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July|August 2023
Vol. 121, No. 6
Features
Mann in the Middle
Michael E. Mann has been a central figure in the battle for the environment since the “hockey stick” graph made him a target for climate change deniers 25 years ago. Now on Penn’s faculty and heading the Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media, he’s fending off a new generation of “inactivists” comprised of climate change deflectors on the right and doomists on the left to get out the message that it’s still within our power to save the planet.
By JoAnn Greco
Ode to Ira
To mark the Netter Center’s 30th anniversary, founding director Ira Harkavy C’70 Gr’79 trumpets the past and the future of Penn’s strategies to revitalize West Philadelphia—and alumni return to campus to tout Harkavy as an inspiration in the field of university–community engagement.
By Dave Zeitlin
Birthday Blooms
A springtime celebration of the 90th year—and recent name tweak—of Penn’s Morris Arboretum and Gardens.
Photography by Candace diCarlo, text by Nicole Perry
Alumni Weekend 2023
Our annual photo essay.
By Tommy Leonardi
Departments
From the Editor | Milestones for Penn and the planet.
Letters | On AI, “hippies,” fruit, and (still) the Penn Band.
Views
Notes from the Undergrad | Beyond words.
Rabbit Hole | Found objects.
Elsewhere | “Hit me up,” she said. “I don’t want to go to the doctor.”
Expert Opinion | Mavericks needed.
Gazetteer
Commencement | A newly minted alumna reports from Franklin Field.
Historic Preservation | PIK Professor Lynn Meskell on World Heritage Sites.
Honors | President’s Prizes for Engagement and Innovation announced.
Archaeology | How Harold Dibble’s colleagues finished his “dream project.”
Leadership | New deans at GSE, Carey Law, and—temporarily—Annenberg.
Sports | Baseball and women’s lacrosse rekindle past glory.
Arts
Calendar
Monuments | A podcast explores the unlikely triumph of Rocky (the statue).
Fiction | Martin Cruz Smith C’64 on his 10th novel featuring Arkady Renko.
Briefly Noted
Alumni
Jonathan Rees C’88 knows all about Americans and ice.
Radhika Gupta EAS’05 W’05 scratched her entrepreneurial itch in India.
The six Wharton classmates who bought an Italian basketball team.
Notes
Obituaries
Old Penn | “A home of beauty-loving people.”
