Campus & Community

Q&A with Ira Harkavy

After Ira Harkavy had just finished his Ph.D. at Penn, his mentor in the history department, Lee Benson, delivered an address that called for practitioners in communities to work together with academics.

Heather A. Davis

Food for fines

Faculty and staff with library fines—take note. Through November, Penn Libraries is sponsoring the “Food for Fines” program to benefit Philabundance. For each item donated, $1 will be credited towards a library account, up to a maximum of $20.

Visitors can watch conservators work at Penn Museum

Dear Benny: A friend of mine visited the Penn Museum recently and got to see an Egyptian coffin being restored by a conservator. My friend was told this is a new attraction at the Museum. Can you tell me more about this program? —Mummy MysteryDear MM:

Tanya Barrientos

Representative-elect

Mary Jo Daley, associate director of budget services in Penn’s Business Services Division, University Laboratory Animal Resources, now has a new job title: representative to District 148 in the Pennsylvania House.

Penn Libraries offers amnesty for donated food

It’s a win-win proposition: During the holiday season, users of the Penn Libraries can help fight hunger in the Philadelphia area while paying off their overdue library fines.

Jeanne Leong

PennDesign works to preserve forgotten work by architect Frank Furness

Zip along Kelly Drive too quickly, and you’ll likely miss it—a brownstone arch that sits right at the highway’s edge, flanked by steps that lead up the hill. It’s not difficult to see why people just pass by. The arch is tagged with graffiti. There’s no sidewalk to encourage pedestrians to walk under the stone structure. Vines and trees partially obscure the ornate arch from view.

Heather A. Davis

Safe and sound

For the sixth year in a row, Penn was ranked No. 1 in safety and security in the higher education sector, according to Security Magazine’s “Security 500” list. “We are so grateful to be recognized for the sixth year in a row by Security Magazine, as the No. 1 Public Safety organization in the country within the University Market,” says



In the News


Philadelphia Inquirer

What’s it like to come home from prison? Reentry simulations let people experience it firsthand

With support from the STAR program, Aslam Ashari was able to enroll in an entrepreneurship course at Penn after his release from prison.

FULL STORY →



Philadelphia Inquirer

A collector donated 75,000 comic books to Penn Libraries, valued at more than $500,000

Alumnus Gary Prebula and his wife, Dawn, have donated a $500,000 collection of more than 75,000 comic books and graphic novels to Penn Libraries, featuring remarks from Sean Quimly of the Kislak Center and Jean-Christophe Cloutier of the School of Arts & Sciences.

FULL STORY →



Philadelphia Inquirer

He started college in prison. Now, he is Rutgers-Camden’s first Truman scholar

Tej Patel, a third-year in the Wharton School and College of Arts and Sciences from Billeria, Massachusetts, was one of 60 college students nationwide chosen to be a Truman Scholar.

FULL STORY →



Philadelphia Inquirer

How did a white woman come to write the newest definitive text on Philadelphia’s Black history?

Penn alum Amy Jane Cohen is profiled for her new book “Black History in the Philadelphia Landscape,” which examines Black history through the lens of events, institutions, and individuals across the city. The book includes a reflection from Penn chaplain Charles Howard.

FULL STORY →



WHYY (Philadelphia)

Homeward bound: When a Penn Medicine nurse was diagnosed with uterine cancer, she turned to the service dogs she helped to train

A profile highlights Maria Wright of Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, from her volunteer work connecting people with service dogs to her cancer diagnosis and her own journey applying for a service dog.

FULL STORY →