Penn in the News

Janet Wilson has a number burned into her mind: 4.7. That’s the average student-evaluation score, on a five-point scale, that she has to reach to feel safe. Her score helps to determine her fate as a full-time, non-tenure-track professor at her West Coast research university. “Everybody in my department is obsessed,” says Ms. Wilson, a teacher in the humanities for more than a decade.

A celebration for the 250^th anniversary of the medical school is highlighted.

Temple University is starting a Confucius Institute - the first in Philadelphia - focusing on the teaching of Chinese language and culture, officials announced Monday. The school will partner with China's Zhejiang Normal University, which will send two Chinese language professors here to teach in the institute, said Temple provost Hai-Lung Dai.

The Great Recession and its aftermath have exposed a major mismatch between the skills of many college graduates and the skills employers are seeking. If anything, as technological change marches on, this problem may get worse. University presidents and trustees cannot afford to be complacent.

Vice President Maureen Rush of Public Safety is mentioned as the board president of the Philadelphia Police Foundation.

The University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors has reached another pivotal moment with Teresa A. Sullivan, the president whom the board forced out in 2012 and then almost immediately rehired. The board appears poised to approve a three-year contract extension for her on Tuesday. Such a decision will most likely be cast as evidence that the wounds of Ms. Sullivan’s embarrassing ouster have healed.

Marybeth Gasman of the Graduate School of Education comments the financial struggles of historically black colleges and universities, namely South Carolina State.

Pinar Yildrim of the Wharton School is quoted about the Indego bike-share program.

Stephen Morse of the Law School and the Perelman School of Medicine is cited about moral agency.

Last November, Penn State President Eric Barron said he would wade into a matter that has deeply divided Penn State’s board of trustees. He announced he would review the controversial investigative report by former FBI Director Louis Freeh on the Sandusky scandal that found former university leaders culpable of a cover-up.