From Connecting to Coaching

An array of opportunities for alums, faculty, and students to gather.

Spring/Summer 2024
Katie Barott, Douglas Jerolmack, and Mark Trodden seated on a stage with a crowd in front of them. In the center of the stage is a television with the text "BEN TALKS NEW YORK CITY: The Fragile Earth" along with the words "Sea, Land, and Sky" on top of accompanying imagery. Jerolmack speaks into a hand-held microphone, and Trodden holds papers.

The spring semester featured an array of opportunities for Penn Arts & Sciences alums to get together with faculty and students to socialize, learn, network, and mentor. The spring edition of Ben Talks brought faculty to New York City and to Palo Alto and Santa Monica in California, where they discussed the science of sea, land, sky, and lessons of climate change resilience. The Asian American Studies program also traveled to New York and California to share the latest news about its initiatives and offer interested alums a chance to meet and talk. Six members of the Professional Women’s Alliance (PWA) came to campus to share their work pathways and experience at the spring Career Roundtable. And the College Alumni Mentoring Series (CAMS) included a Penn in Washington dinner, a mentorship meal with Javier, C’03, W’03, and Lauren Starkand, C’03; and an evening focused on careers in data science, moderated by Eric Edell, C’99, W’08, and including Randy Winn, PAR’28. 

A crowd listening to several speakers on a stage. Four speakers are seated, while one person is at the podium. Behind them is a large screen with a slide projected reading: "BEN TALKS: PALO ALTO. Resilience on a Warming Planet." Also on the slide is the Penn arts and Sciences logo, as well as several images of nature scenes.
A group of speakers sitting in a arc in front of a room, speaking to an audience.
Fariha Khan and David Eng sitting on a stage addressing an audience. Khan speaks into a hand-held microphone while Eng listens intently. Behind them are three sets of stained glass panels.
Tabeen Hossain speaking to a students at a table in a hall. Behind them is a nother group of students at a different table. Hossain speaks with her hands out, while the student listens intently. On the table is a cell phone, a cup of lemonade, a take out container, and a nametag with the text: "Tabeen Hossain C’17, LPS’20", as well as other type out of focus.
(Clockwise from top left) Amber Grier, Jen Fisher, Brooke Sietinsons.

(Clockwise from top left) Ramanan Raghavendran, EAS’89, W’89, LPS’15, Chair of the University’s Board of Trustees (far right) introduced Ben Talks in Palo Alto, which also featured (left to right) Doris Wagner, DiMaura Professor of Biology, Douglas Jerolmack, Professor of Earth and Environmental Science, Simon Richter, Class of 1965 Term Professor of German, and Mark Trodden, Fay R. and Eugene L. Langberg Professor of Physics and Associate Dean for the Natural Sciences. / Fariha Khan (left) and David Eng, Richard L. Fisher Professor of English, co-directors of the Asian American Studies Program, update the crowd at an Asian American Studies Now event in New York. / Tabeen Hossain C’17, LPS’20, mentors a student at the PWA roundtable. / At the CAMS event Careers in Data Science, students hear about an array of options from (left to right) Randall Winn, PAR’28, Melissa Honour, Head of Product Innovation at Blue Shield of California, Tara Thiagarajan, founder and chief scientist at Sapien Labs, Christen Smith, President of Service Lines and Solutions at LMI, and moderator Eric Edell, C’99. Winn and Edell, who organized the panel, are co-founders and managing partners at the investment firm 22C Capital.

To get involved in alumni volunteer opportunities, contact Chrissy Bowdren, Senior Associate Director of Volunteer Programs, at cbowdren@sas.upenn.edu.