ACLC Meeting Minutes
September 28, 2012, Sweeten Alumni House
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Welcome & President’s Report
Attendance
a. ACLC Members in Attendance: Allan C. Bell (C81) ACLC Emeritus, David Blatte (W86), Howard
Coonley (C66), Howard Freedlander (C67), Mae Agnes Pasquariello (CW53), Adrienne A. Price (W78
G78) ACLC Internal VP, Brad Richards (C92), Steven L. Roth (W66) ACLC President, Orville Russ Walls
(C91), Brett Weinheimer (W00) ACLC External VP, Stephanie S. Yee (C08) ACLC Secretary
b. On the phone: Lisa Aldisert (CW75 G75), Will Derby (C61WG65), Lisa Nass Grabelle (C93, L96), Brian
Katz (C88 W88), David Marshall (C05), Jessica Shin (C10), Sue Dreier Wishnow (C86), Lauren Hedvat
(ENG05 C06 GEN07)
c. AR Staff: Hoopes Wampler, Elise Betz, Lisbeth Willis, Colleen Kelly, Kelly Porter O’Connor, Lynn
Carroll,
d. Guests: Colin Hennessy (The Penn Fund), Patrick Bredehoft (Penn Alumni Interview Program)
The Penn Fund Update – Colin Hennessy
a. Up 24% cash from last year
b. Crossed $2.2M
c. Down 5.8% donors
i. Seniors for the Penn Fund coming up – timed it with Skimmer
d. Up in BFS donors
e. Up in Ivy Stone donors
f. Class of 2013 is projected to have more than 1740 donors
i. Class is aiming for 2013 donors since that is their graduation year
g. Hoopes Wampler – Giving History total as of last week = $3.89 Billion
Guest Speaker: Penn Alumni Interview Program – Patrick Bredehoft, Director
a. Staff introductions
i. Liz Pinnie – Recruitment
ii. Steve Hamilton – Training
iii. Mwanasha Warrakah – Data Systems
b. Patrick is a former Penn Admissions Officer; former English teacher and college counselor
c. Interview is the only part of the process that is truly democratic
d. Program used to be called “Secondary School Committee”
i. Have been interviewing applicants since 1960
e. By the next 3 years, 100% interview coverage around the world
i. We will need over 10,000 alumni interviewers, assuming each alum is interviewing 3-4
applicants per year
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ii. Record for number of interviews = 50
Program will make sure alumni are receiving proper training
Program will reach more students
i. Patrick was just in San Francisco and Houston (two those cities = 6% of applicants per year);
next week in Los Angeles; planning events in Connecticut, New York
Last year, we interviewed 52% of applicants – See slide
i. Growing to 100% is an ambitious goal
SSC used to be housed in Penn Admissions; Now in Alumni Relations
i. 4 full-time staff members
ii. 1 part-time staff members
iii. More recruitment
iv. Better training
v. Alumni interviews will be better informed about what Penn is like today
vi. Make the process easier for alumni
vii. Online portal just launched
See slide with map – the darker the state, the greater the percentage of applicants that were
interviewed
i. Program is building coverage around the U.S. and around the world
Virtual Committees
i. Up to this point, interviews via Skype and cell phone were not official interviews
ii. No interviewed conducted in Montana and Nevada
iii. Virtual committee allows interviewers on the east coast to interview west coast applicants
during “odd” hours (e.g. 10pm in NYC is only 7pm on the west coast)
iv. Test run 40-50 virtual interviewers this year
Steve Roth – How much weight does the interview carry during the application process?
i. Alumni interview may be the only time the applicant had one-on-one time during the
application process
ii. As a Penn Admissions Officer, a great alumni interview made him go back and read the
application again
iii. Interview may show whether or not the applicant knows anything about Penn
iv. The interview is undiluted (no help from parents, etc.)
Is there a ratio of highly recommended applicants who are accepted?
i. Penn does not quantify degree of support; only qualitative assessment
ii. There are 3 questions the Penn Alumni Interview Program wants interviewers to answer in
their recommendation
1. What is this student like?
2. What does this student like?
3. What would this student be like at Penn?
Penn does not provide any information about why an applicant was or was not accepted
Starting this year, Penn Admissions Officers will be able to flag exceptional recommendations
i. Penn Alumni Interview Program will be able provide feedback to interviewers about their
interviews (e.g. your recommendations are exceptionally written)
Hoopes Wampler – Moving interviews to Alumni Relations is providing another way for alumni to get
involved
i. Interviewers are Penn ambassadors
Adrienne Price – Is Patrick going to be visible during Homecoming?
i. Yes – Patrick is going to be as visible as possible.
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ii. Hosting trainings and open office hours
iii. Adrienne – ACLC is going to have a table at Homecoming; we can help recruit alumni
interviewers at our table
r. Mae Agnes Pasquariello – How are students accepted?
i. Patrick – Interview allows student to tell their story (may enhance application and allow the
Penn Admissions Officers get to know the student’s qualities)
1. Holistic admissions
Welcome to new members – Adrienne Price
a. Renewing members
i. Howard Coonley
ii. Lisa Aldisert
b. New members
i. David C. Blatte, W'86 in attendance
ii. Gail Spiegel Cohen, C'76, D'80 unable to attend
iii. Howard S. Freedlander, C'67 in attendance
iv. David A. Marshall, C'05 on phone
v. Mae Agnes Pasquariello, CW'53 in attendance
vi. Neil P. Sheth, ENG'97, RES'09 unable to attend
Penn Reunion Leadership Conference – Kelly Porter O’Connor
a. Side note: “Freshman on the Field” brought back at first home football game of the year
b. 280 in attendance including staff and students
c. Overview of the weekend
i. Tonight (Friday) – Penn Museum
1. 5pm Leadership Reception
2. 6pm Reception
3. 7pm Dinner
a. Assigned seating at dinner – see handout
ii. Saturday – Penn Law School
1. Map will be handed out at registration
2. Reunion Planning playbook – step by step how to plan your reunion
3. Reprinted FACTS book to hand out
4. Resource Fair = 10 tables
a. Representation from each class
b. Topic tables (ACLC are helping staff this table)
5. 2pm drinks and dessert
6. Steve – We should try to get a big screen TV to show the Penn vs Dartmouth football
game on NBC Sports Network; more people will stay
d. ACLC members will be mentoring classes at PRLC
e. 27 students will be attending
f. Mobile app for iPhone/iPad (mobile site for Android)
i. Calendar of upcoming events
ii. Dates for emails for outreach for the Penn Fund
iii. List of contacts for Alumni Relations, Penn Fund, University contacts
iv. Resources
1. Gift
2. Outreach
v. ACLC website will be added to Links as soon as our new website is up
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vi. Download the Penn Volunteer Toolkit app at the Apple Store or enter
www.alumni.upenn.edu/volunteertoolkit into the web browser of your mobile device.
g. Howard Freelander – Last year’s PRLC was much better than the one he previously attended
Homecoming Weekend featuring Arts & Culture at Penn – Steve Roth
a. 4 weeks away
b. Alumni Award of Merit Gala
i. Brett Weinheimer will receive Young Alumni Award of Merit
ii. Harve Hnatiuk will receive Alumni Award of Merit
iii. Our dear friend Dale Bell will receive Alumni Award of Merit
iv. Class of 1992 will receive the Class Award of Merit Award
v. Class of 1967 will receive David N. Tyre Class Communications Award
c. Allan Bell will be installed as a Trustee
d. Officers Installation – College Hall Room 200
i. Thanks to Brett Weinheimer for the work he has done on class elections
ii. This year’s election process was better than last year’s
iii. One contested election this year (Class of 2007)
iv. Brett Weinheimer
1. Short ceremony
2. Hand out rosettes to Class Presidents
3. Take a photo at the end
v. Lee Spelman Doty will be attending
Committee assignments – Adrienne Price
a. See handout of committee assignments
b. Committees
i. Homecoming Weekend (Lisa Grabelle, Chair)
1. ACLC table at Homecoming
a. A place where alumni can come to find out how they can volunteer; put their
name/email on a list
b. Talk to alumni about class government
c. Email Steve, Adrienne, and Lisbeth if you want to volunteer to staff the ACLC
table
d. Table will most likely be in front of Sweeten Alumni House
e. Give out red and blue toast (working with Kite & Key)
ii. Communications (Mary Ellen Miller, Chair)
1. Facebook
iii. Mentoring
1. Interview class presidents
iv. President’s Event
1. First event in March 2012
2. 47 presidents in attendance representing 8 decades
3. Make it an annual event
v. PRLC
1. Eventually come up with a template to use every year
vi. Alumni Weekend/Graduation Weekend
1. ACLC involved with the parade
2. ACLC involved with helping plan logistics of Alumni Weekend
3. ACLC members all come back to Alumni Weekend
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vii. ACLC Leadership Handbook
1. Brett Weinheimer, Stephanie Yee, and Russ Walls have been working on the
handbook
2. Handbook can be used by class leadership, so they can understand their roles, jobs,
best practices, and who at Penn can help them
viii. ACLC Retreat
1. Last year, Lisa and Greg chaired the retreat
2. 2013 Retreat will be 3rd Annual Retreat
3. Set goals for the year
4. Group dinner after retreat
c. All ACLC members need to email Steve, Adrienne, and Lisbeth about which committee(s) you would
like to join
d. Nominating Committee – Brett Weinheimer, Chair
i. Nominations come from ACLC members and Alumni Relations
ii. Nominating Committee members appointed by Steve Roth
e. Penn Alumni Board meets 3 times per year (Homecoming, Winter Retreat, Alumni Weekend)
i. Each board is responsible for presenting their past activities
Next meeting date
a. Thursday, November 15 - ACLC meeting in the Penn Club in NYC 4-6 PM
b. Annual New York Class Leadership Volunteer Reception Penn Club 6:30 – 8:30 PM
i. ACLC will meet in NYC before the NYC Class Leadership Volunteer Reception. Bus
transportation will be offered from Penn Campus leaving at noon and returns from NYC after
the reception. Note: our ACLC committee photo will be taken at the Penn Club for those in
attendance.
c. Speaker = John Zeller
Good and Welfare
Adjourn