At every convocation, the University president and provost welcome a class of freshmen even brighter and more ambitious than the preceding one. This year was no different.The class of 2013 was formally welcomed to Penn yesterday at 7 p.m. in the Palestra.

New Student Orientation is one of the most exhilarating and exciting experiences at Penn. In fact, it's the only time it's okay to friend hundreds of complete strangers on Facebook you claim you met at a party.

As students head back to school, Penn officials have released more details about the University's plans to prevent and manage an H1N1 epidemic at Penn.

In retrospect, Shiv Kapoor, a Wharton freshman from New Delhi, decided that having a roommate would have made his move-in experience to Riepe College House a little easier.

While the Sierra Club's "Cool Schools" ranking of "eco-enlightened" universities ranked Penn 45th out of 135, the school's sustainability experts believe Penn is significantly reducing its carbon footprint.

Having won the Ivy League title in 2007, the Penn women's soccer team was nothing short of disappointed with last season's fifth-place finish.

With a new season kicking off this weekend as the Quakers host Temple, La Salle and Villanova in the Big 5 Tournament, coach Kerry Carr knows that improved blocking, especially by the middle hitters, will be the key to success in 2009.

According to Vet School Dean Joan Hendricks, this year the school anticipates a cut ranging from 16 to 24 percent of its budget in fiscal year 2009. The school is currently preparing for a 24-percent cut, which would entail reducing its former $42-million budget by an estimated $11 million.

Amid the sea of freshmen and returning students, transfer students find it especially difficult to secure on-campus housing.

Wharton just made applying to its MBA program a bit easier. Beginning in fall 2010, Wharton plans to accept the Graduate Record Exam as an alternative to the Graduate Management Admission Test.

In July, the University released plans for the Penn Siren Outdoor System, an alert system that will transmit siren sounds and intelligible voice messages across the greater campus outdoor area to communicate in the event of an emergency.

In a move to increase sustainability efforts at Penn, the University's Mail Services will no longer accept unsolicited mail from the U.S. Postal Service for redistribution to the college houses.

Gary Kao, a radiation oncologist at the School of Medicine, was told his services would no longer be needed at the Philadelphia Veteran Affairs Medical Center after he was accused of poorly administering 92 veterans' prostate cancer treatments.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act recently awarded Penn more than $30 million to fund over 100 scientific research projects from various programs spanning the University's 12 schools.

This summer, University President Amy Gutmann and Provost Vincent Price announced Karen Glanz and Shelley Berger as the ninth and 10th Penn Integrates Knowledge Professors, respectively.

In an effort to harmonize the final product, the Critical Writing Program fine-tuned its writing seminars over the summer.

Penn rose from sixth to fourth place in the annual U.S. News and World Report rankings, released late last month.