Penn in the News

In the wake of the tragic mass shooting in Orlando, Fla., on Sunday morning -- when a large number of Latinx lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and other club patrons were murdered in one of the largest shootings in United States history -- some people in higher education are probably feeling themselves targeted and traumatized. I’m reaching out to anyone who may feel that way to say that I am thinking of you and that you are valued by some of us.

Sigrid Veasey of the Perelman School of Medicine dispels the notion that people can train their bodies to function on less sleep.

Hiring an executive-search firm to find a new college president or provost has become pretty standard across higher education. Governing boards that hire such companies justify the price, often in the six-figure range, by saying they provide expertise and add professionalism. But a new study being presented on Friday raises questions about the role of those companies in the process at public colleges and whether taxpayers are getting their money’s worth.

How does a university with a reputation for historically being inhospitable to black students overcome that part of its heritage? That was the focus of a panel of faculty and staff members from the University of Mississippi here Thursday at the annual meeting of the American Association of University Professors. Speakers from across student services and academic programs at Ole Miss described a kind of “recursive progress,” in which the university takes steps forward as well as backward on the road to inclusion -- but ultimately moves ahead.

Brian Smith of the Perelman School of Medicine explains that the level of damage caused by a high-velocity rifle round is contingent upon what type of tissue it hits.

Amtrak and its partners in the proposed redevelopment of a massive swath around 30th Street Station in University City say the decades-long plan - including partially capping the adjacent rail yard - will involve $6.5 billion in infrastructure funding and private investment. The financial projection is part of the planning team's final blueprint for the 175-acre site extending northeast from 30th Street Station, to be released Thursday morning.

Dirk Krueger of the School of Arts & Sciences is cited for a co-authoring a research paper examining wealth inequality.

For more than a year, criticism of the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools has been growing over the poor student outcomes at its member colleges and allegations of misconduct against some of those institutions. Now the U.S. Department of Education has recommended that the accrediting agency lose its authority as a gatekeeper of federal financial aid. In a 29-page report released on Wednesday, department analysts laid out 21 areas where they say the accreditor, known as Acics, has failed to follow federal rules.

The architecture and design of Perry World House, set to open in September, are highlighted.

Three in 10 female undergraduates surveyed at Georgetown University said this year they had been sexually penetrated or sexually touched without their consent since they arrived at the school, a finding similar to what more than two dozen other prominent research universities have learned recently from their own students. The women told Georgetown that the attacks occurred through physical force or while they were incapacitated and unable to provide consent.