News Archives

Return of the minute-long treatise

Daniel Janzen says most of the world is plant illiterate. That is, people can’t read nature. And, as a result, most of us don’t know enough about the natural world to make any sense of it. “ If you couldn’t read, that library over there would just be a stone cave full of firewood,” Janzen, a biology professor and biodiversity expert in the Department of Biology, told his audience at the first of this fall’s 60-Second Lectures. “Well, 5.5 billion people in the world can’t read this,” Janzen added, picking up a plant. In the not-so-distant future, he said, that will change.

Out & About: Trees made simple

It wasn’t long after Timothy Block and Ann Fowler Rhoads had published a comprehensive guide to Pennsylvania’s plants—“The Plants of Pennsylvania” (Penn Press, 2000)—that the duo realized their work was only half done. Four years and more than a few long nights later, the pair has finally finished work on the follow-up book they knew they had to write—“Trees of Pennsylvania” (Penn Press, 2004), a comprehensive guide to Pennsylvania’s more than 200 known tree species. It sounds like too many trees to take in in just one day.

E-learning hasn’t lived up to the hype

Interest in e-learning soared in the 1990s, when it was praised as a revolutionary way for students to participate in global communities from kindergarten to higher education. E-learning—educational content provided through emerging technology—promised students quick feedback on papers and course work for substantially lower costs than using books. Companies planned to use it to teach new skills to employees, and adults who wanted to finish their baccalaureate and graduate education could now do so online.

At Work With...Shavonne Gadson

The Battle of Philadelphia

Villanova ranks in the Top 10 in the Division I-AA football poll and is positioning itself for a run at the national championship. Penn is coming off an Ivy League championship run in 2003 and is considered the favorite to win another in 2004. But after these cross-town rivals battle at Franklin Field on Sept. 25, only one team will walk away unscathed.

Artist Pepón Osorio gives ICA extreme makeover

Even the show’s co-curator Ingrid Schaffner admits that the first impression of ICA’s new exhibit is hardly inviting. “At the same time that you’re looking into the space,” says ICA’s senior curator, “you kind of want to run away.” That’s because right in front of you, almost blocking the entrance to the gallery, is a vast metal cage filled with boxes, pieces of furniture, the occasional kid’s bicycle, several TVs and a few floor lamps. It looks like the cast off belongings of a dozen families. And that’s exactly what it is.

Staff Q&A: Christine Ware

Listeners to WXPN aren’t likely to hear Christine Ware on the air any time soon. But just like David Dye, Michaela Majoun and the station’s other on-air personalities, Ware is a key player at the station. As WXPN’s fundraising operations manager, she is responsible for helping the station attract new members—and keeping its current members happy. And since the station counts on membership dues for more than half its operating income, that’s a task of no small importance. Fortunately for Ware, her job may soon become just a little bit easier.

People's Choice: What We Read Last Summer  

Well, as of yesterday, summer is officially over. No more beach time. No more hanging out poolside. We aren’t quite ready to let go, yet, though, so we thought we’d stay in summer mode a while longer by asking our colleagues what they read over the past three months. And who better to talk to about reading than the literary minds over at Kelly Writers House? We asked some of the Kelly staffers to tell us about their favorite summer reads and what they liked about them. Here’s what they had to say.

News briefs

Art smartsCraig Carnaroli W’85 has been named as Penn’s new executive vice president, the University’s chief financial and administrative officer, effective immediately. Since 2000, Carnaroli has worked at Penn as vice president for finance and recently as senior vice president for finance and treasurer. In his new position, Carnaroli will manage key administrative areas at Penn, including finance, public safety, human resources, information systems, computing, internal audit and compliance, investments and business services.

CONFERENCE CALL: Putting “faddish” ideas into practice

When it comes to management, there’s no shortage of new and fashionable ideas—ideas that often are dismissed as useless or “faddish” before long. But sometimes, it’s not the ideas that are wrong, just the managers who implement them. A one-day conference at Wharton’s Reginald H. Jones Center, October 8 will offer business leaders advice on how to bridge the gap between theory and practice—and, more specifically, teach them how to successfully put new ideas to use. Even if others dismiss those ideas as merely “fashionable.”