Sept. 4, 2003

• Special Report: Service at Penn: A way of life
  How Penn has incorporated community service into every aspect of its operations.
• Service and learning go together across the campus
• Center helps big dreamers start small businesses
• Seeds of better health grow in U-City
• CCP spreads gospel of civic engagement
• Penn programs fill local needs
• Penn VIPS harness the impulse to do good

• Another summer of work
• Time once again to rebuild a nation
• Band of pioneers

• Research: Reheated blues: The thrill is gone
• Staff Q&A: Meet Joanne Spigonardo, who gives the term "legacy" new meaning.

• Ask Benny: "Employer-funded" health insurance? Huh?
• These days, it's all about Benjamin
• Secure your bike
• New cafes, retail options debut this fall
  

• Event Listings
• Editor's Pick: Four decades out front
• See the world for a few dollars more
• Talkin' justice at the NCC
• Admissions demystified
• Get out of line on payday
• People's Choice: Where do you park?

• News Briefs
• Bookquick from the University Press
• Quoted recently
• Awards & Honors
• At Work with...Francine Roscoe
• Campus Buzz

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BOOKQUICK/New from the University Press

“Public Discourse in America: Conversation and Community in the Twenty-First Century”

Edited by Judith Rodin and Stephen P. Steinberg
304 Pages, $29.95 cloth

Public Discourse in America, edited by President Judith Rodin and Stephen P. Steinberg, executive director of the Penn National Commission on Society, Culture and Community, brings together a group of scholars and prominent figures in American public life to offer new perspectives on the tenor and conduct of public life in contemporary America.

Ranging from the health care debate to affirmative action, these essays explore the current condition of public discourse in our democracy, investigating how it has changed through our history, and whether it fails to approach our widely held but often unarticulated ideal of "reasoned and reasonable" public deliberation.

Taking a comprehensive look at institutional and leadership practices in recent public debates over a variety of major public policy issues, Public Discourse in America outlines how such conversations can be used to reintegrate our fragmented communities and bridge barriers of difference and hostility among communities and individuals.

Readers of all political persuasions, from the halls of political power to the streets of urban neighborhoods, from newsrooms and studios to think tanks and universities, will find that Public Discourse in America opens up new paths to robust public discussion, more engaged citizenship, and stronger communities.

Contributors include Joyce Appleby, Thomas Bender, Derek Bok, Alex Boraine, Graham G. Dodds, Christopher Edley, Jr., Drew Gilpin Faust, Neal Gabler, Richard Lapchick, Don M. Randel, Richard Rodriguez, Jay Rosen, David M. Ryfe, Michael Schudson, Neil Smelser, and Robert H. Wiebe.

— University of Pennsylvania Press