Calling all Cherry Garcia fans: Your fix of your favorite ice cream will be closer than ever starting in April. That goes for you too, Chunky Monkey junkies, because Ben & Jerry’s is coming to campus. The makers of Vermont’s finest all-natural ice cream will be setting up shop in the 40th Street space that housed Papaya King. Franchise co-owner Robert Rokowski said, “We had been interested in the Penn campus for some time, because of the students, the community, and businesses like the White Dog Cafe,” which shares Ben & Jerry’s commitment to social activism. And with the recent closing of the Baskin-Robbins shop around the corner on Walnut, Penn was actively seeking a new ice cream parlor to serve the campus, said Director of Business Development Lisa Prasad. Sounds like a match made in heaven to your Buzz correspondent.

Evan goes to Hollywood: If you see a College student tooling around University City in a spanking new Jeep, that’s probably Evan Silverstein (C’06). Silverstein participated in the “Hollywood Squares” college tournament this year, which aired during the last half of February on KYW-TV (Channel 3). Evan played his way to the finals and walked away the big winner, with more than $85,000 in cash and prizes, including that Jeep.

He did his research: And all that hard work paid off for Associate Director of Institutional Research Steve Devlin, who departs one week from today to become vice provost for institutional research at Lehigh University in Bethlehem. Your Buzz correspondent wishes him well in his new position and advises those of you who depend on the Office of Institutional Research for crunched numbers to be patient while his position is being filled—it may take a little longer for you to get your data.

College Ninjas: There’s action aplenty—and a surprise ending—in “The Ninja Movie,” a short film by Digital Media Design major Joshua Gorin (EAS’05). The film, shot in the Woodlands Cemetery, just received the $15,000 grand prize in Activision’s Reel Ninja Film Contest. Noted action-film director John Woo and producer Terence Chang served as contest judges. The cast includes Harry and Blair Bodek, grandchildren of Gordon S. Bodek (C’42). View it online at www.ninjafilmcontest.com.

New author roundup: Now out in print are two titles by Penn affiliates. Computer science doctoral student Nick Montfort served as co-editor of “The New Media Reader” (MIT Press, 2003) with Brown University creative writing fellow Noah Waldrup-Fruin. This is probably the only book where you will be able to read Alan Turing, William S. Burroughs, Joseph Weizenbaum and Jorge Luis Borges in the same volume. Also recently released: “Medicine Under Sail” (Naval Institute Press, 2002) by Professor of Orthopedic Surgery Zachary Friedberg. Friedberg’s book examines the health hazards sailors faced on long voyages and how “sea surgeons” struggled to treat injuries and check the spread of disease on board ship from the 15th to the 18th centuries.

What’s the buzz? Tell us what’s happening! Give us a call at 215-898-1423, send e-mail to current@pobox.upenn.edu or drop a line to the Current at 200 Sansom East/6106.