PENN’S IMPACT ON West Philadelphia & Beyond
Project Chairs: Alicia Augustin & Jackie Balanovsky
The West Philly and Beyond project strives to better understand the institution's impact on the broader community and how it intersects with students’ education. We aim to increase engagement, awareness, and positive impact that bursts the “Penn bubble.” Through in-depth research and analysis, the project seeks to address issues related to civic engagement, volunteerism, perceptions of West Philadelphia, and environmental sustainability. By fostering collaboration and understanding between Penn and the local community, the project aims to create positive and lasting change for all stakeholders involved, including students, faculty, and West Philadelphia residents. We are striving to provide recommendations that will improve various aspects of Penn's relationship with the surrounding community.
Academics
Project Chair: Alexander Perez & Luna Sato
The Academics project committee conducts research across four main subtopics, including Course Requirements, Advising, Grading & Evaluation, and Course Scheduling. This involves working with all four undergraduate schools, administrators, and stakeholders to communicate resolutions in the best interest of undergraduate student education. Some of the committee’s initiatives include course scheduling events before Advance Registration, communicating with alumni to create a database of sample schedules, and meeting with administration. The committee strives to work to be a safe space for students to air their concerns. Currently, Academics is working to improve c.u. limit expansion, make course scheduling as clear as possible, improving transparency in grading policies; the project hopes to include solutions to these challenges within the 2025 White Paper.
One University
Project Chairs: Veronica Baladi & Yoonjung Choi
One University is committed to improving the accessibility of Penn’s resources for students across the four undergraduate schools. Project members have met with administrators and student organizations in stakeholder meetings and focus groups to discuss inconsistencies in academic integrity policies and resource distribution, as well as utilized survey data to better understand the diversity of student experiences related to these issues. The committee also hosted a Course Registration Conversation event to encourage students to learn about academic opportunities existing outside of their home schools. In the 2025 White Paper, One University hopes to address the distribution of resources across schools, course registration, artificial intelligence/academic integrity, Path@Penn, and the use of ABCS courses for general education requirements.
Wellness
Project Chairs: Shriya Boyapati & Anagha Gouru
The Wellness Committee works on all things related to student well-being at Penn. Most recently, the committee established the Sarah Katz Award, which is given to students with a demonstrated interest in health literacy created in honor of Sarah Katz, a former SCUE member. Examples of past wellness initiatives are the Wellness Community Conversations and wellness-related study breaks. For SCUE’s 2025 White Paper, the committee is focused on addressing wellness resources across different schools (CAS, SEAS, Wharton, Nursing), wellness accessibility, sustainable initiatives, and healthcare literacy.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Project Chairs: McKenzie Davis & Niheer Patel
This project focuses on addressing issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion at Penn. Our research subtopics for the 2025 White Paper encompass promoting diversity in academic spaces, fostering inclusive dialogue on campus, addressing socioeconomic disparities, and improving access to resources. We collaborate with student and administrative stakeholders to advocate for the representation of everyone within the Penn community.