College junior Rachael Goldfarb replaces former chair Ari Silverman. With the opening of the SCUE Lounge in the Faculty Club and increasing interest in the organization's preceptorials, 1997 was a banner year for the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education and its chairperson, College senior Ari Silverman. But all good things must come to an end, and so too did Silverman's tenure as the head of SCUE last night with the election of a new chairperson. SCUE's approximately 40 members elected College junior Rachael Goldfarb to succeed Silverman as head of SCUE's Steering Committee. She officially assumed the post immediately after last night's elections. "I think Rachael's great," Silverman said of his successor, adding that he expects her to "produce new ideas" and "continue implementing new programs" in her role as head of the body. Goldfarb -- SCUE's first female chairperson since 1992 -- served last year as one of the two members-at-large on SCUE's Steering Committee, the organization's main administrative body. Goldfarb is also the chairperson of the 21st Century Project Undergraduate Advisory Board and one of the two undergraduate students serving on the search committee charged with finding a successor to former Provost Stanley Chodorow. For next year, the 20-year-old American History major from Bryn Mawr, Pa., said she hopes to build on the body's past successes while implementing new programs. Goldfarb said that she would like to increase the number of preceptorials -- mini-courses taught by some of the University's top professors for no credit -- that SCUE offers to undergraduates. While only 256 students attempted to register for last fall's preceptorials, an unanticipated 1,475 registration requests were received in the first few days for the slate of courses offered this spring. "They have been seen as a success by SCUE and the undergraduate population at Penn," Goldfarb said. The organization will also continue to sponsor the SCUE Lounge in the Faculty Club this year, although SCUE may have to find a new location for the lounge next year when the club relocates to the Inn at Penn, which is being built as part of the Sansom Common project. Goldfarb stated that "droves of students" have come to dine with their professors in the Lounge in its first semester of operation. The one new initiative that Goldfarb outlined for her term would be to see advisors appointed in all four undergraduate schools for SCUE's "Speaking About the University" program. First announced in SCUE's 1995 White Paper, SATU has not yet reached the official status of the University's "Writing Across the University" program. Silverman added he was "very, very satisfied" with the group's progress last year. As its chairperson, Goldfarb will replace Silverman as the only member of SCUE allowed to speak to the public about its activities. "I'm quite happy to go off the record," Silverman joked. He will stay at SCUE as one of its general members. Joining Goldfarb on the new Steering Committee will be Wharton sophomore Aaron Fidler as vice-chairperson, Wharton sophomore Joel Susal as treasurer and College sophomore Debra Kurshen as secretary. College sophomore Loren Berman and College junior Andrew Rhim will be the new members-at-large.
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