News Archives

Finance wizards named associate VPs

Jack Shannon is now associate vice president in the Office of the Executive Vice President. Since 1997, he has served as Penn’s managing director for economic development. He came to the University after serving as inaugural director of the Mayor’s Business Action Team for Philadelphia.

Linda Aiken

Pay attention because it’s about to get worse. That’s the resounding cry of Linda Aiken’s 15 years of research on the nursing workforce. Her work on the nation’s nursing shortage has made a splash in both academic and media outlets.

If post-Sept. 11 blues persist, here’s help

In the days following the World Trade Center disaster, faculty and staff had jobs to do—helping students handle their emotions and keeping the University safe and running. Meanwhile, their own feelings got put on the back burner. The Division of Human Resources stepped into the void with the Employee Assistance Program (EAP), which provides not just counseling for individual faculty and staff but also for groups. “We want to come into the schools, the centers, the departments and divisions when they want a group discussion,” said HR Vice President Jack Heuer.

Push here and save a life

Clinical receptionist Toria Crews (left) tries out cardiopulmonary resuscitation on a dummy in a Red Cross CPR class Oct. 3 offered by Human Resources Learning and Development. Looking on are (left to right) Public Policy and Management Business Administrator Susan Roney, American Red Cross instructor Ernest Brydon and Meryl Marcus, associate director in the Office of the President. Crews, Roney and Marcus were students in the class. A Red Cross First Aid course will be offered Oct. 26.

Caplan debates stem cells—with himself

Art Caplan, arguably the most quoted bioethicist in the country, tackled the timely subject, “Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Science or Ethics?” in a talk sponsored by the Penn Orthodox Christian Fellowship at the Newman Center late last month. Caplan is the director of Penn’s Center for Bioethics. Here are excerpts from his talk:

“If he wanted to be a figure skater, I would go along with it.”

Dan Burke has a huge gold medal on a red, white and blue ribbon set atop a cabinet in his office. On his office wall, he’s got a smaller gold medal, a silver medal and a bronze from past victories. Why he has them has to do with his philosophy of child-rearing. He doesn’t say it in so many words, but it doesn’t take long to get the gist of it. Your kids want to do something, you encourage them. And you keep them busy.

“The Man Who Made Wall Street: Anthony J. Drexel and the Rise of Modern Finance”

248 pages, 26 black-and-white illustrations, $29.95 cloth It was the height of the Gilded Age and J. Pierpont Morgan controlled the fate of railroads, corporations and governments. The wealthy and influential were said to tremble before him, yet he deferred to one man: Anthony J. Drexel. Drexel — whose name is familiar today only through the university he founded and his recently canonized niece, Katharine — was the most influential financier of the 19th century.

Genghis Khan, father of democracy

New source

Users of temporary staff will see a change in how Penn fills their needs come January. That’s when Unique Advantage takes over as Penn’s official temporary staff provider. The minority- and women-owned firm will also run the Job Application Center at 3550 Market Street and screen candidates for full-time positions. According to Job Application Center Manager Donna Showell-Brown, recent changes in technology and the temporary help industry led the University to review its options. “We wanted to see what was out there that we didn’t have,” she said.

Protect yourself and prepare yourself

Worried about rape, nutrition or health care? Several programs and lectures from the University of Pennsylvania address these concerns. Rape defense The Penn Police Department is offering the Rape Aggresion Defense (RAD) program this fall. It provides women with practical defense techniques and realistic, hands-on training. These multi-session courses are open to women only and are free to faculty, staff and students of Penn.