05/02/08 5:00am
After 33 years away from Penn's campus, 1975 Law School alumnus Jeffrey Cooper will return on July 1 to take over as the new Vice President for Government and Community Affairs.
Currently the chief counsel for the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education and the executive deputy general counsel to Gov.
05/02/08 5:00am
Actor Kalpen Modi-more fondly known as Kal Penn - conquered Hollywood after his hit movie Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. But, with students raving about his Asian American Studies class as the semester ends, it seems Modi has conquered something perhaps more significant than teenage humor: the field of academia.
04/23/08 5:00am
While many Penn students juggle academics, extracurricular activities and a social life, there is still one thing left for many to learn to balance - a checkbook.
With the importance of financial literacy - knowledge of how to manage a credit-card to how to create a budget, for example - growing each and every year, trend-setting colleges all over the nation are reaching out to their students and expanding the financial advising resources available to them.
04/17/08 5:00am
Art History professor Michael Leja and Annenberg visiting scholar Don Mitchell were recently awarded fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation.
This year, more than 2,600 applicants applied for the fellowship, which provides grant money to scholars, artists and writers conducting research in over 75 diverse fields of study.
04/16/08 5:00am
Many students across the country may scramble to get funding for the next academic year, but for now Penn administrators say students should not be worried.
In response to the national credit crisis, banks and private lenders across the country have been cutting or eliminating student loan programs, creating a shortage of available funds.
04/10/08 5:00am
With only weeks left until the end of the academic year, JPMorgan Chase, the investment firm that acquired Bear Stearns last month, has started rescinding offers made last fall for summer internships and full-time positions.
But the investment firm is not leaving students completely empty-handed.
04/08/08 5:00am
The University was awarded its highest credit rating ever by credit rating agency Standard and Poor's last month.
S&P; upgraded Penn's credit rating from an AA to AA+, the second highest rating possible, in its annual evaluation.
"It reflects favorably on our financial and institutional reputation," Vice President of Finance and Treasury Stephen Golding said.
04/07/08 5:00am
Pamela Anderson, Playboy and Maxim, look out.
Diamond, a Harvard-based magazine featuring semi-clothed or naked students, may be the new erotica magazine of choice on Penn's campus next year.
The magazine - which has garnered national media attention - is set to release May 12 and has already stirred up controversy among students at Harvard and Penn.
04/02/08 5:00am
The typical "American-dream" family - complete with pet, SUV and soccer-mom - has in recent decades given way to an increasing number of divorced and single-parent families. As a result, colleges like Penn may have to rethink traditional formulas in financial aid and admissions.
03/25/08 5:00am
Tuition and fees are set to increase by 4.5 percent next year - the smallest annual increase Penn has seen in the last seven years - bringing the price of an undergraduate academic year to $37,526.
According to a March 18 press release, University trustees met last week to determine the tuition increase for the coming academic year.
03/24/08 5:00am
As lucky students across campus are finalizing their summer internship plans, seven undergraduates who thought they were done may not be so lucky.
With JPMorgan Chase's recent purchase of investment house Bear Stearns, graduates and undergraduates who were set up with Bear Stearns jobs and internships - like these seven - say they are worried that their plans may fall through because of the change.
03/21/08 5:00am
Schools across the country might be under fire due to unethical agreements with credit-card companies, but it looks like Penn is in the clear.
03/05/08 5:00am
Although Penn raised more money than ever before last year, a recent report reflects that its fundraising has fallen slightly behind compared to its peers.
According to an annual report published by the Council for Aid to Education in late February, Penn ranked seventh out of over 1,023 universities in total charitable fundraising for 2007.
02/27/08 5:00am
Engineering freshman Dara Elass wears long sleeves, pants and a burkha, a head scarf traditionally worn by Muslim women, every time she pays a visit to Pottruck. She follows traditional Islamic law, which requires that women cover up in the presence of men - even at the gym.
02/20/08 5:00am
If a recession is on the horizon for the economy, Penn officials and finance experts say the University should not be too worried.
In the last quarter of 2007, the U.S. economy saw a staggeringly low growth rate of 0.6 percent. While growth was not negative, as it would be during a recession, it might be a signal that the nation is headed there in the coming years.
02/15/08 5:00am
When it comes to senior-level administrations across the nation and at Penn, women may have broken the glass ceiling, but minorities may still have a few punches to go.
Across higher education, 45 percent of senior-level administrators are female but only 16 percent are minorities, according to a survey conducted earlier this month by the American Council on Education.
02/08/08 5:00am
Need-blind admissions for international students? Not yet for Penn. With Dartmouth College's announcement last month that they would extend need-blind admissions to international students, Penn now stands in the minority of Ivy League schools without such a financial-aid commitment.
02/08/08 5:00am
Need-blind admissions for international students? Not yet for Penn.
With Dartmouth College's announcement last month that they would extend need-blind admissions to international students, Penn now stands in the minority of Ivy League schools without such a financial-aid commitment.
02/07/08 5:00am
"Making History" is making strides.
Only four months into its public phase, Penn's capital campaign - spearheaded by University President Amy Gutmann - reached and surpassed the halfway mark to its $3.5 billion goal last week.
As of yesterday, the campaign had raised $1.
02/05/08 5:00am
Last week, Judith Hodara, the Senior Associate Director of MBA Admissions at Wharton, and her outside consulting stints raised a few eyebrows - within the Penn administration and the wider admissions community.
Last Wednesday, Inside Higher Ed published an article that linked Hodara - along with two other senior admissions officials from Columbia University and the University of North Carolina - to the advisory board of AGOS Japan, a Tokyo-based consulting company that helps locals get into top United States MBA programs.
