$6m for Alzheimer’s

Marian S. Ware, a long-time Penn supporter and advocate for research on Alzheimer’s disease, has given $6 million to Penn Medicine to establish the Marian S. Ware Alzheimer Program, a series of collaborations between the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing to improve the care and treatment of Alzheimer’s patients. Research initiatives funded by the grant will explore new therapies, develop best practice models for patient care and develop better ways to identify those with the disease.

KWH fellows

This year’s Kelly Writers House Fellows are three distinguished writers who will each spend two days on campus during the spring semester. Novelist Russell Banks opens the series on Feb. 16-17. He is the author 13 books including Affliction and The Sweet Hereafter. Lyn Hejinian, a poet, essayist and translator, will be reading from her work and participating in a one-hour interview and conversation on March 22-23. James Alan McPherson, the first African-American to receive the Pulitzer Prize for his short story collection, Elbow Room (1978), will bring the 2004 program to a close April 19-20.

Reporters wanted

Advocate Evelyn Y. Davis and the foundation in her name have contributed $100,000 to Penn to endow a new scholarship for students who thirst for careers in business or political journalism. Davis, a nationally recognized promoter of shareholder rights, publishes the corporate newsletter “Highlights and Lowlights,” which offers political analysis and business coverage in corporate governance. Davis studied business administration at George Washington University, and has attended White House press conferences since 1978.