Garry Kasparov on Chess and Politics
Kasparov on politics: “The comparison with chess is not correct”
Celebrating 25 Years of TCPW, and a Nobel Prize Winner
Toni Morrison gets Beacon Award at TCPW’s 25th
Back To School
Penn offering free courses through Coursera online-education platform
Improving Women’s Health—One Man, Pig, or Cityscape at a Time
Nursing’s Center for Global Women’s Health holds first symposium
Findings
Blood Sugar, Brains, and Memory plus Pain: Separate but Unequal
Holocaust Archive Comes to Penn
Shoah Foundation’s Holocaust archives coming to Penn
False Credentials Prompt GSE Vice Dean’s Exit
GSE’s Lynch resigns over false credentials
From Golden Fleece to Golden Goose
“Golden Goose” awards will defend the value of research
To Err is Divine
Learning from Brilliant Mistakes
Sixteen Strokes to Glory
Scotty Williams C’12 leads men’s golf to Ivy title and NCAAs
If It’s Broke, Can We Fix It?
Silfen Forum focuses on fixing America’s future
Class of 2012 Waiting for Superman
Education reformer Geoffrey Canada will speak at Commencement
Two Penn Alumnae Win Luce Scholarships
Luce Scholars Aimee Bailey EAS’06 and Abby Seldin C’09 G’09
Undergraduate Tuition, Financial Aid Increase
Undergraduate costs to rise 3.9 percent, financial aid up 7.7 percent
All Rise for Golkin Hall
Golkin Hall opening features Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor
Zen and the Art of DIY Electric Scooter Manufacture
Penn Electric’s DIY-ers put theory into practice—on wheels
Amartya Sen and the Justice of the Fish
When Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen told a friend that he was to give a talk at Penn titled “Global Justice in the Contemporary World,” his friend voiced a word of caution. “He wondered whether it was wise to promise a speech on an unreal topic,” Sen recalled, with a laugh, at the Zellerbach Theatre. Sen, who became the first non-American to win the National Humanities Medal this year, spoke at the School of Arts and Sciences’ Levin Family Dean’s Forum on March 1. Though he himself was frail and soft-spoken, the economist’s message was bold: global justice “can be made into a much bigger force in this world.” Sen’s speech encompassed a lot of what he covers in his latest book, The Idea of Justice. Working toward justice, for him, is “preventing manifestly severe injustice.” We need to focus on tackling the gross injustices in the world, he urged—everything from famine to global warming—“even though the world after that removal would not be in any sense perfectly just.” It’s fitting that Sen, whose contributions to economic theory have led governments and international institutions to develop practical solutions to alleviate famine and poverty, tried to leave students with a plan of action. “Our concentration has to be on global reasoning, particularly public discussion,” he said. “It’s important for the voice of the adversely placed and disastrously affected to come through interactive discourse, rather than only through violent skirmishes and threats of terrorist attack.” The first step toward global justice, he elaborated, is discussion. Although global democracy is a worthy ideal, Sen reminded students to think practically: since it’s impossible to build a global, democratic state in the near future, “we have to understand democracy as a government of discussion,” Sen said. And although democracy hasn’t quite taken root worldwide, Sen believes that the ideal of public discussion is deeply ingrained in the history of countries across the world. Sen reminded the audience that the Buddhist Councils, which he characterized as an early model of public discussion, took place in India around 400 BCE. Public discourse isn’t just a Western ideal, Sen said; it is valued in many cultures, including the Middle East. Although frameworks for global discourse exist, Sen believes there’s a lot of room for improvement. The United Nations, for example, plays an important role in encouraging discourse, but according to Sen it is “hampered by the limited reach of the... Read More
Abramson Cancer Center Suing Former Director
Abramson Institute and Penn file lawsuits against former director
Penn Exonerates Psychiatry Professors in Plagiarism Case
Medical faculty followed existing rules in ghostwriting claim
Two Hoops Turnaround Artists Look Back, and Ahead
B-ball senior stalwarts Zack Rosen and Jess Knapp on loving the game
Insidious ARDS
Few people outside the medical world have heard of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, even though it kills more Americans than breast cancer and often leaves survivors in various stages of disability. Some Penn-related physicians and researchers are working hard to blunt its impact.
Whistling Into the Dark
WQHS is on the air! (whether anyone’s listening or not)
Donna Brazile: “This is What Freedom Feels Like.”
Donna Brazile in dialogue at MLK Day lecture
Senior and Alumnus Score Marshall Scholarships
Marshall Scholars Michael Poll C’09 and Corey Metzman C’12 W’12