Penn in the News

Ruben Gur of the Perelman School of Medicine is quoted about violence and brain science.

Marybeth Gasman of the Graduate School of Education talks about the financial troubles and expectations of historically black colleges and universities.

The College Board announced on Monday that it would bar all nonstudents from taking the new SAT this Saturday. That irked test-prep tutors, hundreds if not thousands of whom had registered for the examination, eager to see how it had or had not changed. In their field, firsthand experience with standardized tests is gold. The College Board has long allowed people who aren’t high-school students to take the SAT. So many registrants were surprised to learn that they couldn’t do so until the next administration of the exam, in May.

Ethan Mollick of the Wharton School talks about the legitimacy of crowdfunding.

It’s no secret that test prep professionals like to take the exams they try to coach students to ace, and for many years have signed up to take the SAT and ACT (as well as other admissions exams). But some test prep providers have just received e-mails from the College Board telling them that even though they signed up to take the newly redesigned SAT on March 5, they will not be allowed to do so. Why?

Undergraduate Brianna Sainte of the School of Arts & Sciences is featured for using social media to foster youth participation in the voting process while interning in the Office of Government and Community Affairs.

Marybeth Gasman of the Graduate School of Education shares her thoughts on TM² Executive Search, a new firm that focuses on identifying and placing candidate for top administrative positions at historically black colleges and universities.

Mathias Basner of the Perelman School of Medicine is featured for monitoring astronaut Scott Kelly during his year in space and his twin brother Mark, back on earth, to compare cognitive differences.

The president of Mount St. Mary’s University wanted to improve the school’s vital national rankings by pushing out struggling freshmen before they flunked out and hurt its federal retention rate. “Put a Glock to their heads,” the president, a former private equity manager, said according to the campus newspaper. On Monday he resigned after outrage by academics who felt his cold, business-like approach was at odds with the school’s academic mission. Some say that as costs and student debt soar, the trend of hiring business people for academic leadership is beneficial for schools.

Michael Perlis of the Perelman School of Medicine is quoted about new insomnia drugs.