Two penny pinchers win A Penny Saved contest

A Wharton senior who helped the University pinch a few pennies will be awarded $100 for her efforts. The accounting major, whose name has not been released, submitted suggestions on how the University could save money on non-value added activities for an Accounting 102 class two years ago. As part of the University's new A Penny Saved program, she will now receive a $100 gift certificate for recommending the recycling and reuse of office supplies in all University departments. Peggy DeProphetis, associate director and adjunct associate professor of accounting, said she forwarded the student's suggestions -- and some of her classmates' papers --anonymously when the new program began. After the student was chosen as a winner, DeProphetis matched typefaces of the original papers still on file in her office with the lists of anonymously submitted suggestions to find the student, whom she declined to identify last night. "It's lucky that it happens to be somebody who's still here," DeProphetis said, adding that many of her Cost Accounting students from that term were juniors and seniors who have already graduated. "There were a lot of extremely good ideas from this class, so I'm glad one of them won." This year, though, DeProphetis has assigned her students a more conventional essay. Book Store employee Joseph Martin, who supervises traffic control in the facility, was also recognized in the first round of Penny Saved awards. He suggested that the University consolidate its shipping orders across departments, resulting in orders of 150 pounds or more that would qualify for bulk discounts. Martin was unavailable for comment last night.