A Hymn to the Parks
Dayton Duncan sees the national parks as the “Declaration of Independence applied to the landscape.” Now he and Ken Burns have made an epic movie about them.
My Alumni Magazine, Myself
Fifty years of reading, skimming, ignoring, and connecting with the Gazette.
A Life Worth Living
Thanks to advanced technology and the family, friends, colleagues, and caretakers who make up his “crew,” Penn neuroscientist and alumnus Scott Mackler continues to function professionally and personally a decade after being diagnosed with the lethal neurodegenerative disease ALS.
LOLmoms Gone Wild
Doree Shafrir C’99 G’04
Four Years End Not With a Bang, But a Twitter
Commencement: “THE BIG DAY IS HERE!”
The “Dark Matter” of Social Interaction
“Surprising disconnect” between pay and work quality
Taking the Skeleton out of Jewish History’s Closet
Examining “Jews, commerce, and culture”
The Vital Thread of Tom Sugrue
In The Origins of the Urban Crisis and now Sweet Land of Liberty, Penn historian Thomas Sugrue has shattered the conventional narrative about the struggle for Civil Rights in this country. The new book was published on the same day a black man was elected president; still, says Sugrue, “We’ve got a lot of overcoming to do.”
Digging Routes
Nick Spitzer C’72’s sonic gumbo is unlike anything else on radio.
Inside the Cancer-Cell Smasher
In the last century, American medicine has gone from a cottage industry to a technology-driven juggernaut. The machine at the heart of the new Roberts Proton Therapy Center, dubbed “the world’s most expensive and complex medical device,” provides a glimpse of what the coming years may hold.
Land Without Bargains
On buying a home in Provence, circa 1988.
An Architect Walks Into the Lab
Can architects help create next-generation treatments for cancer and lung disease? Will the buildings of tomorrow have intelligent skins? What does figure skating have to do with it? An unusual partnership between Penn cell biologists and design students is tackling a lot of strange questions. Their answers may rewrite the rules of biomedical research.
Leading the Parade
David Montgomery C’68 WG’70
National Insecurity
Alumnus Richard Clarke probably knows—and cares—more about national security than anyone alive, as he proved on 9/11 and afterwards. His latest book examines the government’s failures, offers remedies—and tells some stories.
Marketing the Macabre
From a vampire-slaying-sword auction to wine tastings with fans, Leslie Esdaile Banks W’80 has used her Wharton training (and an almost supernatural business sense) to promote her bestselling book series.
The Next, Next Thing
If serial entrepreneur Elon Musk has his way, sending a payload—and eventually, people—into space will be handled commercially, more like UPS than “the Right Stuff.” (At least if you leave out the part about settling Mars.) Oh, and the rest of us here on earth will be able to tap affordable solar power and drive fast, efficient, cool-looking electric cars.
Trench Fever
Writing history five centimeters at a time
Out of the Classroom, Into the Fire
Ideas in Action matches Penn classes with policymakers
Bridges to the Gulf
Three years after Hurricane Katrina, recovery is far from complete. Hundreds of students and faculty from schools across Penn are volunteering in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in what may be the largest university-based relief effort from outside the immediate region.
Teaching Those Who Teach
Penn helps teachers take lessons back to the classroom