News Archives

Future lawyers brief Supreme Court early

Thirty first-year law students got closer to the Supreme Court than most lawyers ever do when their Constitutional Law class researched a brief filed in a case argued before the high court March 27. “I thought it would be a great introduction to constitutional law and give [the students] the training in constitutional argument—and for that matter give them a brief they can show their parents,” said their teacher, Assistant Professor of Law Nathaniel A. Persily, who is an expert in congressional redistricting.

Staff Q&A: Isabel Mapp

For Isabel Mapp, volunteering is not just her sideline. It’s her job. As Penn’s associate director for faculty, staff and alumni volunteer services, Mapp gets the campus community to reach out to its neighbors through mentoring programs for local middle- and high-school students and more. And as director of Penn Volunteers in Public Service, she organizes toy drives, penny drives, and other campus charity efforts. It’s become a labor of love for Mapp who began voluteering as a mentor before she became a volunteer professional.

Safer bikes through research

Current staff picks recreation favorites

Articles in this special report:

Outdoor adventures

Fresh air and healthy hearts partner up at Outdoor Adventure events, sponsored by the Department of Recreation. Approximately two trips are planned each month, March through October, and guided by organizations throughout the Delaware Valley, including Penn’s Outing Club. Past activities have included hiking, kayaking and horseback riding. Trips are open to all Penn students, faculty, staff and Department of Recreation members. Pre-registration is required at the Membership and Services Office in Hutchinson Gym.

Editor's Pick: Docufest comes of age

For its 10th anniversary, the Margaret Mead Traveling Film and Video Festival pays tribute to its namesake. The festival’s opening program, “Coming of Age,” on Friday, April 19 at 7:30 p.m., features works that offer a glimpse of Mead herself (Jean Rouch’s “Margaret Mead: A Portrait by a Friend”) and contemporary perspectives on two of the worlds she inhabited, Samoa and Greenwich Village (Amiel Courtin-Wilson’s “Islands” and Remy Weber’s “Why Pay Two Rents,” respectively).

News briefs

Kids enroll now While the school year isn’t over yet, the Penn-assisted school is already thinking about next year’s batch of new students. Registration for students enrolling in kindergarten and grades 1, 2, 5 and 6 is now taking place noon to 5 p.m. Mondays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays at the school’s Planning Office, located at 43rd and Spruce streets. If the child is already in the Philadelphia public schools, bring proof of residency in the catchment area.

At Work With...Stefany Jones

Record-setting gift goes to bioengineering

Thanks to a $10 million gift from Penn Trustee and Engineering School Overseer J. Peter Skirkanich (W’65) and his wife, Geri, Penn’s Bioengineering Department will be moving to a new home, Skirkanich Hall. The gift is the largest by an individual donor in SEAS history. The 58,400-square-foot facility, to be built near the School of Medicine, will be part of the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Ask Benny: The readers weigh in on the Addams house

Dear Readers,Your humble scribe was overwhelmed by the responses he received to our inaugural column on the Addams Family house (“Ask Benny,” Current, Jan. 21). Apparently, there are a number of structures out there that claim to serve as inspiration for Charles Addams’ fictional abode, including the Ebenezer Maxwell House in Germantown and the Faculty House at Colgate University.