Sandy Smith

Life in Eastern Europe has gotten better since the fall of Communism. But the countries of the former Soviet Bloc still have a good deal of catching up to do before they can take their place alongside the affluent West. Two Penn faculty members are doing their part to help Poland catch up on the medical front.

The Penn Museum has spent more than a century collecting and preserving the riches of ancient Iraq. On March 8, it got a chance to help Iraqis reclaim and preserve their own shattered treasures.

Learning, we are constantly told, is a lifelong process. Working professionals who want to climb the corporate ladder have gotten used to going back to school to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for advancement.

With its fractious politics and ethnic and religious strife, it seems India is constantly on the verge of falling apart. Yet noted Indian author and United Nations Undersecretary-General for Communications and Public Information Shashi Tharoor argued in a March 3 talk that the country is poised for success in the 21st century.

Although the Ivy League was established as a sports conference, its reputation today restsmore on academic than athletic prowess. Penn, however, is a slight exception to the rule.

For Lecturer in English Paul Hendrickson, the third time was the charm.

The ethnic Chinese population of Greater Philadelphia is less than 50,000. Yet this small population, which includes immigrants and their descendants from the mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong, supports five community choirs. One of these groups, Chinese Musical Voices, is conducted by Hirschmann-Makieni Professor of Chemistry Hai-Lung Dai.

A few rounds with a literary heavyweight: “John Barth? Oh, we’d hurt each other. A lot of roundhouse rights back and forth.” So said author Norman Mailer about the American modernist literary giant.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education decision, in which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down “separate but equal” education as unconstitutional.

Robert holds Cort: Producer Robert Cort C’68,G’70,WG’74 returned to his alma mater Feb. 18 to unveil his 52nd film, “Against the Ropes,” to an audience of undergraduates and film aficionados from the faculty, staff and community.