Tuesday,
November 16, 1999
Volume 46
Number 12
www.upenn.edu/almanac/


For Wharton and SEAS: A $2 Million Gift from Ford

Ford Motor Company has donated $2 million to support "a wide range of student and faculty programs" at both the Wharton School and the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

President Judith Rodin said $1.5 million of the total will be given over five years to Wharton--representing one of the largest single grants to the school from a publicly-traded company--and that Wharton will use it toward variety of projects including minority programs and fellowships, the LEAD Program for high school students from under-represented minority groups, the Forum on Electronic Commerce, the Global Consulting Practicum and the Environmental Management Program.

SEAS plans to use its $500,000 over the next five years toward minority fellowships, the Student Leadership Fund, the Virtual Laboratory, the Solar Car, Career Day activities and the Coaching to Success Program.

The contribution, made possible through Ford Motor Company Fund, continues a relationship between the Ford Motor Company and the University of Pennsylvania that has existed for more than 40 years, Dr. Rodin said. "We are very pleased that Ford Motor Company has chosen to continue what has been a long-standing and productive relationship with Wharton as well as initiate a new relationship with the School of Engineering and Applied Science," Dr. Rodin said. "The programs and activities made possible through this generosity are not only important to these schools but represent support for programs and activities that are essential components of the University's vision for the future."

Added Jacques A. Nasser, Ford's president and CEO: "Ford Motor Company's relationship with the University of Pennsylvania is a partnership in the truest sense, and Ford is committed to keeping it strong. These initiatives at the University illustrate our continuing corporate commitment to higher education and our belief that academia and business should work more closely together to ensure that future generations of students are prepared to meet the challenges and opportunities of an increasingly competitive business environment."


At Council: Next Steps in Bike & Pedestrian Safety

  At Council Wednesday, President Judith Rodin announced the formation of a new University working group (right) to look into issues of bicycle and pedestrian safety on campus and issue a report by the end of the spring term.

[The working group is charged to expedite improvements in safety, Co-chair Carol Scheman notes in a "Speaking Out" response in this issue. Ms. Scheman also reports on steps agreed upon at the the group's first meeting, held last Friday.]

Other Council coverage, including the State of the University reports of the President and Provost, is in preparation for a future issue. --Ed.

 Bicycle/Pedestrian Working Group

Co-chairs:

  • Ms. Carol Scheman, Vice President, Government, Community & Public Affairs;
  • Mr. Tom Seamon, Vice President, Public Safety

Members:

  • Mr. Omar Blaik, VP Facilities Services;
  • Mr. Glenn Bryan, Director, City/Community Relations;
  • Mr. Paul Cribbins, Director, Commonwealth Relations;
  • Mr. John Glick, UA Facilities Committee Chair;
  • Mr. Richard Newton, Olin Partnership;
  • Ms. Maureen Rush, Director, Penn Police Operations;
  • Dr. Vukan Vuchic, UPS Foundation Professor of Transportation; Chair, Council Facilities Committee;
  • Mr. Ken Wildes, Director, Communications/ University Relations;

To be named: GAPSA member


Computing: A Planned Power Outage over Thanksgiving

A 24-hour power outage in the ISC computer room at 3401 Walnut over the Thanksgiving holiday will interrupt service on some key Penn computing systems. Major administrative systems will be unavailable and remote access to PennNet through the modem pool will be severely limited. In addition, some important network services will not be operating and University voicemail will be inoperative.

The outage will last from 8 a.m. Friday, November 26, to 8 a.m. Saturday, November 27.

The outage is required so that obsolete technology that provides electrical power service to the computer room, including backup power for emergencies, can be entirely replaced. Power to stores and offices at 3401 Walnut will not be interrupted.

Network traffic to and from the Internet and around PennNet (other than that involving the 3401 Walnut computer room) will NOT be affected. ISC regrets the necessity of the outage but hopes that the timing will minimize the impact.

Some notes on services and systems affected:

Administrative systems: Administrative systems/services that will NOT be available include FinMIS, the Data Warehouse, and all systems housed on IVY.UMIS (e.g., Student Financial Systems (SFS), Student Records (SRS), Payroll, and Gifts).

Other widely used systems: Penn InTouch, the On-line Directory, the On-line Calendar, Netnews, and the graduate and undergraduate on-line applications will NOT be available.

Modem/Office/ResNet connections: The main PPP modem pool (215) 573-4778 will NOT be operating. The express pool and the slower CLI pool will be available. Network access from ISP accounts (DCANet, AOL, etc.), ResNet rooms, and on-campus offices will also be available.

E-mail: Pobox, dolphin, and mail.sas e-mail will NOT be available. Messages arriving for accounts on those systems will be delayed but delivered as soon as the systems are up again.

Voicemail: Voicemail will NOT be available, so it will not be possible to leave or retrieve messages.

Web: Penn's home page, OncoLink, University Archives, and the many office and service web sites on the central Web server, www.upenn.edu, will NOT be available. Some School web sites and web applications (Dental, GSE, GSFA, SAS, Blackboard, IRQDB) will NOT be available. Web sites on pobox and dolphin will NOT be available. Web applications that require users to enter a PennNet ID and password to authenticate themselves will NOT be available. The Library Web and web servers in other Schools and offices will be available.

If you have concerns regarding how the outage will affect your work, please call (215) 898-1099 (for administrative systems only) or contact your local service provider (LSP).

--James J. O'Donnell, Vice Provost, Information Systems and Computing


Remembering Ormandy: November 18

Friends of the Library will celebrate the 100th birthday of the late Maestro with a 3-5 p.m panel discussion Thursday in Dietrich Hall Lounge in Van Pelt-Dietrich Library, along with the continuing exhibition Eugene Ormandy: A Centennial Celebration, from which this photo is taken.


Almanac, Vol. 46, No. 12, November 16, 1999

| FRONT PAGE | CONTENTS | JOB-OPS | CRIMESTATS | TAT: "What I Wouldn't Do For Enrollment" (S. Richter) | TALK ABOUT TEACHING ARCHIVE | BETWEEN ISSUES | NOVEMBER at PENN |