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Penn Study Examines How Social Ties Influence Awards Given by Peers or Critics
When it comes to winning Oscars and other awards to gain recognition and success in Hollywood, who you know matters just as much as who is judging, according to a new University of Pennsylvania collaborative study.
Archive ・ Spotlights
Inside the Morris Arboretum’s ‘Jewel’
In 1899, amateur botanist John Morris and his sister Lydia built a “jewel” on the property of their summer estate, Compton. This fernery, a glassed home for ferns, rimmed by a foundation of stone, perfectly tapped into the Victorian era fascination with the plants. Fascination, however, may be an understatement.Some say the Victorians were downright obsessed. The term pteridomania describes this fixation on ferns: Forms of the plant appeared on textiles, pottery, furniture, and even gravestones.
Archive ・ Penn Current
Staff Q&A with Gina Renzi
As the snow begins to melt and the days get a little bit longer, the changing of the season means more to The Rotunda Director Gina Renzi than the promise of sandals and shedding winter coats. “I always get excited for March,” says Renzi, who has dedicated her time to arts programming at The Rotunda since 2000, when she first became a volunteer. “People are ready to leave winter behind and jump into spring, and so they want to get out and go to more events.”
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How can I get to Penn’s South Bank from campus?
Dear Benny,I heard that the University recently announced its Master Plan for Penn’s South Bank region of campus. Could you tell me more about the plan—as well as how I can get there so I can check it out for myself?—Curious Quaker Dear Curious,You’re right—Penn recently released its plans for developing a research park on the 23-acre former DuPont property, located along the Schuylkill River in the Grays Ferry section of the city.
Archive ・ Penn Current
Responding to the health needs of LGBT communities
Neil Fishman, associate professor of medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP), has experienced his share of uphill battles when it comes to creating imperative health initiatives.
Archive ・ Penn Current
Get fit with Penn HR
Penn’s Division of Human Resources (HR) is supporting a research study aimed to help faculty and staff meet their health goals and incorporate fitness into daily life. The study, Way to Be Active, looks at different ways of encouraging individuals to increase daily physical activity. In addition to improving fitness, eligible faculty and staff can earn $100 for participating.
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John Legend to speak at Penn’s 258th Commencement
John Legend, a nine-time Grammy Award-winning soul artist, philanthropist, and Penn alumnus, will deliver the address at the University's Commencement on Monday, May 19, Vice President and University Secretary Leslie Laird Kruhly recently announced.
Archive ・ Penn Current
Inside the Morris Arboretum’s ‘jewel’
In 1899, amateur botanist John Morris and his sister Lydia built a “jewel” on the property of their summer estate, Compton. This fernery, a glassed home for ferns, rimmed by a foundation of stone, perfectly tapped into the Victorian era fascination with the plants. Fascination, however, may be an understatement. Some say the Victorians were downright obsessed. The term pteridomania describes this fixation on ferns: Forms of the plant appeared on textiles, pottery, furniture, and even gravestones.
Archive ・ Penn Current
Q&A with Mark Devlin
The night sky is beset with innumerable stars, equally dazzling and dim, intermittent asteroids, comets, and meteors, planets gaseous and telluric, and our inconstant moon that changes monthly in her circled orb. An array of these distant objects can be viewed with the naked eye, their supernatural beauty often evoking sublimed awe.
Archive ・ Penn News
Penn Team Links Africans’ Ability to Digest Milk to Spread of Cattle Raising
Babies are born with the ability to digest lactose, the sugar found in milk, but most humans lose this ability after infancy because of declining levels of the lactose-digesting enzyme lactase. People who maintain high levels of lactase reap the nutritive benefits of milk, however, offering a potential evolutionary advantage to lactase persistence, or what is commonly known as lactose tolerance.