April 25, 2002

• Activist bureaucrat
  An activist protester in the 1960s, Ira Harkavy has figured out to do what every radical wanted to do to the system: Change it. From the inside out.

• Biotech goes to market this fall
• Soros blasts how Bush fights terror
• No quick buck

• Research: Short teens become shortchanged adults
• Faculty Feature: MANNA feeds the soul
• Staff Q&A: What the Red Cross does for humans, Models of Excellence Wendy Hatchett, Donna Oakley and Kym Marryott do for dogs.

• Ask Benny: The readers weigh in on Addams house
• Honorary degree recipients announced
• New digs for rare objects
• HR classes for your career
• That's a rap
• Out and About: Altered food for thought or dining

• Event Listings
• Editor's Pick: Chimp champ
• A world of fun for kids of all ages
• More notes on camps
• People's choice: Engineering's better commutes

• News Briefs
• Bookquick from the University Press
• Quoted Recently
• Appointments
• Awards & Honors
• At work with...Sondra Siegel
• Campus Buzz

Office of University Communications home page

Virtual admissions

In addition to getting fat envelopes, the class of 2006 can learn their admissions status at the Admissions Web site. On the service’s first day, April 3, more than 11,000 students logged on to see if they were among the 16 percent (that’s a record in selectivity) of regular-decision applicants who made it into Penn. Accepted students also got instant access to their financial-aid award via a link to Penn Plan Online. PPO also helps students assess their ability to meet the cost of attendance and provides direct links to information on financing options. But, purists take heart: Associate Vice President for Finance Frank Claus said paper notices won’t be replaced. “If you get admitted to Penn you almost frame the letter. It’s such a great thing,” he said. Penn is among the first schools in the country to offer this service.

Top 10 again

Penn gets high marks in U.S. News & World Report’s most recent rankings of graduate programs nationwide. Four schools made it into the top 10—Wharton took third, up from fourth; Medicine remained fourth; Education jumped three places to fifth; and the Law School climbed from 10th to seventh. Engineering also improved its standing, from 30 to 28. For more, check out the magazine’s “2003 Best Graduate Schools” edition or www.usnews.com.

An A for U-City

A surge in pedestrian traffic, day and night, on 40th Street is just one of the improvements this past year trumpeted in the University City District’s “University City Report Card.” There’s been a rise in population, countering the trends for Philadelphia as a whole, a rise in average household income, and rental occupancy is up to 98.5 percent, which is comparable to the Center City rate. People who live and work here say the neighborhood is cleaner and safer. There’s more. See it all at www.ucityphila.org.