Monday, October 6, 2008

Attention Senior Thesis Writers!



Dear Thesis Writers,

So, you are the oh-so-fortunate ones!

The AUAB is kicking off a series of meetings for seniors writing theses - academic workshops and a few social events - to take place throughout the remainder of the semester and continuing next semester. This is an opportunity for us to bring the challenges and delights of thesis research and writing into dialogue and to invite professors to hang out with us and share some advice and commiseration.

***

On Thursday, Oct 16 we will meet for the first time, Museum location TBA, at 4 PM.

If you have not done so already, please email Serena (serena1230 at gmail dot com) with your name and contact info. If you have a time conflict, please email Serena, as well.

For our first meeting, we will start out by introducing ourselves and our projects . We are all probably at slightly different spots in our projects. Depending on their availability, Dr. Petryna and Dr. Barg will be present to offer guidance and to begin talking about data management for notes and bibs, and research reading strategies. We will then figure out when we want to meet during the rest of the semester, what topics we would like addressed, and perhaps if we would like to break off into smaller groups for several sessions based on the relatedness of our topics or methodologies.

Interested in Teaching?

A great opportunity for undergrads interested in teaching!

The essentials:

Application deadline: OCTOBER 31, 2008

Who may apply: ONLY PENN Seniors and Juniors interested in teaching
mathematics, the sciences, social studies, or English in Philadelphia
secondary schools.

What is offered: $30,000 toward the Masters Degree in Education at Penn
GSE. Exceptional mentoring by SAS and GSE staff during the undergraduate
year(s), the masters year, and the first three years of teaching.
Assistance in placement in a West Philadelphia school for student
teaching and hiring, ideally in the same school.

This is an extraordinary opportunity for students who are interested in
teaching to compete for a prestigious fellowship in a relatively small,
if excellent, pool.

Details:
Penn is one of four institutions selected to offer the Leonore Annenberg
Teaching Fellowship launched by the Woodrow Wilson Foundation with
funding from the Annenberg Foundation and Carnegie Corporation. The
program is a partnership among the School of Arts and Sciences, the
Graduate School of Education, and the Barbara and Edward Netter Center
for Community Partnerships. It will prepare 25 Penn Arts and Sciences
undergraduates for leadership careers in urban classroom teaching at the
secondary level (grades 7-12). Eight current seniors, eight juniors, and
nine sophomores will receive these prestigious fellowships. Each fellow
will receive a $30,000 fellowship award for the MSEd degree and teacher
certification program (5th year of studies at Penn). All fellows will
be mentored by SAS and GSE faculty as they work in the local schools
during their undergraduate years, their MSEd year and during their first
three years as School District of Philadelphia classroom teachers. We
anticipate that four West Philadelphia school partners will host all 25
Fellows.

The goal is to elevate the caliber of the candidate pool and the
prestige in which teaching is held by the University community and
undergraduate student population. President Gutmann has added her
endorsement to provide added prestige to the program on campus, which is
being marketed nationally by WWNF as “a Rhodes Scholarship for teaching.”

Other goals are to improve teaching through disciplinary and pedagogical
partnerships among SAS, GSE and the partner schools, and long-term
improvement in the partner schools arising from an aggregation of
Fellows and other program supports. Please see the attached brochure
that describes the program. The website is:
http://www.dolphin.upenn.edu/players/LATF/Timeline_.html

Undergraduates apply for Leonore Annenberg Teaching Fellowships during
the fall of their junior or senior year. Students will be selected to
participate on a competitive basis based upon their academic records,
interest in teaching secondary school content areas of mathematics, the
sciences, social studies and English, records of service and
extracurricular accomplishment, and commitment to urban teaching.

Fellows will make at least a three-year commitment to teaching in
Philadelphia schools. Participants will be formally involved in the
program for at least six years including approximately two years as
undergraduates, the MSEd/student-teaching year, and the first three
years of teaching after they are hired by the School District of
Philadelphia. Ideally, the Fellows will work at the same school
throughout the program, pending open teaching positions in the target
school upon completion of the MSEd/student-teaching year.