album I have to go with Bad Bunny.
Arroz (rice) or Frijoles (beans)?
- When I did Peace Corp. in Senegal, I ate rice every single day, so for the longest time I couldn’t eat rice. Since then, it’s been 5 years, and rice is so diverse, you can do it in so many different ways that I have to go with rice.
Que? (What?) or Mande? (What? 2.0)
- I have to go with Mande. Because if I ever said que” in front of my mom she would kill me. But when I’m with my friends, I use que.
Tu (you) or Usted (you 2.0)?
- I have to use Usted with every person I don’t know, because my family would also kill me if I said that.
Loteria (Mexican bingo) or Domino (dominoes)?
- You make it so hard for me because I have a Mexican mom and a Colombian dad, so we have played both games in our home. I’m going to say dominoes because I loved playing it and my parents would always make me laugh because they would just cheat the game.
Messi or Ronaldo?
- Historically, I have been a fan of Ronaldo. I remember watching the TV and asking myself who is this young guy who is good looking and also really good? He also happened to be playing for Manchester United alongside Carlos Tevez, who is my favorite player of all time. So, I have to go for Ronaldo.
As a member of the La Casa Hispanica community, I can say that Melissa has excelled in creating a space where everyone is welcome. La Casa Hispanica is refreshing. It gives us a break and allows us to connect, be ourselves, and have fun. As a Puerto Rican, I’m always yearning for an opportunity to express myself and my “Latinidad”, in La Casa Hispanica I get to do so. Additionally, I have learned a lot about other Latin American countries and their experiences through creative outlets, such as games, food, and music. Therefore, I encourage everyone to join La Casa Hispanica. Join us to explore different cultures and improve your Spanish, but most importantly, join La Casa Hispanica if you’re looking for a place where you can be yourself in a community that supports you.
Reopening the ARCH building
by Kristina Garcia-Wade
More than 100 students, faculty, and staff gathered in the ARCH building lobby amid the dulcet tones of the Penn Glee Club to celebrate the reimagining of the Arts Research and Cultural House (ARCH). The initiative will expand the scope of the cultural resource centers and affiliated groups, many of which were formerly housed at the garden level of the ARCH building. The centers will now have full use of the building, and Natives at Penn, formerly located at the Greenfield Intercultural Center, will join them.
Penn President Liz Magill spoke at the reopening ceremony. “For us to be a great university, we must be a welcoming, inclusive, and equitable community,” she said. “The reimagining of the ARCH building, so fully in step with this idea and so strongly guided by student input and student leadership, is a critical milestone on an ongoing journey we’re all working on. It embodies our efforts to make Penn a supportive place for our entire diverse community.”
The Sept. 7 event celebrated the culmination of a long-term project. In response to student advocacy for additional space for the cultural resource centers, University leaders affirmed expanded use of the ARCH building in the fall of 2021, and student advocates and University Life worked with Provost Administrative Affairs on a multiphase project. Planning will continue through the current academic year to assess longer-term opportunities.
“The additional student space in the ARCH signifies a continued commitment by the University to strengthen their support and resources for the expanding diverse student populations,” said Tamara Greenfield King, interim vice provost for university life, who oversaw the project. “This is just the beginning of many more enhancements to come.”
Mercedes Owens, former president of the Undergraduate Assembly, worked with University Life on this change, attending weekly meetings with a student steering committee with the goal of creating tangible change. “I knew this would require purposeful collaboration, intense conversations around activism and allyship, powerful relationship development, and, most importantly, the establishment of trust,” Owens, who graduated in 2021, said in an email. “Each generation of student leaders knows that making progress on this issue is one of the ultimate goals, especially the leaders belonging to marginalized communities.”
Many of these students see the need for social equity in the form of centrally located safe spaces, Owens said. “The ARCH expansion is an incredible first step to address this issue.”
The entire building now houses La Casa Latina, Makuu: The Black Cultural Center, Natives at Penn, and the Pan-Asian American Community House (PAACH) and includes common spaces and reservable rooms for community gathering, group study, and meetings.
The latter is essential, said Ashley Uppani, a third-year biochemistry major from Collegeville, Pennsylvania. Uppani is involved in the Asian Pacific Student Coalition and Spice Collective, which hosts “food-fueled discussions” for women and nonbinary people at PAACH. “With how involved all the cultural organizations are in planning events, ensuring the ARCH maintains space for use is essential, as otherwise we are left scrambling to find rooms,” she said.
The process to get this space has been a two-decade-long student advocacy process, said Jeffrey Yu, a fourth-year philosophy, politics, and economics major from Roslyn, New York, representing the Asian Pacific Student Coalition. “It went on before us and will go on after us. We’ll continue fighting for space.”
Yu participated in the ribbon cutting at the ARCH reopening, along with Magill, Taussia Boadi, a third-year sociology major from Westchester, New York, representing UMOJA, and Elizabeth Ramos, a second-year biochemistry major from Eastvale, California, representing the Latinx Coalition.
“Our goal, for a long time, was having our own individual houses,” said Ramos. “Seeing that we don’t just have a floor now and we have a whole building is a great first step.” Other positives for student representatives in the process included working directly with the administration and talking to with their constituencies and communities about what they wanted to see going forward, Ramos said. Building trust and transparency, she said, was paramount.
Ramos invited students to give feedback on the ARCH building. University Life created a survey where users can comment on building aesthetics, usage, and operations.
“The ARCH is now rebranded as a space for the cultural houses and their constituent members or affiliates,” said Boadi. “We should be prioritized in space as well as every other aspect of this building.”
“We’re going to fill it; we’re going to show we need more,” Ramos said. “We’re already doing that.”
Penn dedicates ARCH building to cultural centers after decades of student advocacy
After years of campaigning and student advocacy, Penn has begun renovations on the Arts, Research, and Culture House, designating it as the home to the University’s main minority coalition groups and cultural resource centers.
The grand reopening of the redesigned ARCH building, which will include remarks from Penn President Liz Magill, is set for Sept. 7 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. but renovations will continue through the spring 2023 semester.
The main minority coalition at Penn, known as the 7B, came to an agreement with the University in May to expand the cultural resource centers located in the ARCH’s basement — which include Makuu: The Black Cultural Center, La Casa Latina, and the Pan-Asian American Community House — into the rest of the ARCH building, incorporating study rooms, social spaces, and re-designated offices.
Natives at Penn, which joined the 7B in December of last year, will move from the Greenfield Intercultural Center to new space in the renovated ARCH building. Staff from Penn’s three cultural resource centers also moved upstairs from the basement as of Aug. 5. Second and third floor office spaces are being repurposed as group study and meeting rooms.
The renovations are being branded under the “Reimagining the ARCH” campaign. University Life, currently led by Interim Vice Provost Tamara Greenfield King, is overseeing the renovations in collaboration with students, cultural resource center staff, faculty, and administration.
King told The Daily Pennsylvanian that the University views the remodeling as a “welcomed, positive, historical moment” and a representation of the University “making good” on its commitment to its diverse student body after their years of advocacy.
“[Students] have advocated, on their behalf, for the opportunity to actually have more space on campus — have more social space — and been sometimes critical of the University,” King said. “But at this moment, we are proud to say they will have the ability and are being gifted the entire [ARCH] building for their access and use for educational programs, social programs, public events, by way of speakers, lecture series, and all sorts of cultural celebrations.”
ARCH is in the initial stages of remodeling and designating space for the respective cultural centers for groups in the 4B: UMOJA, the Latinx Coalition, the Asian Pacific Student Coalition, and Natives at Penn. The building will undergo aesthetic and physical changes this fall, primarily to the first floor.
“Inclusion and belonging are essential to the mission of the University, and we are proud to work with our students and the Cultural Resource Centers to create a vibrant and supportive home at the heart of campus in the ARCH,” Interim Provost Beth Winkelstein wrote to the DP.
The ARCH building, built in 1927, first housed Penn’s Christian Association. Prior to the renovations, the building was home to the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships, scholar programs, meeting space, and administrative offices. The University relocated CURF to a “temporary home,” freeing up space for the CRCs.
Students — including leaders in the 7B and staff at the CRCs — were included in the conversation to remodel the ARCH building and decide how to equitably distribute the space. Some students, including Nursing sophomore Salvador Galvez Jr., who joined La Casa Latina as a programs assistant last year, expressed excitement to use the new space from the fireside lounge on the second floor to new opportunities for cross-center programming.
“La Casa became a second home, and I was there almost every day,” Galvez said. “I was advocating for the students and their space at La Casa and expanding that.”
“One of my biggest roles was advocating for our constituency, which is all Latinx identifying groups, what they wanted out of ARCH, and what they saw ARCH being,” College sophomore and Internal Chair of the Latinx Coalition Elizabeth Ramos said.
Ramos and Galvez were a part of one of three sub-groups in a student steering committee for the ARCH renovations. Students in the sub-groups were tasked with the space allocation, aesthetics, and building operations.
“We were given the floor plans of ARCH from the basement to the third floor,” Galvez said. “We were told what rooms were available, we were given the square footage of every room and how many, how many people they fit based on its capacity.”
The students on the steering committee ensured that a prayer room, group study rooms, and more spaces were present in the redesign proposal.
The Latinx Coalition and other groups have lobbied administrators to include a community kitchen, an addition that King said will be evaluated after administrators view how students utilize the ARCH space over the next six months. The grab-and-go food area near the entrance has been removed, she said.
“It’s just been incredible to feel really valued and listened to when our work went to administration,” Ramos said.
For years, students have advocated for more space for the cultural centers on campus. With the expansion of cultural space in ARCH, Ramos is hopeful that first-year students can feel more represented and included on campus.
“Generations of our community have fought for this for them,” Ramos said. “I’m excited to have [first-year students] see us in these spaces and get to know them.”
Students representing the main minority coalition groups are still determined to advocate for more cultural space on campus, including but not limited to, an individual house for each member of the 7B — a guarantee that helped earn the coalition’s support for the University’s proposal to remodel ARCH building after rejecting a previous offer to do so in January 2020.
“The administration promises that this was temporary, and that the long-term goal was to eventually have a Black cultural house,” College sophomore, UMOJA internal chair, and ARCH steering committee member Jessica Thomas said.
Office of Fraternity & Sorority Life Models Leadership and Inclusive Excellence
Jessica Ryan, Director of Fraternity & Sorority Life Leadership Community, was selected to serve as the Panhellenic Officer for the Sigma Delta Tau National Sorority Board of Directors for the 2022-23 academic year. Ryan will help drive the organization’s vision, in addition to serving as the Chief Panhellenic Officer to the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC).
She is one of three University of Pennsylvania Office of Fraternity & Sorority Life (OFSL) staff members to volunteer for their national organizations. Associate Director for Diversity & Co-Curricular Programs Janáe Tucker and Administrative Coordinator Rachael Garrett Canfield also hold positions with their alumni sororities on the national and regional levels.
In her role at Penn, Ryan oversees the OFSL staff to lead chapter and council advising, leadership development, and programming areas in fraternity and sorority life.
With over 15 years of experience at the Panhellenic level, Ryan brings a specific knowledge and passion for working with all 26 member organizations in the NPC. She said her volunteer roles strengthened her professional development at Penn by learning about fraternity and sorority life at other universities and working with students throughout the country.
“Sigma Delta Tau has connected me to so many people across generations and from many different backgrounds,” Ryan said. “Being able to volunteer alongside these individuals has truly enriched my life.”
Beginning as an undergraduate at the University of South Florida, Ryan has over 15 years of experience at the Panhellenic level. As a graduate student, she sought out volunteer opportunities with her sorority by connecting young alumnae to the Sigma Delta Tau Foundation. Her involvement expanded for the national organization, traveling to chapters throughout the country as a Recruitment Specialist. Later, Ryan became a Co-Recruitment Chair and Release Figures Methodology (RFM) specialist for the NPC.
Ryan designed Sigma Delta Tau’s first Alternative Break initiative. She led the program for five years, coordinating and leading student members on service-learning activities in Tampa Bay and Philadelphia. It specialized in child advocacy and supported domestic violence victims.
“As a college student, involvement lays a foundation for leadership development, and the structure of fraternities and sororities provides that starting point to engage with programs offered on a national and local level,” Ryan said. “As values-based organizations, members learn a lot about their personal values, and their brothers, sisters, or siblings help their members stay on the path to align these values.
“When you graduate, that shouldn’t all just go away.”
Ryan has volunteered for the Sigma Delta Tau national convention that occurs annually or bi-annually. She has worked on the planning team, presented workshops, and spoken at several national conventions. Ryan said it has “taught me a lot about conference planning and developed my skills as a facilitator and speaker.”
Experiencing the behind-the-scenes and business side of national conventions has guided Ryan in her advisement of Penn’s fraternities and sororities. Involvement in the national fraternity and sorority community helps serve as a model for Penn students to uphold OFSL’s Pillars of Vanguard, Foundation, Compass, Relationship, and Impact. She encourages chapters to use their voice and speak up for positive changes in their national organizations. Ryan helps student leaders identify campuses to connect with at their respective conventions.
“When our students come back from a convention, they are often excited about a speaker they heard or a goal they have,” Ryan said. “As advisors, we take that momentum and help the student leader see their vision come back to life at Penn.”
For Janáe Tucker, being a member of a fraternity or sorority is more than just letters across a person’s chest
“We wear the letters — the letters don’t wear us.”
“We wear the letters — the letters don’t wear us.”
Tucker has carried out that mantra as a sorority alumna. A proud sister of Lambda Theta Alpha, she served on the national convention committee, national constitution, and standing rules committee for LTA. Tucker was the emcee for the national convention.
She has worked closely with her sorority on the national level. Tucker prepares convention speaking advisors, hosts receptions for alumni, and communicates with faculty members.
“For those that stay involved post-undergraduate, the work we do is because we love our organization and want to shape it with great leaders,” Tucker said. “It is most definitely all volunteer, so the love is real.”
Her experience working with national chapters provides her with real-life diversity, equity, and inclusion scenarios that she applies in her role as the Associate Director for Diversity and Co-Curricular Programs at Penn.
National conventions leave her reengaged and energized to come back to Penn with another level of advice and leadership. Tucker points to recruitment tips, interpersonal skills, policy updates, and creative Brotherhood and Sisterhood event ideas as takeaways from her involvement with Lambda Theta Alpha. She said she has gained “advice on how to push the narrative on fraternity and sorority life and its lack of identifying queerness or toxic masculinity topics that organizations usually don’t shed light on as much as they should.”
Tucker is also involved with her undergraduate chapter at Rider University as an alumni advisor. She has served as an area coordinator for two New Jersey regions that consist of 11 undergraduate chapters.
Her commitment to Lambda Theta Alpha national organization is part of her, and she expects to be involved more to raise funds for the organization’s national philanthropy, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. Tucker hopes her passion, pride, and charisma serve as a model for students to push hard for the fraternity and sorority community at Penn.
Canfield was appointed to a Budget District Director position at Kappa Alpha Theta at its national convention this summer. She will support chapters with creating budgets and ensuring compliance in a district spanning Indiana, Eastern Tennessee, and Kentucky.
She served as a volunteer alumnae advisor for Penn’s chapter for 12 years. Canfield volunteered regionally at the Philadelphia Alumnae Chapter as a member of the Foundation Reading and Scoring Committee. Canfield recently began her second stint as president of the University of Pennsylvania Advisory Board.
“Personally, I love giving back to the organization that did so much for me, and it was through my experience as a volunteer local advisor that I realized student affairs and fraternity and sorority advising was my passion,” she said. “I would not be working in this office today if I had not started as a volunteer alumnae advisor. I do this work because being in a sorority literally changed my life.”
Canfield currently serves as the Administrative Coordinator at OFSL. She is the human resources and business manager of the department. Canfield handles all financial matters and manages the OFSL Grant Funding Program.
Canfield believes her work as a young delegate of the Kappa Alpha Theta convention body has a large impact on the future of the organization. One of her sorority’s aims is to create the widest Influence for good, and she strives to live to that standard in her role at Penn. Canfield noted the philanthropic side of fraternity and sorority life has shaped her personal philosophy since she was an undergraduate student at Ole Miss.
By working strategically with partners across campus, OFSL lives up to its Vanguard pillar through high-quality programs and enhanced learning resources for students and staff. Canfield added that the department’s 40-plus national organizations work to help Penn fraternity and sorority members become leaders in their community, create inclusive spaces, and maintain their founders’ principles.
OFSL hosts more than 40 fraternities, sororities, and co-ed organizations that include 3,000-plus members. Its philosophy for an optimate fraternal experience is through an active, four-way partnership with each chapter and its leadership, alumni/ae members through advisory boards, national headquarters, and the University of Pennsylvania. This collaboration is essential to providing maximum support to undergraduate chapter members and leaders, and provides a strong, consistent message for the entire community. Visit the OFSL website on chapter information and how to join an organization.
Reimagining Space, Place, & Belonging
Laurie A. Hall, Assistant Vice Provost for Strategic Planning & Operations in University Life, has always brought a community-building lens to her work. From her early career as a certified social worker, through her time as a university administrator, Hall has consistently leveraged her talent and experience to build partnerships, physical spaces, community, and a sense of belonging.
In her current role, Hall oversees the advancement of University Life’s strategic vision and planning. Among her responsibilities, she cultivates strategies for establishing an ethos of dignity, cultural humility, and inclusion. Her team, which includes strategic initiatives, partnerships, communications and design, and strategic operations was created in Spring ‘21 and is uniquely positioned to work cross functionally managing University Life’s mission-oriented projects.
Prior to her time in higher education, Hall spent a decade in the nonprofit sector, reintegrating formerly incarcerated persons and their families into community living. In that organization, she managed an undergraduate internship program that partnered with Rutgers University and Seton Hall University.
Hall identified “a need to go on the inside” to see how social work students were preparing to work within the communities they served. Her first role, as the Director of the Center for Volunteerism and Service Learning at Saint Elizabeth University, required oversight of the training and placement of students in community engagement roles in New Jersey. She later transitioned to Princeton University to assist with the development of its first campus center. She was charged to create internal campus community and cultivate partnerships between the Frist Campus Center and Princeton’s cultural centers. That transition began a 17-year tenure at Princeton in multiple roles, most notably as Assistant Director for Administrative Planning in the Office of the Executive Vice President.
Coming from a nonprofit world that was serving people from disadvantaged backgrounds and trying to reintegrate them into communities, taught Hall how to identify commonalities in groups and build sustainable communities.
The through-line in her career has been making connections between people and creating a sense of community. As a social worker, Hall had to dispel the stigma that those in halfway houses belonged back in prison and were unwelcome in their surroundings–even in their home communities. She later identified that college campuses could feel just as exclusionary, and institutions must make a deliberate effort to cultivate belonging.
Universities have opportunities to consider the needs of the students by engaging their voice in the planning of space. Spaces impact their users and should reflect the people that inhabit them.
“Unless people overtly tell you that you’re welcome in a public space, you don’t know that it is for you,” Hall said. “Four years on campus is a relatively brief time. Students should not have to spend their first year on campus trying to figure out what spaces they should access.”
Reimagining The ARCH
Upon arriving at Penn in 2017, Hall began examining physical spaces at the University of Pennsylvania. Her efforts to reimagine space and place, through the lens of inclusion and belonging, helped craft University Life’s mission and strategic vision of inclusive space and place.
One of the most prominent projects is currently underway: a collaborative re-envisioning of The Arts, Research, and Culture House (ARCH) on 3601 Locust Walk. Slated to re-open in Fall ‘22, The ARCH will fully accommodate the Cultural Resource Centers (CRCs), providing more communal, academic, and event space for its affiliated student organizations.
Hall’s efforts are ensuring that University Life is creating culturally responsive settings for its diverse student organizations. Students should be able to walk into The ARCH and “not just see themselves in the space.” Instead, she said the space should be responsive to their individualized needs.
The enhancements are part of a greater effort by University Life to advocate for facilities that are accessible and inclusive of various perspectives. The quality and adornment of spaces has a strong influence on the students’ experiences. The ARCH will create gathering spaces that meet students’ needs and evolve over the course of their time.
Reimagining Student Agency
A significant aspect of the ARCH expansion project was the centrality of student voices in the process. University Life and the Office of the Provost worked with representatives of the Asian Pacific Student Coalition, Latinx Coalition, Umoja, Natives at Penn, as well as the Undergraduate Assembly, to the planning table to make recommendations around a variety of structural, operational, aesthetic, and physical improvements.
“The philosophy of space and place that University Life provides is giving students agency over the spaces they occupy,” Hall said.
A recurring theme of the students’ recommendations was ensuring that spaces were student-centered and supported community building among the diverse student populations and CRCs that access the facility. They advocated that each floor should evoke a different tone. The ground floor will be reserved for a student-centered place to meet and celebrate culture and identity. Their recommendations suggested the first floor be designed to “create a collective ambiance of community among BIPOC students.”
Aesthetically, the students encouraged design elements that create a unique and modern space that captures the cultures represented in The ARCH. Vibrant murals and interactive walls will celebrate the cultures that call The ARCH home.
“They came at it very professionally,” Hall said. “They were particularly good at it. We were meeting with the furniture designer, and the color palette that they recommended is right on point.”
Hall said Penn students were focused on integrating their academic experience to The ARCH. They recommended that the second floor of the building be primarily oriented towards creating shared working spaces, known as Group Study Rooms (GSRs), like those in Huntsman Hall and Biotech Commons. The building will help link academics and diversity by featuring a cultural library with literature featuring BIPOC authors, large event space for community building, and classrooms for formal courses. The ARCH’s third floor will house workspaces for CRC staff.
Built in 1927, The ARCH was known as The Christian Association until a 2014 restoration revitalized the historic, late-Gothic Revival structure. The Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships (CURF) shared the space with cultural resource centers and will relocate in time for the Fall ‘22 semester.
The ARCH will reopen in Fall ‘22 as it transitions into a multicultural center. Based on the student working groups’ recommendations, physical improvements to the building will be made over the course of the 2022-23 academic year.
The second phase of the revitalization will be an assessment of how students use the space throughout the fall and spring semesters. “Students never had the whole building,” Hall said. “There will be parts of the building that CURF occupied that they never had access to.” By Spring ‘22, the planning committee expects to be able to identify what works and does not work as the CRCs evolve with more space.
“In all of our spaces, we are making sure we consider the needs of our undergraduate and graduate students, both in terms of formal programmatic use and their needs for interaction and building relationships across identities,” Hall said.
Through strategic partnerships, operational excellence, and a cohesive vision, each project brings the team one step closer to the shared vision of creating inclusive spaces and cultivating a sense of belonging. Reimagining the ARCH is a transformational project and a shining example of how the Strategic Planning & Operations team manages the full life cycle of University Life’s strategic initiatives.
Philadelphia Gayborhood with Malik Muhammad
In celebration of Pride Month, University Life took a trip to the Philadelphia Gayborhood with Malik Muhammad, Associate Director of the LGBT Center, to learn about the history of the neighborhood, explore Malik’s favorite spots, and visit a few LGBTQ+ owned small businesses.
Embracing Pride Month is all about that sense of empowerment and giving power back to our communities to know we belong here - in this city and in this space.
Special Thanks to
Jay Monahan | Interviewer & Editor
Steve McCann | Videographer
345 S 12th St, Philadelphia, PA 19107
Giovanni’s Room is the oldest, very best LGBTQ & Feminist bookstore in the Country and Philadelphia’s number 1 source for LGBTQ fiction & non-fiction books.
1315 Spruce St, Philadelphia, PA 19107
The William Way LGBT Community Center serves the LGBTQIA+ community of Philadelphia and its allies 365 days a year.
243 S Camac St, Philadelphia, PA 19107
Tavern on Camac is a gay-friendly tavern known for its piano singalongs & dance parties.
Throughout June, University Life will celebrate Pride Month with stories and interviews of influential figures in Penn’s LGBTQ community.
Sharon Smith, AVP for University Life Receives Penn Dental Honor
As part of Penn Dental Medicine’s commencement ceremony for the Class of 2022, the school recognized Sharon Smith, Associate Provost for University Life, with a special certificate of appreciation for her service to students. In her role at the University, Ms. Smith oversees a number of campus support programs and endeavors to holistically serve students navigating Penn.
Presently a member of Penn Dental Medicine’s Committee for Cultural Growth, Ms. Smith supports Penn Dental Medicine students and the administration in wide-ranging areas, including assisting with issues such as personal and academic emergencies, food insecurity, provision of urgent medical care, and providing assistance to the school’s international students.
Ms. Smith came to Penn in 1987, serving in various leadership positions throughout campus, including the Penn College Achievement Program, New Student Orientation, and Open Expression. She was instrumental in helping to create the mission and framework of the Student Intervention Services Office (SIS), which leads Penn’s response to emergencies and critical incidents involving students.
“For over 20 years, Sharon has been a dedicated and passionate supporter of Penn Dental Medicine students,” said Uri Hangorsky, Associate Dean for Student Affairs. “She has selflessly made herself available to work with us not only during regular working hours, but also during nights, weekends, and major holidays. She embodies the very best humanity has to offer—wisdom, compassion, integrity, and dedication.”