Orchestral Maneuvers
Philadelphia Orchestra archives coming to Penn Libraries.
GSE Grant Sets Record
$16.25 million to GSE for new leadership center and McGraw Prize.
Return to Sender
Law and medical schools withdraw from U.S. News rankings.
Play It Again, Sam
Lacrosse standout Sam Handley looks back and ahead.
By The Numbers
Mar|Apr 2023
Pine Alpha
The Penn Museum’s piece of a 4,000-year-old conifer.
The Olden Bough
Humans have revered ancient trees for about as long as we’ve chopped down forests. What does that fraught relationship reveal about our past? And can it illuminate a path toward a more hopeful future?
A Life’s Calling
For Liz Theoharis C’98, activism has been a way of life—from assisting her parents with their justice work, to community service as a Penn undergrad, to cochairing the recent revival of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Poor People’s Campaign of 1968. The Presbyterian minister, social justice leader, and biblical scholar is committed to reframing the narrative around poverty and the poor while pushing for lasting policy changes.
Rich History, New Visions
At Penn Live Arts, the legendary Negro Ensemble Company is creating new work that explores this country’s racial tensions and challenges. A February world premiere, Mecca is Burning, brought together five playwrights to imagine how four Black families in Harlem might navigate a white-supremacist revolution.
Sir Henry Thornton, On and Off the Rails
Knighted by Britain for his work as the Allies’ “railroad czar” in World War I, the Penn alumnus and Pennsylvania Railroad veteran went on to remake the Canadian National Railways before the Great Depression, poor health, and scandal brought him low.
And the Band Played On
For 125 years, the Penn Band has been an omnipresent and energetic presence at sporting events, campus ceremonies, and whenever “Penn is out and about in the community.”
The Outsider’s Insider
If there is a crisis (and there have been a few lately), Andy Slavitt C’88 W’88 knows which expert to bring “in the bubble.” When he’s not taping his award-winning podcast, the former insurance executive and federal administrator has a day job:funding innovation in healthcare for those who need help the most. “I have one thing I care about,” he says. “Making this country better for the people who have been ignored for too long.”
Homecoming 2022
Our annual photo gallery. Plus: Alumni Award of Merit winners and citations.
Franklin’s World
Zeke Emanuel finds more to say on Benjamin Franklin in online course.
25 Years of 10 Lives
Feline kidney transplant program marks 25 years.
Homecoming Football, On Delay
Fossil Free Penn interrupts Homecoming football game at halftime.
“No Place for Unruly Women”
Drew Faust Gr’75 on the Penn women who “led the charge and led the change.”
Donate or Unsubscribe?
Get money out of politics! (Small dollar edition.)
Remembering Rainey
“Fro” Rainey and the “military-industrial-academic complex.”
The Beautiful Game
Penn’s men’s soccer team brings home an Ivy championship—and an NCAA tourney win to remember.
Grand Finale
Running back Trey Flowers enjoys an epic ending to his Penn football career.
Working Overtime
Zachary Weiner C’14 cofounded the sports media company Overtime.
Drawing Down the Lightning, Making the Moment
On her inauguration day as the University’s ninth president, Liz Magill shared a vision of even greater impact and influence for Penn’s next chapter, picnicked on Shoemaker Green with members of the Penn community and some favorite musicians, and hosted a wide-ranging conversation with Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan at a critical time for the institution.
Obstacle Course
The Penn Athletics Wharton Leadership Academy aims to turn varsity athletes into lifelong masters of team dynamics. Among the obstacles? Snowplow parenting, youth sports, self-reinforcing gender stereotypes, and the culture of leader-worship itself. Oh, and possibly a rattlesnake or a freak mudslide.