Convenient Summer Mail Options

After lobbying from the UA and other student leaders, Housing Services is pleased to announce a new service designed to meet the needs of students who are leaving the country for the summer months.

Starting this summer, mail services will accept and hold all postal mail-at no charge- for students traveling internationally. This means that any letters you receive during the summer will be securely held until you return and pick them up. This is a perennial concern for many students, and we are very excited about to announce this program.

New School Year Package Holding

Beginning in the 2011-2012 academic year, our mail services will now hold packages for off-campus residents. This includes those living in Greek housing. Packages will be held for these students during the spring and fall semesters, including during breaks. Students will sign up through a simple online form and pay a small fee for each package held. We are very excited to bring this service to all off campus students!

Questions? Concerns? Check out www.pennua.org/outreach and get involved!

For more information, check out this link.

The UA Executive Board is pleased to announce the appointment of the following Cabinet positions:

Communications Director: Chris Cruz
Academic Affairs Director: Faye Cheng
Civic & Philadelphia Engagement Director: Jake Shuster
Housing, Sustainability & Facilities Director: Amanda Young
Student Life Director: Tyler Ernst
Speaker Pro Tempore: Grant Dubler (confirmed by acclamation)

The UA body also elected the following members:

Budget Committee: Emerson Brooking and Hunter Horsley
T-Change Representative: Andrew Jakubowski
Council of Philadelphia Student Government (CPSG) Representative: Emily Shaeffer

The UA representative to NEC will be appointed within the next 2 weeks.

At today’s weekly GBM, the UA funded $951 of Penn’s sole undergraduate Lunar New Year celebration, led by a team of dedicated individuals, including UA member Amanda Young. The organization that has traditionally hosted the event pulled out at the last minute, and upon learning of this, an ad-hoc group of students immediately met to ensure that the most important celebration in many countries makes a strong presence at Penn.

Authored by Vinay Rao, Sakina Zaidi, and G.J. Melendez-Torres, the UA also resolved to improve the academic environment for students within testing situations by making a few changes such as ensuring left-handed desks, increased invigilators, adequate desk space, and clear time displays.

Finally, Associate Member Colin Kavanaugh and the Student Life committee is working with the University to prevent identity fraud by promoting the opportunity for students to change their PIN numbers away from the current Social Security Number-based PIN.

Please tell us your thoughts, and check out the full meeting minutes.