Campus Buzz

Cancer-killer smile: Katie Harmon, Miss America 2002, brought her campaign against breast cancer to the Penn campus Jan. 18. In a morning news conference, Harmon acknowledged that being Miss America helped get her message across—“This is my megaphone,” she said of her tiara as she showed it to the assembled reporters and doctors. Harmon, who stopped by Penn’s Cancer Center to tour the Rena Rowan Breast Center and other cancer research facilities, also brought a fellow cancer-fighter in tow: Marcella Bossow, founder and president of Crossing the Finish Line. Harmon’s Philly visit also raised funds for Bossow’s organization, which offers getaways for young adults with cancer and their caregivers. Bossow’s Penn connection is her late husband Peter, who was treated for testicular cancer at HUP and died in 1999.

Make HERS yours: If you’re interested in participating in the annual Summer Institute for Women in Higher Education—sponsored by Higher Education Resources (HERS) Mid-Atlantic and Bryn Mawr College—or just want to find out what the program’s about, there’s still time. An information session from noon to 1 p.m. today in the Fireside Lounge of the ARCH, 3601 Locust Walk, describes the institute and explains the application process. This year’s institute will take place at Bryn Mawr from June 23 to July 19. Can’t make the info session, but want to apply? Contact Linda Wiedmann (wiedmann@pobox.upenn.edu; 215-746-6489) or visit www.brynmawr.edu/summerinstitute on the Web.

A huge discovery...: As 2001 wound to a close, the editors of Discover magazine reviewed the year in science and came up with their 100 Top Science Stories of 2001. Among them: the discovery of Paralititan stromeri, the second-largest creature ever to have walked the Earth, by Josh Smith (Gr’01), then a doctoral student in anthropology, and Ph.D. student Matt LaManna.

...and a big hit on the Web: Inc. magazine sent a group of CEOs surfing last month through business-school Webzines at the nation’s top 50 B-schools, looking for those that provided the most valuable information for entrepreneurs. Their top pick: Knowledge@Wharton, the Wharton School’s on-line magazine. Inc. called it “a trailblazer and as good an example of Web branding as you’ll find anywhere” and praised its “timely, topical and insightful business writing.”

Penn in ink: Bill Clinton promised us an administration that “looked like America,” and gave us one. George W. Bush did not, but gave us one anyway. And Clinton’s whiz kids had about the same average age—45—as Dubya’s older-and-wiser team. Those are among the surprising findings of research conducted by Washington Semester Program Director Kathryn Dunn Tenpas and Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Stephen Hess on the inner circles of the four most recent Presidents. The pair wrote about their findings in The Washington Post Jan. 27.