The newly-minted department is currently working on putting together an action plan for new hires, though they have been able to “hire” one faculty member, honorary emeritus professor W.E.B. Du Bois.

During the years MacCarthy actively wrote in Hollywood between 1978-81, he says he had a “modicum of success.” After his win in the contest, MacCarthy was partnered with Paul Taylor, another writer, and they were signed to 20th Century Fox. Together, they sold multiple pilots, wrote a story for M*A*S*H and had frequent meetings with networks.

Total crime is down 21 percent in the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania for Jan. to Dec. 2012 as compared to 2011, according to the Division of Public Safety.

Two large classrooms that had undergone renovations throughout this semester are scheduled to be open for student use by early January. However, the rest of the building will not be ready until July of 2013.

A new report from the National Center for Health Statistics indicates that Americans are consuming an average of almost 100 calories a day in alcoholic beverages. This can translate into a weight gain of about 5.2 pounds per year.

The parents of Matthew Crozier, a former John Carroll University student who died in January 2011 following a fall from the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity house on Penn’s campus, received more than $3 million in a wrongful death settlement.

Friday night, the Department of Physics and Astronomy hosted the fourth Astronomy Night on Shoemaker Green, celebrating astronomical science with the community. Astronomy Night began in April 2011 as part of that year’s Philadelphia Science Festival.

College Day — an annual event sponsored by the Undergraduate Assembly in partnership with the Office of Government and Community Affairs and co-sponsored by the Office of Admissions — welcomed middle school students from Lea Elementary School to be honorary Quakers for a day.

Last week, the Asian Pacific Student Coalition elected their new chair. The Daily Pennsylvanian sits down for a one-on-one with College sophomore Curtis Lee to discuss the upcoming year.

Social media is bringing a new dynamic to getting out the vote in recent elections. Over nine million people declared their civic participation by clicking on the “I’m a voter” button that Facebook displayed at the top of its home page on Election Day.

College junior Jason Jadick has found a creative idea for being uncreative. Jadick, who is enrolled in English professor Kenneth Goldsmith’s Uncreative Writing course, has taken on the challenge of re-typing Jack Kerouac’s novel, “The Subterraneans” in 24 hours as his final project for the class.

College senior Jon Monfred and College junior Ernest Owens resigned from their positions as Undergraduate Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore and UA College Representative, respectively, late Sunday night at the UA’s last general body meeting of the semester.

Penn Hip-Hop Initiative, Penn’s newest music appreciation club was introduced this semester. PHHI holds Freestyle Fridays on Locust Walk. Any student passing by can join in and “spit,” a slang term that means to freestyle rap.

Democrat John Hanger officially entered the 2014 gubernatorial race on Wednesday. Hanger served as Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection from 2008 to 2011 under former governor and 1965 College graduate Ed Rendell.

A male student was robbed with what appeared to be a gun in the 40th and Locust area Saturday afternoon. A UPennAlert was issued in response at 3:45 p.m.

A weekly roundup of news from around the Ivy League and the higher-education community.

West’s appearance at Penn began with a Skype interview with critical writing seminar instructor Christopher Phillips.