Penn provost names five faculty to special advisory role

Provost John Jackson Jr. named five faculty members to this year’s cohort of the Provost’s Special Advisor Program. 

The initiative — jointly led by Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Laura Perna — places faculty in the Provost’s Office for the academic year, where they will take on strategic projects related to the office’s policies and operations. This year’s group will focus on a range of areas, including open expression, faculty governance, “Penn Forward” initiatives, and undergraduate research.

Eric Feldman 

University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School professor Eric Feldman was named senior advisor to Jackson. Feldman — who stepped down as a Faculty Senate tri-chair in May — will work with Jackson to continue to revise Penn’s open expression guidelines. The monthslong process of the draft has already drawn extensive criticism from faculty, staff, and students. 

Feldman helped compile the formal summary of community feedback last month the University released last month, which gathered reactions from 193 responses from an anonymous online survey and email, two listening sessions, and various governance meetings. 

The former Faculty Senate tri-chair also moderated Penn’s April listening sessions, which allowed students and faculty to share feedback on the guidelines.

The draft was released in March and is expected to be finalized by November, with implementation scheduled for January 2027.

Aswin Punathambekar

Annenberg School for Communications professor Aswin Punathambekar will advise Perna to help lead the University’s response to the Faculty Senate Executive Committee’s resolution recommending a new teaching faculty track within the associated faculty.

Punathambekar also served on a Penn Forward working group — contributing to Penn President Larry Jameson’s his first major institutional initiative. 

Each working group was designed to address a particular domain of University action: Undergraduate Education and Innovation, Graduate and Professional Training, Research Strategy and Financing, Global Opportunity and New Markets, Operational Transformation, and Access, Affordability, and Value. Punathambekar was a member of the Research Strategy and Financing committee.

Last year, Penn’s Vice Provost for Research David Meaney told the DP that consulting group McKinsey & Company helped structure meetings for the Research Strategy and Financing working group, which he co-chaired.

 “Working alongside Vice Provost Laura Perna, I look forward to contributing to the strategic design and institutional structure for a new teaching faculty track,” Punathambekar wrote in a statement. “Establishing a dedicated teaching faculty track matters now more than ever. Formalizing a clear pathway for career advancement and stability is the best way to honor teaching excellence at Penn.”

Megan Ryerson 

Stuart Weitzman School of Design professor Megan Ryerson will advise Jackson directly on Penn Learning for Life — one of nine initiatives that emerged from the Penn Forward working groups’ brainstorming. Ryerson previously co-chaired the framework’s Global Opportunity and New Markets group.

During her time as co-chair, Ryerson — who also served as the department chair of transportation and of city and regional planning — explained that her group employed design thinking, an approach that centers the user experience.

According to Ryerson, Sarah Rottenberg — the executive director of the Integrated Product Design Program — led “numerous thought exercises” to help the group think “in constrained and unconstrained ways and learning to build on each other.”

Heather Sharkey

School of Arts and Sciences professor Heather Sharkey will advise Vice Provost for Graduate Education Jordan-Sciutto. 

Sharkey will lead the Benjamin Franklin Scholars and University Scholars programs housed under the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships.

“UScholars and BFS include some of Penn's most intellectually ambitious undergraduates across Arts and Sciences, Engineering, Nursing, and Wharton,” Sharkey wrote in a statement. “Interacting with these students has already left me energized!”

Sharkey added that she was “looking forward to learning more about how Penn implements policies at the university level and supports the scholarship and educational mission of our constituent schools.” 

“I hope to contribute to new initiatives and advance the university’s mission through these roles,” she wrote. 

Florian Schwarz

School of Arts and Sciences professor Florian Schwarz will advise Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Russell Composto, and implement the Penn STEM Foundations Center — another key initiative of Penn Forward.

Schwarz served alongside Composto on Penn Forward’s Undergraduate Education and Innovation working group. 

“I’m honored to serve in this role with Vice Provost Russ Composto, and thrilled to work with his team, the Provost’s office, and many others across schools to lead and coordinate efforts toward improving Intro STEM education at Penn,” Schwarz wrote in a statement. “I hope to channel all the energy and enthusiasm I’ve already encountered in this space into efforts that help support instructors and meet students’ needs.” 

He continued, “We want students' Intro STEM experiences to be ones that open doors in empowering them to pursue the fields of study and career paths that they are enthusiastic about.”

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