Thanks for caring! Judging from the response to this year’s Penn’s Way charitable campaign, you’d never guess that these are tough times. Campaign co-chairs Maureen Rush and Lance Donaldson-Evans announced that the 2003 Penn’s Way campaign raised $452,630, $17,000 over its $435,000 goal and up 7.5 percent from 2002’s total. The campaign’s 152 coordinators and volunteers also increased participation by 42 percent over last year’s rate. If you gave this year, thank you. Your contribution goes a long way towards meeting urgent needs.

Another chance for caring: Yvonne Giorgio in Student Financial Services, the woman who organizes Operation Santa Claus each holiday season, is busy collecting things again—this time, to support our servicemen and servicewomen stationed in the Persian Gulf. “Operation Shoebox” is looking for personal care items (trial or personal sizes), non-perishable food and snacks, magazines, newspapers, socks, board games and more to keep our troops well supplied. Donations may be dropped off at 212 Franklin Building. For a complete rundown of items sought, or for more information, call Giorgio at 215-898-4210.

Check-up time: This month’s installments of “Penn Vital Signs,” the Health System’s TV program that showcases advances in medicine, focus on cardiology and diabetes. The first of the two half-hour shows feature Penn’s cardiac-care specialists, while the second follows diabetes from diagnosis to management, showing how the disease affects people’s everyday lives. The cardiology program debuts Saturday, April 12, at 7 p.m. and the diabetes episode debuts Saturday, April 19, at 7 p.m. on WPVI-TV (Channel 6). Consult your TV listings for additional air dates and times.

New book hits the sweet spot: All those years of research in the lab and on the court have finally come to this for Professor of Tennis, er, Physics Emeritus Howard Brody: “The Physics and Technology of Tennis” (Racquet Tech Publishing, 2003). Co-authored with Rod Cross, the only other person in the world who knows as much about the physics of tennis as Brody, and Crawford Lindsey of Racquet Tech, the 450-page work explores all the ins and outs of tennis equipment and how it affects players’ performance. The book is available from Racquet Tech at www.racquettech .com or 858-481-3545.

Penn in ink: David Hildebrand’s sense of humor extends beyond the grave, it appears. The late Wharton School professor of statistics left his alma mater, Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., a slush fund—literally—when he died of cancer in 1999. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported March 4 that Carleton puts the fund’s interest to good use every winter for its intended purpose—clearing slush and snow from the school’s seven acres of pathways. “This guy left something and it’s funny, but it’s also so sweet,” Deb Chaulk, director of stewardship at Carleton, said of the David K. Hildebrand Endowed Fund for Ice and Snow Removal.