For the past 29 years, prospective students have eagerly torn open their decision letters from Penn hoping to see a letter, signed by Dean of Admissions Lee Stetson, welcoming them to the next year's class.

The Common Application, credited in large part for Penn's record high number of applicants last year, is getting some competition. Baltimore-based company ApplicationsOnline unveiled the Universal College Application late last month. The application is designed to be more inclusive according to its Web site.

Tom Sollecito, associate dean for academic affairs at the Penn School of Dental Medicine, will act as dean of the school until current Dean Marjorie Jeffcoat recovers from an illness. Jeffcoat is currently being treated in the intensive care unit at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, according to a memorandum from President Amy Gutmann and Provost Ron Daniels.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell made an appearance at Penn's School of Nursing last Friday to sign five bills as part of his Prescription for Pennsylvania health-care reform package. This legislation will directly broaden the scope of nursing practice in Pennsylvania and aims to curb soaring health-care costs while making care more accessible to low income individuals and families.

By Sept. 14, full-time students will have to either buy the Penn Student Insurance Plan or show Penn that they have their own insurance. Many will be covered by their parents' plans, but some - including graduate students and College of General Studies students - will have to start looking around now at their health care choices.

For students in the School of Arts and Sciences, deliverance from the crash-prone Webmail system has finally arrived. SAS administrators are currently enrolling students in a new e-mail service from Microsoft Corp., called Penn Live. After picking Microsoft to provide the alternative e-mail service in April, University officials worked with the company to set up the accounts and are now are sending out invitations to around 500 students per day to ensure a smooth transition to the system, said SAS Vice Dean of Administration and Finance Ramin Sedehi.

Soon, students won't have to even leave their homes to get their favorite brand of coffee when the construction on the 3900 block of Walnut Street is complete. Slated for completion in the fall of 2008, the high-rise apartment building will house 500 students who will have access to two stories of retail space designed to foster deeper connections between Penn and West Philadelphia, University officials said at yesterday's ceremonial groundbreaking.

Same-sex domestic partners of gay and lesbian professors at Pennsylvania's 14 state-owned universities will soon be eligible for health-care benefits. The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education pledged in a tentative contract with its faculty union to extend health benefits to same-sex partners of faculty members for couples who can prove they are financially interdependent, faculty-union president Pat Heilman said last week.

The Division of Public Safety issued an alert when a wave of juvenile crime hit on or near campus this month. But that alert didn't come until the evening of July 13, 10 days after the first assault and robbery were reported and six days after five of the eight recent crimes attributed to juveniles - including both robberies and three assaults - had occurred.

2005 Penn alum gored by bull in Spain 2005 Penn alumnus Michael Lenahan was visiting Pamplona, Spain, for a summer adventure when he and his brother, 26-year old Lawrence Lenahan, were gored by the same bull during the annual running of the bulls. The tradition, which was popularized in Ernest Hemingway's novel, The Sun Also Rises, is part of the annual festival of San Fermin in which thousands of people chase and are chased by bulls through the narrow streets of the town in northern Spain.

Lehigh University official and former Penn employee Steven Devlin was arrested last Tuesday for allegedly soliciting sex withpeople he thought were a mother and her two daughters, aged 7 and 9. Devlin, 49, was charged with criminal attempt to commit rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and aggravated indecent assault.

t seems like the honor roll doesn't end in eighth grade - at least for the Penn Health System. U.S. News and World Report, known for its college ranking system, recently released its list of the nation's top health systems. Of the 173 hospitals that were ranked, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania came in 12th, scoring it a place on an "honor roll" which consists of the top 18 hospitals in the country.

Assault An 88-year-old retired faculty member reported that his tenant punched him and struck him with his walker inside a building on the 3900 block of Delancey Street on July 9. The victim was treated for head and arm injuries and released. Cliff Jung, 35, was arrested on the scene as he attempted to exit the building.

A man was scheduled to be arraigned last night for alleged sexual harassment in Van Pelt Library. Eber Devine, 30, was to be charged with burglary, criminal trespass, indecent assault, simple assault, false imprisonment, unlawful restraint and sexual harassment.

A four-block stretch of Locust Street was subject to five violent crimes during the first week of July, prompting the Division of Public Safety to issue an alert on juvenile crime.

In an effort to battle escalating college tuition costs and increasing student debt, the House of Representatives approved the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007 July 11, revamping the structure of federal student financial aid. The bill will cut $19 billion in federal subsidies to student lenders over five years.

Penn's Division of Public Safety released an alert last night. According to DPS, groups of juveniles have been allegedly harassing, assaulting and robbing people in University City. DPS reports that the juveniles, all male, have been seen in groups of three to eight.