This spring, health is in the AIR. The fraternity Alpha Iota Gamma, or AIR - the letter Gamma is shaped like an R - was founded this spring as the only health care-oriented fraternity at Penn. AIR aims to provide a values-based social experience in addition to networking and academic support for students of both genders looking to pursue careers in health care.

Student government on campus began making progress toward increased minority representation 13 years ago when the United Minorities Council lobbied for a seat on the University Council advisory body. Three years of heated debate later, the UMC was granted its wish in the form of a permanent seat on the University Council.

Quoting Beyonce, Nursing and Wharton sophomore and Undergraduate Assembly volunteer member G.J. Melendez-Torres implored the University to "finally put a ring on its commitment to gender and ethnic minorities." His request was met with a standing ovation, as student leaders packed Sunday's UA meeting to discuss a series of proposals targeting the status and support of minorities on campus.

Architecture job prospects seem to be stuck in the rubble of the current economy. Though the architecture market has seen "phenomenal growth" in the past 10 years, the economy is "a depressing concern," especially for those finishing graduate school this year, said associate director of Career Services Rachel Burk.

This year, most juniors and seniors will celebrate Hey Day without missing classes. Though traditionally the event has been held on the last day of classes - which fell on a Tuesday last spring and will again this year - Hey Day will be held on April 24, the last Friday before the spring semester ends the following Tuesday.

The undergraduate student hospitalized earlier this month with meningococcal meningitis was released from the hospital this weekend, according to University spokeswoman Phyllis Holtzman. There are no further cases of meningococcal infection, she added. Student Health Service posted an update on its Web site about the student's release on Saturday.

The Archeology Museum was infiltrated by superheroes of all shapes and sizes yesterday, becoming an educational playground for children and parents to learn about ancient and modern-day heroes. The event - "Wow! Superhero Day"- was held at the Penn Museum of Archeology and Anthropology in conjunction with Van Pelt Library's Year of the Comic Book and Penn's Year of Evolution celebration to commemorate Charles Darwin's 200th birthday.

Alternative rock band Guster will open for Akon at this year's Spring Fling concert on April 17 in Franklin Field, the Social Planning and Events Committee announced today. "They have a similar vibe even though they're very different genres in music," said SPEC Concerts co-director and College junior Preston Hershorn, who anticipates that the line-up will bring a diverse crowd.

On March 13, three Penn students associated with the Student Labor Action Project returned early from spring break to attend their much-anticipated meeting with Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli and an executive from HEI, a hotel-management corporation with ties to the University.

Penn's School of Social Policy and Practice turns 100 this year - and there's no better time to celebrate the centennial than "Social Work Awareness Month." March, also designated "Women's History Month," marks the beginning of a contest for female SP2 graduates to win a three-day trip in August to television personality Joan Lunden's getaway in Naples, Maine.

A new study by Penn's School of Medicine developed a test to detect Alzheimer's disease in patients in its early stages, before the disease's symptoms start to manifest. Led by Leslie Shaw, the co-director of the Penn Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative Biomarker Core, the study was published online in the journal Annals of Neurology this month.

This Wednesday, the Graduate and Professional School Assembly will vote to pass a proposal that aims to establish a "campus climate survey" that polls student perceptions about campus education and student life. While GAPSA has polled students in the past, the group aims to involve the administration in the process to ensure its repetition and longevity.

"If the wars of the 20th century were fought over oil, the wars of the 21st century will be fought over water," said University of Miami School of Communications professor Sanjeev Chatterjee in discussing his motivations for creating One Water, a documentary about the world's water crisis.

Tiredness, rewards, status: it's all in the head, three research studies say. Michael Halassa, a doctoral student in the School of Medicine's neuroscience department, and Philip Haydon, Halassa's former mentor and a professor at Tufts University, collaborated to study astrocyte cells in the brain and their impact on animal sleep behavior.

On March 11, a state House committee approved House Bill 300, which, if passed in the Senate, will ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in Pennsylvania. The bill addresses discrimination in public spheres such as employment, housing, credit and public accommodations.

The city's vital services will remain intact but not without tough cuts and revenue increases, Mayor Michael Nutter announced yesterday when he presented his five-year budget plan to the City Council. The city faces a $1.4-billion budget deficit owing largely to the global economic crisis manifested in falling business and real-estate tax revenues and losses in the city's pension fund.

History professor and Penn Civic Scholars Program faculty director Walter Licht has lived in West Philadelphia since 1977, when he began teaching at Penn. For Licht, living in the area offered city living with the perks of low prices and more space. "I am an urban person," said Licht, who grew up in Brooklyn.