Commuting to class with the Quaker Consortium

For most Penn students, spending 15 minutes to get to and from class is pushing it. But last semester, Swarthmore junior Sven David Udekwu measured his commute in hours, not minutes. Waking up at about 9 a.m., catching a 9:10 bus to Penn and arriving almost half an hour before his 10 a.

Charity foundation created for Robb's wife

Ellen Robb was brutally beaten to death last December after years of a rocky marriage. Now, her relatives have formed a foundation to help other troubled women. Former Economics professor Rafael Robb pleaded guilty Monday to voluntary manslaughter, admitting that he killed his wife, Ellen Robb, in the couple's Upper Merion home by bludgeoning her with a chin-up bar after an argument.

News Brief: Ninth day of trial deliberations looms

WILMINGTON, Del. - After eight days of deliberations, the jury still has yet to render a verdict on the first-degree murder charges against Irina Malinovskaya. Malinovskaya, a Wharton student, allegedly bludgeoned to death her ex-boyfriend Robert Bondar's girlfriend, Temple University student Irina Zlotnikov, at Bondar's New Castle, Del.

Five Guys: A local answer to In-N-Out's burger reign

Oh, the woes of a local burger aficionado. Near Penn, choices are slim for that most quintessential of American meals: On the one hand, beefy checks and relatively long waits are the norm at the Marathon Grills or Copabananas of campus, while on the other hand - McDonalds.

$3.5B campaign still hot topic

University President Amy Gutmann, Provost Ron Daniels, faculty and student leaders met yesterday afternoon in Bodek Lounge for the year's second meeting of the University Council. The UC discussed issues relating to Penn's recently announced $3.5 billion capital campaign, PennConnects and the PennAlert security-notification system.

New RIAA letters threaten 31 Penn students

The school year has barely started, but the Recording Industry Association of America hasn't wasted any time continuing its legal onslaught against students.

Penn at No. 5 in latest U.S. News rankings

Penn clocks in at No. 5 in the U.S. News & World Report's 2008 rankings of national universities, released today online. The position, for which the University is tied with the California Institute of Technology, marks a slight improvement from last year's standing at No.

Guest Columnist | A reason to opt for school instead of sun

The words "summer school" don't have much of a ring to them. Hard for them to, since they conjure up images of miscreant children making up for the cumulative effects of failed English papers about, say, To Kill a Mockingbird.

Guest Columnist | How Motorola started selling morality

The advertisements for Product Red are nothing else if not striking. A faded blood-red background plays host to messages printed in broken black block font: "As first world consumers, we have tremendous power. What we collectively choose to buy, or not to buy, can change the course of life and history on this planet," one such ad reads.

Guest Columnist | A summer in the City of Brotherly Love

The Penn students currently on campus probably have some idea of what this summer has in store. But for everyone else - those here on campus for the first time taking summer session courses, doing internships or working (and, of course, the eventual throngs of high schoolers who will crowd campus come late June) - the City of Brotherly Love could seem a little intimidating.

A job that makes student loan debt vanish

As student debt looms for some soon-to-be graduates, government agencies are stepping in to offer relief. A number of federal employers have programs that relieve student debt up to $10,000 a year for six years, and the program has been steadily expanding over the past five years.

Summer makeover set for College Web site

The College of Arts and Sciences is about to get a bit trendier. At least, its Web site is. A redesigned College Web site will launch in early July, right in time for incoming College freshman to begin exploring their options at Penn. New changes include quick links and information presented in formats that are more easily digestible than long bodies of text.

News Brief: New Bolton Center to receive $10,000 award

The Kentucky Derby Festival will award Penn's New Bolton Center with the Silver Horseshoe award, according to an Associated Press report. The award is given to "a group or individual for significant contributions or service to the thoroughbred racing industry," the report said.

News Brief: Ex-flatlined patient released from HUP

Gary Onufer, a patient at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvanian who previously lived without a heartbeat, was released from the hospital yesterday, according to an Associated Press report. Onufer, 46, received a Total Artificial Heart , an external device that is attached to the chest cavity in order to facillitate the pumping of blood, on Feb.

Vet program lends soldiers a helping hand

For most Penn students, four straight hours spent at night in a classroom would be the equivalent of a nightmare. But for Alberto Rosa, it's nothing less than a dream come true. Rosa, who recently returned from tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq, is now packing his bags once again to head off to University Park after being accepted to Penn State this year, all with the help of Penn's Veterans Upward Bound program.

A myriad of Mediterranean surprises

Long, dark and highlighted on each side by thin rows of orange-lit rocks, the entranceway is, without a doubt, distinctive, if not a little intimidating at first. Even more so the dining rooms, of which there are three quite large ones. From the short, brown-leather chairs and the red-and-gold tapestries to the peach lighting that glows from the base of benches and the tiny candles hid in alcove after alcove along a long blue wall, the decor is striking, to say the least.

Opening Up the Ivies

Ivy League universities are about to get a whole lot larger. Physically, for one. Penn will acquire the postal lands, a 42-acre swath of land directly east of campus, next year; construction will span the next few decades.

Perspective: The game of tenure at Penn

Mariangela Bernardi is in her office at the David Rittenhouse Laboratory when a student enters, complaining about the scoring of a question on a test for a class not taught by Bernardi. She looks at the question and briefly sketches out an answer, explaining which variables and which equations are necessary to solve it.

An Old City BYOB, a new kind of contemporary

Maybe it's the lucky number. Or maybe it's the all-natural ingredients. Maybe it's the skill of chef/owner Michael O'Halloran.

High note for farmers: Farm Aid concert in Camden this month

Seeing Dave Matthews live has never been so charitable. The king of jam-band ethos will take the stage alongside Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Willie Nelson on Sept. 30 for the annual Farm Aid concert, to be held at the Tweeter Center at the Waterfront in Camden, N.