News Archives

Staff Q&A: Debra Goldader

Blame it on Carl Sagan. His landmark PBS documentary series “Cosmos” got fourth-grader Debra Goldader hooked on the heavens, and she’s kept her gaze focused skyward ever since. “I think the people in my grade school thought it was sort of cute—there was a little girl running around saying, ‘I wanna be an astrophythithithist!’” said the woman who now runs Penn’s two observatories, the Flower and Cook Observatory in Malvern and the campus observatory on the roof of David Rittenhouse Laboratory.

Take a bow

Out and About: Arboretum's flower show springs to life

We found ourselves yearning for a touch of budding nature, thanks to the unseasonably warm weather and the hype for the Philadelphia Flower Show. So we headed far away from the hustling crowds to see the other flower show—at the Morris Arboretum, Penn’s botanical museum at the northwest corner of the city, in Chestnut Hill.

Peter and Geri Skirkanich Donate $10 Million for Penn Bioengineering

PHILADELPHIA University of Pennsylvania alumnus J. Peter Skirkanich and his wife Geri have pledged $10 million to build Skirkanich Hall, Penn new home for bioengineering.The gift, the largest by an individual donor in the School of Engineering and Applied Science history, will help finance a 58,400-square-foot bioengi-neering laboratory facility in the engineering-school complex. The facility, to be located near the Penn School of Medicine, will house faculty, staff, students and researchers as part of the school $57 million bioengineering initiative.

Crime Stopper

“I’m glad I put your coat in this closet. It reminds me that I promised to get this book off to Cherie.” Lawrence Sherman, director of the Jerry Lee Center for Criminology, has lots of friends in high places these days. Locally, Sherman was known for his close relationship with former Police Commissioner John Timoney. But it turns out he’s made friends across the pond as well, with Cherie Booth, a British magistrate who happens to be the wife of Prime Minister Tony Blair.

People's Choice: Philly reads at College and Bennett halls

One city, one book? Mayor Street has suggested that we do as the Chicagoans did and discuss a single tome. But which one? Not everyone we spoke to in College and Bennett Halls was on the same page when we asked for their choices. Lark Hall Professor, English “Oh, that’s an interesting question. I would have to say instantly ‘The Price of a Child’ by Lorene Cary. It’s set in Philadelphia and it’s fiction. It has a range to it so it can be read by kids and adults. It’s about slavery and oppression so it’s very relevant.”

“Nobody on ‘Friends’ ever says, ‘I’ll be right back, I have to go to church.’”

—Richard J. Gelles, interim dean of the School of Social Work, on a recent study by the school which found that youth considered religion important in their lives (The Times Union [Albany, N.Y.], March 3)

Four new ways to get your life in shape

Got a family or behavioral health problem that affects your life and your job? Human Resources has a program for that—the Employee Assistance Program. Want to lose that spare tire or just get those muscles working? Human Resources has a program for that—the Discount Fitness Club Program. Want to find out about how you can live a healthier life overall through a variety of strategies? Human Resources now has a program for that too—the Health and Wellness Program.

Research: Neutrino discovery makes a top 10 list

Why would a group of scientists spend more than a decade building an enormous cave deep underground just to hold a large bottle of water? Because that bottle of water would help them solve a nearly 30-year-old puzzle concerning the nature of the sun, a solution that made Science magazine’s list of the 10 Top Breakthroughs of 2001.

Ask Benny: "We Lost" sculpture not linked to Vietnam

Dear Benny,Where is the sculpture “We Lost,” which was moved from Locust Walk and 36th Street? —Vietnam Vet Dear Veteran,“We Lost” was removed from its site of nearly 25 years (where “Love” now stands) in the summer of 1999 for restoration. The restoration is now complete, and Lee Swisher in the Office of the University Architect assures me that it will return to campus soon, once a site is found for it.