Ten graduate students will be awarded the College Dean's Award for Distinguished Teaching by Graduate Students on Thursday. The award is one of several dean's teaching awards. Most recognize faculty, but all exist because "we want to recognize our most successful and innovative teachers," College Dean Dennis DeTurck said.

Although many agree that Penn is supportive of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender community, two students are trying to increase that support in the School of Dental Medicine. That was goal of Dental students Yizhaq Alkolomber and Zane Haider when they began an LGBT and ally group to increase support for those students in what they perceive to be a conservative environment in the Dental School. And so far, they say, professors have been very receptive.

At last night's South Street Bridge Coalition meeting, Philadelphia's 30th Ward residents learned that they will have to wait a bit longer for finalized designs for the bridge's upper deck. The project has been divided into two phases, said Marcia Wilkof, Democratic 30th ward leader and David Perry, chief engineer for surveys and design at the Philadelphia Department of Streets.

When a lizard runs across a sandy desert it may seem effortless, but crossing sand has proved to be nearly impossible for robots until the advent of SandBot. Researchers at Penn and the Georgia Institute of Technology have collaborated to study how animals can accomplish what wheeled and tracked robots have not been able to do.

As many students look forward to leaving Penn for a summer of relaxation, the Division of Public Safety is preparing for what is one of its busiest periods of the year. "It's a fallacy that as the vast majority of the student population leaves, out workload decreases," Captain Joseph Fischer said. "The challenges are in fact even greater over the summer.

Updated April 30, 5:41 p.m. Three probable cases of swine influenza have now been reported in Philadelphia. Further testing in those cases -- a two-year-old child, a 46-year-old woman and a 25-year-old man -- must be done to confirm swine flu, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

In the wake of the Obama administration's relaxation of policies toward Cuba, educators are calling for easier student travel to that country. But Penn is already ahead of the game with its study-abroad program in Cuba. "Whether or not the [Penn program in Cuba] will run each year is always contingent upon us getting our license renewed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control at the U.

Studying alone in Huntsman Hall last week, Senior Class President and College senior Brett Perlmutter got an e-mail that connected him to a nearly 150-year-old tradition. He found out that he, along with seven other soon-to-be graduates, will be awarded Senior Honor Awards at Ivy Day during this May's Commencement celebrations.

Both College sophomores, second-year UA members and chairmen of two prolific committees, Undergraduate Assembly members Matt Amalfitano and Mark Pan were well-matched in the election for Vice Chair for External Affairs. Even more fitting of their closeness, each candidate nominated the other for the position.

These days, Penn researchers are studying everything from skies to the seas - and the people in between. One team of Penn researchers has discovered about 1,000 galaxies since 2006 with the Balloon-borne Large-Aperture Sub-millimeter Telescope. Physics and Astronomy researcher Matthew Truch, who has worked on the project since 2002, said BLAST is the only way to see the earliest starburst, or newly formed, galaxies because the atmosphere is too opaque on the ground.

Hey Day has historically been the day juniors look forward to the most - but it has also become a tradition surrounded by a heated debate. The Junior and Senior Class Boards worked together this year to decrease hazing during Hey Day and the Final Toast. However, Hey Day 2009 only proves that the event continues to be a divided one: partly a junior celebration, and partly an excuse for seniors to haze their replacements.

The Division of Public Safety is on track to complete Phases Four and Five of its Blue Book Project by the end of the fiscal year on June 30. Blue Books are crisis-management action plans located in every University-owned building that help authorities respond to emergency situations.

The student hospitalized with a meningococcal infection at St. Joseph's University has been confirmed to have strain B of the infection, the same strain that infected four Penn students in February and March. But according to Penn spokeswoman Lori Doyle, the cases are not related.

Large crowds of a few hundred high-school aged West Philadelphia residents gathered at 40th and Walnut streets Saturday night before being dispersed by police. One person reportedly assaulted a police officer, according to a member of the Philadelphia Police Department, though this report was contradicted by other police officers.

This year's Hey Day saw the usual tossing of flour and condiments and shooting of milk-filled super-soakers - but in smaller doses than in past years. According to College Senior and Class of 2009 President Brett Perlmutter, this slight shift away from hazing - a custom that began in 2002 - is a result of a pledge nearly 1,600 seniors signed promising to go easy on their younger classmates.

By SAYANI MUKHERJEE Staff Writer mukherjee@dailypennsylvanian.com A report published this month by the National Consumer Law Center aims to help students with private loans who would otherwise have difficulty making payments. Titled, "Too Small to Help - The plight of Financially Distressed Private Student Loan Borrowers," the report was developed by the NCLC's Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project.

The Social Planning and Events Committee elected its new executive board for 2009-2010 last night. College junior Dasha Barannik will lead SPEC as the body's new president. College junior Preston Hershorn will serve as the vice president, Wharton sophomore Adam Thompson will take over as treasurer and College junior Eileen McKeown will be secretary.