Tuesday,
September 19, 2000
Volume 47
Number 4
www.upenn.edu/almanac/


Center for Children's Policy Practice and Research
 Annie Steinberg (Medicine), Barbara Bennett Woodhouse (Law), and Richard Gelles (Social Work).

On Wednesday, September 27, Penn's Center for Children's Policy Practice and Research (CCPPR) will hold a party to kick-off their new interdisciplinary center. A collaboration between the Law School, the School of Social Work and the School of Medicine, CCPPR seeks innovative solutions to the legal, societal, and health crises facing America's children.

The faculty core includes Professor Barbara Bennett Woodhouse, professor of law, Dr. Annie Steinberg, assistant professor of psychiatry at Philadelphia Child Guidance Center, Dr. Richard Gelles, Joanne and Raymond Welsh Professor of Child Welfare and Family Violence, Ira M. Schwartz, dean of SSW, and Carol Wilson Spigner, SSW. The Inaugural Reception, open to the Penn community, will begin at 5 p.m. in Tanenbaum Hall at the Law School.

The recently organized Center will concentrate on interdisciplinary policy, research, practice and study among faculty and students in a number of schools and departments, centers and institutes. "Rather than continue to round up the usual suspects as a means of systems reform, the center proposes instead a genuinely interdisciplinary, child centered, vertically integrated approach that seeks to create new paradigms to replace the old. We will bring together an unusually talented and experienced group of experts from across the campus, and add additional staff from around the country," said Professor Woodhouse. Penn, with its location in the Boston-Washington corridor and its commitment to leadership, is in a unique position to create a national center that will change the direction of future policies for children. Philadelphia is home to a large number of public interest organizations for children providing a vital group of practitioners committed to working with the CCPPR's core and associate members.

 

New Teaching and Research Center at School of Veterinary Medicine

The new Veterinary School building will have laboratory modules arranged in an Open Plan, mirroring the interdisciplinary collaboration within the School's Centers of Excellence.

Governor Tom Ridge announced an $18 million commitment to Penn's School of Veterinary Medicine last month which will allow the School to build a state-of-the-art teaching and research complex to better serve the state's agricultural needs.

"This extraordinary grant from the Governor reinforces the historic partnership between Penn's School of Veterinary Medicine and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania," said President Judith Rodin. "A new state-of-the-art teaching and research building will enable Penn's Veterinary School to continue to contribute critical new knowledge to further support the Commonwealth's number one industry--agriculture."

Joining the Governor at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex, where he made the announcement, were President Rodin; Dr. Alan Kelly, The Gilbert S. Kahn Dean of Veterinary Medicine; Agriculture Secretary Sam Hayes; General Services Secretary Gary Crowell; Farm Show Director Dennis Grumbine; and Harrisburg Mayor Stephen Reed. Also in attendance were Sen. Richard Tilghman (R-Delaware), and Rep. Raymond Bunt (R-Montgomery).

The new, $43 million building will be located at 3900 Spruce Street, adjacent to the Rosenthal Building and connected to it by an atrium. The new building's footprint will cover the area of the existing school library, a small grassy area and a parking lot. It will provide modern teaching and learning spaces, replacing the facilities currently in use. The new lecture halls will be equipped with the latest audio-visual teaching aids. The library will be expanded and computer facilities will enable students to take advantage of computer-aided teaching materials.

The School's interdisciplinary research programs will be greatly enhanced by the three laboratory floors. These will feature an open plan, fostering interaction between scientists.

"The facilities will enable the School to attract and retain the new generation of research and clinical scientists who will train the veterinarians for the new century. Clinicians and basic researchers will work side by side, and students will be exposed to groundbreaking research," said Dean Kelly.

"Governor Ridge is a staunch supporter of Pennsylvania agriculture," added Dean Kelly. "He recognizes the important role Penn's School of Veterinary Medicine and its graduates play in maintaining the health, welfare and success of the Commonwealth's livestock, poultry, and equine industries.

"We are profoundly grateful to the Governor for his support for the new Teaching and Research Building and for so decisively advancing the School's historic mission."

Among the areas of investigation in the new building will be infectious diseases, a major reemerging threat to animal and human health; animal transgenesis and germ cell research, an exciting biomedical research area that promises healthier and more productive food animals; comparative medical genetics; and comparative oncology.


Almanac, Vol. 47, No. 4, September 19, 2000

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