2.15
Campus & Community
'We cannot live in a vacuum.'
As a former international student himself, Rodolfo Altamirano says he understands the anxieties foreign students face when coming to study in the United States. But Altamirano also knows the world is a very different place today than it was when he left the Philippines, 23 years ago, to pursue a doctorate at Michigan State University.
Staff Q&A: Jean-Marie Kneeley
As vice dean of external affairs for the School of Arts and Sciences, Jean-Marie Kneeley raises money for a living. This fall, her fundraising skills were tapped for a cause that’s even closer to her heart than Penn. On Oct. 8 she completed the Breast Cancer 3-Day, a 60-mile walk in and around Philadelphia.
Staff Q&A: Tara Betterbid
When Tara Betterbid decided to move to Philadelphia two years ago, she knew little about the city and didn’t know what she was going to do to make ends meet. All she knew was her rent here would be $300 less than it was in New York City—and that the local music scene, with a wealth of soulful R&B singers, seemed the perfect fit for her.
Q&A/David Luzzi
With all the hoopla around nanotechnology, you’d think it was a brand new science. Not so, says David Luzzi, a professor of materials science and engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
Q&A/Fred Kaplan and Eileen Shore
In the mid-1980s, physician Fred Kaplan met a little girl with fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP). Watching the disease progress in the girl “was like watching a molecular terrorist attack her body,” he says. In this and other FOP patients, soft tissues and muscles metamorphize into bone, essentially forming a second skeleton and rendering movement impossible.
Staff Q&A: Stacey Peeples
Stacey Peeples pauses before opening the door to her office.
Staff Q&A: Isabel Boston
STAFF Q&A/Twenty years after leaving college to start a family, Isabel Boston took a job at Penn—and soon started the long journey of finishing her degree. “I thought I’d be a fool not to do it.”
The pragmatist
Q&A/The Director of Penn’s Master of Science Program in Criminology talks about working with former Attorney General Janet Reno and what drew her to criminology in the first place. “It was hard and stressful in many ways, but it was kind of a golden time.”
Staff Q&A: Nathan Smith
STAFF Q&A/Being a College House dean is a full-time job, and then some, but Nathan Smith wouldn’t have it any other way. “You're at work the minute you step outside your apartment door.”
STAFF Q&A:Anne Stamer
STAFF Q&A/Anne Stamer has helped turn Weiss Tech House into Penn’s ‘hub’ for technology. “Our mission is to help excite and invigorate students around technology.”
In the News
Philadelphia Inquirer
Penn Libraries and venerable Philadelphia Athenaeum form bookish alliance
The Libraries have entered a partnership with the Athenaeum, Philadelphia’s last remaining subscription library. “Our new library partnership with the Athenaeum of Philadelphia makes easily accessible the Athenaeum’s unmatched collection of historic architectural publications and other documentation for the study of this rich legacy,” said David Brownlee, a School of Arts and Sciences professor and an Athenaeum board member. Jon Shaw and Constantia Constantinou were also quoted.
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Forbes
Love and college admission
In an article comparing college acceptances to valentines, Dean Eric J. Furda of Admissions said “the concept of the ‘ideal partner’ may not have a place in the college search process, lest we set ourselves up for disappointment and denial.” However, he said, “in the end, I do believe the vast majority of students find their true love; it just may come from previously unexpected places and takes an open-minded person.”
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Philadelphia Inquirer
Running club chases down theft suspect in University City
The Annenberg (Lunchtime) Running Club was lauded for its role in capturing a man accused of theft during one of their triweekly outings. “Running is typically a useless sport where you turn fat cells into heat, but occasionally it can be useful, and here was one of those opportunities,” said founding member Kyle Cassidy.
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Philadelphia Inquirer
Penn president Amy Gutmann helped prepare report on restoring faith in the media
President Amy Gutmann contributed to the Knight Foundation’s report on the state of diversity, transparency, and public faith in the media. “We call on and depend upon media for speaking across multiple perspectives,” Gutmann said. “You can only do that if you have a newsroom where there is that kind of diversity of backgrounds and perspectives.”
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WHYY (Philadelphia)
Hive mind: What’s in these Ed Bacon photos?
Hannah Bennett of the Libraries spoke about an unlabeled trove of photographs donated to Penn by urban planner Ed Bacon before his death in 2005. The photos are now being posted to Flickr to solicit public help identifying the locations depicted. “You don’t have to be a Bacon scholar – or a Bacon enthusiast – to enjoy these pictures,” said Bennett.
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