Before Andrew Brown and Laura Brown — not related — arrived on the University of Pennsylvania campus, they had both heard of Penn’s reputation, correct or not, as liberal.

Once at Penn, they both found like-minded fellow students, and each rose to leadership roles in political party student organizations. Andrew, from Pittsburgh, is president of Penn Democrats. Laura, from Pulaski Va., is president of Penn Republicans.

On Election Day they joined hundreds of energized undergraduates from student groups like Penn Leads the Vote working hard to get out the student vote.

More than 89 percent of Penn undergraduates voted in the 2008 presidential election. Students involved in voter registration efforts on campus this year predict an even larger turnout.

Last month, David Thornburgh, director of Penn’s Fels Institute of Government, expressed optimism about the millennial generation of “fired-up” voters during his School of Arts and Sciences 60-Second Lecture.

Penn Democrats is the largest student organization on campus. It has a listserv of 2,900, a deputy board of 60 appointed officers and an elected executive board of nine, Andrew says, adding, “Our deputy and executive boards have racked up literally thousands of hours of volunteering for the president. We registered 1,236 students to vote, the highest number of students we've ever registered.”

Laura says the College Republicans organization has fostered a small but engaged community of 30-35 active members.

“From my side of the aisle, the biggest misconception about being a young Republican is that people think it’s not okay to be a Republican in college. But a lot of people have conservative leanings. Just because you’re 21 doesn’t mean you have to be Democrat,” said the 21-year-old Wharton senior, a business and public policy major.

Andrew, also 21, a junior double-majoring in economics and African studies, says he’s more partisan than his liberal-leaning parents. He cites his experiences attending an inner-city high school as one of the major influences that led him to the Democratic Party.

He says that some of his fellow students question whether to include their affiliation with a partisan Penn student organization on their resume.

Doing that certainly hasn’t hurt Laura. She’s just been offered a job in corporate banking at PNC with a post-graduation start date in 2013. 

“I was personally really scared about having College Republicans on my resume. But in my interviews, they were impressed about my being a leader.”

After the frenetic pace of election season, Laura will continue her work as a Wharton Ambassador and board member of the Penn Political Coalition. Andrew will have more time to sing with Penn’s Jewish a cappella group the Shabbatones (he’s a tenor) and more time for “bro-ing out” with his fraternity Phi Kappa Psi, where he serves as community-service chair.

Seven of Drexel’s varsity athletic teams scored 100 percent on the latest Graduation Success Rate (GSR) announced by the NCAA. Overall, Drexel Athletics scored 92 percent on the GSR.
The seven teams that scored 100 percent were men’s and women’s basketball, women’s lacrosse, women’s soccer, softball, men’s swimming and men’s tennis.

The GSR is a measure that the NCAA uses to evaluate academic performance. It indicates the percentage of student-athletes who graduated during the four-year period from 2002-2005.
The rate holds institutions accountable for the academic progression of first-time freshmen student-athletes, mid-year freshmen student-athletes, as well as those student-athletes that transferred into the institution.

The calculation also subtracts from consideration, student-athletes who leave the institution with allowable exclusions and those that would have been academically eligible to compete had they returned to the institution.

These adjustments make the GSR a more accurate picture of student-athlete academic success than the federal graduation rate projections.

“This is a testament to Drexel’s commitment to excellence in the classroom and laboratory, and on the playing field,” Drexel President John A. Fry said. “It reflects not only the dedication of our student-athletes — who rise to the challenge of meeting Drexel’s rigorous academic standards while also participating in high-level Division I athletics — but also that of the coaches and administrators, who along with our faculty, are the true purveyors of the value of a Drexel education.”

Drexel is the only program in the Colonial Athletic Association that boasts 100-percent graduation rates for both its men’s and women’s basketball teams and it is one of only two schools in Philadelphia, along with Villanova, with both teams graduating all of its players from 2002-05.

Cheyney University’s students in the Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management (HRTM) program cooked tilapia, green beans, homemade cole slaw and potato salad, cornbread, peach cobbler (served with ice cream) and pound cake to benefit the 2012-13 CU Annual Fund Drive and the State Employee Combined Appeal (SECA). 

In just three hours, $5,818 was raised and the event was sold out. The tilapia came from CU’s Aquaponics Research and Education Laboratory.

Ivan Turnipseed, Ph. D., associate professor and coordinator of Cheyney’s HRTM program remarked, "This was a chance for our students to showcase their talents and hone their skills. We used 100 pounds of fresh fish from the Aquaponics facility. This is a dress rehearsal for the spring 2013 semester, when the Cheyney Grill will re-open for lunch on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons."

Under the direction of Turnipseed and Professors Herbert Black and Krysal Peters, students including Aaron Yancey, Heaven Leigh Montgomery, Jameel Jefferson, Kendell Thomas, Mamexaali N’Diyae, and Shaun Williams prepared and served an elegant "fish fry.”
The signature beverage, the Leslie Pinckney Hill, in honor of the first president of Cheyney Training School for Teachers (later, Cheyney University) — a delicious concoction of pink lemonade and iced-tea—was a big hit.

It is not too late to give to Cheyney University’s Annual Fund and the State Employee Combined Appeal (SECA) before the end of the year for your tax deduction.

“The Office of University Advancement & External Relations’ first fish fry was a big success,” said Nancy L. Jones, Vice President for University Advancement & External Relations. “We have to thank our students in the Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management program, Dr. Herbert Black, Dr. Ivan Turnipseed, Dr. Krystal Peters, Ashley Henderson, Marsha Depte, Facilities and all the students, faculty and staff who participated.”

Daily reviews may prevent probems

The Crozer-Chester Medical Center now performs a “safety check-in” at 8:30 a.m., Monday through Friday.

The daily check-in meetings, which are mandatory for one manager/appointed representative from every department/unit of the hospital, are led by a senior administrator of each hospital.

Their purpose o is to discuss current and anticipated safety events occurring throughout the hospital.

“Our obligation is to provide the safest care possible to our patients, and to prevent any harm that may be anticipated,” said Eric Dobkin, M.D., vice president of quality and patient safety for Crozer-Keystone Health System. “The goal of these daily meetings is to create an open communication forum for every department of the hospital and health system so that we can reduce system failures that can potentially cause patient and employee harm. They help us to effectively respond when failures do occur, and they help us proactively avoid potential safety threats that are presented.”

At the brief meetings each department representative reports the following: Look back on significant safety or quality issues from the last 24 hours; Look ahead in anticipating safety or quality issues in the next 24 hours; and follow-up when status reports on issues identified today or days before.

“We operate in a complex, high-risk environment,” said Eileen Young, assistant vice president for quality and performance improvement for Crozer-Keystone Health System. “Patient status and unit operations can change quickly, and this daily safety check-in provides immediate focus and communication about the most at-risk patients, allows clarification of issues, rapid intervention and quick transfers of information to the rest of the hospital managers/administrators. This results in fewer safety events and reduces system failures that cause patient and employee harm.”

The safety check-in creates leadership awareness of front line operations. It is a forum for learning the status of operations, identifying problems, assigning ownership for issue resolution, and ensuring a common understanding of potential safety threats.

The daily safety check-in is held at all Crozer-Keystone hospitals, including Crozer-Chester Medical Center, Delaware County Memorial Hospital, Springfield Hospital, Taylor Hospital and Community Hospital (which currently “huddles” twice a week because it is an outpatient facility).

“Since implementing the daily check-in at each hospital, we have improved leadership awareness and communication of the status of hospital operations,” said Patrick Gavin, executive vice president and chief operating officer for Crozer-Keystone Health System as well as president of Crozer-Chester Medical Center. “We’ve also seen early identification and rapid resolution of problems impacting the safety of patients and employees.”

Widener University and Sussex Technical School District, a public Career and Technical Education school district in Georgetown, Del., announced on Friday that they’ve entered into a partnership that will bring new higher education course offerings to high school students in Sussex County and central Delaware. Beginning in the fall of 2013, interested students will have the opportunity to enroll in and complete college courses during their junior and senior years of high school.

These dual credit courses are fully accredited, and upon successful completion, students will be awarded both Sussex Technical High School and Widener University credits. Participating students can complete in excess of the first year of college requirements through this new arrangement.

Upon graduation from high school, they can either apply to Widener, where all courses are accepted, or transfer their credits to other institutions of higher learning depending upon that institution’s acceptance of the transferrable credit.

Deemed the Early Career and College Partnership, this new collaboration between Sussex Tech and Widener will help address two key issues for today’s high school students: college affordability and accessibility. It will allow students to complete significant credit hours at a reduced cost and encourage the pursuit of advanced certifications and degrees by giving them a “jump start.”

“We believe that we’ve come up with an innovative approach to help make college more affordable and accessible to all students and that the sustainability of our universities will require continuous innovation,” said Brenda Gilio, Ph. D. acting dean of the Widener University School of Innovation, Education and Continuing Studies. “Partnerships will play an integral role in these efforts and help shape the future higher education landscape.”

Sussex Tech anticipates that the Early Career and College Partnership with Widener will also contribute to the economic vitality of Sussex County.

“The partnership has the potential to create jobs, to attract individuals and businesses to the region by supplying viable educational choices and to develop a highly skilled workforce ready for employment in high demand careers,” said Michael R. Owens, Ph. D., director of extended learning for the Sussex Technical School District.”

Work is underway to develop a core of offerings that could be extended to neighboring high school students who may wish to take college courses through Widener at the Georgetown campus of the Sussex Technical School District or online.

“By entering into this partnership with Widener and offering access to students of neighboring high schools, Sussex Technical School District is once again demonstrating its commitment to the concept of shared and consolidated services, thus maximizing value for the community,” Owens said.

Recognizing the significance of the Sussex Tech-Widener partnership, U.S. Senators Thomas R. Carper and Christopher A. Coons took part in the Nov. 2 announcement to publicly show their support of the endeavor.