News Archives

Lang first nurse to earn Codman

Norma Lang, professor of nursing, is the first nurse and woman to receive the prestigious 2001 Ernest A. Codman Award. Lang earned the honor, which is presented by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, for her work in developing a scientific system for the comparison and evaluation of nursing practices and the quality of care worldwide.

Invader to the West, democrat in the East

That the legend of Genghis Khan survived both Chinese and Communist domination of Mongolia didn’t surprise Paula Sabloff at all. The legend itself, however, did surprise her. “What surprised me was finding democracy in the story of Genghis Khan, and learning that he preceded the Magna Carta. Who expected that?” said the University of Pennsylvania Museum senior research scientist and organizer of “Modern Mongolia: Reclaiming Genghis Khan.”

Research: Ready, aim, fire at gun disease

C. William Schwab and Therese S. Richmond want to take the political fire out of the firearm debate. Instead of looking at the issue in terms of politics, they want to reframe the discussion as a public health issue. “When we talk about firearm violence in the political world we are constantly polarized into are you pro-gun or are you anti-gun? Well, we’re not either,” said Richmond, associate professor of trauma and critical care nursing in the School of Nursing. “We’re interested in decreasing the toll of firearm violence.”

Staff Q&A: Floyd Johnson

Move over, Gregory Hines. Officer Floyd Johnson has some moves to show you. Johnson performs most weekdays at evening rush hour, at the busy intersection of 36th and Walnut streets. There he is, twirling, whirling, dipping, pointing, waving and blowing his whistle, all to keep traffic flowing and to let the pedestrians cross safely and quickly.

Totally tubular

Haunting little critters

Clothes and the Renaissance man/Q&A with Peter Stallybrass

One of the walls in Peter Stallybrass’s house is covered with bookshelves filled with books, ancient in cracked leather covers and modern in paper and cloth. Ancient and modern art works, many of them textile-based, hang all around, and beautiful wood objects like his father’s recorders—one a bass recorder and a smaller treble recorder—punctuate the airy space. Stallybrass, the Edmund J. and Louise W.

News briefs

Red, blue & green As winter approaches, Penn is putting all things energy on top of its list. The school now leads the nation as the top purchaser of wind-produced electrical energy. Come blustery days, the Exelon-Community Energy Wind Farm in Somerset County will parcel out 30 percent of its pollution-free energy to the school. And Penn’s forward-thinking energy policy won’t end there. Vice President of Facilities Services Omar Blaik said the campus community is encouraged to participate in the energy conservation policy.

Campus Buzz

And the winners are…: This is the moment you’ve all been waiting for—well, at least the 319 of you who responded to our fall readership survey. Here are the winners of our survey prize drawing: $25 gift certificate from the Penn Bookstore: Maureen Kelly in the Division of Public Safety

$7 mil. for center

With a $7 million grant, the Medical Center has established a center to reduce the risk of medication errors. Provided by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the grant established the new Center of Excellence for Patient Safety Research and Practice, which includes physicians and researchers from multiple disciplines, including biostatistics and economics. “Sadly, medication errors are among the most common,” said Brian L. Strom, director of the center. “They account for more deaths each year than motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer or HIV infection.”