Bono to give speech at Irvine on African crisis
Just over a year after delivering the Commencement address to Penn's 248th graduating class, U2 frontman and activist Bono will return to campus this fall to speak about the economic and health crises in Africa.
In addition to drawing attention to the cause, the speech -- to be given at Irvine Auditorium on October 21 -- will also serve as a fundraiser for poverty-relief organizations of which Bono is a member.
General-admission tickets are $75, but for $495, an attendee can get VIP seating and dinner and cocktails with the singer.
Members of the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia were offered advance ticket sales last week, and tickets went on sale to the general public at the beginning of this week.
Bono's humanitarian efforts on behalf of Africa have been highly publicized. He helped organize the Live 8 concert series held earlier this month to encourage leaders of the G8 Summit to erase African debt and increase aid. Bono is also part of the ONE campaign to fight the global AIDS epidemic and world poverty.
Following Bono's speech, a reception and dinner will be held one block from Irvine Auditorium at the University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
-- Marissa Montenegro
Medical School hires renowned surgeon
The University has recruited the man who performed the world's first successful lung transplant to be the chief of thoracic surgery at the School of Medicine.
Joel Cooper, formerly of Washington University in St. Louis, will hold an endowed chair that has been created for him. He will begin on Oct. 1 and plans to continue teaching, researching and seeing patients.
Cooper has said that he chose Penn after receiving several offers from other universities and also that he felt pressure to retire. Washington University said that the decision to leave was Cooper's.
In 1983, while at the University of Toronto, Cooper led the first successful single-lung transplant. Three years later, he performed the first successful double-lung transplant.
In 1988, Cooper was recruited by Washington University to establish its lung-transplant program. In 1997, he became chief of cardiothoracic surgery, a position he held until December.
-- M.M.
Penn announces new investment position Penn Chief Investment Officer Kristin Gilbertson announced that Brian Schneider has been named managing director of real estate and natural resources.
This is a new position that has been created as part of Gilbertson's strategy to focus more on the asset class.
Schneider was a senior portfolio manager and director of private real estate investments at DuPont Capital Management, which is currently searching for Schneider's replacement.
-- M.M.
