Dear Colleagues,

Over the past several months, we have made it through a busy season of summer turnaround work, a smooth kickoff to the academic year with a very sustainable and customer service oriented Move-In, ribbon cuttings and other celebrations for several new projects and renovated spaces, as well as openings for new campus restaurants.  And let's not forget one very coordinated hurricane preparedness plan put in place. 

I am proud and grateful to be able to work with a department of exceptional, committed individuals who display great teamwork and a genuine interest in the well being of our community members.  You have exhibited extreme professionalism, effective leadership, responsible actions, and a high level of commitment to Penn.  Your ongoing collaboration with our colleagues across campus, as well as our surrounding neighbors, is apparent and makes a positive impact.

I commend each of you for the exemplary work you have produced this semester, and please accept my appreciation and admiration for a job well done. I look forward to working with all of you in 2013 and continuing to make great strides forward in building and maintaining our beautiful campus environment. 

You all deserve a long and leisurely Winter Break and a very Happy New Year!

Sincerely,





 

Anne Papageorge

Vice President

Update on the FRES Lean Process Improvements

The FRES Lean Process Improvement Team, a cross functional team, has exhibited  innovation, initiative, and commitment to service as they improved FRES' work flow processes to thirteen different trade shops using the Lean Six Sigma methodology, resulting in improved work order efficiency, increased workforce satisfaction, better communication with schools and centers, better inventory management, and reduced work order cycle times.

As of November, about 60% of shops have implemented Lean Process Improvements. The goal is to have all shops participating by April 2013.

FRES Employee Engagement Committee Rolls Up its Sleeves

All FRES staff members have much to look forward to as this committee encourages all of us to know each other and contribute to a positive workplace environment. They coordinate programs for FRES throughout the year, encouraging them to participate in diverse activities within FRES and the Penn Community.

The FRES Engagement Committee Blood Drive was held from October 22 through November 9,  2012.  Our goal was 20% of the 150  FRES staff to sign up to donate blood.  We actually exceeded our goal and had 36 people actually go to the Penn Blood Donation center to give blood. As a result, 100 people will benefit from our Blood Drive.  Eight FRES employees have signed up to give blood on an ongoing basis and three FRES employees  gave blood platelet donations, which is needed for high risk patient care. FRES thanks the Engagement Committee members and especially Beth Schwartz, Lauren Robinson and Deborah Stokes for their work on this activity. Anyone interested in donating blood in the future may visit pennmedicine.org for more information.

The current event for the FRES Engagement Committee, spearheaded by Carol Mercaldo, is an Adopt a Family community event, where we are sponsoring four families from the West Philadelphia area this holiday season.  FRES staff gave more than $1400 in monetary donations and brought in many items on the families' wish lists, doubling last year's collection.  We will host a luncheon for the families this week and give the gifts to them to enjoy during the holidays.

The FRES Engagement Committee is committed to serving the Penn Community and enhancing relationships of FRES staff one event at a time. This Spring, they will be organizing Take Our Children to Work Day. Anyone interested in volunteering for this committee should contact Lauren Robinson at lrobin@upenn.edu. 

FRES Engagement Committee:  Jim Bean, Taylor Berkowitz, Karen DiMaria, Agnes Donaldson, Lauren Robinson, Joe Gaither, Roshelle Hill, Karen Hughey, Gerry McGillian, Karen Gibson, Chereese Martin, Carole Mercaldo, Jennifer Rizzi, Lauren Robinson, Beth Schwartz, Deb Stokes.

Preservation Award Recognizes Weiss Pavilion

Preservation Pennsylvania has recognized the George A. Weiss Pavilion with a Construction Project Award for Public & Institutional Properties.

The initial design for the adaptive reuse of the historic Franklin Field, with the new space 'captured' from within the exterior arches, resulted in a very narrow and long floor plan. Searching through the University's architectural archives, it was discovered that adjacent streets were much lower when Franklin Field was built, and that an extra 25,000 square feet of space existed below the current ground floor of the stadium concourse. By excavating the adjacent landscape and incorporating this space, a total of 55,000 square feet was made available for the intercollegiate strength and conditioning center, a general fitness center, retail outlets, and the Education Commons.

The Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Awards are presented annually by Preservation Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth's only statewide non-profit dedicated to preserving Pennsylvania's historic places.

Rotunda Registered as Historic Place  

The Rotunda has been added to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places by the Philadelphia Historical Commission. The submission was prepared by a graduate student as part of PennDesign's 2011 Preservation Studio. Built in 1911 for the First Church of Christ, the building, at 4014 Walnut St., is now owned by the University of Pennsylvania as part of its Facilities and Real Estate Services arts portfolio and offers cultural programming for the community. Over the years, programming of the space has increased significantly, so much so that The Rotunda was recently nominated for Best Small Music Venue in Philadelphia Magazine's "Best of Philly 2012."

Penn Honored as Tree Campus USA School in 2011  

For the third year in a row, Penn has been recognized by the Arbor Day Foundation as a Tree Campus USA school in 2011. The program honors college campuses and nearby neighborhood leaders for promoting healthy urban forest management and engaging the campus community in environmental stewardship. Penn now is one of 148 colleges and universities across the country to be recognized.

Philadelphia Named as a Green Power Community  

In June, Philadelphia became the largest city to be named a Green Power Community (GPC) by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency based on meeting green power purchasing requirements. The program was announced at an event at Citizens Bank Park, where Penn was recognized as a leader in Philadelphia's green power usage and as a major contributor to the city's recognition as a GPC. The announcement was accompanied by the kickoff of the Green Power Community Challenge, a 10-week, summer-long campaign to increase awareness of the benefits of renewable energy and increasing green power usage. From July through September, Mayor Nutter asked city residents and businesses to learn about and consider buying green power to help Philadelphia become the top ranking green city. More information about how residents can do their part can be found at philadelphiagreenpower.com.   

FRES Awarded Two Bennie Awards 

The Office of the Executive Vice President recognized FRES in June with two Bennie Awards: 

(1) The Penn Park team for "Penn Park's role in beautifying University City, connecting Penn to Center City, while contributing to the Climate Action Plan." Congrats to the FRES staff involved in the design, construction, and operation of Penn Park, including: David Hollenberg, Mark Kocent, Mike Dausch, Bob Lundgren, Dan Garofalo, Ke Feng, Jim Mann, Rich Russell, Mark Breintenbach, Marc Cooper, Ken Ogawa, Ben Suplick, Kris Kealey, and Marilyn Jost.  

(2) The Load Serving Entity Team for their work in creating a plan to procure electricity for the Penn community directly on the wholesale market. Congrats to: Marilyn Jost, Gerry McGillian, Bill McKeaney, Ken Ogawa, Mike Stack, and Eric Swanson.

New Retail on Campus

Check out the latest additions to Penn's retail portfolio:

Harvest Seasonal Grill & Wine Bar, a farm-to-table concept, filled the retail space on the corner of 40th and Walnut Streets. Harvest features healthy food choices with a menu full of organic and locally-sourced dishes. The restaurant opened in September following the completion of building renovations. Check out Harvest's menu.

ARTS & CULTURE

40th Street Summer Series Returns

The annual 40th Street Summer Series, a free outdoor concert series held on the fourth Saturday of the month from June to September, returned to West Philadelphia for another successful season. Hosted by the University of Pennsylvania, The Rotunda, and the University City District (UCD), the 2012 lineup included performances from Slavic Soul Party, Sun Ra Arkestra,  Adventuredrum, and the Warriors of the Wonderful Sound with Odean Pope and Dave Liebman. About 1,500 attendees in total attended all concerts held on the beautiful green space just behind the Walnut Street Free Library at 40th and Walnut Streets.  For more information, head to the 40th Street Summer Series website.  

Artist in Residency Program Exhibited
 

Now in its ninth year, the 40th Street Artist-In-Residence Program awards West Philadelphia artists one year of free studio space at 40th and Chestnut Streets. In exchange, each artist shares his/her talents with the West Philadelphia community by leading workshops, teaching classes, exhibiting in the area, etc. Founded by artist Edward M. Epstein in 2003, the program addresses the need for studio space in West Philadelphia, assists artists with career development, and makes the 40th Street area a nexus for visual arts.  

This summer, works by the outgoing 2011-2012 residents Marie Alarcon, Michael Konrad, Sarah Lowry, E.K. Miles, Beth Nixon, and Martina Plag were displayed in the gallery at City Hall as part of an exhibit entitled Residency Reimagined: Artist Residencies in the 21st Century. Additionally, the program held its own exhibit of the work from the past year and welcomed the new 2012-2013 residents with opening ceremonies on the first floor gallery at 4007 Chestnut Street in August.  This year's artists also hosted an Open Studios weekend in September in conjunction with the  City's Open Studios events.

In coordination with a number of other campus offices, Penn Facilities and Real Estate Services sponsored:

• The Live Arts Festival + Philly Fringe, September 2-17
•  Philadelphia Film Festival, October 18-28

Shoemaker Green Increases Open Space on Campus

The transformation of the open space on 33rd Street in front of the Palestra and Hutchinson gym into Shoemaker Green was completed for a ribbon cutting campus-wide event in September. Sustainable design aspects of the project, created by landscape architectural firm Andropogon Associates, include: a rain garden, porous pavers, and a cistern for rainwater reuse. The green space will capture and control storm water, plus increase local biodiversity with the planting of native species. By replacing paved surfaces with landscaping, it will also help to reduce the urban heat island effect. Shoemaker Green was chosen as a pilot project for the Sustainable Sites Initiative, a new program aimed at certifying landscape projects. View a video of the opening events on the Penn website.

Project team: Marc Cooper, Michael Dausch, David Hollenberg, Mark Kocent 

Architect: Andropogon Associates
Construction Manager: P. Agnes, Inc.

Penn Vet Working Dog Center

Penn Vet's Working Dog Center marked its grand opening on September 11th at Penn's South Bank in Grays Ferry with music, a color guard, and remarks by the Center's director Cynthia Otto and invited guests. The Working Dog Center will train and conduct research on detection dogs.

Each weekday for the next year, the dogs, including seven retrievers, a German shephard, and one Dutch shepherd, donated by breeders around the country, will receive specialized training to become effective police dogs, search-and-rescue dogs, or bomb or narcotic detection dogs. At night and on weekends, the dogs will make their homes with foster families. When the dogs "graduate," they will move on to designated organizations such as local police forces, the military, and the Transportation Security Administration. One or two dogs in the graduating class will join the Penn Police and may be part of the Center's attempt to breed exceptional working dogs.

Project team: Ed Datz, Dennis Flannery, Paul Sehnert, Laura P. Smith, Tom Yoo

1920 Commons Renovations Increase Dining Options

Renovations were completed in September on the lower floors of 1920 Commons, to fit in a revamped patio space, the relocation of Starbucks to the lower level, the expansion of the UnCommon Market, as well as the addition of new retail pizza and stir-fry options. Dining hours in the Commons now extend to 2 AM, and the market goods are available to all.

Project team: David Hollenberg, Mark Kocent, Michael Dausch, Mariette Buchman, Dave Dunn

Architect: Buell Kratzer Powell
Construction Manager: P. Agnes, Inc.

Education Commons Opens for Use   

The Education Commons, a state-of-the-art study and information facility that supports teaching and collaborative learning on the mezzanine of Weiss Pavilion, opened in March with an open house hosted by the Penn Libraries. Comprising 6,400 square feet and 168 seats, the monumental arched windows of Franklin Field visually join the interior space with the expanse of lawns and tree-lined walkways that make up Shoemaker Green. Within the Commons, students and faculty have access to an 18-seat, glass-enclosed seminar room equipped with a computer and an 80" video display, eight reservable study rooms, and a variety of open seating for individual or group use.  Librarians staff the facility to help students with technology and to work with faculty and University staff on program development, and the space is open until 11pm from Sunday to Thursday and until 6pm on the weekends.  

Project team: Michael Dausch, David Hollenberg, Mark Kocent, Jim Palka

Architect: Joel Sanders
Construction Manager: Paul Restall Company 

Golkin Hall Opens With Week-Long Celebration  

The $33.6-million Golkin Hall, located on the 3400 block of Sansom Street, was formally opened in April with a week-long series of events, concluding with a Conversation with U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor and a ribbon cutting ceremony. The building provides Penn Law with more classrooms and faculty office space, an auditorium that seats 350 and a moot courtroom. Golkin Hall follows a multi-year, $18 million renovation of Penn Law's three other interconnected buildings and completes a 10-year transformation of the Law School campus. Photos from the event can be found on the Law School website.

Construction on the new Spruce Street Plaza, located in front of the
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) at 33rd and Spruce
Streets began in May. The project turns the asphalt parking lot known as Lot 8 into a public green space for the enjoyment of Penn community members and campus visitors. The plaza will feature benches, lighting, seasonal plantings, street trees, decorative paving, and a lawn area.  The project also transforms Lot 6, the parking spaces at the southwest corner
of Franklin Field, into a new location for street vendors, complete with electrical infrastructure and landscaping. The food carts previously located adjacent to Lot 8 have been moved across the street, creating a fresh air food plaza. Spruce Street Plaza opened to the public in December. Additional plantings and official opening of the plaza is anticipated for Spring 2013.

The ARCH renovation project began this summer and will restore the historic building to its original grandeur, with the addition of modern amenities such as an upgrade to its mechanical and electrical systems, and will be equipped with central air conditioning. A new elevator, replacing an aging chair lift, will also make the building compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. During the anticipated 18-month renovation, the three student cultural centers - La Casa Latina, Makuu: Black Cultural Center, and the Pan-Asian American Community House-as well as the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships will move to temporary offices during the year until the renovations are completed in December 2013.

Renovation plans for the $22 million Hutchinson Infill project began this past May. The Infill building, located between the Palestra and Hutchinson Gymnasium, will feature renovations to the lobby, practice basketball courts, multi-use spaces, second floor offices, conference rooms, and corridors, while the Hutchinson Gymnasium's renovations will upgrade locker rooms and training space on the ground floor as well as the gymnastics and fencing areas on the second floor. Both buildings will see major renovations in their lower levels, with the addition of new heating, cooling, and mechanical units. The project is targeting LEED Silver certification and is expected to be completed in August 2013.

Steinberg Hall -- Dietrich Hall Will Gain Four-Story Addition

Renovations to the Wharton School's Steinberg Hall - Dietrich Hall began in May to create a new four-story addition to the west side of the building. The new wing features a beaconing new entrance and provides an inviting courtyard. Inside the building, the design calls for two large tiered classrooms joined by collaborative group study spaces, seminar rooms and faculty offices. The exterior limestone and glazed facades will complement the existing building, while establishing a meaningful granite-paved plaza and glowing facade facing the Class of '62 Walkway along 37th Street. With the renovations, Steinberg Hall-Dietrich Hall has become a more eco-friendly building, with a set target of achieving a LEED Silver certification by the project's completion in July 2013. Classroom space will be completed in time for student use at the start of the Spring 2013 semester. In addition to two new green roofs, the renovated building includes a new type of heating and cooling mechanism called a chilled beam system. View a construction video of the project to date.

The fitout of the Smilow Translational Research Center (TRC) of the Perelman School of Medicine, which first opened in 2010, continued this summer and fall. Construction of the three shelled upper floors in the TRC, an additional $61 million component of the project, was completed this month. Directly connected to the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine (PCAM) and the Roberts Proton Therapy Center, the TRC will further advance the goal of giving patients faster access to the most advanced treatment anywhere.