Year in Review 1998/MAY

Many students had already completed finals and lugged their belongings back home for the summer when Wharton doctoral student Shannon Schieber was strangled to death in her Center City apartment on May 7. Schieber, the victim of an apparent robbery, was discovered dead and naked in her ransacked bedroom about 12 hours after her murder. Friends and family at a September memorial ceremony fondly remembered her "generous personality and zest for living." Police still have made no arrests in the murder case. During the second week in May, philanthropist and industrialist Jon Huntsman pledged an unprecedented $40 million gift to the Wharton School, the largest single donation ever to a business school. The University celebrated its 242nd Commencement on May 18, as former President Jimmy Carter, addressing the graduating seniors, called for "American moral leadership in the new world order." The other gatherings of graduation weekend also featured a slew of top dignitaries. Journalist Andrea Mitchell, a College of Women alumna and University Trustee, spoke at the multi-faith Baccalaureate service the Sunday before Commencement. And U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno addressed the nearly 300 Law School degree recipients. Soon after, Gregory Farrington, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, announced that he would be leaving Penn to take office as the president of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. Penn officials and Farrington's colleagues were sorry to see him go, noting the positive impact that his "bold, innovative vision" had on the school. One final surprise in May was the abrupt and mysterious shutdown of the company that operated the QuakerCard, which Penn students could use in place of cash at many campus merchants. Four Wharton seniors founded the company in 1996. Within the space of a week, QuakerCard operators removed the card-reading machines from participating vendors. Students received refunds for their remaining card balances. -- Erin Reilly