Category Archives: Uncategorized

Author: Lillian Gardiner, GEd’11

Assistant Director, Multicultural Outreach, UPenn

With a new school year beginning, many students and new staff are wondering where to find the best grub on Penn’s campus. It’s taken me well over 2 years to get a grip on all the yummy food available here but I met the challenge head on and am now sharing the results of my labor with you.

Here are some of my tried-and-true favorites:

1. Joe’s Café, Steinberg Dietrich. You may not find this on your own, it’s a beautiful, well-lit space to have lunch inside. They offer sandwiches, soups, & salads, and a lot of healthy snacks like yogurt, hummus, and protein bars.

2. 1920 Common’s: just past the bridge coming from Locust walk. It features a recently renovated Starbucks, a gourmet grocery store and a LOT of hot food options. If you have a sweet tooth, I’d poke around here.

3. The Farmer’s Market on Wednesdays in front of the bookstore. It’s hard to miss but easy to forget it’s there every week until 3pm. Try to make a point of getting some fruit, fresh baked bread and a popsicle from the Lil’Pop Shop stand.

4. Finally, the food trucks! I’ll just list my favorites and you can look them up. You’ll have to take my word that these are delicious. Try Twitter for their locations and FB/websites for details.

— Tyson Bees, Cucina Zapata, Lil’Dan’s, Pitruco, Delicias.

Author: Casey Ryan, C’95

It’s upon us.

After the March 28 acceptance letters… after the yield events in hometowns with alumni talking about their wonderful times at Penn… after the rush for supplies at Bed, Bath and Beyond, Target, Kohls or Ikea… after the Regional Club or Penn Parents or Interview Program’s Welcome to Penn summer student reception… after the long drive in the car packed to the gills with new possessions, old favorites, great memories and dreams… after the promises to call home often, the newly-arrived member of the Class of 2017 is on campus.

Here are my top ten Penn things about New Student Orientation (NSO).

10. Move In

Moving to Penn is a major event in a student’s life; it’s the start of a student’s academic career and life-long relationship with our fantastic university. Eschewing the term, “dormitory,” on-campus housing is a collection of 11 College Houses. Each College House couples diverse students with faculty and offers its own unique combination of architectural features, specialized programming, and distinctive staff, while also providing a high level of advising and support for academic and co-curricular activities.

Reminisce about your Penn days and see how Penn’s updated the on-campus living experience with a look at our College Houses’ Facebook pages: Du Bois, Fisher Hassenfeld (Upper Quad), Gregory, (Van Pelt and MLCH) Harnwell, (High Rise East) Harrison (High Rise South), Hill, Kings Court-English, Riepe (Lower Quad), Rodin (High Rise North), Stouffer (Stouffer and Meyer Hall) and Ware.

9. The 2013-14 Penn Reading Project (PRP)

The PRP book for the Class of 2017

Started with my incoming class (the Class of 1995), the PRP was created as an introduction for incoming freshmen to academic life at Penn.  This year’s choice is Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop by Adam Bradley. The Class of 2017 will meet in various locations on campus on the afternoon of Monday, August 26, 2013, to discuss the reading.

For our alumni volunteers reading, hosting a bookclub around the reading of this book is something that your alumni liaison would be willing to help you plan.

8. NSO Preceptorials

Preceptorials are short, small, non-credit seminars coordinated by the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education (SCUE) and led by distinguished faculty, outstanding graduate students, lauded external educators and exceptional undergraduate students. The program is designed to foster an interactive and educative environment that values learning for learning’s sake. To that end, there are no grades or tests so that students are given the opportunity to have a guided learning experience outside the traditional setting of a classroom

7. First Year Fridays

NSO is just a week, but First Year Fridays are all year long. Join your fellow freshmen for a number of activities meant to ease the transition into college and provide a fun venue for making new friends and learning about out great university and what it has to offer

6. Highball to Hey Day

Learn the words to the School Songs and have the first opportunity to sign your Class Banner, which will follow through your life-long relationship with Penn

“Highball to Hey Day,” a Penn Traditions event, is designed to teach students about Penn’s history and traditions, foster Penn pride, inspire class unity, offer opportunities for direct communication between students and alumni, and education students about Penn’s institutional strengths and challenges in preparation for their lifelong role as alumni. I’m looking forward to seeing Nicole Svonavec’s post tomorrow about this tradition since 2006.

5. Peers Helping Incoming New Students (PHINS)

In addition to being one of my favorite acronyms at Penn, PHINS are NSO leaders who are trained to aid incoming freshmen and transfer students with their general adjustment to life at Penn. PHINS reach out to incoming students in the summer through Facebook and are in-person assistants during NSO.

4. Breakfast with Faculty

On Monday, August 26, 2013, 8:30 – 10am, students are invited to Hill College House dining hall to have breakfast with Penn faculty who teach popular freshmen courses and learn all about them

3. Pictures at the LOVE statue

Need I say more?

2. NSO’s social media

Like all well planned events, NSO has reached out to our Class of 2017 with its official Facebook Page – www.Penn2017.com – and Official NSO Twitter.

1. Penn Traditions Welcome Picnic

Dr. Gutmann and the Penn Band welcoming the class of 2016 and their parents

Parents and students are invited to join Penn Parents, Penn Traditions, Penn Alumni Relations staff, and PHINS at College Green and Class of 1976 Patio (Rain Location: Wynn Commons) on Friday, August 23 from 11am to 1pm for a bite to eat after the intense job of moving into your new College House home.

I hope that this list makes you feel warmly nostalgic for your alma mater and we welcome you back to meet our newest class during Homecoming, which is only 78 days away (November 8 and 9.)

Author: Kelly Porter O’Connor

Author: Liz Pinnie

From my desk, I have a crystal clear view of our very own Interview Program Hutzler 571.  Don’t know what a Hutzler 571 is? Well, it’s time you get hip to this groove.

The Hutzler 571 is only the latest and greatest in banana slicing, and was introduced to us by one of our all-star interview program volunteers, Mr. Ramanan Raghavendran. Aware of the stresses of our office, Mr. Raghavendran sent us said Hutzler 571 (not to be confused by the Hutzler 570- a model with a few inefficiencies), and we have never been the same.  One reviewer on Amazon.com put it perfectly when she said: “What can I say about the 571B Banana Slicer that hasn’t already been said about the wheel, penicillin, or the iPhone…. this is one of the greatest inventions of all time.”

Another said, “For years, I’ve given into Mother Nature’s tyranny and been forced to eat my banana in one sitting.  No more!”

Lastly, from SW3K “Banana slicer…thanks to you, I see greatness on the horizon.”  Truer words were never spoken.

Thank you to Ramanan for being a phenomenal volunteer who introduces humor and love of bananas into our day.  Thanks to you, we have a daily reminder of the greatness on the horizon.