December 2005

December 23, 2005
Did you know. . . that the popular holiday song "Silver Bells" was written by Penn Alumni Ray Evans, W'36, and Jay Livingston, C'37? The two met while playing in the college dance band at Penn, which played at various Penn functions, in local nightclubs and on cruise ships. Evans and Livingston began writing novelty songs together in college and after graduation they moved to New York City to work on Broadway productions. The writing team moved to Hollywood in 1945 and won three Academy Awards for Best Song in a Motion Picture.

Read more about Ray Evans and Jay Livingston.

December 19, 2005
Did You Know... that with "Penn Back Then" you can listen online to audio remembrances from alumni? Begun in May 2005 by the School of Arts and Sciences, Penn Back Then is an evolving oral history project that provides a chance to learn about university life across several decades. At campus celebrations each year, alumni from all decades can contribute their notable anecdotes and remembrances to this audio scrapbook.

Listen to Penn alumni talking about their Penn experiences going back to the Roaring Twenties here.

December 12, 2005
Did you know... that Penn's Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI) is the only research center in the United States devoted to the study of contemporary India? CASI builds on Penn's longstanding leadership in South Asian studies and provides a forum for dialogue among American and Indian scholars, policymakers and professionals. Research areas include India's economic transition; international security and regional cooperation; and technology, culture, and communication.

Read more on the CASI website.

Penn in India: Join Penn Alumni, Parents, Students and Friends in welcoming Penn President Amy Gutmann to Mumbai on January 5, 2006 [more information here]. This reception is being held in conjunction with the Wharton Global Alumni Forum.

The Wharton Global Alumni Forum will be in Mumbai January 6 – 7, 2006 [more information here].

December 19, 2005
Penn biologist Lawrence Rome has found a better way to recharge the 21st-century soldier--and civilian, for that matter. The solution, funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research and the National Institutes of Health, is a backpack that harnesses the up-and-down motion of the hips when a person walks and converts the mechanical energy into electricity. [more]

December 12, 2005
In a recent US News and World Report article on the rising trend of adult children living in their parents' homes, Frank Furstenberg, Penn professor of sociology, said, "This is a very tough time to be a young person economically.... All the transitions that make a young person independent have slowed down." [more]

December 1, 2005
Young New York men who want to know the hottest spot for back-waxing in Brooklyn or when to compete in an arm-wrestling tournament at the Port Authority Bus Terminal have a new resource at their disposal, thanks to a pair of Penn alumni. 2003 College graduate Benjamin Lerer, a political science major, and 2002 College graduate Adam Rich, a fine arts major, recently create thrillist.com, which provides an insider's guide for young men living in New York City. [more]

December 1, 2005
Andrea Mitchell, NBC's chief foreign affairs correspondent and a Penn trustee, returned to her alma mater Monday night to discuss her recent memoir, Talking Back: To Presidents, Dictators, and Assorted Scoundrels. "I am so happy to be here on the Penn campus, one of my favorite places," Mitchell, a 1967 College and Wharton graduate, said. Mitchell's book is a historical account from the perspective of a leading reporter and wife of Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan. [more]