SALT Annual Conference

Tina Fragoso and Toyce Holmes will lead us in reflection as we honor the Native People on whose land we live, learn, and work.

Land Acknowledgment for the University of Pennsylvania

We recognize and acknowledge that the University of Pennsylvania stands on the Indigenous territory known as “Lenapehoking,” the traditional homelands of the Lenape, also called Lenni-Lenape or Delaware Indians. These are the people who, during the 1680s, negotiated with William Penn to facilitate the founding of the colony of Pennsylvania. Their descendants today include the Delaware Tribe and Delaware Nation of Oklahoma; the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape, Ramapough Lenape, and Powhatan Renape of New Jersey; and the Munsee Delaware of Ontario.

Julie E. Wollman, Professor of Practice at Penn GSE, and President Emerita of Widener University, is an experienced higher education leader and a nationally recognized innovator in higher education strategy development. For more than a decade, Dr. Wollman served as the president of Widener University and, before that, Edinboro University, following experiences as a provost and vice president for academic affairs, dean, doctoral program director, and tenured full professor, in both public and private higher education institutions. Her areas of expertise include the presidency in higher education; leadership qualities and ethical leadership; scenario planning and creative design of college and university strategy; the imperative for change and effective change management in higher education; and the future of higher education.

You can learn more about Dr. Wollman via the Penn GSE website.

Access to Reproductive Care: A SHIFTing Landscape for Higher Education Professionals | Class of ’49 Room

Jaclyn Recktenwald, Director of Wellbeing Initiatives – Public Health and Wellbeing

The reversal of Roe v. Wade has impacted access to reproductive care across the country and here in Pennsylvania. Join the Wellness at Penn team to learn more about the statutory history of abortion access, an overview of relevant policies you should know about impacting higher education, and a deep dive into the Daily Pennsylvanian archives highlighting student voices that debated these issues.

The Power of Student Worker Teams | Ben Franklin Room

Lyndsi Burcham, Financial Wellness Manager – Financial Wellness @ Penn

Many of us manage programs with a small team of full-time staff, or maybe we even fly solo! Hiring a team of students can help amplify your work and distribute responsibilities. This session will discuss the major milestones involved in managing a student team. Topics covered will include deciding to hire, designing job descriptions, the hiring process, onboarding and training, providing feedback, managing team dynamics, and potential student employment conflicts. We will discuss the Financial Wellness @ Penn team as one example, and the audience will be encouraged to share their own experiences as well.

Shifts That Stuck: Technology from the Pandemic We’re Still Using Today | Bodek Lounge

Facilitators:

Angelina Conti, Director of Digital Learning – Arts & Sciences Online Learning

Jaime Kelly, Director of Certificate and Non – Degree Programs, College of Liberal and Professional Studies

Panelists:

Joshua Beeman, Associate Vice President for IT and Associate CIO – University of Pennsylvania Information Systems & Computing

Ellen Liebman, Associate Director of Administration – College of Arts & Sciences

Kristine Rabberman, Deputy Vice Dean and Director of Academic Affairs – College of Liberal and Professional Studies

Rebecca Stuhr, Associate University Librarian for Academic Engagement & Director of Arts and Culture Libraries, University of Pennsylvania Libraries

This panel will bring together colleagues from across the schools and central offices at Penn to discuss how our work has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic in relationship to technology and the blurring of digital and on-campus interactions and student support. Panelists will be asked to identify new key questions that guide their work as well as strategies and practices that are working in their context. This panel will be hosted by student affairs and online learning staff from the College of Liberal and Professional Studies (LPS) in Arts & Sciences.

Accessible Design is Good Design | Golkin Room

Marjan Osman Gartland, Director of Creative Strategy and Design – University Life Central

Hannah Urkowitz, UX Web Designer – Wharton External Affairs

Aaron Spector, Director of Student Disability Services – Weingarten Center

Does the term “web accessibility” bring to mind a jumble of confusing guidelines and unnecessary red tape? This panel of disability and design experts reveals that accessible design is good design. Learn why accessibility matters to a broad base of audience members and take away a practical understanding of design principles that meet accessibility standards while helping your content communicate more clearly to all end-users. Designing with accessibility in mind does not have to be an extra burden. In fact, accessibility is a pathway to better, more user-friendly design.

Workplace Culture: Unpacking the “Invisible Briefcase” | Class of ’49 Room

Christopher Klaniecki, Global Initiatives Program Manager, Penn Global Initiatives

Jackie Billek, Integration and Community Engagement Coordinator – International Student & Scholar Services

Dr. Rudie Altamirano, Executive Director – Immigration Services and Integration Programs, International Student & Scholar Services

Dr. Yuhong He, Associate Director of Integration & Community Engagement, International Student & Scholar Services

This program explores the hidden, unseen elements of Work Culture and their potential for both conflict and growth within the workplace setting. Participants will explore concepts such as Intercultural Humility and the Iceberg Concept of Culture to find and discuss some of the hidden layers of their own organization’s culture, in addition to evaluating their individual cultural backgrounds in contrast.

Artificial Intelligence: the Earthquake Shaking up Academic Integrity | Ben Franklin Room

Dani Crowl, Associate Director – Center for Community Standards and Accountability

ChatGPT and new technologies are creating seismic rifts inside the classroom. How can we maintain student ethics and strong integrity in the wake of these changing and advancing technologies? This session will speak to the true magnitude of ChatGPT cheating in the classroom and the realities of catching these types of violations. Additionally, this session will provide steps to help support both students and faculty during the aftershock of robot writing. Let’s rebuild trust and bridge the fractures to maintain integrity in the Penn classroom!

SHIFTing Gender Landscape | Bodek Lounge

Jake Muscato, Associate Director – LGBT Center

Malik Muhammad – Associate Director – LGBT Center

As the Transgender and Non-Binary community at Penn grows, so does the need to provide our students with pertinent resources and support. In this session, LGBT Center staff will discuss the ever-changing gender landscape and how Student Affairs professionals can expand their current knowledge of Trans and Non-Binary identities to better support students at Penn. We will also review resources available to Trans and Non-Binary students through the LGBT Center, along with identifying gaps in current supports and how we can address those discrepancies.

From Boots to Backpacks: Veterans and Military Students at the University of Pennsylvania | Golkin Room

Lynn Manuel, Associate Director, Veteran & Military-Affiliated Engagement – Student Records & Financial Services

The veteran and military student population at the University of Pennsylvania has more than tripled during the last five years. During 2022-2023, nearly 400 students used VA education benefits to help pay for their education at Penn. While a number of these students are undergraduates who are dependents of veterans, the majority are veterans working on graduate degrees. Please join me to learn more about Penn’s veteran and military students, their backgrounds, the unique perspectives they bring to higher education, the services we provide, and our goal to reframe student veteran services at Penn.

Wellness at Penn, Programming and Outreach Initiatives

Wellness at Penn strives to develop inclusive, innovative, and impactful initiatives that integrate science, theory, and practice across the 8 domains of wellness. Wellness at Penn partners with staff and students across campus on a variety of programming and outreach initiatives, including email-delivered education, interactive health education workshops, i care training, substance-free events, resource fairs, and orientation presentations. Visit our table to learn more about our initiatives and how you can partner with Wellness at Penn to promote holistic wellbeing among your students, staff, and in your spaces.

Penn Engineering Online

Stop by to chat with Adrienne Yoder, Academic Advising Manager at Penn Engineering Online, and learn about the steps their team has taken to make Slack “the backbone of the community.” We often take for granted the ability for on-campus students to easily meet and connect with other students outside of the classroom – whether it’s through their sports team, their residence hall, common dining areas, etc. What happens to those connections when none of those physical spaces exist? As we continue to learn how students’ support systems positively affect their persistence to graduation, it is critical that online programs adopt platforms for online students to connect in a space that can feel isolating.

One such platform, Slack, has been utilized by Penn Engineering Online since 2019 as its main communication tool for students to connect online in real-time. Its impact on student support has been remarkable, and we look forward to sharing about the successes, challenges, and future considerations for using such a tool to host online academic communities.

Career Services

The Career Services office provides career and graduate/professional school advising to all undergraduate students at Penn as well as many graduate students and post-docs. The office also manages a variety of programs to connect students with employers. Stop by our table to meet staff members, learn more about our programs (including the Career Champions program for staff and faculty!), and gain a better understanding of the services available to students.

Weingarten Center

The Weingarten Center is Penn’s home for academic support and disability services for undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. Stop by to learn about the renovated Accommodated Testing Center, new efforts to embed services in key campus locations, new colleagues providing case management, STEM tutoring coordination, instructional design, and the Weingarten Center’s return to Stouffer Commons in August 2023.

Wellness at Penn, Penn Park Farm

The Penn Park Farm is Penn’s first and only on-campus farm. Each year, the farm grows thousands of pounds of organic produce to support food access initiatives and hosts a wide variety of programming including research, internships, class visits, courses, workshops, volunteer opportunities, and events. This unique, multidisciplinary initiative of Wellness at Penn engages stakeholders from across the Penn community around four central pillars of wellness, food access, sustainability, and education.

Stop by to learn about the ways in which we have adapted and used our physical space to meet the shifting needs of students.

Greenfield Intercultural Center, Natives at Penn (NAP)

Learn more about support for Native Students and Native Initiatives at Penn! Stop by to chat with our Native colleagues from across the university to learn more about support services for Native Students at Penn as well as resources available for staff and faculty to help plan events that are more inclusive to the Native community.

Pan-Asian American Community House (PAACH)

The Pan-Asian American Community House (PAACH) is a hub of academic, personal, and professional growth for Penn students interested in Asian American culture and the Asian American Diaspora. PAACH is one of the six cultural resource centers at Penn, located at the historic ARCH Building. We develop and implement innovative social and cultural programs for leadership development and community service in close collaboration with AAPI students and community groups. PAACH opened in the fall of 2000 in response to students’ calls for a cultural resource center at the University of Pennsylvania where South Asian, East Asian, Southeast Asian, and Pacific Islander cultures could be celebrated.

Penn Recreation

Chat with staff from the Division of Recreation and Intercollegiate Athletics to learn about ways to collaborate on social and physical wellness opportunities for the entire Penn Community. Build more Penn pride on your work teams by creating shared experiences such as attending athletic games and participating in recreation programs, and so much more!

Opioid Reversal Training: The Importance of Narcan at Universities | Class of ’49 Room

Trainor Macrone, Substance Use Specialist – Wellness at Penn

Substance use at universities across the country continues to be very prevalent amongst the student population. In addition to this concern, certain substances are being laced with a synthetic opioid called fentanyl. To combat the increase of laced substances on university campuses, Wellness has created efforts to educate students on the importance of Narcan, a lifesaving, opioid reversal drug. Along with the education aspect, Wellness has also implemented strategies to help train students on how to properly administer Narcan. Although it is highly important that the student population is made aware of substance use, it is equally important that staff at the University of Pennsylvania are equipped with the knowledge of opioid use in Philadelphia and amongst college students.

Shifts Happen with Assessment– Roundtable Discussion | Ben Franklin Room

Trina Sokoloski, Director for Training & Assessment – College Houses & Academic Services

This session is intended to provide space for idea-sharing and community-building among those who lead or contribute to assessment initiatives in their professional roles. Let’s discuss approaches to assessment, ways we use data, and opportunities for continued connection as we build professional networks. A few questions will be posed for us to consider, with plenty of room to explore assessment topics based upon participants’ interests and needs.

Re-Imagining an Organization – Inclusive Visioning of Values and Mission | Bodek Lounge

Laurie Hall, Assistant Vice Provost for Strategic Planning and Operations – University Life

Marjan Gartland, Director of Creative Strategy and Design – University Life

Mike Elias, Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives – University Life

Jane Holahan, Executive Director, Weingarten Center – University Life

In Spring ’21 University Life embarked on an organizational overhaul to ensure alignment of our work with student and campus needs. This re-envisioning included a broad mission and values development process with participation from all members of the division to inform how we serve, care for, and support students. This effort resulted in a set of guiding principles that serve as the driver for redefining organizational and departmental priorities. We established departmental goals, objectives, and metrics to define our work and ensure organizational alignment moving forward. This session will demonstrate the possibilities that result from broad visioning, inclusive planning, impactful storytelling, and a bit of bravery.

Centralizing the Academic Integrity Process to facilitate Student Support | Golkin Room

Kendall Johnson, Assistant Director of Student Affairs – Penn Engineering Online

Julie Nettleton, Executive Director – Center of Community Standards and Accountability

Ken Leichter, Senior Judicial Case Manager – Center for Community Standards and Accountability

Penn Engineering Online (EOL) and the Penn Center for Community Standards and Accountability (CSA) will present on the collaborative methods used to support and hold online students accountable in the MCIT Online program. The presenters will discuss and compare the traditional Penn model of academic integrity escalations with the process used for MCIT Online. They will further discuss the unique

complexities of MCIT Online students, the role student advising plays, and the benefits of centralizing this process has for all stakeholders. The discussion will conclude with influences and implications for how a centralized Academic Integrity process could help support on-campus students

Supporting Survivors: Recognizing and Responding to Interpersonal Violence | Class of ‘49 Room

Julie Millisky and Reema Malhotra, MSW, LSW (Associate Directors, Penn Violence Prevention)

This training will help participants understand the impacts of sexual assault and relationship violence, and provide them with concrete skills to support survivors of interpersonal violence. This is an excellent opportunity to sharpen personal skills around responding to trauma and learn about the resources available at Penn.

Leveraging Data Optimization to Shift Wellness Initiatives | Ben Franklin Room

M. Christina Dogbey-Smith, Epidemiologist – Wellness at Penn

Rina Rosnow, Epidemiologist – Wellness at Penn

Data is a powerful tool that can facilitate nimble responses to the evolving needs of our students. It can help to tell the stories that need to be heard and provide launching points for action. During this session, Public Health and Wellbeing will outline how multiple data sources are used to construct an integrated understanding of the health and wellbeing of Penn students. Public health surveillance, program evaluations, and benchmarking surveys are utilized to inform Wellness at Penn programming and policy activities. We intend to encourage discussion about how Wellness at Penn can collaborate with campus colleagues on data optimization and share in the mission of creating a campus that integrates the science, theory, and practice of wellness.

What’s In a Name? Pan-Asian American Identities and Pronunciations | Bodek Lounge

Xena Wang, Admissions Counselor – Penn Undergraduate Admissions

Anh Phuong Nguyen, Penn Graduate School of Education M.S. Ed

Wendy Yu, Penn Graduate School of Education M.S. Ed

Cindy Au Kramer, Finance, Operations, & Program Coordinator – Pan-Asian American Community House

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. Asian identities embody a significant subset of the US population and the Penn community, including our undergraduate applicants. Penn Admissions is committed to intentional equity and collective care. We aim to dignify the lived experiences and cultures our students share with us. We start by acknowledging the range of diversity encompassed in the catch-all “Asian” definition and how we can honor that in our applications. Penn Admissions examined the domestic Asian-identifying applicant pool and common surnames that frequently appeared. In partnership with the Pan-Asian American Community House, we sorted these names by language and had native speakers record them for staff to practice, which has been reflected in our Early Decision and Regular Decision cycles for the Class of 2027.

This presentation, first shared during Admissions training, is now brought to the greater Penn community to encourage faculty and staff in celebrating AAPI identities through knowledge and pronunciations to meet evolving student needs both at Penn and beyond.

Shifting from Within: Self Reflection as a Catalyst for Change | Golkin Room

Amber Williams, House Director – College Houses and Academic Services

Shalyssa Smith, House Director – College Houses and Academic Services

To be a catalyst of external change, as staff, we must be willing to be present and engaged in cultivating change that begins within. While attending this session, first participants will reflect on their own identities and expand their knowledge of terms and experiences of varying identities. Next, participants will navigate and think about identity in relation to others through applied and experiential learning. Participants will discuss how their experiences throughout the session may align, overlap, or vary from their students’ experiences. As a result of attending the session, student affairs leaders should walk away with new perspectives and vantage points on how to support students through interpersonal shifts.