The appointment of Eric Furda as dean of admissions last week came faster than Penn President Amy Gutmann had predicted, and also marked a deviation from industry standards. From the search committee's first meeting in October to the announcement of Furda as the new dean last week, Penn's formal search process took just over three months, a pace experts say is fast but not unheard of.

The United Minorities Council elected College and Wharton junior Lisa Zhu, who is also a DP columnist, as its new chair at the Greenfield Intercultural Center yesterday evening. The DP met with Zhu after the election to talk about her plans for the council.

5,151 is a big number. When translated into meals, it is enough to feed roughly half of the undergraduate class. It is also enough to feed an extra 5,151 hungry mouths.

If Greek architecture is a riddle, producers of PBS' NOVA series think one Penn professor might have cracked it. That's the reason, they say, for featuring Art History professor Lothar Haselberger as a primary expert in their "Secrets of the Parthenon" special, premiering Jan.

Last Friday, members of the Service Employees International Union and their supporters gathered to protest a speech by David Rubenstein, co-founder of the private equity firm, the Carlyle Group. Rubenstein was a keynote speaker at Wharton's 14th annual private equity and venture capital conference.

The Recording Industry Association of America sent another wave of pre-litigation letters to colleges earlier this month, though Penn did not receive any letters in this round. The RIAA sent 407 pre-litigation settlement letters to students at 18 universities nationwide, continuing its strategy of primarily targeting college students.

For Soniya, age 11, interacting with the police is all about cheerleading and homework. At the Police Athletic League's after-school program, Soniya practices her cheerleading and does her homework with around 60 other kids who participate. The Tucker PAL Center, where Soniya spends her afternoons, is located in the Alexander Wilson School on 46th Street and Woodland and is one of the 27 branches of the Philadelphia Police Athletic League.

Two years ago, College senior Heather Gorn and Engineering junior Scott Becker started BetterThanTheBookStore.com, an online forum for students to buy and sell textbooks that quickly became a campus institution. Today the site has about 2,600 users and more than 7,000 books for sale.

Mayor Michael Nutter has ordered a review of Philadelphia Police Department policies on the use of deadly force by officers, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported yesterday. The order for the review - to be led by Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey - comes after a recent spike in shootings by police.

Eric Furda, Penn's recently appointed dean of admissions, was well known at Columbia for his open, receptive personality and his ability to work in a large team, college-admissions counselors and former coworkers say. Furda's work in Colmbia's undergraduate admissions office - which he led from 1995 to 2004 - focused on increasing the breadth and depth of the university's applicant pool.

Club Wizzards, the site of a deadly shooting this past fall, recently reopened under new management as Club Atlantis. In late November, police engaged in a gun battle at Club Wizzards, located at 3801 Chestnut St. After allegedly shooting the disc jockey twice, Larry Sanders, 31, of the 500 block of N.

New hotels are being planned citywide, a trend experts say is likely to weather recent financial difficulties in the real estate markets. Spurred by the planned expansion of the downtown Convention Center, developers have unveiled plans for several new hotels both in Center City and nearer to Penn's campus.

For some Penn students, "home" is now a very different place than it once was. Pakistani students who returned to their native country for winter break arrived shortly before former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated while leaving a rally for the Pakistan People's Party on Dec.

After more than five months of clamorous work, the eco-roof atop English House in Kings Court/English House has been completed. Well, almost. According to Business Services, Penn's first 'green' roof was finally completed during the winter recess. Yet, there's still time before students can walk through patio gardens and bask in eco-friendliness.

He's the man who invented Bui's famous "hangover special" - the breakfast combo that brings long lines of Penn students to the food truck on the corner of 38th and Spruce Streets those particularly painful Sunday mornings. "One day I was sitting at home thinking, 'What can I do to satisfy [Penn students]?'" explained the proud combo-creator, who asked to be identified as Bui, Jr.

The presidential primaries and the United States' economic downturn are making headlines together, and for voters, the two are becoming increasingly related. The economy has become one of the most important issues in the campaign for voters and candidates in both parties.