The last few years of strong defense have served the Penn women's lacrosse team well, as it was largely responsible for the team's trips to the 2007 NCAA Final Four and last year's national championships. But this season, in hopes of taking that extra step and winning the title, coach Karin Brower has shifted her focus to a whole new part of the team-: the midfield.

It wasn't about height in New Haven, Conn., Friday. 383 inches of Yale blue and white lined up for tip-off, while across the way, Princeton's starting five came in at 380 inches. But the Bulldogs played much bigger, manhandling the Tigers to the tune of a 43-23 rebounding edge in the easy 12-point victory.

With meningitis, and now measles, on everyone's mind, many students are wondering: "How could this have been prevented? How can I keep myself safe?" If you don't believe me, just look at the 3,000-plus who went to Student Health to get prophylactic treatment last week.

Amira Fawcett is an Engineering senior from Houston. Her e-mail address is fawcett@dailypennsylvanian.com.

Jon McLaughlin, who has coached Penn's offensive line for the past three seasons, has been promoted to offensive coordinator, several sources with knowledge of the football program said. Head coach Al Bagnoli announced the promotion at the team's annual banquet Friday.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Coming into the 2008 season, Becca Edwards had high hopes. As a sophomore two years ago, the attacker had scored 37 points on 32 goals and five assists for Penn. There was only one thing that could stop her from topping that honorable mention All-Ivy output.

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.

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.

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.

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.

All of a sudden, last year's weaknesses have become this year's strengths. Last season the men's lacrosse team struggled to find senior leadership. But with a senior class of 10 -- -double the number from last year - this year's squad may finally have the appropriate mix of talent and experience to make a run at the Ivy League's elite.

Last Thursday, when the University received confirmation of the first student case of meningitis, officials had several tough decisions to make, and they knew that they had to be made as quickly as possible. Penn, as all students know by now, made many of the right decisions.

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.