Philadelphia is one of the best cities in the United States. It can feel intimidating to start exploring it, but once you do it, you’ll see how many beautiful spots there are around campus. Below we’ll mention a few hot spots to check out during the weekends or when you feel like relaxing after class!

1. Clark Park

Located at 43rd & Baltimore, Clark Park is one of West Philly’s best parks. If you want to relax or walk around UPenn’s campus, the park is about 30 minutes away by foot. Full of trees and lots of green, Clark Park is the one nature spot you need to check out. There are frequent farmers’ markets and plenty of coffee shops and beautiful architecture around.

2. Philadelphia Zoo

The Philadelphia Zoo was the first real zoo in the United States. It has over 1,800 animals and it is located about 30 minutes away at 3400 W Girard Avenue. The zoo will be open every day starting March 24. The standard price for all adults is $20 with members having free tickets if they pay an annual fee.

3. Bartram’s Garden

Bartram’s Garden is the oldest surviving botanical garden in the U.S. It is located about 20 minutes by bus at 54th & Lindbergh Boulevard. It is completely free, full of various plants and flowers and an arboretum.

4. Shofuso Japanese House and Garden

Located in Fairmount Park, Shofuso Japanese House and Garden is a traditional 17th-century Japanese house. The building was initially located inside MoMa, in New York, but relocated to Philadelphia later. Tickets are around $8-12. It is not open right now, but during spring and summer, the site welcomes individual visitors and groups.

5. Magic Gardens

Located in the heart of South Philadelphia, Philly’s Magic Gardens is a must. The place has multiple indoor galleries and an outdoor labyrinth. It is a big mosaic work of art that is shining during sunny days. Colorful and vibrant, Philly’s Magic Gardens’ prices are around $5-10.

6. Race Street Pier 

Race Street Pier is located on the Delaware River Waterfront with the shadow of Ben Franklin as an iconic picture spot. Featuring many quads and picnic spots, this pier is a great place for a socially distant get-together with your friends (and some nice Instagram pictures!) It’s also completely free!

7. Fairmount Park Horticultural Center

Located in West Fairmount Park, the Horticulture Center is a modern exhibition and greenhouse. While you’re there you can explore the arboretum, picnic spots and display houses. Some of the exhibits include the Cherry Allee, which is an alley of Cherry Blossom trees, Butterfly Garden which is rife with flowers and butterflies during the summer, and a Reflecting Pool. All visitors are also welcome free of charge!

8. Franklin Square

At 200 N. 6th Street, Franklin Square is the place to go for outdoor recreational activities. The park has burgers, Philly-themed mini-golf, and a carousel. Tickets for mini-golf are $10 and are $3 for the carousel. For the spring season, Franklin Square has also planned a free Chinatown Scavenger Hunt for all to participate in at their own pace using QR codes at checkpoints.

9. Wissahickon Valley Park 

For those who enjoy nature more than the urban landscape of Philadelphia, Wissahickon Valley Park is just a 30-minute bus ride out of the city. The park offers more than five trails ranging from 1.5 miles to almost 8 miles, to match just about anyone’s craving for adventure. The hike is free but the cost of transportation remains.

10. Longwood Gardens 

This scenic attraction is located an hour’s drive from Drexel’s campus but is worth the trip. With over 1,000 acres of gardens, meadows, woodlands and elaborate horticultural displays, Longwood Gardens can easily be a day trip. One can see various fauna, wildlife, birds and interesting displays during a visit. Tickets are $25 for an adult, but $22 with a college student ID.

Finals week will begin March 15 and end on March 19. Drexel students are no strangers when it comes to stress, but finals week can be intimidating to some people. It is important to take care of oneself due to how much stress can affect someone mentally and physically.

1. Exercise

According to Harvard Health, it has shown in clinical trials that exercise can treat anxiety disorders and clinical depression. Exercise reduces the body’s stress hormones level like adrenaline and cortisol. It will increase the production of endorphins. Although Drexel Recreation Center isn’t offering virtual classes during finals week, they are offering courses the weekend before finals week and when spring quarter begins.

2. Sleep

Sleep has a really strong relationship with stress. According to the Sleep Foundation, stress can increase the risks of insomnia and other sleep problems. Lack of sleep can also increase the level of stress.

3. Positive Self Talk

Everyone talks to themselves, whether it is out loud or in their head. Positive self-talk can reduce anxiety and calm people down. Instead of saying, “I am going to fail,”, say “I will do the best I can.”. According to Mayo Clinic, some studies show that optimism can affect an individual’s health and well-being. There are some health benefits from positive thinking or self-talk such as better cardiovascular health, lower rates of depression, better coping skills when faced with hardships, and more.

A recent update to the New York Times COVID-19 tracker revealed a statistic about Drexel University which came as a shock to many, but Dr. Marla Gold, Professor and Dean Emerita of Health Management and Policy, says it was misleading and invalid.

The New York Times publishes frequent updates on its COVID-19 case tracker, particular to colleges and universities around the nation. The outlet is currently reporting that Drexel University is experiencing a 191 percent growth rate in Covid-19 cases.

“This [report], to me, was not even comparing apples and oranges,” Gold said. “This, to me, was an attempt to compare fruits and vegetables, and it didn’t work.”

Gold credits a lack of set methodology on data collection at the New York Times as the cause of this misinformation. The report likely used data published by Drexel on its public COVID-19 dashboard, which was not live until October, Gold said.

“Not until October did we begin to publish [data] on a public dashboard in a more organized way,” Gold said. “The vast majority of institutions of higher education [included in the New York Times report] have semesters, while we have quarters. The time span of a semester and a quarter is very different. When we [published] data in October, it was very close to [the start of] students arriving on Drexel’s campus.”

Hand in hand with the difference in start time, Gold urges consideration of a different startup period of mandatory testing at Drexel, different testing methodologies and populations who choose to get tested and how often.

Drexel began its testing procedures with optional testing and baseline testing prior to launching its own testing center, available to all students at all times, which opened in October.

“Gateway testing started in September,” Gold said. “Students did have testing available. The change that happened in October was that [Drexel] set up [its] own full lab, offering testing as soon as possible for all students who want it.”

And, evident through Drexel’s increased testing over the past several months, the university’s infection numbers have remained quite low, slightly lower than many comparable institutions, despite the New York Times report, Gold said.

The World Health Organization wants a positivity rate of below 5 percent. And, to date, Drexel has consistently maintained a positivity rate of under 2 percent, Gold said.

Gold said the University did see an uptick in cases following Halloween, presumably due to student activity. However, around Winter Break and the holidays, the numbers did not increase nearly as much. Additionally, when the City of Philadelphia’s positivity rate increased dramatically following the summer months, Drexel’s did not.

“I’m proud to say that, while the city rose to above 13 percent [positivity rate], our Dragons were always below 2 percent, on the seven days [period].”

Drexel has decided to update figures on its COVID-19 dashboard on a weekly basis, released each Sunday night, Gold said, because it was frequent enough to “give [Drexel] good data.”

Gold also highlighted the number of disclaimers and amount of “fine print” included in the New York Times report, which make comparing institutions included on the list difficult.

“The take-home message is that the New York Times has no set methodology, they produced a figure that is not [acceptable] to measure anything by,” Gold said. “The figure erroneously suggested that we had an outbreak on campus between 2020 and 2021, and that could not be further from the truth.”

In order to prevent a serious outbreak from happening on Drexel’s campus, Gold says the most effective measure is the wearing of face masks.

“We keep saying it, but the number one most important thing is [wearing] face masks,” Gold said.

Gold also explained that a normal ebb-and-flow in COVID-19 infections is normal, and should not be used as an opportunity to point blame. She encourages members of the Drexel community to continue being careful and complacent, especially in the warmer months ahead, and reassures that we are close to “the finish line.”

“This pandemic has evolved quickly over time, going from a deadly infection – not that it is not still deadly – but to vaccine availability in a year. That is hyperspeed. No disease has ever [progressed] like this in science.”

Gold also reassures that no evidence has shown new COVID-19 variants forming on Drexel’s campus.

“To date, there is no evidence of new variants, but we do have another round of testing [happening] this week to check,” she said. “So, we are looking.”

In addition to keeping everyone safe, a goal on the top of Drexel’s list is to help make college life “a thing again” and return to some degree of normalcy on campus.

“The goal is to educate, contain the disease, get the case rate down on campus and allow us to more fully function,” Gold said.

To best achieve this, Gold says Drexel is going above-and-beyond in its efforts to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 on campus. This includes requiring a minimum 10-day quarantine period, although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention only mandates seven days. Gold says this helps keep from “missing infections.”

Gold said that Drexel does not want its community members to become “numbers.”

“Every day, a team meets and we look at the day [prior]’s infection reports and we talk about the case investigation,” Gold said. “We make sure that we coordinate between Mental Health and Counseling, Student Conduct, Student Health, and we get a report on percentages in quarantine, isolation and beds available.”

“People are most important. I want to [emphasize] that no student [who is in our testing program] has been seriously ill, and we thank God for that.”

Updated statistics on COVID-19 infections are posted weekly to Drexel’s dashboard, which can be viewed on its website here.

Drexel’s women’s rifle team started in 1919 becoming one of the best and most accomplished in the country shortly after. Despite the constant differential treatment for their gender, the team managed to keep their success for nearly 40 years.

The May 26, 1950 edition of The Triangle writes, “Riffletes placed 2nd.” The Drexel’s women’s rifle team started as an extension of the men’s ROTC rifle program in 1919 according to a 2016 Drexel One article. The team’s lack of a big budget and support compared to the men’s team only let it play against local teams such as University of Pennsylvania, George Washington University and Arcadia University most of the time. Despite that, the Drexel team was constantly placed among the top five in the country with very few losses during their glory days.

According to the April 23, 1954 edition of The Triangle, Drexel women’s rifle team was called the Annie Oakleys, after the famous American sharpshooter who dominated the men’s shooting industry at the time. Annie Oakley was aware of the team’s existence and mentioned the team in a speech during a 1923 Phillies game, “I only wish I had the opportunity to give them a little instruction. I can tell by the photographs… that they do not hold their rifles quite right. I could rectify that easily and make them better than they are, even if they have never been beaten,” according to a 2016 Drexel One article.

The women won multiple team awards as well as various individual awards such as bronze medals in almost all competitions and multiple sharpshooter awards. In 1951, they were placed second in an 18-team competition for the National Rifle Association. In addition to that, the Drexel’s rifle team 1925 picture currently has two million views on Imgur and Reddit with a lot of sympathy from both history and sports lovers.

The sport always required a lot of safety risks and expensive renovations. Despite the women’s team’s infamous success, the rifle team was mostly men by 2003. The university eventually shut down the program entirely in the same year due to safety concerns and lack of leadership. Women’s history has us remembering one of the most successful women’s teams in Drexel’s history.

On Feb. 26, 2021, the Department of Global Studies and Modern Languages hosted their first Global Passport Series event of the year centered around how the COVID-19 pandemic deepened inequality in Africa and the Americas. The event, moderated by Drexel Assistant Teaching Professor of French Parfait Kouacou, included two expert panelists to cover the challenges and opportunities the pandemic has initiated in the world: Mausi Segun and Dr. Jorge E. Cuellar. The event generated much discussion and debate over the topic as over 100 participants joined the virtual meeting.

Mausi Segun, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch’s Africa Division, highlighted some of the greatest challenges African countries face in the wake of the pandemic. According to Segun, the pandemic has exacerbated Africa’s existing challenges.

“The lockdowns and ensuing economic downturn have had devastating impacts on lives and livelihoods,” Segun stated. “Deepening inequalities around access to and opportunities for basic social and economic rights.”

Among the challenges mentioned were the wealth gap, access to healthcare, food and housing, and education. Even prior to the start of the pandemic, Africa faced high rates of poverty and rising inequality. Many governments swiftly implemented quarantine and social distancing policies to slow down the spread of the virus, which has limited growth and access to opportunities across the continent.

Inequitable access to healthcare has been one of the chief issues facing African countries as the pandemic exposed many gaps and faults within the system’s services and equipment. Segun argues that poor healthcare infrastructure is largely due to a lack of investment, inability to retain skilled workers, and limited resources for essential medicines.

As COVID-19 vaccines are produced and distributed in recent weeks, Segun noted that around 78 percent of the doses are given to people living in Europe, the United States, and China. As a result, Africans are concerned about access to vaccines in the upcoming months.

Segun offered some of her recommendations for change, which encouraged African governments to increase spending on social programs, improve transparency and oversight to root out corruption and mismanagement of funds or resources, and provide universal social protections.

Dr. Cuellar, Assistant Professor of Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies at Dartmouth University, spoke of similar challenges and suggestions about the current situation in Latin America. Among his concerns was the rise of corruption and authoritarianism across Latin American countries. In particular, he focused on the story of El Salvador under the rule of President Nayib Bukele. Prior to the pandemic, Bukele led an insurrection on the legislative palace of El Salvador to push for a $109 million dollar loan for an anti-crime bill, representing a warning for what was to come in the future.

As Cuellar states, this loan was meant to be used for the purchasing of military and law enforcement equipment, but it demonstrated how the President was willing to use the military for his own political ends at the expense of the people of El Salvador.

“This democratic erosion was deepened with the coronavirus crisis,” Cuellar explained.

The pandemic served as the perfect opportunity for leaders like Bukele to expand military police apparatus under the guise of public health initiatives. While the people of El Salvador have been promised further intervention to support them, the public has generally not been consulted on many public policy decisions. This lack of public transparency has led to public health and government control being used in a very narrow application via the use of repression and media spectacles.

Cuellar shared some of the same social and economic challenges Segun mentioned during her presentation, including increasing inequality, and food and housing insecurities among other issues.

“People took to the streets to wave the white flag; a phenomena soliciting help was seen across El Salvador and Guatemala,” stated Cuellar.

People from the most marginalized communities have been on the streets, waving a white flag of mercy and asking for food.

Cuellar further explains that the pandemic has particularly exposed the neoliberal illusion of abundance and the politics of scarcity that come along with it. As he describes, the pandemic has demonstrated how the already oppressed are the ones truly at the mercy of COVID-19.

The moderated discussion, led by Professor Kouacou, featured questions from the audience, many of whom were curious to learn more about how to move forward given the current challenges facing these regions of the world. While much of the information shared by Segun and Cuellar was upsetting to hear for many attendees, the GPS event certainly fulfilled its goal of facilitating global conversations and building engagement with students, faculty, and panelists.

Drexel’s Dornsife School of Public Health held its second annual case competition Feb. 18, which aimed to improve vaccine effectiveness in Philadelphia; due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was held virtually this year. There were nine teams at this event, made up of both undergraduate and graduate public health students while others just had graduate students.

The first part of the two-part event was to submit a subway poster that would encourage others to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The second was to develop an outreach plan to reduce vaccine hesitancy and increase confidence in vaccines. All teams had between nine and 11 days to submit both parts, and were assigned a public health faculty that would help the participants think deeply about their proposal instead of simply providing answers.

The student-created subway posters were included in a survey that asked people to vote for the poster they found most effective. The team with the most votes would win the People’s Choice Award. This survey received over 1,000 votes. On competition day, each team had the opportunity to meet with the judges and answer questions. The judges asked questions related to the outreach plan.

The winning team, Team 5, received $1,000 for their award. An honorable mention went out to Team 1, who received $500. Team 6 won the People’s Choice Award and received $500.

Although several teams did not win, many participants were able to network with other participants from various programs in the Dornsife School of Public Health and Dornsife faculty members. This competition gave participants a chance to solve a real-world issue that is one of the biggest concerns in controlling the spread of COVID-19.

It was announced Feb. 18 that Drexel University and the University City Science Center will receive a grant from Raynier Institute and Foundation totaling $500,000 to support minority entrepreneurs in Philadelphia. Within the last five years, although there has been an increase in start-ups created by minority entrepreneurs, less than one-quarter of all businesses were started by minorities. To improve this statistic, the three institutions hope to allocate the money efficiently in order to cater to minority business needs and promote diversity within the start-up world.

“Inequity around access to capital is well-documented. This seed fund, made possible by the Raynier Institute and Foundation to assist underrepresented founders, will be a great asset for Philadelphia to help increase the diversity of its innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem,” said Shintaro Kaido, the Vice Provost for Innovation and the Executive Director at the Office of Applied Innovation at Drexel.

Kaido will be one of the managers across all three organizations to oversee the Raynier seed fund. They will collectively choose from an array of investment candidates from Drexel’s Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship, Office of Research and Innovation and Drexel and University City Science Center’s commercial programs.

The Raynier Institute and Foundation is the driving force of this impactful collaboration. Based in Seattle but garnered with Philadelphia-roots, the organization has a mission to fund projects that will inevitably better humanity. Its strategic partnership with Drexel aligns with their mission statement; through its Office of Research and Innovation programs and the Charles D. Close School’s Baiada Institute Incubator competition, Drexel repeatedly demonstrated its commitment to minority entrepreneurs over the last few years.

“Support from the Raynier Institute and Foundation will enable the Science Center and Drexel to increase support to minority founders to ensure Philadelphia’s innovation community is more representative of Philadelphia’s demographics,” said the President and CEO of the University Science Center, Tiffany Wilson.

The selection committee will be composed of picks from three representatives of the three institutions partaking in this exciting opportunity. The committee will help choose applicants to receive needed seed money and general support. The investments will be solely managed by Drexel, and all returns on investments will be reinvested into the fund to keep it going.

“We know that entrepreneurs need capital to propel their ideas into reality. Seed funding in the initial stages of a new venture is critical not only to survival but also to the ability of the firm to pivot as needed,” said Donna DeCarolis, the founding dean of the Close School of Entrepreneurship.

Not only will this fund help close the “minority-gap” found in start-up ventures within Philadelphia, but it will garner innovation and jobs within the underserved communities found in the city.

“This seed fund, targeted at underrepresented entrepreneurs, will accelerate innovation and job creation among minority entrepreneurs in our region,” said DeCarolis.

Within the next few years, the initial $500,000 will transform Philadelphia into a more diverse and innovative area for start-up ventures, with Drexel being the epicenter of it all.

Jaya Tucker, an Entertainment and Arts Management junior, was just doing her hair when the power went out in the apartment where she was staying with her sister in Dallas. She took her phone and tablet to continue doing her hair thinking it was just a building failure — in reality, what she went through was the state-wide power outage that suffered the state of Texas and parts of other neighboring states caused by a snowstorm after Valentine’s day.

Millions of Texans stayed without electricity and heating for around a week when the thermostat even hit below zero degrees Fahrenheit. Many were also without water due to burst pipes and many supermarkets had no food in their shelves for weeks.

Besides affecting millions of families, this also affected students from schools and universities nationwide that are seeing remote classes in this state, including various Drexel students that were in co-op or remote classes.

“I was not able to attend any of my classes or finish any of my assignments that were due in, I believe, Week Six of a nine-week term — which is super duper hectic, crazy and wild. I’m doing two weeks’ worth of work this week because I was not able to do that last week,” Tucker said. “Luckily, my professors have been very nice and super sweet about everything and have cooperated with me very well.”

Tucker said that what made the situation most impactful was how sudden the storm was and how unprepared the whole state was.  “One day, the pool in the apartment complex where Tucker was staying was fine, and then another one it was completely frozen,” she said. Despite not having more than two inches of snow, she said that all the streets nearby were unsalted and frozen.

“Texas was on a power-sharing system where it could go on for about an hour and then, it was gone for like six more hours. And, as much as I wish I could say I was doing my work within that hour, there were a whole other basic needs that you don’t even think about that you have to attend to within that hour – like cooking and corresponding with our friends and family,” she said.

She and her sister only found out that the situation was a state-wide blackout when she was able to speak with relatives from out-of-state. They found out the mayor had resigned, the senator had traveled to Cancun and that the crisis made it to national news thanks to their relatives because they were not even able to check the news on their electronic devices.

“We heard about people dying in their chairs, people dying with their grandparents, people’s ventilators being shut off. However, all of the stuff that elected officials were saying was a little hard to hear for me because I am working hard to create the future that I want for myself and this storm would not have stopped me if I was in the state of Pennsylvania, so I was bit frustrating on how America looks different on different sides on the states,” she said.

Tucker described that she and her sister had a system where they would turn the oven to the maximum temperature in short intervals to keep the room warm and keep their meals. Additionally, her phone connection was not working at the time of the blackout and, in order to get connection she had to go outside where it was extremely cold.

“There was a moment when I tried to do as much work as I could and just do something while we were going through that on top of a pandemic. I had to take a seat back and ask myself if I was okay and ask my sister if we are okay right now,” she said.

Roshini Sundar, an Organizational Management, was getting ready in the morning of Monday, Feb. 15 for her weekly meeting with her team at her remote co-op in a Philadelphia-based organization when the power went off at her home in Frisco, Texas at around 6 or 7 a.m..

Her parents recently moved from Connecticut to Texas and, because of the pandemic, she moved with them there to do her remote co-op.

Sundar’s family had already seen in the media that a snowstorm was coming to the state and their weather app had given them some alerts, but no one predicted that it would be this severe and that it would affect the whole state the way it did.

“The whole week I couldn’t sleep at all because the bed was so cold, and the heaters didn’t work,” she said. “We had moved in recently. It’s not like we had a huge supply of extra blankets and such that a standard household would have — what we regularly used is what we had, so we just were wearing three layers of clothing inside the house.”

Sundar’s co-workers were very understanding of her situation. They messaged her daily to make sure she was okay and offered her emotional support for her to take the week off. Nonetheless, she had a manageable workload during that week, and despite the outage, she was able to complete her tasks of the week although she could not attend most of her weekly meetings.

However, that was not the case for the rest of her family. Her dad was unable to do his remote work during the week of the outage and, additionally, her mom carried the burden of trying to cook the meals for her home in just the 30 or 20 minutes of electricity they had, which was also very stressful, she said.

She said she was one of the lucky ones that had many people in her house to do multiple tasks and did not have food or water shortage. She heard of many people in her community and throughout the state who had pipes broken in their buildings and also did not have water during the night. Additionally, various supermarkets had food shortages because non-perishable goods ran out fast and, at times, they had to throw away the food that was going bad without electricity.

Nonetheless, once her area got electricity back on Friday morning, their family was not able to find basic goods in their closest supermarket. Since they do not have a car, they had to walk in the cold storm aftermath to a supermarket further away to be able to get their groceries.

Additionally, Tucker said that when she and her sister were able to go out and the power had come back, they witnessed several car accidents near their home because of the state of the streets.

“It’s really important for us to help out each other in these times. We need to be more adamant about doing that and going out of our way when we can. After COVID, we don’t see many human interactions anymore and we are very unsure as a nation of what is yet to come,” Tucker concluded.

Sundar remains in Texas doing her co-op remotely, while Tucker was able to return to Philadelphia for a conference she had planned to attend in advance — which also happened to last until the storm passed.

February is Black History Month, and while there likely would have been more recognition in-person, plenty of engaging virtual events are taking place around Drexel. Drexel’s various schools, colleges, faculty and student organizations have created a calendar of programming for the entire month. Although February is quickly coming to a close, here’s a recap of what’s happened so far and what’s left to participate in!

One student organization that made its debut last November is the Center for Black Culture. Located in the Rush Building and partnering with the Lindy Center, the CBC intends to advocate for Black students, faculty and members of the West Philadelphia community. Intending to be a “hub of friendliness and community,” the center is a place where difficult yet necessary conversations can take place. Therefore, to celebrate Black History Month, the Center for Black Culture planned two events, including A West African Dance Class and a Virtual Kickback on Feb. 25.

The West African Dance Class took place on Wednesday, Feb. 17 and was hosted by Professor Antoinette Coward-Gilmore. This virtual class was open to everyone, and Coward-Gilmore taught various sequences and practiced with all participants. The intent was to have fun and learn about African heritage, all the while getting a workout in. While fun and light-hearted, the dances that were taught signified paying homage and giving respect to ancestors. This dance class serves as an introduction to the African Dance Technique I course Coward-Gilmore teaches.

Other upcoming events to celebrate during Black History Month include the weekly Tuesday Talks by the Center for Diversity and Inclusion. On Tuesday, Feb. 23, Dr. Veronica Carey will be hosting a talk with the theme “Diversity Is Understood, Inclusion Is Political” virtually.

Some other virtual festivities to note include a talk about “Navigating Predominantly White Spaces As a Black Scholar,” hosted by the Undergraduate Research and Enrichment Program on Feb. 23, and a Black Faculty and Professional Staff Association luncheon with Drexel’s President John Fry on Feb. 24.

To end the month, the College of Arts and Sciences will be holding a discussion titled “How The Pandemic Made Us Less Equal” with two prominent panelists. The event will touch on how COVID-19 has deepened inequalities in the Black and Latinx community.

While these are a snapshot of some of the events planned for the virtual celebration of Black History Month, be sure to continue checking with these organizations for ways to get involved.

For more information about Black History Month at Drexel, visit https://drexel.edu/oed/about/announcements/2021/February/black-history-month-events-2021/.

After 22 years of service as Drexel’s Director of Athletics, Eric Zillmer, PsyD, is stepping down from his position effective June 30 to focus on a year-long sabbatical, President John Fry announced in a statement to the Drexel community.

Zillmer, who works primarily as a professor of neuropsychology at Drexel, assumed the Director of Athletics position in 1998 and, since then, has established the sixth-longest tenure in the United States, Fry said. During this tenure, Zillmer spearheaded efforts to refine Drexel’s athletics.

“During Zillmer’s tenure … Drexel athletics has been transformed in extraordinary ways,” Fry said. “From securing a partnership with Bachelors Barge Club on historic Boathouse Row and the adaptive use of the Philadelphia Armory to host the Arlen Specter US Squash Center as a national training center, to building the Recreation Center, Buckley and Vidas bubbles, renovating the Vidas Athletic Complex and even creating a new Dragons athletics logo.”

After a year-long sabbatical, which begins after his departure June 30, Zillmer plans to return to Drexel with an increased focus on his work in the psychology department.

Zillmer has conducted extensive research work and contributed to several publications on  neuropsychology, psychological assessment and the ways psychology connects to sports.

In addition, Zillmer is a fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the American Psychological Association, the Society for Personality Assessment and the National Academy of Neuropsychology.

“Drexel has been so very fortunate to have Dr. Eric Zillmer guide our athletics program,” Fry concluded. “Please join us in congratulating [him] on his accomplishments and wishing him well on his future endeavors at Drexel University.”

Effective immediately, Drexel’s Subir Sahu, Senior Vice President for Student Success and overseer of Drexel Athletics, will be leading a nationwide search for a strong candidate to fill Zillmer’s shoes as athletic director.