GAWG Previous Meetings

GSS and International Risk Management have partnered to update the Penn International Travel Registry. Attendees came and learned about the new system, called MyTrips. We discussed how it works and when it goes into effect.  

The fall session was dedicated to outbound group travel visas and the session welcomed our Penn preferred vendor, CIBT, to present and answer questions. 

Our annual summer networking breakfast highlighted what's new at GSS and Penn Global including updates to our Penn Global website. 

Responding to the needs of our constituents, this GAWG session focused on Outbound Visas: Improving Guidance. Attendees asked questions and made recommendations to make the process smoother and easier. 

GSS discussed the process of Partner Vetting for International Collaborations including the benefits of vetting global partners, the key steps of due diligence and useful vetting resources at Penn. A full-house heard from GSS along with a panel of knowledgable Penn colleagues from DAR, Purchasing and the Penn Libraries. 

Our members gathered for our annual summer networking breakfast. Global administrators discussed their programs and inititatives planned for the upcoming year as well as reviewed new things at GSS and Penn Global.

Attendees learned about Penn's new Service Provider Classification process. Representatives from central administration were on hand to walk participants through the new process and GSS demonstrated how to handle this process from an international perspective. 

GSS teamed up with International Tax & Operations and International Risk Management to discuss data. Data Driven: Using International Data as a Resource covered an array of data sets, what they hold and how to use them. Travel safety, tax reporting and international agreements were just a few of the topics covered. 

Key experts from the Division of Finance came to talk with attendees on the importance of Global Activity and Resulting Compliance.   Topics covered included: Tax and Penn’s Form 990 Reporting, Agreements and potential anti-boycott issues, Activities or funds transfers with sanction countries, and Export controls and OFAC compliance.

Attendees met to discuss what departments across the university are doing globally. The meeting took place in Perry World House,  Penn’s new hub for international activities!

Attendees joined us for a Global Business Operations Update. 

Attendees joined us for an International Trip Leader Training. The session was led by Jaime Molyneux, Director of International Risk Management and Jessica Mertz, Director of Student Sexual Violence Prevention & Education. Upon completion attendees were certified as trip leaders. This training is currently being made into a video that will be available online. Distribution plans regarding how best to roll out  the training to the schools was discussed by the participants.

Over 50 people joined us for our session on Vendor Payments for Goods & Services Overseas: Navigating the Paperwork. Many people had reached our to us regarding frustration with making vendor payments abroad: What forms are required? How to complete tax forms? What are the steps for making wire payments? This session tackled the paperwork, reviewed scenarios, and brainstorm FAQ’s that are faced in these situations. This feedback is being used to create resources and make suggestions to central administration.

In lieu of a full program, we hosted a networking breakfast. Attendees had a chance to interact and learn about what departments/centers were doing globally over the summer.  We also talked about  GSS’ work over this past year including our GSS website.