Jane Morris
Executive Director, Center for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships
Jane Coyle Morris is the Executive Director of the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships at the University of Pennsylvania. As Executive Director, Jane provides leadership, vision, and direction for CURF, working closely with the staff and faculty to promote opportunities for undergraduate research and nationally competitive scholarships. Jane also oversees the Thouron Award, a graduate exchange program between the United Kingdom and the University of Pennsylvania. Before coming to Penn, Jane served as the Executive Director of Duke University’s Office of Undergraduate Scholars and Fellows and as the Director of Villanova’s Center for Research and Fellowships. Prior to her career in higher education, Jane had a 20-year career as a research scientist.
Jane holds a B.S. in Biology from Villanova University and an M.A. in Biology from Bryn Mawr College. She is a former President of the National Association of Fellowship Advisors, serving as a direct liaison between the scholarship advisors and the leadership of foundations including the Rhodes, the Marshall, the Mitchell, and the Udall. In this role, Jane participated directly in helping the Marshall Scholarship Program evaluate and revise their selection criteria to include those same qualities of intellectual leadership that define excellence in a broader and more meaningful context. Jane believes deeply in the power of engaging students in an authentic process of discernment, articulation, action, and reflection that moves students from the classroom into post-graduate lives where they can make meaningful contributions to the world.
Email Jane
Ann Vernon-Grey, Ph.D.
Senior Associate Director for Undergraduate Research
Ann Vernon-Grey received her BS in Biology from the University of Tulsa before traveling to the University of Cambridge, England, on a Marshall Scholarship where she earned her PhD in Developmental and Cancer Biology. Her research interests have included the coordination of cell division, differentiation and migration, and subsequent investigation of how the normal processes of development are subverted during tumor formation and progression to metastasis. Ann is an enthusiastic supporter of Penn’s college life and has spent a decade living and working in Penn’s College House system, currently as Associate Faculty Director of Lauder College House. At CURF, Ann is responsible for helping undergraduates find meaningful and exciting research opportunities with Penn’s outstanding faculty, assisting students identify and secure unique summer research possibilities, and supporting their search and application for national and international grants.
Email AnnKerry Milch, PhD
Associate Director for Undergraduate Research
Kerry Milch helps undergraduates clarify their interests and goals and find engaging and meaningful research experiences with faculty mentors. Prior to joining Penn, Dr. Milch served as the Assistant Director for Undergraduate Enrichment at Temple University, where she directed undergraduate research and peer teaching programs, served on fellowship and scholarship review committees, and advised the Lenfest Scholars. She earned a BA in Psychology at Yale University and a PhD in Psychology at Columbia University. Her research interests include motivation, self-regulation, and environmental decision making. She has taught English at the Tokyo Friends School in Japan, served as a Research Associate in Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, and worked as a Research Scholar at the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions at Columbia.
Email Kerry
Wallace Genser, Ph.D.
Senior Associate Director for Fellowships
Wallace Genser assists students seeking national and international fellowships to fund their continued study through programs such as the Rhodes, Marshall, Mitchell, Gates, Churchill, Schwarzman, Knight-Hennessy, Goldwater, and Thouron Awards, as well as the President's Engagement Prizes. He earned his BA in English at Rutgers and his MA and PhD in American Culture at the University of Michigan, and taught for fifteen years in the departments of American Culture, History, and Social Relations at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University. His research as a cultural historian focuses on transformations in ethnic, gender, and racial identities on the nineteenth-century US borderlands, and his current interests include nationalism, citizenship debates, and conceptions of the US in historical writing and contemporary discourse. His initial role at Penn focused on promoting undergraduate research through initiatives such as the Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring program (PURM) and other research grants, and he served as Staff Director of the Undergraduate Research Working Group for Penn's 2014 Middle States Reaccreditation Self-Study.
Email WallaceAngie Estévez, EdD
Associate Director for Fellowships
Dr. Angie Estévez is the Associate Director for Fellowships at the Center for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships. Dr. Estévez recruits and advises undergraduate, graduate, and alumni applicants for nationally and internationally competitive fellowships and select Penn awards.
Dr. Estévez previously served as an Assistant Director of Advising Services and Academic Support in the College of Arts and Sciences at Penn, where she mentored, advised, and supported undergraduate students for over 12 years. During that time, she also served as a CURF Fellowship Advisor and a Teaching Assistant in the Graduate School of Education. Prior to Penn, she served for eight years at the University of Delaware in various student-facing roles that included Academic Advisor, Multicultural Admissions Counselor, and Program Counselor for the federally funded Student Support Services Program.
Christine Muller, Ph.D.
Academic Coordinator
Dr. Christine Muller is the Academic Coordinator for Scholar Programs, where she provides administrative and programmatic oversight of the Benjamin Franklin Scholars and University Scholars. In addition to managing all administrative aspects of both programs, Dr. Muller works closely with our Faculty Directors, CURF colleagues, and our campus partners to advise our scholars about opportunities to pursue transformative experiences through undergraduate research and fellowships.
Dr. Muller joins CURF and Penn from Wilkes University where she served as the Director of the Honors Program and Assistant Professor of American Studies. Previously, Dr. Muller served for six years as the Residential College Dean of Saybrook College, one of Yale University’s fourteen residential colleges, providing academic and other guidance for the approximately 500 undergraduates from all years and all areas of study within Yale College who called Saybrook home. She also taught in Yale’s Department of American Studies. Her research and teaching have considered how literature, film, television, and other forms of popular culture have been drawing mass audiences into pertinent ethical and practical questions about power, violence, and stark cultural and historical change in the U.S. during the first decades of the twenty-first century. Dr. Muller earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Psychology, as well as a Master of Arts degree in English, from Villanova University. She earned a PhD in American Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Dr. Muller is committed to nourishing rich, extensive opportunities for students to explore and amplify their talents and capacities, particularly through values-oriented engagement with a complex contemporary world.
Griselle Rodriguez-Gonzalez
Office Coordinator
Griselle Rodriguez-Gonzalez is a two-time graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. She completed her bachelor's degree in 2009, with a major in Hispanic studies and a minor in anthropology. In December 2014 she finalized her Masters in Liberal Arts, with concentration in art, craft and culture. As an independent researcher her areas of interests include: education, ceramics in archaeology, identity, oral traditions, and alternative medicine.
Email Griselle
Jarryd Kainz
Assistant Director, Outreach and Operations
Jarryd Kainz is the Assistant Director of Outreach and Operations of the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships. Jarryd is a proud graduate of Temple University with a B.A. in Political Science and is currently finishing his M.A. in Education at Villanova University. His research interests include the application of student development theories in higher education programming and the impact of experiential learning on student success.
Email Jarryd