Viola MacInnes/Independence Professor of Penn

Viola MacInnes/Independence Professor of Penn Nursing, Dr. Jennifer Pinto-Martin to be the 2017-2018 Chair Elect for the Faculty Senate. This upcoming academic year, the executive committee of the faculty senate will have a new Chair-elect in Dr. Jennifer Pinto-Martin. Effectively, according to the UPenn website, the faculty senate acts as the “representative voice for full-time teaching faculty... regularly consulted on academic issues and faculty decisions heavily influence policies that are under the purview of faculty responsibility.” Along with a collection of other committees, most of the dialogue with the University administration and work by the Senate is done by the Senate Executive Committee (SEC), headed by the Tri-Chairs: Chair-elect, Chair, and Past-Chair, who meet with the President and Provost and introduce the initiatives the senate wishes to enact. As Chair-Elect, Dr. Pinto Martin will be learning and assisting in the operational duties of the senate Chair, under the mentorship of the current Chair Santosh Venkatesh and Past-Chair Laura Perna. “It is more like I am an apprentice” stated Dr. Pinto-Martin in an interview with the Daily Pennsylvanian. “In particular, I will be learning the specifics about the various eight committees of the faculty senate that report up to the chairs.” Currently, Dr. Pinto-Martin is the Viola MacInnes/Independence Professor of Penn Nursing, a fellowship she was awarded alongside Leah Moran, current Nurse Manager at the UPenn Hospital. Regina Cunningham, Senior Vice President and Chief Nurse Executive for UPHS, at the time of granting the fellowship, stated that “both Dr. Pinto-Martin and Leah Moran make excellent inaugural recipients of this important fellowship” and how their collaboration would open up “new avenues to improve patient experiences and outcomes will be developed.” Furthermore, she is a Professor of Epidemiology as well as Director for the Master of Public Health Program and Executive Director for the Center for Public Health Initiatives (CPHI). While acting as Chair-elect, Dr. Pinto-Martin will retain these academic positions, but when she eventually becomes the acting Chair in the 2018-2019 academic year, she will be given release time from those commitments so as to focus on leading the faculty senate. “I think there are two ways to act as Chair” Pinto-Martin mentioned. “One is to react to the issues that arise, while the other is to identify and address a couple of issues that you are passionate about. I am prone to the latter.” One idea Dr. Pinto-Martin may look to present involve bolstering “interdisciplinary education and research” because of “how lucky we are [at Penn] to have our schools in proximity to one another”, Dr. Pinto-martin explains. Another possible issue she may address when she becomes Chair involves ensuring “non-standing” faculty, or “teaching” faculty members as Dr. Pinto-Martin prefers, command the same respect as their tenured members of the university. Nevertheless, she will need to “learn the ropes”, as Dr. Pinto-Martin describes it, as Chair-elect before she can begin to formally introduce potential ideas to faculty senate and University administration. Dr. Pinto-Martin, however, mentioned one initiative she will be working on with the other two chairs, called the “Teach In”. Anticipated to occur in Spring 2018, this “Penn-wide, weeklong event will be focused on knowledge” with specific consideration towards the relationship between the university and the “political realm”. This will incorporate and engage the academic community, where both faculty members and students can attend Ted-Talk style presentations concerning topics such as academic integrity and data preservation.