WXPN head to leave Penn for new post
WXPN General Manager Vincent Curren will step down from his position early next year to become senior vice president for radio at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in Washington, D.C.
Curren has worked in the broadcasting industry for about 25 years, and first joined the staff of the University-owned public radio station, 88.5 FM, in 1987 as assistant manager for programming and operations. In 1991, he became the assistant station manager for business affairs and in 1994, he took over as the assistant station manager for development. He became the station's general manager in 1996.
"This is an exciting time to think about the next five to 10 years and how we'll position our service to use these technologies to better serve our listeners," Curren said in a press release. "I am thrilled, excited, and daunted by the opportunity."
While with WXPN, Curren has increased fundraising efforts and helped develop the local format for The World Cafe, a program that is broadcast on 150 stations across the country. During his tenure as assistant manager for production and operations, WXPN also won several prestigious awards, including three Gold Awards from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and a George Foster Peabody Award.
Prior to coming to WXPN, Curren worked at WORT-FM and WKOW-TV, both in Madison, Wis.
-- Rachel Velcoff
Quad renovation project receives gift
>Another college house in the Quadrangle is set to undergo a name change, according to University officials.
Woodland College House, located at the western end of the Quad, will soon be called Fisher Hassenfeld House -- Penn alumni Jerome Fisher, his wife Anne and Alan Hassenfeld have donated $11.5 million to the Quad renewal project, a $75 million renovation that was completed last September.
"There were many gifts... but this was the biggest, most significant gift," College Houses and Academic Services spokeswoman Sue Smith said.
After the Quad renovations were finished, the old college house names "Community" and "Goldberg" were scrapped, making room for the new Woodland College House, which includes the most dramatically changed and oldest section of the Quad, originally constructed in 1895.
The Memorial Tower gate, which is popularly known as the entrance to the upper Quad, will also be renamed Fisher Hassenfeld Memorial Tower Gate.
"Alan Hassenfeld and Jerome and Anne Fisher have made a magnificent investment in undergraduate life at Penn," University President Judith Rodin said in a statement. "Generations of students will share our gratitude for their generosity."
The joint gift contributed to such Quad renovations as new lobbies, computer labs, fitness rooms, music practice rooms, lounges with kitchens, libraries, seminar rooms, air conditioning installation and landscaping.
-- Madlen Read
