News Archives

News briefs

One notch higher The latest U.S.News & World Report rankings of “America’s Best Colleges” were released last Friday, and Penn is in a five-way tie for fourth place among national universities this year, up one position from last year. Joining Penn in fourth place are California Institute of Technology, Duke, MIT and Stanford; Princeton, Harvard and Yale (tied for second) occupy the top spots.

Campus Buzz

Another networking project: Your Buzz correspondent recently caught up with Aaron Levy (C’99), who has been devoting most of his waking hours (and he’s not been sleeping much of late) to launching a new space for the visual arts in University City. The new gallery, located at 4017 Walnut Street, gives his Slought Networks contemporary art project its first physical facility.

School named for great alum

After the Penn-Assisted School became the Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander University of Pennsylvania Partnership School last month, the Current asked what shortcuts people were taking with the name. We asked parent Cathy Gontarek, art director, Pennsylvania Gazette; Nancy Streim, associate dean, Graduate School of Education, and GSE planning coordinator for the school, Ann Kreidle. They all said the Penn Alexander School. Kreidle added, “Or PAS.” School Principal Sheila Sydnor chose no shortcut at all.

Staff Q&A: Tom Devaney

Not too long ago, Tom Devaney found himself in a boring job. And unlike most others who, in the same situation, would’ve trudged through with yawns and droopy eyes, the quiet-spoken Devaney made something out of nothing. He made art. “Letters to Ernesto Neto,” due out this spring from Germ Monographs, is a collection of 28 letters Devaney wrote in 2001 while working as an art gallery guard, protecting an exhibit by Brazillian artist Ernesto Neto. The letters are a snapshot of Devaney’s active mind while working in a less than active job.

Executive workout

Philadelphia Earth Charter Summits to Be Held at Penn

WHO: Philadelphia Earth Charter Summits WHAT: A free public assembly to redesign the Delaware Valley region based on the principle of sustainability. WHERE: Irvine Auditorium, University of Pennsylvania 34th and Spruce streets WHEN: Saturday, Sept. 28, 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. KEYNOTERS: Paul Hawken, author of "Ecology of Commerce" and"Natural Capitalism" Tom Graham, former Special Representative for ArmsControl, Non-Proliferation and DisarmamentJonathan Granoff, President, Global Security Institute

Ethics in Archaeology for a New Generation Explored

PHILADELPHIA -- Ethical challenges facing archaeologists who preserve artifacts, sites and landscapes will be explored during a day-long symposium at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology Saturday, Sept. 28. "The Ethics and the Practice of Archaeology" will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Rainey Auditorium of the University Museum, 3260 South St. in Philadelphia.

Exhibition Examines the Evolution of the Book and Writing Surfaces

WHO: Penn Humanities Forum WHAT: An exhibition and panel discussion on the history of books and writing surfaces WHERE: Rosenwald Gallery, 6th Floor, University of Pennsylvania Library, 3420 Walnut St. WHEN: Sept. 22, 2002, 2-4 p.m. PANEL: Peter Stallybrass of English, Shane Butler of Classical Studies and Millicent Marcus of Italian Studies discuss what it means to call something a book

Rock ‘n’ Roll at Penn’s Library with Rare Videos of Music Legends

PHILADELPHIA – Little Richard, Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry sharing space with the works of Shakespeare and Chaucer in Penn's Library?

The World of the Kabuki Artist on Stage at Penn

PHILADELPHIA-- A rare, behind-the-scenes look into the world of the Japanese Kabuki artist will take place on the University of Pennsylvania campus when the show "Onnagata: the Making of a Woman" is staged Sept. 17 at 7 p.m in Houston Hall's Class of '49 Auditorium at 34th and Spruce streets. Ayako Kano, professor of modern Japanese literature at Penn and author of "Acting like a Woman in Modern Japan: Theater, Gender, and Nationalism," will give a pre-performance lecture.