News Archives

University-Assisted Community School Program Wins First Youth Development Award from Grant Foundation

PHILADELPHIA -- The University-Assisted Community School Program, developed by the Center for Community Partnerships at the University of Pennsylvania, has won the first Youth Development Award from the William T. Grant Foundation. The Program includes the Philadelphia School District's West Region and the West Philadelphia Partnership.

Desmond Tutu to Speak at Penn Commencement

PHILADELPHIA -- Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel laureate and one of the world's foremost Christian leaders to oppose apartheid in South Africa, will deliver the address at the 247th Commencement ceremony of the University of Pennsylvania May 19. Commencement will begin with the procession of degree candidates at 9:30 a.m. at Franklin Field, 33rd and South streets. Approximately 6,000 degrees will be conferred.

Total Undergraduate Charges at the University of Pennsylvania will Increase 4.8 percent for 2003-2004

PHILADELPHIA  -- Total undergraduate charges for tuition, fees, room and board at the University of Pennsylvania will increase 4.8 percent for the 2003-2004 academic year from $36,212 in 2002-2003 to $37,960 in 2003-2004.  The increase was approved today by the Board of Trustees.Tuition and general fees for undergraduate students for the 2003-2004 academic year will increase 4.8 percent, from $27,988 to $29,318; average room and board charges will increase 5.1 percent, from $8,224 to $8,642, yielding an increase in total charges of 4.8 percent.

Law prof gets handed a labor football

This past January, while half the country was huddled around the TV watching the Super Bowl and scarfing down Buffalo wings, David Berger Professor of Law Stephen Burbank was in sunny San Diego, taking it all in live. “I attended as the guest of the NFL [National Football League] Players Association and the NFL Management Council,” he said. “I did not miss the commercials, or the weather in Philadelphia. It was 81, and I was happy to be sitting on the shady side of the stadium.”

Karen Kelley

“They don’t put money into data collection. That’s considered pansy. That’s not what real men do.”

—Douglas Massey, codirector of Penn’s Mexican Migration Project, criticizing Congress for spending too much on the Border Patrol and too little on database systems for immigrants who enter with visas (The Boston Globe, Feb. 28)      

Feeling tense? Sweat it out

The next time you’re feeling tense, skip the hot bubble bath and instead head straight for the nearest sweaty male. New research from George Preti and Charles Wysocki, adjunct professors in the Departments of Dermatology and Animal Biology respectively, has shown that women who sniff male underarm secretions feel more relaxed and less tense. Their findings, which will appear in a forthcoming issue of Biology of Reproduction, also showed that the length and timing of a woman’s menstrual cycle are altered by a whiff of that smelly stuff.

Hoard of the Rings

It’s difficult generating excitement for the Oscars here at Penn—at least that’s the impression we got when we asked around. Many of you didn’t even know who was being nominated this year, that is, unless you were a Tolkien fan. It’s clear as day to those folks who deserves to go home with the golden man. NANCY WHITFIELDAssistant, Political Science“I only vote for anything that’s ‘Lord of the Rings’… I just saw ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ this weekend. It was the funniest movie! I think it had a great script.”

Ancient worlds come to life

The folks at the University of Pennsylvania Museum have thought of everything when it comes to getting you into their new permanent exhibit, “Worlds Intertwined: Etruscans, Greeks and Romans.” They’ve even acquired a slave to guide you through the galleries. And as he takes you through three civilizations, you will meet an anxious Etruscan priestess, a jealous Goddess Athena and a senator bent on restoring the Roman Republic.

News briefs

¿Habla español? Knowledge@Wharton, the Wharton School’s online business journal, is now available in Spanish and Portuguese thanks to a collaboration between Knowledge@Wharton and Universia.net, the largest university Web portal in Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. The new Web site, called Universia Knowledge@Wharton, features both archived Knowledge@Wharton content and new articles written especially for the initiative. Knowledge@Wharton, created in May 1999, was deemed the top business school Web site in the January 2002 issue of Inc.