Cecily Wu

Despite the recent increase in graduate student stipends, Leslie Warden is still struggling to pay for out-of-print books that cost up to $300 for her dissertation research. SASgov, the student government of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, will be hosting an essay competition to draw attention to the increasing costs of books.

Legally Blonde was set at Harvard University, but its producer Marc Platt is a proud Penn alumnus. Platt, a 1979 College graduate who is known for producing the Grammy-winning musical Wicked and the Legally Blonde movies, has been selected as the alumni graduation speaker for the College of Arts and Sciences.

As universities across the country continue to introduce campus-wide Internet access, the University of Chicago Law School is doing the exact opposite. The school recently announced plans to eliminate Internet access in most of its classrooms, but Penn has no plans to implement similar policies.

Psychology has traditionally targeted mental illness, but Psychology professor Martin Seligman is trying to turn this focus to "mental wellness." Seligman, who is considered the father of positive psychology and serves as the director of Penn Positive Psychology Center, continues to draw international attention to his theory of positive psychology.

Classical Studies professor Ralph Rosen has been appointed the new Associate Dean for Graduate Studies in the School of Arts and Sciences. Rosen, who has been at Penn for the past 25 years, will be responsible for overseeing the School's doctoral programs, which enroll approximately 2,000 students.

The Philosophy, Politics and Economics department is in the process of devising new courses for the major, although there will not be any significant changes in the core of the curriculum. Cristina Bicchieri, director of the PPE department, said PPE faculty are working with several participating departments to expand the number of PPE course offerings, but she added that "nothing is written in stone" and said the exact details will not be available for a few more months.

What is wrong with Penn's education, and how can it be fixed? These are the questions the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education wants students to consider during its annual education week. Wharton and College junior Zach Fuchs, chairman of SCUE, explained that education week, which runs from March 31 to April 4, will allow students to think critically about their education instead of just following the University curriculum.

Last week's announcement that Logan Hall will be renamed Claudia Cohen Hall has raised a few eyebrows. Penn faculty and students expressed surprise that historic buildings such as Logan Hall could be renamed after donors. Logan Hall, named after one of Penn's founding trustees, will be renamed this summer after Claudia Cohen, an entertainment journalist and a 1972 College of Women graduate who passed away last summer.

The quality of advisors can really make or break a student's college experience, according to a recent study. A group of professors from Seton Hall University identified a mentoring gap between male and female chemistry students. Overall, male students were more likely than the female students to recall academic counseling and advice from their advisors as undergraduate and graduate students Closing the mentor gap, according to the researchers and academic experts, could help encourage and retain more women in traditionally male dominated fields, such as engineering and the physical sciences.

Logan Hall will be renamed Claudia Cohen Hall this summer in memory of 1972 College of Women graduate Claudia Cohen, who died in June 2007. Cohen, a journalist who also served as an overseer of the School of Arts and Sciences, died of ovarian cancer at the age of 56.