News Archives

Help yourself to a better career

So you’re thinking you’d like to move up in the world, but have no idea how to advance up the career ladder and still remain at Penn. Here are some strategies suggested by your fellow employees. Take advantage of professional development opportunities. Robin Hartley, associate director of the Wharton e-Business Initiative, credits the Professional Development Program offered by Human Resources’ Learning and Education division with getting her focused on what her interests were and how she could pursue them.

Cliff dwellings for the ages

Seven hundred years after the Native American cliff dwellings now in Mesa Verde National Park were abandoned, they were showing signs of decay — plaster peeling, walls deteriorating. The challenge was to preserve what was left, using all-natural materials — a requirement of the Native American tribes of the Southwest, who venerate the early pueblo dwellings in southwestern Colorado as a sacred ancestral site. Frank Matero, chairman of the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation, has been working with teams of graduate students since 1993 on preserving the site.

Commercial Child Sexual Exploitation: "The Most Hidden Form Of Child Abuse," Says Penn Professor

WASHINGTON -- Tens of thousands of U.S., Mexican and Canadian children and youths become victims of juvenile pornography, prostitution and trafficking each year. So significant is the problem that even most law-enforcement and child-welfare officials do not realize its scope.

Penn's Palladino Honored By Academic Computing Group

PHILADELPHIA Michael Palladino, associate vice president of networking and telecommunications at the University of Pennsylvania, has been named the first recipient of the Leadership Award of the Association for Telecommunications Professionals in Higher Education. Addressing voice, data and video communications needs for higher education, the Association serves more than 800 institutions of higher education and 2,000 telecommunications professionals from the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Afaf I. Meleis, Ph. D., Fann, Named Dean Of Penn's School Of Nursing

PHILADELPHIA -- Afaf I. Meleis, PhD, FAAN, RN, an internationally acclaimed nurse and medical sociologist, has been named dean of the School of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania, Penn President Judith Rodin announced. She will begin her new position in January.

Biologists Find A Gene Required For Tolerance Of Heavy Metals, Previously Known Only In Plants, In An Animal

PHILADELPHIA Biologists at the University of Pennsylvania have discovered the first biochemical pathway in animals responsible for the detoxification of heavy metals such as arsenic, mercury and cadmium. They have established that the enzyme phytochelatin synthase, which had previously been found only in plants and some fungi, is also present in some animals.

Penn Engineers Develop Fuel Cell That Uses Liquid Diesel, The First Such Device To Run On A Widely Available Fuel

PHILADELPHIA Chemical engineers at the University of Pennsylvania have developed a prototype fuel cell that the first to run on a readily available liquid fuel source, in this case ordinary diesel fuel. The work nudges fuel cells closer to viability, offering the promise of compact, portable power sources that offer much more bang for the buck than combustion engines or existing batteries.

To the lighthouse in the garden

Rambo rises

When the University’s police department needed a new chief, it knew it did not have to look very far. On July 9, Thomas A. Rambo, a 15-year veteran of the Penn police, replaced Maureen Rush as chief of police. Rush, who is now vice president for public safety, said, “I knew from the get-go that we had the talent inside the department so I limited the application pool to the Penn police department.” Rush said the choice was based on recommendations gathered from area law enforcement agencies and University safety and security committees.

Bioengineering gets $14 million

Penn’s Department of Bioengineering has received a $14 million dollar Leadership Development Award from the Whitaker Foundation. “This is one of the largest grants ever received by the School [of Engineering and Applied Science],” said SEAS Dean Eduardo Glandt. This multi-year grant will boost the department’s existing research and teaching strengths in orthopedic, cardiovascular and injury bioengineering and neuroengineering by providing new facilities and at least seven new researchers. The University is committed to matching this sum with $42.8 million.