Penn President Amy Gutmann shares a laugh with Philadelphia native Bill Cosby at the 2008 Penn Relays, held last month at Franklin Field.
Eye on imagery
Today, the average American is bombarded by countless images and pictures at every turn. But not long ago, says Michael Leja, a professor in Penn’s Department of Art History, pictures were quite rare, and had a kind of magic power attached to them because of that rarity. Read more ...
Putting an end to campus waste
PennMOVES gathers refrigerators, electronics, furniture, glassware, clothing and nonperishable foods left behind by students, and distributes those items to a host of nonprofit organizations throughout the city. Read more...
Garofalo named 'green' czar
Daniel Garofalo, a planner and architect in the Office of Facilities and Real Estate Services since 2002, has been appointed Penn’s first environmental sustainability coordinator and facilities planner. Read more...
Staff Q&A: Bill Andresen &
Lawrence Bertuola
As Penn’s main liaisons to legislators and policymakers in Washington, D.C., Bill Andresen and Larry Bertuola advocate for increased funding for
agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation—and, by extension, Penn’s top researchers. Read more ...
New weapon in ALS fight? Yeast
A Penn researcher has found a promising new way to study the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)—and he’s turned to a common kitchen product to do so. Read more ...
A blooming success
When Paul Meyer first came to the Morris Arboretum in 1976, the stately old buildings were falling into serious disrepair, garden features were overgrown and old fountains had run dry. But since then, Meyer has helped to turn the Arboretum into one of the finest public gardens in America. Read more...
Profs challenge the ‘extra water’ myth
Kidney expert Stanley Goldfarb says the notion that eight glasses of water a day will improve skin tone, remove toxins from the body, prevent migraine headaches and suppress appetite is nonsense. Read more...
‘Truthiness’ at Penn
For four nights, comedian Stephen Colbert broadcast "The Colbert Report," his nightly satiric news and opinion show, at Penn's Annenberg Center. Read more...
Uncovering the history of a ‘lost’ city
Survey teams have uncovered an area on the shores of Greece's Saronic Gulf, about 60 miles southwest of Athens, believed to be the ancient site of a major Mycenaean harbor town. Read more ...
'XPN Local’
in concert
Nicole Reynolds, Jesse Ruben, Kuf Knotz and other local musicians take the stage at the May 1 XPN Local, Volume 2 CD Release Party. Read more ...
Look good, feel good
David Sarwer is one of the contributing researchers at the unique Center for Human Appearance. There, he is studying, among other issues, why women who receive breast implants seem more likely to commit suicide and how patients undergoing weight-loss surgery can prepare for their new lives and smaller stomachs. Read more ...
New ‘quad’ on Hill Field
Hill Field will be the site of a long-awaited new College House, but the green-space core of Hill Field will be preserved, and even improved, as part of the plan. Read more...
Global initiative welcomes Wharton
The business school is participating in the Women Entrepreneurship Education Initiative, which aims to provide business and management education to 10,000 underserved women in developing and emerging markets. Read more...
Remembered Light
Thirteen artists show new work, created from pieces of European shattered glass collected by former WWII Army Chaplin Frederick Alexander McDonald. Read more ...
Groups battle to ‘own’ the Olympics
Penn professor Monroe Price says groups of all kinds hope to use the Beijing Olympics to get their
message out. Olympic organizers, meanwhile, will try to keep those groups at bay. Read more ...
Penn and the Brain
In this special report, we highlight just a fraction of the amazing research about the brain taking place at more than 40 centers, institutes and research groups, in disciplines as wide-ranging as philosophy, neurosurgery, criminology and psychiatry. Read more ...
Q&A: Adrian Raine
This Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor hears complaints that his research connecting brain dysfunction to crime—work that hints at the possibility of one day being able to identify potential criminals early in life—could infringe upon civil liberties. Raine understands all of the complaints and worry. But he also says he must continue. Read more ...
How evolution has kept us alive
"Surviving: The Body of Evidence” comes to life April 19 at the Penn Museum, an interactive exhibit exploring the evolutionary process and its effect on human beings. Read more...
Staff Q&A: Lorri Schieri
Lorri Schieri is the person behind the scenes at Penn’s intellectual home for
translational medicine. Read more ...
ATLAS to recreate the Big Bang
Designed to record and explore what happens when protons collide at nearly the speed of light, ATLAS will collect a staggering amount of data—enough to fill 100,000 data CDs per second, every second, or roughly equivalent to 50 billion phone calls being made at the same instant. Read more ...
Writers and worldviews at KWH
The "Writers Without Borders" program will bring international writers, performance artists, journalists, poets, autobiographers and dramatists to Penn to share their insights, ideas and worldviews. Read more...
University chooses design firm for landmark Penn Park project
The landscape architecture firm of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates has been selected to design Penn Park, a centerpiece of the University’s 30-year master plan, Penn Connects. Read more...
Presidents (and First Ladies) at Penn
Penn has a long legacy of presidential appearances here--a legacy that dates even further back than the Presidency itself. Read more...
Staff Q&A: Bryan Isola
A former hockey pro, Isola now runs Penn's ice rink--home to college and high school teams, adult and kiddie leagues and--for the novice--a learn-to-skate program. Read more ...
Green is good
Wharton's Eric Orts has helped create innovative proposals for reforming environmental regulations, and accompanied Penn President Amy Gutmann to the Global Colloquium of University Presidents as her faculty expert. Here at Penn, he's founded an initiative designed to sponsor research addressing some of the planet ’s most pressing environmental ills. Read more ...
President Clinton coming to Penn
Former President Bill Clinton opens the two-day “Kerner Plus 40” symposium with a keynote speech on Feb. 28. Read more...
The Insider
Kalpen Modi—better-known as the TV and film actor Kal Penn—is on campus this semester to teach the class, “Asian Americans in the Media.” Modi is using critical readings, trade publications, several iconic films and personal stories in his class. Read more...
Philly’s 24/7 nightlife economy
A sociologist takes to the streets to examine how Philadelphia's young people navigate and experience the city's bars and clubs. Read more ...
Many elderly rely on others to vote
Older Americans are routinely the largest voting age group, and, as a whole, can affect election outcomes. But one researcher at Penn’s School of Medicine says a large portion of this bloc is ignored each election season—the disabled and infirmed elderly. Read more ...
Q&A: Steve Bilsky
Director of Athletics Steve Bilsky says the Penn Connects plan that figures to so dramatically change the University in years to come includes high-profile projects that will address long-standing needs in athletics and recreation —new fields, tennis courts, expansive parks and a fitness center. Read more...
Penn launches partnership with CarShare
A new partnership joins Penn with PhillyCarShare, a local nonprofit dedicated to reducing the number of cars in the city through vehicle-sharing. Read more...
Will rebates really work?
Wharton's Jeremy Siegel says the tax rebate plan is likely to provide the economy with a one-time boost, but cautions it’s no panacea, and may come at a long-term cost. Read more...
The right questions can stop abuse
Poor provider-patient communication can be a cause of an underreporting of domestic abuse. Read more ...
New dig turns up surprises, raises new questions
A recent excavation of Mt. Lykaion in Greece has found pottery remains and evidence of activity from an ash alter they believe was used as early as 3,000 BCE—about 1,000 years before Greeks began worshipping the god Zeus. Read more...
Truth & Reconciliation?
Recently, a group of students from Penn Law traveled to Ghana’s Buduburam refugee camp to help Liberian refugees get the word out about their struggles, both past and present. Read more...
Update to Penn’s building boom
The construction boom at Penn is in full swing, with projects in the planning stages, already under way, or nearing completion from 40th Street to the Schuylkill River. Read more...
Staff Q&A: Katherina Rosqueta
Rosqueta is working to make Penn's Center for High Impact Philanthropy “the Bloomberg of philanthropy," providing much-needed objective information about which charities and programs actually work—and which ones don’t. Read more ...
Lewis & Clark Revisted
Greg Mac Gregor presents 60 black and white photographs from his journey retracing Meriwether Lewis and Williams Clark’s historic 1804 voyage across the continent. Read more ...
The future of medicine
Launched late last year, Penn’s Institute for Regenerative Medicine will promote discoveries in stem cell biology to treat some of the world’s most deadly diseases, wound healing and aging. Read more...
Hope for humans, with help from dogs
Researchers are testing B cell therapy in dogs that have lymphoma—in hopes that the vaccine may one day be used to also help treat humans with cancer. Read more ...
Staff Q&A: Oluwatoyin Adegbite-Moore
Penn's Director of Penn Home Ownership Services helps faculty and staff understand the labyrinthine process of buying a home and advises them how to take advantage of all of the ways Penn can help make that dream a reality. Read more ...
Cat mapping
While there are myriad reasons why a group of leading veterinary and genetic researchers from around the country sequenced the genome of a domestic cat, one stands out above the rest: People love their pets. Read more...
West Philadelphia Orchestra
This 15-member hipster ensemble plays music from Romania, Hungary, Serbia and Macedonia. Read more ...
Q&A: John Zeller
Large fundraising campaigns are nothing new for John Zeller. But even by Zeller’s lofty standards, the $3.5 billion campaign Penn launched late last month is, well, huge. Read more...
Penn looks to the future with 'Penn Connects' plan
The development of the former Postal Lands properties along 30th Street will bring new life to the far eastern reaches of Penn’s campus and finally bridge the gap between Center City and University City—hence the project name, “Penn Connects." Read more...