SALT Annual Conference

Light breakfast snacks will be provided. 

Hikaru (Karu) Kozuma currently serves as the Executive Director for College Houses and Academic Services at the University of Pennsylvania. Originally from New York City, Karu attended Middlebury College, majoring in English and minoring in American History. Upon graduation, Karu worked for Middlebury for three years, serving as a resident director and housing director. In 2001, he attended Harvard’s Graduate School of Education and received his master of education in higher education administration. In 2002, Karu returned to New York to join the Columbia University student affairs staff and worked in the Office of Residential Programs. He served in several different roles within the department, including the director.

He previously worked at the University of Pennsylvania from 2010 to 2018. He served in various roles, including the Executive Director for the Office of Student Affairs and the Associate Vice Provost for Student Affairs. From 2018 to 2021, Karu was the chief student affairs officer at Amherst College in Massachusetts. He has been highly involved in NASPA – National Association for Student Personnel Administrators – since 2005 and served as the National Co-Chair for the Asian Pacific Islander Knowledge Community from 2009–2011. Outside of higher education, he has served on the International YMCA Board of Managers. He earned his doctorate of education from Penn¹s Graduate School of Education in 2015, focusing his research on critical race theory, coalition building, and student engagement and empowerment. He has taught graduate and undergraduate students, including a course about Asian American activism and organizing.

What Teaching Student Affairs Taught Me About Student Affairs 

Room: Towne 311

Anita Mastroieni, Associate Vice Provost for Graduate Education

Anita Mastroieni has taught “Administration of Student Life” in the Graduate School of Education for the last six years. Helping students to grasp issues and tenets of student affairs helped her to see these issues from the student perspective. In 2020, Anita also saw first-hand how students struggled with the shift to online learning. She believes these experiences made her better at her job. In this session, Anita will share the top things she learned about student affairs while teaching student affairs.

Antiracism – Personal Journeys

Room: Towne 313

Olivia Roth, Valerie Dorsey-Allen, Roderick Gilbert, Abhi Hendi

In the wake of the murder of George Floyd, conversations about racism and antiracism have returned to the forefront in higher education. In this session, a panel of Penn employees will describe their understanding of these topics and tell about their personal journeys with them. We will include time for audience reflection, discussion, and questions.

Valerie Dorsey-Allen – Valerie Dorsey Allen, DSW, is the Director of the African American Resource Center and brings to the position extensive experience as a counselor and career development officer with Philadelphia Job Corps.

Roderick Gilbert – Roderick Gilbert is the inaugural CDEI Officer at the School of Veterinary Medicine. He has over 16 years of DEI leadership and management experience at three academic medical institutions and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Abhi Hendi – Abhi Hendi is the IT Director of Student Experience at the Wharton School. He is a graduate of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and has served in various roles in Wharton Computing’s Diversity, Community and Inclusion initiative.

Olivia Roth (Moderator) – Olivia Roth is the Director of Online Academics Programs for Penn Engineering Online. She is a graduate of Penn’s MLA degree with a concentration in Social Justice.

Student Career Paths and Recruiting: What’s New and What’s Remained the Same?

Room: Towne 315

Barbara Hewitt, Executive Director of Career Services

David Ross, Director of Undergraduate Career Initiatives

This session will provide information on how employment recruiting for Penn undergraduates has changed over the last 2-5 years, partially as a result of the pandemic but also as a result of accelerated recruiting timelines in some industries and new technologies that employers began to implement even before Covid appeared. Career Services staff will provide an overview of the current state of recruiting for undergraduate students, present data on the career outcomes for recent undergraduate classes, and facilitate a discussion with attendees about what they are seeing in terms of career development of their students. A brief overview of the resources available to students through Career Services will also be included.

*Runs concurrently to Office Roundtables (1)

Fostering Intercultural Learning and Creating a Sense of Belonging During a Pandemic 

Room: Towne 311

Kia Lor, Valerie De Cruz, Toyce Holmes, Patricia Soria

The past two years have presented unique challenges for student affairs. Within an intercultural center, instructors had to think about shifts in curriculum and pedagogy to achieve learning outcomes. Staff were also challenged to think about new ways to build critical connections with students. We will discuss how we embraced new approaches to building intercultural learning and community. We will also speak about how technology helped us to achieve our goals and create a sense of belonging for our students.

Academic Integrity in the Online Learning Environment

Room: Towne 313

Dani Crowl, Associate Director, Office of Student Conduct

Online programs have boomed in the last few years and as a result of the pandemic, universities have provided more and more opportunities for virtual learning. Penn is definitely leading the charge with new online masters programs and virtual options for most undergraduate courses. With these amazing advances in technology and our ability to adapt, come new and unique challenges for academic integrity. Exams are not being conducted in a classroom with a proctor keeping a watchful eye and instead students are taking exams from their dorm rooms with friends, their phones, and endless unauthorized resources so close by and so tempting to use during moments of panic, stress, or during the pursuit of perfect grades. This presentation will speak about these trends coming though the Office of Student Conduct, including new ways in which students are cheating and what we as staff/faculty can do to help!

The Green Zone Program: Supporting Veteran and Military Students at Penn

Room: Towne 315

Lynn Manuel, Veterans and Military Affiliated Coordinator

Ralph DeLucia, Associate Director of the Office of Affirmative Action & Equal Opportunity Programs

The purpose of the Green Zone is to build a faculty and staff support network for veteran students at institutions of higher learning. Named after the secure international zone in Baghdad, Iraq, the Green Zone program operates on the premise that having knowledgeable and supportive contacts within a university fosters a more veteran-friendly environment. The Green Zone program provides training to faculty and staff interested in learning more about the veteran and military student experience. Once Green Zone training is completed, faculty/staff participants are given a Green Zone sticker to display outside their office as a visible signal to veteran and military students that they are entering a ‘safe’ zone. More than 100 colleges and universities across the US currently offer the Green Zone program. As our veteran and military student population continues to grow, it’s increasingly important that the University of Pennsylvania participates in this valuable program. Assisted by some of our current veteran students, I plan to implement the Green Zone program at Penn this year.

*Runs concurrently to Session Block 2

Stop by our first session of Office Roundtables to learn more about different offices at Penn! Representative(s) from each office will be available throughout the hour to answer questions, explore ideas, and share more about how they support the Penn community. Offices include:

Campus Recreation

Career Services

Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships

Graduate & Professional School Advising/Career Services

Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life

Student Service Center @ Student Registration & Financial Services

Undergraduate Admissions

Weingarten Center

Join us outside and enjoy lunch in Quain Courtyard! Boxed meals will be provided.

*Runs concurrently to Office Roundtables (2)

Re-Connect: The Power of High-Quality Connections

Room: Towne 311

Laura Taylor, Managing Coordinator of Education – Positive Psychology Center

Whether we are reconvening in-person, expanding online education, or seeking to engage a hybrid audience, connection is core to quality education. How can we cultivate high-quality connections that energize our communities? Grounded in the research of Dr. Jane Dutton and colleagues at the University of Michigan, this interactive workshop will help small groups generate ideas to leverage the power of connection, attune to their environment, and boost well-being.

Restorative Practices @ Penn – Re-Storing Community

Room: Towne 313

Pablo Cerdera, Associate Director for Restorative Practices at Penn

Hanan Ahmed, Restorative Practices Specialist for Restorative Practices at Penn

This introductory workshop will help orient participants in the history, theory, and practice of Restorative Justice and Restorative Practices, with a special focus on how these practices help us think about living in and building healthy communities.

Trends in Substance Use Among Penn Students and Re-Building Harm Reduction Efforts

Room: Towne 315

Trainor Macrone, Health Educator, Wellness at Penn

Lauren Cordova, Health Educator, Wellness at Penn

Wellness at Penn aims to take a broad look at substance use among Penn students through discussing data, culture, and existing interventions to better conceptualize paths toward growing campus harm reduction efforts around alcohol and other drugs. Looking at Penn’s data trends, changes, and gaps around substance use alongside qualitative and quantitative feedback collected during this academic year (AY21-22) offers insights to how time and the COVID-19 pandemic have shifted the ways Penn students engage with substances. This important context helps re-frame how existing supports are impacting students, what growing campus harm reduction efforts could look like, and the potential for each member of the Penn community to play a role in supporting students.

*Runs concurrently to Session Block 3

Stop by our second session of Office Roundtables to learn more about different offices at Penn! Representative(s) from each office will be available throughout the hour to answer questions, explore ideas, and share more about how they support the Penn community. Offices include:

Campus Recreation

Career Services

Greenfield Intercultural Center

LGBT Center

Penn Abroad

Student Service Center @ Student Registration & Financial Services

Weingarten Center

Wharton Undergraduate Division

Dr. Theresa Powell is the Vice President of Student Affairs at Temple University and a proud Penn alum! To learn more about Dr. Powell, check out this article from Temple Now: Temple’s vice president for student affairs honored for contributions to student experience.

Join us outside as we wrap up the conference with something sweet! Non-dairy options also available.