CAMPUS BRIEFS: Wednesday, October 14, 1998

Wachter names fellows for Ware, Stouffer houses Jonathan Pletcher and Carol Muller are the new fellows for Ware and Stouffer college houses, respectively, joining the 13 other faculty members holding that position in the college houses. Pletcher -- a Penn alumnus who received his bachelor's degree in biochemistry in 1990 -- is currently a researcher in adolescent medicine at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He is joined in Ware by his wife, Brooke, a nurse in CHOP, who is expecting a child in January. Earning his medical degree at the University of Pittsburgh in 1994, Pletcher was previously a clinical assistant at Clinch River Health Services in Virginia and a resident in general pediatrics at CHOP. Muller hails from South Africa, where she graduated from the University of Natal. An accomplished pianist, flautist and writer, Muller began teaching at Penn this fall as an assistant professor of ethno-musicology. Accompanying her in Stouffer is her husband, Eric Grau, currently a doctoral candidate at North Carolina State University. Muller explained that although the announcement was only made recently, she was appointed to the position in June and both Muller and Pletcher have been living in their houses since the beginning of the semester. She said she was unaware of why the appointment was only announced this week. Administrators could not immediately be reached for comment last night. Muller praised the flexibility of the faculty fellow position. "I'm not quite sure what the expectations are but? you can shape it based on what your strengths are," Muller said. --Jeremy Reiss Rodin to visit high rises as part of house tours Four down, eight to go. University President Judith Rodin will visit all three high rise dormitories tonight to participate in activities with students and sample life in the college houses. Earlier this semester, Jennifer Baldino, the president's top aide, said Rodin plans to visit all 12 of the houses by the end of the year. She visited Hill College House about two weeks ago. The president will not be spending the night in the high rises, as she did in Hill. During her visits, Rodin will have a chance to see the increased programming in the buildings, as well as new amenities like the buildings' computer labs. Her first stop will be a half-hour visit to Harrison House, formerly known as High Rise South, for a discussion group with students in the building's dining hall. Rodin will visit Hamilton House, or High Rise North, from 7:40 p.m. to 8:20 p.m. Finally, from 8:20 p.m. to 9 p.m., Rodin will be at Harnwell House, or High Rise East, for a performance by the "Sparks" dance group in the house's new dance studio. She will also attend a Drug and Alcohol Resource Team workshop in the building. --Jeremy Reiss Officials re-name 40th Street corridor Same place. New name. University administrators have given the name Hamilton Square to the area surrounding 40th and Walnut streets, where the new art-house theater Sundance Cinemas and multi-story parking garage with a specialty food market on the ground floor will be built. Construction on the movie complex, specialty food market and parking garage is scheduled to begin in January and last for one year. The newly renamed area joins Hamilton Village, which was formerly known as Superblock, and the retail stores on 40th Street between Walnut and Locust streets, which were renamed the Hamilton Village Shops. The root of all these names is the Hamilton family, who once owned much of the property that now makes up Penn's campus. In the 1830s, the Hamiltons sold the city 200 acres of land, known at the time as "Blockley Farm" or "Almshouse Farm." The University bought 10 of those acres in the 1870s, at the price of $8,000 per acre, to develop the site where it now sits, according to this week's Almanac, the University's main official publication. -- Seth Grossman