This fall, Penn will welcome its first Ph.D. students in Africana Studies. Offered through the Center for Africana Studies, the program had approximately 20 applicants, of which two will make up its first class, according to CFAS graduate-group chairman Tufuku Zuberi.

With parents, middle schoolers, Barack Obama and even your dog on Facebook these days, it should be no surprise that your teacher is on it too. But rather than being on Facebook for the sake of it, PennDesign Architecture lecturer Andrew Phillips is using the social networking site as an extension of his classroom.

The University announced today that a Wharton graduate student was diagnosed with measles, less than a week after an announcement that three students had contracted meningoccocal infection. The student is stable and is now resting at home under the care of physiciansaccording to Evelyn Wiener, the director of Student Health Service.

Penn e-mail accounts have spam filters, but they may also be in need of scam filters. Students have recently become targets of two different online scams: an advance-fee scam and a fraudulent e-mail from a fake employer. The advance-fee scam involved the sale of textbooks, according to deputy chief of Investigations Mike Morrin.

Everyone's a critic. Or at least everyone in the class of 2013 will be this fall when they evaluate Thomas Eakins' painting The Gross Clinic as the next Penn Reading Project selection. The Office of the Provost, the Council of Undergraduate Deans and the Office of College Houses and Academic Services announced their unusal choice last week.

Last night, Political Science professor Rogers Smith discussed his hopes that the closing of the U.S. Naval Detention Center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will bring about positive changes in the new presidential administration's methods for dealing with human rights issues.

Denis Kinane will become dean of the School of Dental Medicine beginning July 1, Penn President Amy Gutmann and Interim Provost Vincent Price announced today. Until now, the Dental School has been led by Interim Dean Thomas Sollecito, who stepped in after former Dean Marjorie Jeffcoat retired in July 2008.

Irvine Auditorium was surprisingly busy yesterday at 3 p.m., a full hour before Paul Krugman was scheduled to speak. The New York Times columnist drew a full house for his talk about the current state of economic affairs both in the United States and abroad.

Penn announced yesterday that preventive antibiotics were no longer needed for meningococcal infection, signaling a shift in the University's response to the outbreak. Three Penn students were hospitalized last week with meningococcal infection, and two others were hospitalized for flu-like symptoms.

Diversity and financial aid were major topics at yesterday's University Council meeting. In a well-attended gathering in Houston Hall's Bodek Lounge, Penn President Amy Gutmann, Provost Ron Daniels and faculty and student leaders discussed the progress of Penn's no-loan financial aid programs and campus minority representation.

The Social Planning and Events Committee will 'do the right thing' by bringing filmmaker Spike Lee as its first annual Keynote Speaker for SPEC's Film Society. The event, titled "The World Through My Lens: A Conversation on Film Making With Spike Lee," features Lee, as well as a moderated discussion session with the audience.

Not many women would turn down an offer of $10,000. But some women might if it means selling their eggs. Ivy League women are being targeted by various agencies to sell their eggs for anywhere from $5,000 to $30,000. "College students are in the right age group to become donors, tend to have more flexible schedules than older, working women and are reasonably intelligent and motivated," said Dawn Hunt, president of Fertility Alternatives, an agency that has intermittently advertised in The Daily Pennsylvanian for about seven-to-eight years.

The love child of Blackboard and Facebook has a name - the Open Learning Commons. The new platform prototype, launched by the College of Liberal and Professional Studies, allows interested people within and outside the Penn community to participate in classroom activities from the Web.

Maya Angelou, prominent author, poet and activist, said she doesn't "trust people who do not laugh." To Angelou's expressed satisfaction, Irvine Auditorium was filled with laughter last night when she delivered the Woman's Week keynote address to a sold-out crowd.

Last night, the Penn Democrats endorsed Seth Williams for the Democratic nomination in the upcoming Philadelphia District Attorney election. The endorsement followed speeches by representatives of four of the five candidates and a short discussion among Penn Dems members.

Feb. 18, 4:35 p.m. A Wharton graduate student has been diagnosed with measles, according to a University-wide e-mail sent Wednesday afternoon. The student is resting at home under the care of physicians. The University is in the process of contacting those who may have had close contact with the infected student and may need preventative medication.

Feb. 18, 1:56 p.m. Preventative antibiotics for meningococcal infection are no longer necessary, the University said in a statement released this afternoon. Three Penn students were hospitalized last week with meningococcal infections, and two others were hospitalized for flu-like symptoms.