When it comes to Penn Alexander, Penn is acting in its own self-interest. In helping create the school, which it did more than 10 years ago, the University was much more interested in creating a place of instruction for the children of its own faculty and staff than for the children of the West Philadelphia community at large.

My problem with this is that the best way to improve self-image shouldn’t be a superficial change at all. A better form of “self-improvement,” whether for others or for yourself, would be to go for a run or to read a book, instead of looking simply to erase perceived imperfections that we are told define us as people.

Murphy, who plays at center midfield for the Penn men’s soccer team, was part of the Lehigh Valley United ’93 team that won an under-19 national championship over the weekend.

Most of the Ivy League has taken notice of St. Andrews (Del.) wing Myles Stephens, who received an offer from Penn last week.

In addition to taking the floor in the Delco Pro-Am league, rising senior Miles Cartwright, the premier point guard for the Quakers, has taken his ambitions and passion to the West Coast, working for the Sports Challenge Leadership Academy.

John Yurkow has only been head coach of the varsity baseball team for a few weeks, but that hasn’t stopped him from already snagging a Connecticut recruit with some impressive baseball bloodlines: Bradley Wilpon.

Penn President Amy Gutmann was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the London School of Economics and Political Science on July 18.

Wharton is partnering with the Zurich Insurance Group to study risk reduction methods that could help reduce the flood damage brought about by hurricanes and tsunamis, among other causes.

In June, 2013 Engineering graduate Michael Steltenkamp —who served as Penn’s ATO chapter president for the past year — won the 2013 Thomas Arkle Clark award, the highest national honor for ATO undergraduate seniors.

On July 23, biomedical companies attended BPC’s Vendor Fair with their newest tools, which “determine what questions [postdocs] can ask experimentally.”

DreamActivist Pennsylvania rallied on behalf teenage undocumented immigrants in Spring Gardens on July 22. Immigration policy “affects all races,” one attendee said.

The Center for High Impact Philanthropy released a free online guide this week that should help patrons decide where to put their charitable donations. Environment and Vibrant Communities are impact areas identified by the Food Funder Compass.

Earlier this month, two Penn Law lecturers joined in a lawsuit against Gov. Tom Corbett demanding that a federal court overturn the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

Diana Mutz, professor of political science and communication, testified as an expert witness last Friday in a trial on the constitutionality of Pennsylvania’s voter identification law.

The Daily Pennsylvanian spoke to eight interns in the three most popular industries listed by Career Services for 2012 Penn grads to find out what it is really like to represent the companies at which many Penn students aspire to work.

Rosa Escandon and Lauren McCann — a rising College junior and rising Wharton sophomore, respectively — are leveraging crowdsourcing and modern sustainability practices to bring a higher quality of life to the students of Kamogelo Orphanage in Botswana.

After two days of negotiations, and 18 months of organizing, workers in Falk Dining Commons in Penn’s Hillel unanimously voted to accept a three-year contract with Bon Appétit Management Company last Friday.