Campus & Community

By Madeleine Stone  @themadstone        (This is the fifth and last in a series of features introducing the inaugural Penn President’s Engagement Prize winners.)  

Monument Lab: Creative Speculations for Philadelphia, a collaborative project based at the Penn Institute for Urban Research, the University of Pennsylvania School of Design, and the City of Philadelphia, is pleased to announce partnerships with three of Philadelphia’s major arts and culture organizations: Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Philadelphia Center for Architecture and RAIR (Recycled Artist in Residency).

For the past couple of years, every time Master of Environmental Studies (MES) student Joe Durrance would see a dead bird on campus, he’d take a picture of it, note the date and location, and try to identify the species. He logged the death of the birds—caused from their collisions with glass windows—but knew he needed to do more.

Every year, Penn produces a large volume of new research, but it also produces a high number of researchers. The process of becoming a scientist is more than just learning formulas and memorizing equations; it involves experiencing life in the lab and the drive for new knowledge.     

The year was 1870. Napoleon III and his troops had just surrendered to the Prussians in the Battle of Sedan. As news of the emperor’s capture spread, mobs formed in Paris, aiming to dismantle the old government and form a new one. The life of Napoleon’s wife, Empress Eugenie, was in danger.

A monument can take many forms to honor or commemorate a significant person, place, or event. Next month, a public art and urban research project in the Center Courtyard of City Hall will ask people to think about an appropriate monument for Philadelphia at this moment in time, and what form a 21st century urban monument might take.

Operated by the Division of Human Resources (HR), the Backup Care program is a safety net for caregivers that enables faculty and staff at Penn to utilize temporary care for children and adults.

The Center for High Impact Philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania has developed online guidance to assist donors wishing to help the victims of the earthquake in Nepal. 

[Editor’s Note: The following story was written as a personal account about the recent Trustees’ Council of Penn Women spring conference.]