News Archives

Early American revival

In Philadelphia, we live with history. Citizens protest the mayor’s decision to block off Independence Hall. The directional sign for I-76 from the airport reads “Valley Forge.” Ben Franklin (as impersonated by Ralph Archbold) turns up at every civic event from the annual Fourth of July festivities to an Eagles pep rally. Add the McNeil Center for Early American Studies to these more casual collisions with our past.

Penn experts weigh in on food debate

Six out of 10 of you reading this are either overweight or obese. And, like many Americans, you probably made a vow on Jan. 1 both to lose weight and to exercise more.

TV veteran to run Penn’s radio station

Roger LaMay will replace Vinnie Curren as the next general manager of WXPN. A former general mana-ger of Fox’s WTXF-TV in Philadelphia, LaMay has two decades of television management experience. While at Fox, LaMay served WXPN as a policy board member and supported a number of the public radio station’s initiatives, including Singer/Songwriter Weekend. Curren left Penn’s public radio station to become senior vice president for radio at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in Washington, D.C.

Richard J. Gelles Named Dean of School of Social Work at University of Pennsylvania

PHILADELPHIA – Richard J. Gelles, an internationally known expert in domestic violence and child welfare and professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work, has been named dean of the School, Penn President Judith Rodin announced today. Gelles has been serving as interim dean since September 2001.

Will you be mine?

Love is definitely in the air. When the Current scoured the campus looking for the unattached and their take on Valentine’s Day, they were nowhere to be found. But we know you must be out there somewhere. No matter. Here are some suggestions from seasoned lovers on how to celebrate this day of romance. ROBERT F. GIEGENGACK Professor and Chair, Earth and Environmental Science “[Singles should celebrate Valentine’s Day] by making sure that people who are important to them realize that they are valuable.”

“Beyond the Century of the Child: Cultural History and Developmental Psychology”

In 1900, Ellen Key wrote the international bestseller “The Century of the Child.” In it, she proposed that the world’s children should be the central work of society during the 20th century. Although she never thought that her idea would become a reality, in fact it had much more resonance than she could have imagined.

Awards & Honors

Professor of Law Stephen Burbank has been appointed special master to resolve designated disputes between the National Football League Management Council and the NFL Players Association by U.S. District Judge David S. Doty. As special master, Burbank has exclusive jurisdiction to enforce provisions of the collective-bargaining agreement. He may be called upon to rule on issues like the NFL commissioner’s disapproval of player contracts.

Jeffcoat a first for SDM

An award-winning dental researcher from the University of Alabama (UA) will become the first female dean of Penn’s School of Dental Medicine this summer. President Judith Rodin has announced that Marjorie K. Jeffcoat has been selected as the next dean of the Dental School, succeeding Raymond M. Fonseca. A graduate of MIT and the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Jeffcoat is currently assistant dean of research and professor and chair of periodontics at UA’s School of Dentistry.

Pink-collar ghetto lives on

It’s been almost 40 years since the passage of equal rights and equal pay legislation, but women are still getting paid only three-fourths of what men get paid. This is just one of the many statistics featured in “A Change of Pace: Accelerating Women’s Progress,” a new report published by Penn’s Alice Paul Center for Research on Women and Gender in collaboration with Womens Way and Solutions for Progress, Inc.

Carol Bowers