Penn Connected

With the opening of Penn Park in September, the University’s eastward expansion is now a reality. A brief history of what it took to transform this long-sought dead zone into an oasis.

Pointing the Way to the Pole

He didn’t find the Open Polar Sea he was looking for—and probably overestimated how far North he actually managed to get—but the Arctic discoveries of Isaac Israel Hayes M1853 helped set the course for later explorers. And that was just the first of his several careers.

The Spirit of Caring

They don’t diagnose illnesses, prescribe drugs, perform medical procedures, or suggest treatment options, but chaplains and other pastoral care staff are a key part of the medical team at Penn’s hospitals.

Some Words for Nixon

In an excerpt from his new memoir, Speechwright, William Gavin ASC’62 looks back at his time as a speechwriter for Richard Nixon, the first of several high-profile political figures he served.

Horror and Hope

For some of the 14 Penn students who spent two weeks helping at the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village for Rwandans orphaned in the country’s genocidal conflict, the experience brought back memories of personal tragedy. For all of them, it was a stark reminder of the horrors humans have inflicted on each other. But it was also an inspiring time, “all about hope, all about the future.”

The Other Health Care Revolutions

The Affordable Care Act may have gotten all the attention, but American medicine will be transformed even more profoundly by forces that neither the government, insurance companies, nor even doctors themselves can fully tame. It’s already happening, and three trends provide a preview of the shape of things to come.

The Perils of Parenting Style

Penn sociologist Annette Lareau says that the way middle class parents interact with their children promotes an “emerging sense of entitlement” that better equips them for success in the world.

Getting Engaged

The Civic Scholars program, which fuses civic engagement with academic courses and projects, is shaping some remarkable, passionate students who are already having an impact on the communities they serve.

Surprises Are Always the Best

Like her four previous books, Jennifer Egan C’85’s A Visit from the Goon Squad received generally stellar reviews. But it didn’t look like this resistant-to-summary novel-in-stories would catch on with the public—that is, until she won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

The Park of a Thousand Pieces

Penn Praxis has a plan for adding 500 acres of open green space to Philadelphia in the next four years. Their approach, informed by novel research by Penn scholars in areas ranging from real-estate economics to criminology, is a new way of imagining urban parkland.

Cup O’Doodles

Artist Gwyneth Leech C’81 started drawing on used paper cups as a distraction when she got “antsy,” but “then it began to really take over.” A few hundred cups later, she spent six weeks doing the same thing while sitting in a window in New York’s Fashion District in an exhibit called Hypergraphia.

Shooting Big Changes

Photographer Tara Todras-Whitehill C’00 EAS’00 has captured some astonishing images of the uprisings in Egypt and Libya. Who knows where her next ones will be from?

Flawed Founder

James Wilson signed the Declaration of Independence and was a key architect of the US Constitution, helped found Penn Law School, and served as one of the first justices of the Supreme Court. He was also a reckless land-speculator—jailed more than once for debt—who died a fugitive.

Penn Theatre: A Work in Three Acts

Theatre has a long, rich—and somewhat obscure—history at the University. A new initiative aims to help Penn’s professional, academic, and student performing arts entities do more to work together and raise their collective visibility on campus and beyond.

Untangling Alzheimer’s

A remarkable collection of Penn scientists, led by Virginia Lee and John Trojanowski, is attacking the merciless affliction known as Alzheimer’s, along with other neurodegenerative diseases. But the clock is ticking.

Almost Perfect

Penn’s 1970-71 men’s basketball team was arguably the very best the Ivy League will ever see—even if their 28-0 season did end with a baffling loss that stings even 40 years later.

Penn Fights the Civil War

As soldiers on the battlefield or doctors in military hospitals, Penn alumni and faculty played remarkable roles in the nation’s bloodiest conflict—serving both North and South.

Passion Play

Sure it’s nice being a giant in the world of psychology, but sometimes Marty Seligman “just can’t wait to get to the bridge screen.”