News Archives

Dear Mr. Mayor...

A lot is riding on the outcome of the Nov. 4 mayoral election, and we’re not just talking about Mayor John Street’s job security. Will wage tax cuts continue? Can the streets be made safer? Will Center City’s recent success spread to the neighborhoods? For supporters of both Street and opponent Sam Katz, the answers depend on the person chosen as mayor. What should the next mayor—whoever he is—do to keep the city moving forward? We put that question to people in the Engineering School, where problem-solving is something they do in their sleep.

History written in stone, brick and steel

In his landmark book “The Origins of the Urban Crisis,” Tom Sugrue, the Bicentennial Class of 1940 Professor of History and Sociology, dissected the hidden history of racial discrimination and violence, suburbanization and deindustrialization that afflicted our great urban centers in the second half of the 20th century.

Penn to Develop First Head Start Curriculum

PHILADELPHIA -- Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education are developing a first-ever integrated curriculum for preschoolers in Head Start classrooms across the country.  It will encompass basic skills needed for reading and mathematics as well as both school- and social-readiness skills.The project will be the first effort by U.S. educators to help disadvantaged children overcome academic challenges that can plague them for their entire academic careers.

For this professor, baroque music rocks

As Penn’s director of early music, Gwyn Roberts helps students open their ears and minds to the possibilities of baroque music. When Roberts puts on her other hat—as co-artistic director, flutist and recorder player with the baroque music group, Tempesta di Mare—she gets the chance to share her expressive vision with the general public.

STAFF Q&A/Sam Hughes

What is it about baseball that attracts the literary crowd? Maybe it’s the drama of the game itself. “I like the mano a mano of the confrontation between a good pitcher and a good batter,” said Pennsylvania Gazette senior editor Sam Hughes, a Phillies fan since he was a mere youth. “It has to be the most interesting confrontation in sports.

A MacArthur for nurse-scholar

A School of Nursing professor who continues to practice what she teaches has been honored with a MacArthur Fellowship. Sarah Kagan, associate professor of gerontological nursing and an advanced practice nurse at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, is one of 24 MacArthur Fellows for 2003. The so-called “genius award” comes with a five-year, $500,000 no-strings-attached grant to allow recipients maximum creative freedom.

News briefs

Eastward ho! Penn riders traveling to and from Center City are now able to catch a ride on Penn Shuttle East, operating from 1 to 3 a.m. Monday through Friday and 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. Penn Shuttle East boundaries run from Market to South streets west of 20th Street. For service, riders must call 215-898-RIDE (6433). After arranging a pick-up, riders can board the shuttle at one of nine designated transit stops.

Speakers agree society profits from nonprofit work

The great majority of Wharton School graduates go on to lucrative careers in private industry or financial services, where they spend their careers figuring out how to maximize profit for shareholders. More than 100 students jammed into a Steinberg-Dietrich Hall lecture room Oct. 2 to hear professionals from the private and nonprofit sectors, including four Wharton graduates, discuss how they maximize profit for society as a whole.

EDITOR'S PICK: She’ll take you there

Praise the Lord and purchase your tickets—Mavis Staples is coming to town! The legendary lead voice of the Staple Singers, the group that provided the gospel soundtrack for the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and achieved crossover fame in the 1970s with hits including “I’ll Take You There,” “Respect Yourself” and “Let’s Do It Again,” is the headliner for this year’s Greater Philadelphia Blues Fest.

Peter Giovinco