The Radical and the Restorer
As the international blockbuster King Tut exhibition comes to Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute, the Penn Museum has unveiled an eye-opening companion show on the radical religious and political experiment imposed by the boy-king’s predecessor (and putative father), the Pharoah Akhenaten.
Homecoming 2006
2006 featured the Game (a tough loss to Princeton, unfortunately), the Awards of Merit Gala, and the finale of a year-long commemoration of the 125th anniversary of the University’s first African-American graduate, James Brister D1881.
Music Lessons
Carol Muller’s ethnomusicology class partners with a West Philadelphia Islamic school to explore the sounds of the Qur’an, and each other’s communities.
Lowering the Temperature
The threat of terrorism is real, but America’s response to it is dangerously counterproductive, writes Penn political-science professor Ian Lustick in this excerpt from his new book, Trapped in the War on Terror.
Law Made Plain
Though it pushes plenty of hot buttons in the issues it takes up for debate—domestic spying, torture, criminal sentencing for juveniles, and immigration reform, to name just a few—for close to a decade the Annenberg Public Policy Center’s Justice Talking program has functioned as the opposite of “shout” radio.
Workers of the World, Adapt!
After 30 years in the trenches, Andy Stern has become the labor movement’s rising star. But can he change unions fast enough to save them?
New Campus Dawning
Penn’s recently approved master plan envisions playing fields and green space where there are now parking lots; the transformation of Walnut Street’s “dead zone” into a mixed-use mecca; new housing, research, and athletic facilities—plus river views and a seamless connection between University City and Center City.
Retiring Ringmaster
Acclaimed composer Osvaldo Golijov Gr’91 doesn’t mind being famous, but he’d rather talk about music than himself—or better yet, write it.
Promise and Politics
While the bioethical debate over stem-cell research rages on, Penn scientists are making progress using adult-human and animal stem cells—and hoping for broader future support for studies using embryonic stem cells.
Betting Their Hedges
Hedge funds are risky—and sometimes highly lucrative. A growing number of Penn alumni find that combination irresistible.
Alumni Weekend 2006
Alumni Weekend 2006
Something about Barbaro
After the Kentucky Derby winner’s shocking injury in the second leg of the Triple Crown, his owners—alumni Roy and Gretchen Jackson—turned to Penn’s New Bolton Center to save their beloved horse’s life.
The House that Writers Built
The Kelly Writers House celebrates 10 years as an experimental learning community and literary “sandbox.”
The Reverse Engineer
Forget nature versus nurture. From cooperation to social stigma, morality to mating, evolutionary adaptation is the key to understanding human behavior, says Penn psychologist Robert Kurzban.
“Heaven is a Mixed Neighborhood”
In this excerpt from his new book, Metropolitan Philadelphia, the author describes “the closest thing I have known to a peaceable kingdom.”
Passion Plays
After a long string of smash hits and artistic triumphs in film, Marc Platt C’79 is back with his first love—theater—with the Broadway phenomenon Wicked.
Understanding Pashto
Benedicte Grima Santry spent years in the remote reaches of Afghanistan and Pakistan. What she learned—and now teaches—is invaluable, especially in the wake of 9/11.
Quiet Goes the Don
The late Alan Halpern was more than just a brilliant, groundbreaking editor.
Continental Drift
In his latest work, an atlas of North American English, Penn sociolinguist Bill Labov shows that we are talking more differently from one another.
Intelligent Demise
As the lead attorney for the plaintiffs in the Dover school-board case, law alumnus Eric Rothschild demolished the arguments of intelligent design’s proponents—including one fellow Penn grad.
Feet and Faith
A century before intelligent design’s claims to science status wilted under close scrutiny, a Penn commission debunked another popular—and fraudulent—religious movement.
Whence the Money
Penn's ambitions have always strained its (relatively) modest resources. How the University keeps up with the Joneses—and the Harvards, Stanfords, and Yales—in a very expensive neighborhood.
Failing Grades
Two Penn sociologists say higher education is not what it appears, or promises.
The Passion of Paul
The writer once known as Brother Garrett brings a compassionate fervor to his creative-writing classes.