BULLETINS

Admission Seminars | Funding Opportunities | Penn Express Modem

Admissions Seminars for Penn Faculty/Staff Families

College-bound teenagers and their parents often can be overwhelmed by the choices and requirements of college admissions. What courses are important to take in high school? How significant are extracurricular activities, essays, test scores, and interviews?

The answers are right here on campus and available to Penn employees and their families, whether their students plan to apply to Penn or elsewhere.

The Undergraduate Admissions Office will host two seminars this week for Penn families whose teenagers are beginning the college search process. One session will be held at 5:15 p.m. on Tuesday, September 3, in the Ben Franklin Room of Houston Hall; it will be repeated on Thursday, September 5, also at 5:15 p.m., in the Terrace Room in Logan Hall.

The sessions will focus on the college selection process for large and small, public and private colleges. Admissions officers will discuss what it takes to gain admission to a competitive college, how to get the most out of a campus visit, and other issues such as financial aid.

The seminars are free, and the office requests participants to RSVP to (215) 898-7126, or seminars@admissions.ugao.upenn.edu.

--Gwynne Lynch, Regional Director of Admissions DC, MD, VA, and Chester and Delaware Counties, PA

From the Office of the Vice Provost for Research

---

Funding Opportunities for Research

Researchers are often interested in learning about funding opportunities for support of their research programs. The Office of the Vice Provost for Research's website (www.upenn.edu/research/) provides access to a service that is available to individual Penn researchers, under a University-wide subscription from the provider, Info-Ed. This service consists of three parts: SPIN, GENIUS, and SMARTS.

Since Info-Ed accesses >2,800 different sponsors, including Federal, State, and private not for profit funding sources, a wide variety of opportunities are available. Users can take advantage of any or all three of the services offered according to their individual preferences. Directions are provided on the website. Questions should be addressed to Josie Rook, Assistant Vice Provost for Research, at rookj@pobox, or (215) 898-7236.

Penn Express Modem Pool Discontinued on 6/30/02

The Express Modem Pool was discontinued as planned on June 30, 2002. The termination plans were first announced two years ago, when the regular modem pool was discontinued and users were directed to commercial ISP services for remote access to PennNet and the Internet. The Express Pool was used as a transitional service for the convenience of the Penn community, but employed aging technology that did not provide the data transfer speeds that ISPs offer and that are required to take advantage of many of Penn's online services.

Those who had been using the Express Modem Pool as their primary ISP can learn about alternatives at the remote access web page at www.upenn.edu/computing/remote. The web site provides information on whom to contact with questions about the policy and how to get assistance making the transition. A useful chart comparing service options and prices is available at www.upenn.edu/computing/remote/help_chart.html.