Announcements

We write today to share our contingency plans for a possible SEPTA service disruption, which could begin as early as Monday, November 1. This work stoppage would impact the City Transit Division of SEPTA, which includes bus, trolley, Market-Frankford Line, and Broad Street subway services. Regional Rail, Customized Community Transportation, the Norristown High-Speed Line, and Trolleys 101 and 102 would continue to run.

An update on additional steps Penn is taking to help students, faculty, staff, and postdocs safely navigate the semester.

We are very pleased to inform you of an important enhancement to Workday. Penn faculty and staff members now have the option to self-identify their sexual orientation and gender identity in their personal profile. Sharing this information is completely voluntary. The aggregate data collected will be used to report on the diversity of the University’s faculty and staff more fully. This information will also assist the University in more effectively planning for benefits administration, policy development, and other administrative purposes.

The University requiring, effective immediately, that all members of the Penn community wear masks while indoors in public or shared spaces.

Earlier today, President Biden nominated me to serve as United States Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany. I cannot overstate what a meaningful and extraordinary honor it is to be nominated by the President for this important position of service to our country.

No one is more deserving of this recognition than Amy Gutmann. She is one of the most highly regarded academic leaders in the world and has led the University of Pennsylvania to new heights of eminence. Amy has been a superb President for Penn and we have total confidence that she will remain fully focused on advancing Penn’s agenda until the conclusion of her time at the University.

Penn will be fully reopening campus for the fall semester, while continuing to be guided by best practices in public health.

As we complete an extraordinary academic year, we write to extend our profound thanks to all colleagues—Penn’s unsurpassed faculty and staff—for your individual and collaborative efforts in serving our community through the pandemic while working both on-campus and remotely.

Juneteenth marks the 156th anniversary of the date when enslaved people in Texas finally received word that President Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation more than two and a half years earlier. As our country and University continue to reckon with and work to address the systemic racism and discrimination that are the legacy of slavery, Penn should and will redouble its efforts to foster justice and equity.

Our country has recently witnessed a deeply disturbing increase in anti-Semitism and instances of prejudice and bigotry directed toward people of Asian or African descent and other diverse groups. This is wholly unacceptable anywhere. It is all the more unconscionable in a free and educated nation that anyone should fear for their safety or be forced to endure the vile rantings and sickening symbols of bigotry.