Trustees approve expenditures, hold elections

Trustees approved $73 million for Sansom Common and $23 million for Perelman Quad during meetings last week The University's Board of Trustees authorized expenditures for the Sansom Common and Perelman Quad projects, approved personnel changes, reelected its leaders and voted on new members during three days of meetings last week. The trustees approved $73 million for the first phase of Sansom Common, which includes building the new University Bookstore and the Inn at Penn -- a 250-room, full-service hotel. Construction on the Bookstore is scheduled to begin August 1. Sources of funding for Sansom Common -- which is expected to cost a total of $120 million -- will include a loan to be repaid with revenues generated by the development. The trustees also approved $23 million for the renovation of Irvine Auditorium as part of the Perelman Quadrangle project, which will link Irvine with Logan, Williams and Houston halls to create a student center. Renovations will include reducing seating capacity from 1,900 to 1,400, improving acoustics, and building office and storage space for performing arts groups. Irvine is slated to reopen in December 1998, and Perelman Quad will be complete by 2000. During Friday's stated meeting, the trustees approved the appointment of Associate Provost Barbara Lowery to the position of Interim Secretary. Lowery will temporarily replace University Secretary Barbara Stevens, who is leaving to join the office of Georgetown University Vice President Michael Kelly. The trustees also approved the appointment of Rick Whitfield to to the position of Vice President for Audit and Compliance. Whitfield -- who serves as Managing Director of the Office of Internal Audit -- will fill the position currently held by Steve Golding. Board of Trustees Chairperson Roy Vagelos and Vice Chairs Susan Catherwood and Gloria Chisum were all reelected for one-year terms beginning July 1. The trustees reelected Judith Berkowitz for a 5-year term. She is President of Jarby Inc. -- a buying office for women's fashions -- and a founding member and past Chairperson of the Trustees' Council of Penn Women. Richard Censtis -- a 1958 Wharton graduate who is Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of the MidQuist Company and Vice President of Campbell Soup Company -- was reelected for a two-year term. The trustees also elected four new trustees for five-year terms. The first new trustee is Stanley Cohen, a 1960 graduate of the School of Medicine who discovered the recombinant DNA methodology known as genetic engineering and teaches at Stanford University's Medical Center. Also elected a term trustee was Paul Kelly -- a 1962 graduate of the College of Arts and Science who received his graduate degree from Wharton in 1964 -- is president of an investment banking firm and an expert in Far East investment. Another new trustee is Carolyn Lynch, president of the Lynch Foundation -- a charitable foundation which supports organizations related to health care, education, museums and religious work as well as a member of the Trustees' Council of Penn Women. Charles Williams II -- who received his doctorate from the University in 1978 -- is the fourth new trustee. Kaufman is an archeology expert and director of the Corinth Excavations of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, one of the most important archeological investigations in the classical world.