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In An Ivy-League Minute: The 60-Second Lecture Series At Penn
PHILADELPHIA There are lectures at the University of Pennsylvania this summer that can fit into even the busiest schedule. That because each of them lasts only a minute.The 60-Second Lecture Series is the 1999 creation of Valerie Ross, director of summer sessions at Penn.Past talks have involved a roll of toilet paper; the transformation of Benjamin Franklin, one of Penn founders, into the patron saint of Penn; singing; heckling; live local music; and free dessert.
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Writing In Nature, Scientists Identify Genes Key To Differentiating Top From Bottom In Plant Leaves
PHILADELPHIA Biologists at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Wisconsin have identified some of the first genes known to have a hand in differentiating top from bottom in plant leaves, a subtle morpho-logical distinction that has profound implications for development and func-tion across a wide range of plant species.
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University Of Pennsylvania Writers House Creates Recommended Book List Through Online Discussion
PHILADELPHIAespite technological advances, the book has remained a constant source of both comfort and intellectual growth. Nearly everyone has a favorite book or books. Usually these books reflect an individual life or represent a significant moment in someone life.
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Distinguished Professorship Endowed At Penn Law School In Honor Of Financier Saul A. Fox Is The Largest Single Gift For A Chaired Professorship In Penn History
PHILADELPHIA - The University of Pennsylvania Law School adds to its growing corporate-law program with the creation of the Saul A. Fox Distinguished Professorship of Business Law and the associated Fox Endowed Research Fund. This is the largest single gift establishing a chair in the history of Penn.
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War and Slavery in Sudan
Jok Madut Jok 240 pages, 4 black-and-white illustrations, 2 maps, $24.95 paper Slavery has been endemic in Sudan for thousands of years. Today the Sudanese slave trade persists as a complex network of buyers, sellers, and middlemen that operates most actively when times are favorable.
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Mayor Street asks grads to stick around
John Street wore two hats when he spoke to the graduating class of the Graduate School of Fine Arts May 21—that of mayor of Philadelphia and that of proud Penn parent. The mayor, his wife, Naomi Post, and his son Sharif were all in attendance as his daughter Rashida Zakia Ng (a married name) received her master’s degree in architecture from the GSFA. Before Ng and her 167 fellow May graduates received their diplomas, though, Street had a few words for them.
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Fine Arts gets a state-of-the-art home
Fine Arts Undergraduate Chair Julie Schneider looked like a kid in a candy store as she led me through the new Charles Addams Fine Arts Hall a few weeks back. “I’m so pleased to be here,” she said, “and could not have imagined how well it all turned out.” It turned out that the fire that destroyed what was to have been Charles Addams Hall was a blessing in disguise, for the fine arts department wound up getting a larger building — the former Faculty Club — as a consolation prize.
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“Anything done to this picture could become a disaster.”
Leo Steinberg, professor of history of art emeritus, on a planned restoration of Leonardo da Vinci’s unfinished painting “The Adoration of the Magi” (The New York Times, May 23)
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Principal Selected For New University Of Pennsylvania-Assisted Public School In West Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA Sheila Sydnor, a veteran School District of Philadelphia teacher and administrator, was selected from a national pool of 60 candidates to be the new principal of the University-Assisted PreK-8 Public School in West Philadelphia. A site selection committee consisting of parents from the community, University of Pennsylvania and School District representatives chose Sydnor for her demonstrated abilities as a school leader, her commitment to building learning communities and her experience in creating conditions for high student achievement.
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“I guess I just love the festivities, the whole atmosphere.”
To hear Phyllis Pompa talk about Penn, you’d think she was an alumna herself. But she’s not. She’s merely a loyal and devoted staffer who sees her job as “spreading the gospel of Benjamin.” Benjamin Franklin and his university, that is. And each spring, she’s there to meet the faithful as they make their annual pilgrimage back to campus. Pompa is one of roughly 175 staff and faculty volunteers who, along with 60 undergraduate students, make the Penn grads who return for Alumni Weekend feel at home.