For the next year and a half, a new sound will be coming from the music building on 34th and Walnut streets - that of construction. For the first time since it was originally built as an orphanage in 1890, the building is undergoing major renovations. Construction began early this summer and is scheduled to finish in January 2010.

The College Houses and Academic Services system had a "sweet" 10th anniversary celebration this Friday on College Green. So sweet, in fact, that Penn President Amy Gutmann called the College House system the sugary frosting on top of Penn's cake. Students of all schools and classes joined the 11 College Houses amid colorful balloons, food tents and informative exhibitions - including the Peers Helping Incoming New Students T-shirt tye-dye stand, the Penn Athletics giant football helmet and a life-sized representation of a Stouffer College House living room.

Financial firms aren't the only companies being taken over these days. Come Oct. 1, Bucks County Coffee, the popular student cafe and campus alternative to Starbucks, will become Saxbys Coffee. The Philadelphia-based Saxbys - which opened its first location in 2004 and now operates around 70 chains nationwide - purchased Bucks County Coffee Company earlier this year for an undisclosed sum.

In the eyes of Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, this election is more than just a presidential race - it's a generational transition. Last Friday, The Daily Pennsylvanian sat down to discuss the role of young voters in the 2008 election with Dean and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter.

With the quiet grace of a conductor leading an orchestra of talented musicians, Dean Gary Hack has presided over the School of Design for the last 12 years. And like any humble conductor, he's quick to praise the talents of his staff before his own. "I've been the beneficiary of a lot of people who have done very well," said Hack, who steps down next week.

Both on and off campus, Penn's Internet2 network is about to see an expansion. Internet2 is a faster network than regular Internet. It is specifically geared toward research and education, and Penn's access point went live in February 2007. Internet2 allows for nearly instantaneous data transfer, making it useful for international data sharing.

Behind the Quad, in an area many students never explore, some of the nation's best research is being conducted. Penn's Nursing School, consistently ranked among the top in its field, is home to five of the National Institute of Nursing Research's 10 "Landmark Nursing Research Studies.

Baltimore Avenue is scheduled for a makeover, but not all residents find the prospect pretty. For the next five years, University City District will receive annual grants of $75,000 from the National Trust for Historic Preservation to improve the facades of businesses along Baltimore between 45th and 50th streets.

The Lymphoma Research Foundation will host its second-annual Lymphomathon in Philadelphia at Fairmount Park tomorrow from 10 a.m. until noon. According to LRF's Web site, the Lymphomathon is a "non-competitive 5K walk where survivors, family, friends, community and corporate teams walk in honor and in memory of those whose lives have been touched by lymphoma.

The Scandinavian population at Penn isn't huge. Nor is there overwhelming Polish or Vietnamese representation in the Penn student body. Even so, these are just a few of the growing number of heritages at the forefront of student clubs on campus. Such denominations can be a significant part of students' lives and one that many choose to explore or celebrate

At the Liberty Medal Ceremony at the National Constitution Center last night, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev spoke of both the past and future of Russia's relations with the United States and the rest of the world. Gorbachev, who served as the leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991, received the 2008 Liberty Medal for his role in ending the Cold War and increasing cooperation with the United States.

This week's chaos and upheaval on Wall Street has hit home for many Penn students, who are feeling the backlash in an increasingly competitive and unstable job search. On-campus recruiting, Penn's main job hunting mechanism, is bearing the brunt of the financial industry's woes, according to Career Services counselors.

From his "straightforward rhetoric" to his "piercing blue eyes," Anderson Cooper is giving the students who know him plenty of reasons to get excited about his upcoming speech. CNN's Cooper, host of the nightly newsmagazine Anderson Cooper 360ø and the Social Planning and Event Committee's fall speaker, will appear at Irvine Auditorium on Oct.

It might not be easily noticeablProxy-Connection: keep-alive Cache-Control: max-age=0 2C but the area near 40th and Spruce streets has recently become a little sweeter. Cream and Sugar, a coffee and sweet shop, opened on Aug. 11. Spruce Street CD's had occupied the property for almost 20 years, and when it closed, Cream and Sugar owner Blythe Dim seized the oppor

The Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment is likely to give significant weight to the City Planning Commission's recommendation to approve plans for a hotel at 40th and Pine Streets, but community opposition still has the project up in the air. After hearing from developers as well as long term residents of the area, the City Planning Commission recommended on Tuesday that the ZBA approve the 11-story extended-stay hotel.

The University is taking a wait-and-see approach to evaluating how the recent chaos on Wall Street will affect fundraising. The fall of major financial firms like Lehman Brothers Holdings and Merrill Lynch & Co. has left University officials concerned, but they are not yet making any major decisions or assessments about Penn's $3.5 billion capital campaign.

According to Information Systems and Computing, longer is better. ISC is planning for all PennKey passwords to eventually be changed to "passphrases," ISC Associate Vice President Robin Beck said.