This Partners & Progress section of OMNIA is dedicated to highlighting Penn Arts & Sciences’ vibrant and generous community of alumni, parents, and friends.
Ben Connect
In the one year since the Penn Art & Sciences mentorship platform Ben Connect launched, thousands of meaningful connections have been made between students and alumni. Through informal chats and formal mentoring, alumni have provided the invaluable resources of time and expertise in helping students, and each other, navigate their career paths.
Not a Ben Connect member yet? Join today!
Virtual PWA Expands Reach
The members of the Professional Women’s Alliance (PWA) met the pandemic and quarantine by transitioning its programming to serve an even wider audience of alumnae and students.
Its first virtual series, the Elevate Yourself Leadership Series, continued with a panel discussion led by PWA Advisory Board member Katie Stitch, C’04, W’04, Managing Director at W Capital Partners. Alumnae talked about the short-term industry implications and long-term disruption within real estate, finance, retail, and healthcare. The series wrapped up for the spring with “Navigating your New Virtual Reality,” featuring Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist and communication coach Andrea Brody, C’88, PAR’24.
PWA also created a virtual mentoring experience, the PWA Roundtable for College students, which hosted alumnae in a range of ages for a moderated discussion and Q&A. Seventy students heard from successful women in media and marketing, business consulting, human resources, private equity, and communications.
For more information, visit the Professional Women's Alliance.
(Clockwise from top left) Ami Shah Brown, C’96; Gina Baker Chambers, C’04; Erika Parkins, C’01; Katie Stitch, C’04, W’04
Penn Arts & Sciences at Work
Penn Arts & Sciences at Work is a photoblog series that highlights College alumni in their workplaces and encourages reflection on how and why their careers took shape.
To see more, visit Penn Arts & Sciences at Work.
Brooke Sietinsons
“Soon after I graduated, a classmate invited me down to Florida to document the building of a community radio station for an organization that supports farm worker justice. That led me into community organizing and activism, and documenting protests and social movements. Those threads all were about community.”
- JJ (Jacques-Jean) Tiziou, C’02
Artist, Community Organizer, Experience Crafter
Fine Arts Major
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Courtesy of Yashica Shah
“The pandemic has shifted things. The people who needed to be in the hospital because they were having babies were very anxious. Once we got more information, we started improving the conditions for everybody—patients, physicians, nurses. But in the beginning it was difficult…nobody knew what to expect.”
- Yashica Shah, C’84, ENG’94
Division Chief for General OB-GYN, Ambulatory Care Director, and Associate Program Director for the Residency Program, St. Peter’s University Hospital
Biological Basis of Behavior and Bioengineering Major
New Brunswick, New Jersey
