News Archives

From Rwanda to Penn: a journey fueled by hope

First-year student Remy Manzi remembers every detail of his journey from Rwanda to Philadelphia. He remembers the enormous width of the airplane that took him from South Africa to the United States. He remembers the poster featuring Mayor Michael Nutter that welcomes visitors to the Philly airport when they step off the plane. And he remembers seeing Penn’s campus for the first time—something he says he had never before dared to dream. “There is something I felt in my body release and I felt as a new person,” says Manzi.

For the Record: William Fontaine

In 1963, the philosophy scholar became Penn’s first Black tenured faculty member.

Student Spotlight with Ian Bussard

Brookings Again Tops List in University of Pennsylvania’s Annual World Think Tank Rankings

PHILADELPHIA –- For the third consecutive time, the Brookings Institution has been ranked Think Tank of the Year in the University of Pennsylvania Global Go-To Think Tank Report. The Report, begun in 2006, ranks more than 6,500 institutions worldwide that help bridge the gap between knowledge and public policy. 

Wharton goes to Washington offering lawmakers unbiased expertise

Lawmakers faced with decisions about the economic recovery and the fiscal cliff showdown, rising health care costs and the housing market, could probably benefit from a little bit of unbiased expert advice.

Floor show

On its way to the Louvre, a large and exceptionally well-preserved ancient Roman floor mosaic—discovered in Lod, Israel, in 1996 and excavated in 2009—is making its final stop in the United States at the Penn Museum.“ Unearthing a Masterpiece: A Roman Mosaic from Lod, Israel” opens on Sunday, Feb. 10, and runs through May 19.

New lower-emission accessible bus

This fall, Penn Transit introduced a new bus that expands the fleet of lower-emission vehicles, gives more riders seats, and improves handicap accessibility. The 70-seat bus uses low-sulfur diesel fuel to decrease carbon emissions, save on maintenance repairs, has a longer lifespan.

‘Kids Corner’ marks 25 years with music festival

Since its inception in 1988, WXPN’s “Kids Corner” has been hosted by the effervescent Kathy O’Connell. “I kind of believed the show would succeed, but at the same time, it was a pretty big responsibility so I really wasn’t sure,” O’Connell says of the early “Kids Corner” days.

Nanotech center continues to grow

Construction on the $91.5 million Krishna P. Singh Center for Nanotechnology on the 3200 block of Walnut Street is proceeding on time and on budget. 

Owl Monkeys Who ‘Stay True’ Reproduce More Than Those With Multiple Partners, Penn Study Finds

PHILADELPHIA — Breaking up is hard to do — and can be detrimental to one’s reproductive fitness, according to a new University of Pennsylvania study. Focusing on wide-eyed, nocturnal owl monkeys, considered a socially monogamous species, the research reveals that, when an owl monkey pair is severed by an intruding individual, the mate who takes up with a new partner produces fewer offspring than a monkey who sticks with its tried-and-true partner.