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Honors & Other Things
October 30, 2007, Volume 54, No. 10

Elected to Board: Dr. Porter

Porter

Dr. Andrew C. Porter, dean of the Graduate School of Education and George and Diane Weiss Professor of Education, has been appointed to the Board of Trustees of the William T. Grant Foundation. The Foundation’s mission focuses on improving the lives of youth ages 8 to 25, primarily through the use of high-quality empirical studies. Current research focuses on understanding how social settings such as families, schools, peer groups, and organizations work; how they affect youth; and how they can be improved.

National Pain Foundation Award: Drs. Fleisher and Evans

Fleisher

Evans

The National Pain Foundation recently honored Dr. Lee A. Fleisher, Robert Dunning Dripps Professor and chair of the department of anesthesiology and critical care, and Dr. Dwight L. Evans, Ruth Meltzer Professor and chairman, department of psychiatry, professor of psychiatry, medicine, and neuroscience, both from the School of Medicine, as the recipients of the 2007 John C. Oakley, MD, Pioneers in Pain Medicine Award.

The Foundation notes that Dr. Fleisher and Dr. Evans have demonstrated inspired leadership and extraordinary vision to combine the resources of several departments to create the Center for Pain Management—a new model for providing a higher level of care for patients with chronic pain disorders, for training clinicians in pain medicine, and for advancing cutting edge scholarship in pain research.

CASE Award: Proudly Penn

The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) has awarded the Gold Medal to  Proudly Penn: A Compact Guide for Alumni and Friends, which was produced by the Office of Alumni Relations. It was honored in the category for Individual Alumni Relations Publications.

Governor's Commission: Dr. Naylor

Naylor

Dr. Mary D. Naylor, the director of the NewCourtland Center for Health Transitions and the Marian S. Ware Professor in Gerontology at the School of Nursing, has been appointed to the Governor’s Chronic Care Management, Reimbursement and Cost Reduction Commission. The Commission’s purpose is to design the informational, technological and reimbursement infrastructure needed to implement and support implementation of the Chronic Care Model throughout Pennsylvania, and thereby produce quality outcomes and cost effective treatments for patients with chronic diseases.

Dermatology Ranked Best in Nation

According to a report that appears in the Dermatology Online Journal, the department of dermatology in the School of Medicine was the highest-ranked academic dermatology program based on measurements of academic achievement.  The journal notes that this is the first report to rank dermatology programs on academic achievement (with the exception of the NIH funding rankings), as US News and World Report does not rate dermatology programs.

“We are extremely proud of this ranking, as the report focused on many of the areas that are reflective of our mission of serving as a leading intellectual center for understanding and treating all aspects of skin and its diseases through excellence in education, patient care, and research,” said Dr. John R. Stanley, chair, department of dermatology.

The report is based upon data collected between 2001 and 2004, and focused on five outcome measures: publications in 2001 to 2004; NIH funding in 2004; Dermatology Foundation grants in 2001 to 2004; faculty lectures in 2004 delivered at national conferences; number of full-time faculty members who were on the editorial boards of the top 3 US dermatology journals and the top four subspecialty journals.

Best Music: World Cafe Live

World Cafe Live was voted one of America’s 40 best music venues by Paste Magazine. Specifically, the magazine stated that it was the “best place to discover artists you won’t hear on hot hits 105.9 FM.” This music venue and restaurant is currently celebrating its third anniversary with live performance and other special events.

City & Regional Planning in Top 10

The department of city and regional planning has been ranked No. 5 in the United States and No. 3 in the Northeast in an independent nationwide survey of professionals, educators and students asked to name the nation’s top graduate schools in urban planning. The survey was conducted during the fall by the opinion research firm Davis, Hibbits, and Midghall Inc. on behalf of Planetizen, a Los Angeles-based planning and development network.

The department was ranked No. 2 in Urban Design, No. 3 in Real Estate and Historic Preservation,  (No. 8) in Environmental Planning and Land Use Planning and (No. 10) in Economic Development.

Possible Guinness World Record for Penn Band

Penn’s marching band unveiled what is possibly the world’s largest conductor’s baton during the halftime program at the Penn Homecoming game against Yale. The band has applied to have the baton considered for inclusion in the Guinness Book of World Records. Band Director Greer Cheeseman lead the band using the oversized, nearly 10-pound baton. It’s more than 15 times the size of an ordinary baton, which weighs several ounces and is 12 to 16 inches long.

Band members, many of whom are engineering students, and alumni crafted the baton using wood and cork, the same materials as an ordinary baton.

Baton

Band Director Greer Cheeseman leads the Penn Band with the 10-pound conductor’s baton.

Call for Honors

Please let Almanac know of any honors or awards received by faculty and staff, or by a, school, department or center. E-mail to almanac@upenn.edu.

Almanac - October 30, 2007 , Volume 54, No. 10