Renowned Penn prof dies of heart failure
Philip Rieff, a renowned Penn sociologist and cultural theorist, died Saturday at the age of 83.
Rieff was one of the first intellectuals to explore the impact of Sigmund Freud's impact on Western society. He recently published a book entitled Sacred Order/Social Order: My Life Among the Deathworks.
A Benjamin Franklin Professor of Sociology at Penn, Rieff served at Penn from 1961 until his retirement in 1992.
The World War II veteran who married Susan Sontag after a 10 day courtship wrote that culture was a means to integrate individuals into larger groups.
-- Ross Avila
Engineering and law schools get $1 million
Penn alumnus Harold Berger and his wife Renee Berger donated a gift of $1 million last week that will benefit the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Law School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Berger's gift will create the Harold and Renee Berger Auditorium and Lobby in Skirkanich Hall, a new bioengineering facility for SEAS and the Harold and Renee Berger Seminar Room in the Law School.
-- R.A.
U.S. gov't looks into Yale grant handling
Yale University's handling of its research grants is coming under scrutiny by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense.
The three federal agencies issued subpoenas to Yale late last week that sought documents on how $45 million worth of grants and contracts were allocated in the last ten years.
The investigation could lead to accounting changes, administrative sanctions or criminal charges.
-- R.A.
