Some students would rather eat lunch with a Penn faculty member than with friends.
Approximately 250 students requested to take part in one of the faculty lunches hosted by the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education as a part of Education Week, which is designed to get students talking about their education.
SCUE is hosting five lunches, dinners and coffees with professors and deans, and about 20 students were selected through a lottery to attend each.
According to Engineering sophomore and SCUE Chairman Gabe Kopin, Education Week is meant "to excite people about the other opportunities for learning throughout the University."
The body's annual week of events has changed this year. SCUE decided to eliminate the keynote speaker and the three "Spotlight on Teaching" lectures due to poor attendance in past years.
Organizers opted to focus on interactive events that were favorably received in the past, including social events, a panel on education, a research fair and a "town hall" meeting on SCUE's White Paper -- a critique of the undergraduate educational experience at Penn that was released last week.
According to Kopin, the highlight of Education Week will be Thursday's annual Research Fair -- an event aimed at informing students about undergraduate research opportunities.
"By the sheer amount of interest, I'd say we're doing really well," Kopin said.
In selecting faculty to be involved in Education Week events, SCUE looked for professors and administrators "who would be engaging and would enjoy meeting with students in an informal setting," Kopin said.
Students and faculty alike seemed pleased with the lineup of events.
"You always hear things from the student perspective, but you don't always get to hear it from a professor's perspective," said College senior Seth Pross, who attended a lunch and discussion with School of Medicine Dean Arthur Rubenstein.
College sophomore Matt Nerlinger, who attended the same event, said that he was drawn to the lunch to hear Rubenstein speak because of his interest in attending medical school.
Heather Love, a professor in the English Department and faculty fellow in Gregory College House, spoke with students on gender studies and progressive scholarship Monday night.
"I have a lot of time outside class to socialize with students" as a faculty fellow, Love said, "but not always to talk about academic subjects."
"It's interesting for me to talk to students in that context," she added.
