Nicknamed "Willing and Able" in his senior-class yearbook for the Penn School of Design, Julian Abele - pronounced "able" - was an overachiever. When he graduated from the School in 1902, Abele was president of the Penn Architectural Society, the recipient of numerous architectural awards and was poised to join one of Philadelphia's top architectural firms.

Marissa Rhodes spends her days surrounded by books. But, unlike the students who will retreat to Van Pelt Library during the next few weeks of studying before finals, it's Rhodes' job to think about what everyone else is reading. As the Penn Bookstore's trade floor manager, Rhodes oversees all the non-textbook titles in stock - a collection that runs the gamut from the classic works of Jane Austen to celebrity chef Rachael Ray's popular series of recipe books.

For college students, beer, pizza and bowling are a winning combination. At least that's what College Pizza owner George Ballouz is banking on. The pizzeria will move from its current location - which it was forced to leave due to a planned construction project on the 3900 block of Walnut Street - into the mezzanine of Strikes Bowling Lounge over winter break.

As a criminal-malpractice lawyer, Penn alumna Joan Saltzman has seen everything that might go wrong in an operation. Presenting her book, Mr. Right and My Left Kidney, at the Penn Bookstore last night, Saltzman described overcoming her doubts about donating a kidney to her husband.

According to Christopher Graveline, former Cpl. Charles Graner is a "truly an evil man." Graveline - a former military lawyer - presented a photo of Graner "grinning over a dead corpse," illustrating the Abu Ghraib prison atrocities to a crowd of over 50 people yesterday afternoon in the Nursing Education Building.

College junior Laura Paine and College sophomore Promise Sullivan will head the Civic House Associations Coalition, Civic House leaders announced last night. CHAC is responsible for providing educational workshops and funding for community service projects within the Philadelphia community.

Since 2003, Arab militants, known as the Janjaweed, have murdered over 400,000 African Muslims in the Darfur region of western Sudan - and some say the Sudanese government has paved the way. Aaron Dorfman, director of Jewish education at the American Jewish World Service, described these atrocities before a group of about 50 people at the Kelly Writers House last evening.

Course-management industry giant Blackboard faces what will likely be a critical legal challenge after a group of open-source advocates filed a formal request to have the company's 44 patents revoked. The open-source groups are alleging that the patents - which were awarded to Blackboard in January - would give the company a virtual monopoly on online learning technology by allowing Blackboard to use the patents to sue its competitors.

Electrical and Systems Engineering professor Nader Engheta was named one of Scientific American's top-fifty leaders in science and technology in the magazine's December issue. Engheta - who earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Tehran and his Ph.

Perceptions about body weight don't stop at the scales anymore. "Fat studies" is a growing interdisciplinary area of study at universities across the country, devoted to examining discrimination and stereotypes against the fat body and studying the collective experience of fat people in society.

Desperate students trying to cram in an extra hour of studying this week will now be able to do it in Van Pelt Library. At the request of the Undergraduate Assembly, Carton Rogers - who runs Penn's libraries - decided to keep Van Pelt open until 2 a.m. from yesterday through the end of exams.

Visit the University of Delaware's Web site, and you'll find the smiling face of Wharton Dean Patrick Harker displayed above the celebratory headline "Presidential Search Completed."

The Penn Police department will begin its re-accreditation process next weekend. A team of assessors from a national accreditation agency will come to campus to examine the department, which is currently responsible for 116 fully-sworn police officers headed by a chief of police.

They may not be industry moguls or top executives, but Penn professors are certainly willing to shell out money in support of their favorite political candidates. Penn ranked fourth in a study measuring the sum of education-industry employee donations to federal campaigns this election cycle.

Wearing a T-shirt with the slogan "Stop Medical Apartheid, AIDS Drugs Now," Kaytee Riek stood on a bench on College Green last Friday and led a group of demonstrating students and activists in a chant.

You may not be able to put your finger on it, but there's something whimsical about the artistic style of Sibylla Benatova. Come March, that style will be showcased in the Penn Rare Book and Manuscript Library employee's illustrated children's book, The Magic Raincoat.

Temperatures were expected to drop to 40 degrees at night, and there was a strong chance of rain. But the spirits of Penn Outdoors members were not at all dampened as they stood amid their urban campground. The club set up tents on College Green last Thursday and Friday for its 24-hour camp-out and fundraiser.