Campus & Community

Q&A/This spring the 6th floor of Van Pelt is celebrating Ben Franklin with an exhibit on Colonial education in the Delaware Valley. We talk to the library staff who brought “Educating the Youth of Pennsylvania” from a rough idea to a fully realized exhibit. “Charter schools today remind me a lot of what was going on during the Colonial period.”

Q&A/Penn Museum’s keeper of physical anthropology talks about scanning mummies, making molds of Neanderthals and why human babies are born so small and helpless. “I’m one of those people who have crazy loves and I have a love for everything about evolution.”

STAFF Q&A/A booster for the local music scene, Maria Tessa Sciarrino can’t get enough of the Philadelphia sound. “I think it’s great that everybody’s getting the attention.” Maria Tessa Sciarrino studied photography in college, but admits she wasn’t the best student: “I was too busy going to concerts.”

Q&A/After decades of groundbreaking work, linguist William Labov remains at the forefront of his field. His most far-reaching research, a comprehensive atlas of North American English, has just been published. “In almost every language change, there’s something going on underneath the hood.”

STAFF Q&A/Parker Snowe helps Wharton MBAs get immersed in global business. He also helps them park their bikes on campus. “It’s my way of saying, ‘This is the difference I can make.’” A year ago, after 15 years of bike commuting, Parker Snowe treated himself to a Brompton folding bicycle.

PHILADELPHIA -- In the tradition of the cafe as a place where ideas are raised and discussed, the Arthur Ross Gallery presents "Cafe Nothing," an open forum for visitors to interact with and respond to intangibles and nonexistent objects.

PHILADELPHIA — The University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice is hosting a week-long seminar on “Effective Philanthropy in Challenging Times,” featuring Richard Marker, a leader in the non-profit sector, from June 15 to 19.

PHILADELPHIA  Anti-apartheid activist Desmond Tutu, CNN news anchor Wolf Blitzer and notable Penn alumni, including Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, are among the dignitaries who will address graduates at the various University of Pennsylvania commencement ceremonies May 18-19.

PHILADELPHIA  Family and friends unable to attend Penn's 247th Commencement in person will be able to view the entire ceremony online thanks to a live Webcast. Coverage of the ceremony at Franklin Field  from processional to recessional and all the pomp and circumstance in between  will be broadcast live on the Internet beginning at 9 a.m. (EDT), Monday, May 19.

PHILADELPHIA -- Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel laureate and one of the world's foremost Christian leaders to oppose apartheid in South Africa, will deliver the address at the 247th Commencement ceremony of the University of Pennsylvania May 19.