The Penn Commonwealth-Engaged Scholars Program helps Penn faculty and staff strengthen connections between the University and communities across Pennsylvania.
Credit: Chenyao Liu
Penn Commonwealth-Engaged Scholars Program, an initiative designed to bridge the gap between the University and communities across the state, announced its inaugural slate of faculty and staff last week.
The PCES program recently selected its first cohort of faculty, who will participate in “educational briefings to learn about the state’s history, political structure, and regional socio-economic differences.” The initiative will also feature in-person interactions with Pennsylvania community members to learn more about “distinct geographic, demographic, economic, industrial, cultural, and political regions,” according to Penn Nursing’s announcement.
“The goal of the Penn Commonwealth-Engaged Scholars program is to anchor our university in the lives of the people we serve,” Penn Nursing Dean Antonia Villarruel wrote. “We are weaving our knowledge and innovation into the fabric of every community across the Commonwealth.”
Lia Howard, who directs Penn’s SNF Paideia Fellows program, Michael Smith, the Senior Director of Commonwealth Relations at the Office of Government and Community Affairs, and Senior Associate Vice President for Alumni Relations Hoopes Wampler will also help lead the initiative.
Smith also noted the importance of Penn’s involvement in the Pennsylvania community while describing the goals of PCES.
“In many ways, Pennsylvania is a microcosm of the US. Many of the pressing public problems confronting the Commonwealth can be found in many other states,” Smith wrote. “PCES is an opportunity for our incredible faculty and staff to see these problems up close and in person so that they can apply their expertise to better society. This program will clearly demonstrate Penn’s commitment to the goals of In Principle and Practice.”
PCES receives funding from a Draw Down the Lightning grant, as part of “In Principle and Practice,” a strategic framework announced by the University in 2023. According to a webpage for the plan, the plan’s purpose is to “capture what the world needs from Penn and how we will cultivate a community that rises to the challenge.”
The program is also set to prioritize sustainable connections between Penn and Pennsylvania communities while maintaining the University’s “leadership as a premier research, teaching, and service partner.”
“The PCES program is our way of looking closer, listening harder, and seeing the strengths and needs of diverse regions,” Villarruel wrote. “It is an invitation to our faculty and staff to form relationships that are not transactional but transformational. Partnerships that endure, that matter, that move us all toward healthier, more just futures.”
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