Fighting cancer - with a $20,000 plan

Second-year MBA students Irene Susantio and Brian Smith are $20,000 closer to achieving their dream of fighting cancer. On Wednesday, their team, named Solixia, secured the title of Grand Winner at the tenth annual Wharton Business Plan Competition. A radiopharmaceutical company, Solixia has created an agent for diagnosing breast cancer and a treatment for ovarian cancer.

Students make a different kind of donation

Saving someone's life may start with something as simple as a cheek swab. Wharton freshman Andrew Brodsky is living proof. Diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 16, Brodsky received a bone marrow transplant that saved his life. His donor - a close to perfect genetic match - was a male living in New York who had his cheek swabbed at a bone marrow registry drive that his fraternity organized at Northwestern University.

Nutter admins get a Wharton education

Penn is helping Philadelphia's top officials to become better leaders. Two weeks ago, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter's senior administrators assembled at the Steinberg Conference Center on Thursday and Friday to participate in the University's executive education program, a two-day institute program to develop leadership and management skills.

Seniors largely unaffected by faltering economy

With graduation in less than a month's time, seniors are looking to enter an economy that might be headed for a recession. But the future might not be so dark for graduates, Penn career counselors say. Despite economic troubles, Penn students will be largely unaffected.

European b-schools see rise in popularity

Wharton may be facing stiffer competition from its European counterparts for quality MBA candidates. European business schools - offering a shorter and cheaper MBA program - are becoming an increasingly popular option for students seeking a higher business degree.

Accepted students attracted by Penn's new aid plan

High-school senior Erica Yeon of Central High School of Philadelphia was thrilled with both her acceptance letter from Penn and the financial-aid package it offered. "Financial aid is something I definitely need to go to Penn," said Yeon, who plans on joining Penn's new class of 2012.

Strutting their stuff on campus

Thirty minutes prior to last Friday's runway show on campus, models, designers and directors were running around, finishing up hairstyles and checking clothes. But just past seven, once the DJ started the music and the audience - dressed up for the occasion - had been seated, the spotlight came on and the models strutted along the runway under white tents set up in Wynn Commons.

Profs capitalize on credit crisis

For thousands of Americans, the current credit crisis is a nightmare of potential home foreclosures and job layoffs. For Wall Street, it is a market tsunami of complex mortgage investment losses. But for Penn professors, the crisis is an extra opportunity to bring real-life financial examples to the classroom, where students are showing renewed interest in the current economic situation.

Wharton reaches out to women

Wharton is joining forces with investment bank Goldman Sachs for a unique philanthropic mission. Goldman Sachs' global initiative, '10,000 Women,' will provide short-term business education programs over the next five years to provide approximately 10,000 women in developing countries with the skills to become successful entrepreneurs.

Don't use a purse? Try the brallet

First-year MBA student Sara Tenenbein hates carrying her purse. "I used to clip things into my bra," she said. And according to research conducted by her Wharton Business Plan Competition team called SCM Inc., a lot of women agree that having to carry something is annoying - especially when taking part in physical activities like dancing at a club.

News Brief: $5M given to Wharton for sports business

Wharton received a gift from its alumni to support research in a less traditional field of business. Julie and Kenneth Moelis, both Wharton alumni, donated $5 million to the Wharton Sports Business Initiative, a program that aims to conduct research on sports business and provide education on the sports industry.

Donations to U. up, but not alum participation

Universities around the country are richer than ever, but the money is not necessarily coming out of alumni's pockets. Contributions to colleges have reached $29.75 billion in 2007 - the highest ever - but the amount of that contribution that comes from alumni has decreased by 1.

Students create LA Times business plan

The Los Angeles Times may be able to take a tip or two from four Wharton seniors on how to increase its profits. The undergraduate Wharton team placed second at the University of Southern California's annual Marshall International Case Competition, in which participating teams have to solve a real world business problem in 24 hours.

Finding common ground in the kitchen

Having a roommate often means learning to live with differences in sleeping patterns and music tastes. For some, it can also mean getting used to someone else's eating habits. When living together with someone, dietary differences - such as being vegetarian or keeping kosher - require a degree of compromise between roommates to avoid potential flare-ups.

Trustees wrap up winter meetings

Last Friday at the second and final meeting of the Board of Trustees, Penn President Amy Gutmann announced that the "Making History" campaign is well on its way and will help fund the University's future loan-free financial aid initiative. The University has successfully engaged 1,800 alumni and has raised $1.

Clicking toward a better education

When College freshman Clare Foran answers her geology professor's questions, it's not by raising her hand. She keys in the answer on a 'clicker' she brings to class. The electronic response pad, which all students in the class are required to purchase, transmits student answers to a computer which collates all the responses and displays them on a screen.

An unconventional career search in NY

In New York City, a group of sophomores got a glimpse of life after Wharton. As a part of the Sophomore Cohort Career Exploration Series, around 30 sophomores headed to the city for an optional trip to expose themselves to various possibilities for their futures.

Social impact club advises Phila. nonprofits

Wharton senior Lisa Jiang wanted to take her business education outside of Huntsman Hall and into Philadelphia. Jiang and four other classmates founded the Social Impact Consulting Group, an organization that offers free consulting services to local non-profit organizations, which include conducting cost analyses and coming up with marketing strategies.

Economy slowing, but MBA apps on the rise

When times are hard and the fear of unemployment looms above, what do people do? Go back to school and get an MBA. According to an article in the Financial Times, deans and admissions officials at business schools say that MBA applications increase during or just before an economic downturn, such as the one facing the U.

For some students, printing is on the house

Whartonites no longer have to make their way to Van Pelt to print for eight cents per page. Last December, Wharton computing labs lowered their price from 10 cents per page for black-and-white printing to meet the level charged at libraries and other locations on campus.