News Archives

Issues emerge from Shadow Convention

  The Republican shindig at the First Union Center wasn’t the only game in town this summer. While the herd of elephants staged their extravaganza in South Philly, a smaller but more interesting convention took place on the Penn campus — the Shadow Convention, a gathering called by an assemblage of activists and a syndicated columnist to raise issues the organizers claim the major parties are ignoring.

Colleges take stock

This summer, Penn played host to the Campus Compact Presidents’ Leadership Colloquium, where higher education administrators discussed making their institutions “vital agents and architects of a flourishing democracy.”

Robokids

Kidney protection

Fuad Ziyadeh and kidneys were meant for each other. “In my first year of medical school, the minute we started studying renal physiology, I was completely sold on nephrology as my specialty,” says the professor of medicine, his eyes flashing with excitement. “I knew I wanted to study it and I didn’t change my mind.” This summer, Ziyadeh’s passion and years of research paid off when he made a key discovery about how diabetic kidney failure happens and how it might be prevented.

Share your love of nature with others

Like trees and plants? Better yet, like talking about them? The Morris Arboretum wants you. The Arboretum is looking for volunteer tour guides and is willing to train. The guides are integral to the Arboretum’s operations, explaining its history and collections to visitors. The four-session training course, held on successive Thursday evenings beginning Sept. 7 or successive Saturday mornings beginning Sept. 9, introduces guides to all they need to know about the Arboretum and its history.

Penn Researchers Win $2.2 Million for Efforts to Boost Reliability of Computers Embedded in Devices of All Types

PHILADELPHIA Computer scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have received a $2,184,300 grant to boost the reliability of the specialized miniature computers found in electronic devices all around us. The award, from the federal government Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration (DARPA), will support the researcherswork over the next three years.

Penn Names New Director of Special Services

PHILADELPHIA, PA. -- Patricia Brennan, who has served as acting Director of Special Services for the University of Pennsylvania Police Department since July 1999, has been named the new Director of Special Services, according to an announcement by Vice President for Public Safety Thomas M. Seamon. Her appointment will become effective August 15, 2000. As Director of Special Services, Brennan will be responsible for all support services for victims of crime, and will oversee the day-to-day operations of the special services team.

University of Pennsylvania Health System CEO Will Move to Glaxosmithkline

PHILADELPHIA --- Peter G. Traber, M.D., interim dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and CEO of the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, has accepted an appointment as head of clinical pharmacology and experimental medicine at GlaxoSmithKline, the health care company to be formed upon the merger of SmithKline Beecham and Glaxo Wellcome, according to an announcement today (July 26) by University of Pennsylvania President Judith Rodin.

Dr. Neville Strumpf Named Interim Dean of The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing

PHILADELPHIA --- Neville E. Strumpf, Ph.D., R.N., the Edith Clemmer Steinbright Professor in Gerontology and Director of the Center for Gerontologic Nursing Science at the University of Pennsylvania, has been named interim dean of Penn's School of Nursing, effective Sept. 1, according to an announcement today (June 7) by President Judith Rodin and Provost Robert Barchi.

“That image of old buildings with ivy, you go in, it’s hot there, it was Ivy League, you know?”

The last American civilization major at the University of Pennsylvania loves his alma mater and employer truly, madly, deeply, the way a father loves his child.