Denis Kinane will become dean of the School of Dental Medicine beginning July 1, Penn President Amy Gutmann and interim Provost Vincent Price announced yesterday. "I'm very excited," Kinane said. "Penn's got a fantastic reputation, and I'm really looking forward to contributing.

The murder of Philadelphia Police officer John Pawlowski last Friday night has been felt heavily by University Police Department staff, many of whom are former Philadelphia Police officers. And in response to Pawlowski's death, the most recent in a string of police fatalities this year, the Division of Public Safety is making sure its officers are equipped to deal with the potentially violent aspects of their job.

Interested in immersing yourself in the upbeat rhythms of African melodies and drumbeats, while a mysterious man on stilts towers over you? Tomorrow, various African song and dance ensembles will perform at the Museum of Archeology and Anthropology to commemorate the 20th annual Celebration of African Cultures from 11 a.

Four sophomores in the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business will be spending their spring break in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Wharton and College sophomores Kristin Hall, Taishi Kushiro, Aleksandar Rasevski and Natalie Tejero were chosen by the Grassroots Business Fund to evaluate the poverty levels of clients of Sero Lease and Finance Limited, or SELFINA, and to help them increase their standard of living.

College career services throughout the country are feeling the reverberations from the economic crisis that began last fall, leaving students with more confusion and less opportunity. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, a recent National Association of Colleges and Employer survey of about 50 colleges and universities found that more than half of the schools reported an increase in traffic to their career services centers while only 20 percent reported a decrease.

Philadelphia Police is trying to determine whether a man arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting three students at Lock Haven University may also be responsible for the armed home invasion and sexual assault that occurred at Penn on Dec. 19. Dominique Wilson, 23, was arrested in Lock Haven, Pa.

Garrett Reisman has not only been to space - he may be the first astronaut to bring the familiar red and blue Penn pennant with him. Reisman spoke to a full crowd in Levine Hall's Wu and Chen Auditorium last night. His speech was part of the School of Engineering and Applied Science's "Technology, Business and Government" series, which brings distinguished speakers to Penn to discuss the interrelationships between the three sectors.

Penn is leading the way for research in nanotechnology. About 900 Penn-based innovations are listed on iBridge Network, an online forum to facilitate an exchange between researchers and companies looking to license new technology. The site was launched in 2005 by the Kauffman Foundation, one of the largest in the country that supports innovation and entrepreneurship.

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.