Penn is Making History -- every day

It Takes a Team: Adams Field Named in Honor of Former Penn Lacrosse Coach

Back in the 70s, Penn Lacrosse was put on the national map by a legendary coach: James "Ace" Adams.

Between 1970-77, he reinvigorated men's lacrosse, bringing the team to a number four national ranking and 17 of its men to All-American honors. Now, some 30 years later, Penn Lacrosse is putting Coach Adams “on the map.”

Thanks to the generosity of a team of donors — former Penn Lacrosse players and longtime lacrosse supporters — Adams Field was dedicated in James Adams’ honor at a ceremonial groundbreaking in March. Located on the easternmost portion of Penn Park — the 24-acre parcel of land that the University added to its eastern edge in 2007 — the field is the first at Penn to be named after a coach.

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» more like this in Alumni | Athletics | Events

State of the Art: Penn Photography Students On Their First Grand Tour

This spring, a dozen PennDesign students took their first "grand tour" -- not of Europe, but of Beijing, China, where they spent two weeks "in pursuit of an image": exploring, through photography, "the contradictions and significance of China's radically shifting contemporary cultural climate."

It was the University's first-ever "studio abroad" opportunity for photography students, made possible by the new Howard A. Silverstein and Patricia Bleznak Silverstein Photography Program.

Prior to their departure, the students -- an even mix of grads and undergrads -- immersed themselves in Chinese language, history, and culture, while honing their conceptual targets and photojournalistic strategies. Once in Beijing, they spent their time traveling and shooting for an assigned research project.

Back at Penn, students displayed their work in an exhibit called "East West South North," now on view with an accompanying catalog through June 26 at the Charles Addams Fine Arts Gallery.

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» more like this in Around the World | Arts | Students

Ten for Penn: Shelley Berger Named Penn's 10th PIK Professor

Shelley L. Berger, a world-renowned genetics researcher, was named the 10th Penn Integrates Knowledge (PIK) Professor.

   what is a PIK Professor?

Known for her research in epigenetics -- the study of genetic changes caused by factors other than genes -- Berger will integrate knowledge from the disciplines of genetics and biochemistry to study critical diseases in her new role as the Daniel S. Och University Professor.

"Shelley Berger is revolutionizing our understanding of genetic information" Gutmann said. "Her work is intrinsically interdisciplinary and holds tremendous potential for not only treating devasting diseases such as cancer, but also preventing them entirely."

Berger will hold appointments in the School of Medicine's Department of Cell and Developmental Biology and the School of Arts and Sciences' Department of Biology. SAS Dean Rebecca Bushnell and Medical School Dean Arthur Rubenstein both emphasized that Berger will be teaching both graduate and undergraduate students. 

"It's a great home run for Penn, for medicine, for arts and sciences, and for the University," said Amy Gutmann. "Her research and her teaching are both truly path-breaking."

    news release | news article

The Daniel S. Och University Professorship is the gift of Jane and Daniel S. Och. He is a Penn alum, a University Trustee, serves on the Wharton Undergraduate Executive Board and mentors Penn students through the Jewish Heritage Program.

» more like this in Faculty | Knowledge | Medicine

Penn Medicine's Emmy-Winning Film Puts Alzheimer's Disease on Prime Time

"Americans should see this film, their jaws should drop and they should quake in their boots," says Dr. John Q. Trojanowski, Director of Penn's Institute on Aging.

Terminator 4? Monsters vs. Aliens?

No, something more dramatic -- and real: Alzheimer's Disease: Facing the Facts.

Facing the Facts, which premiered on PBS in January and won a regional Emmy® in May, is a hard-hitting documentary conceived by Trojanowski to deliver a powerful wake-up call: America's ever-growing Alzheimer's population threatens to overwhelm both the health care system's ability to care for these patients and the country's ability to pay.

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» more like this in Arts | Faculty | Innovation | Medicine

Penn PIK Professor Phillippe Bourgois: Book Smart, Streetwise

It seems that everything about Phillippe Bourgois, Penn's fifth Penn Integrates Knowledge (PIK) Professor, is a provocative contradiction in terms, including the title of his latest book, Righteous Dopefiend.

Dubbed a "rogue sociologist" who practices "participant observation" in his anthropological field work, Bourgois is an Ivy League professor who was once mistaken for -- and arrested as -- a junkie.

But all that is part of his method. As a cultural anthropologist and professor of medicine, Bourgois studies our most vulnerable, at-risk populations in urban subcultures, moving in with drug addicts and homeless people to better grasp their contexts and perspectives. He then uses that understanding to inform (and, often, to reform) our responses to critical, complex societal problems.

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» more like this in Faculty | Innovation | Knowledge | Medicine