Campus & Community

GLOBAL LEARNING: Penn launched its Open Learning Initiative in July 2012, a vital part of the University’s mission to increase worldwide access to educational resources that can impact humanity.

Dear Benny:I’m trying to plan ahead for the holidays. The Human Resources website lists Christmas Day and New Year’s Day as holidays observed by the Penn, but I was told the University is also closed between the two holidays. What should I know about winter break this year?

Etienne Benson, an assistant professor in Penn’s Department of History and Sociology of Science, has trained his academic eye on the history of conservation of large, charismatic wildlife, such as tigers, grizzly bears, and orcas.

President Amy Gutmann and Provost Vincent Price announced that Director of Athletics Steve Bilsky will retire on June 30.

During the holidays in December, departments from across the University are encouraged to “adopt” a deserving family. The adoption is usually done in lieu of departmental gift exchanges. The assigned family is treated to presents and sometimes holiday dinner. Families participate in the program on a one-time basis and are assigned to departments based on request.

Following a successful pilot season in the fall of 2012, the “Insights into Ancient Egypt” Touch Tours program at the Penn Museum, designed with and for Museum visitors who are blind or have low vision, is expanding after extensive input and feedback from members of the community.

Five faculty members from Penn have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. They areamong 388 members of AAAS awarded the distinction this year for “their efforts toward advancing science applications that are deemed scientifically or socially distinguished.”

Penn’s Center for Technology Transfer and its company-formation program, UPstart, launched an ambitious contest in September, aimed to gather the best mobile application ideas from throughout the University community.

The Rev. Charles “Chaz” Howard never set out to write a book of poetry.