Penn in the News

Undergraduate student Theodore Caputi of the Wharton School reflects on his volunteer experience through the Penn Leadership Training Institute and an Academically Based Community Service Course, “Community-Based Environmental Health.”

Gregory Fenves was quite clear when he was offered seven figures to become the next president of the University of Texas at Austin: “$1 million is too high for a public university.” That’s probably not the message his peers at Texas A&M University and the University of Houston want to hear, but Fenves thought it was one that would resonate with the Legislature and faculty members.

Scott Halpern of the Perelman School of Medicine says, “Incentives are not a panacea…We have yet to come up with a panacea for smoking cessation. It’s a very difficult nut to crack.”

Scott Halpern of the Perelman School of Medicine talks about the results of a study that reveals how the threat of losing money helped people quit smoking.

David Brainard of the School of Arts & Sciences is cited for writing about the color constancy hypothesis.

Rice University will use a $50 million gift -- the largest in its history -- to create a new institute aimed at developing the leadership skills of every student at the university. On Wednesday, David Leebron, Rice’s president, described the institute as “a reconceptualization” of what an undergraduate education is meant to provide.

Saida Grundy this week may have become the most discussed new assistant professor of the year, without even starting her position. While Grundy's tweets on race have been debated intensely, she initially stayed on the sidelines. But on Tuesday she released a statement of "regret" and a clarification of her comments that were critical of white male college students and white businesses. Her statement came hours after Robert A.

Nancy Hirschmann of the School of Arts & Sciences says, “Gender is much more of a social category than a biological and sexual category with young people these days.”

Ethan Mollick of the Wharton School says,"At its best, crowdfunding allows communities to work together to help them fill a need that the community has.”

Daniel D. Tompkins, the sixth vice president of the United States, has long gazed impassively from an oil portrait hanging in the residence of the president of Columbia University, his alma mater. But on a recent afternoon, he might have been tempted to smile a bit. Chloe Hawkey, a junior at Barnard College, was summarizing her research on attitudes toward slavery among Columbia’s early students.