October

The Independence Blue Cross Center for Health Care Innovation announced a new collaboration with Drexel on several research projects aimed at improving the delivery of health care.

Department of Transportation Secretary Barry Schoch visited Drexel on Oct. 30 to announce a $2.5 million award from the Commonwealth to support the “Philadelphia 30th Street Station District Plan.”

Drexel’s Paintball team is back after a four-year hiatus. Three Drexel alumni are coaching the team and have high hopes for a killer season.

Some of the same chemical reactions that occur in the atmosphere as a result of smog and ozone are actually taking place in your house while you are cleaning. A researcher in Drexel’s College of Engineering is taking a closer look at these reactions, which involve an organic compound -called limonene- that provides the pleasant smell of cleaning products and air fresheners. His research will help to determine what byproducts these sweet-smelling compounds are adding to the air while we are using them to remove germs and odors.

"Top Chef" finalist Carla Hall and Drexel culinary and hospitality students will dish up Hall's famous hot chicken recipe and others at a food truck on Drexel's campus on Nov. 5.

A Drexel research program has spawned a nationwide social media campaign to celebrate the many benefits of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program on its 50th anniversary, promoting children's health and supporting working parents.

Next fall, some select pieces from the Robert and Penny Fox Historic Costume Collection will be a part of the largest exhibit in its history, thanks to a generous gift from the Richard C. von Hess Foundation.

With Halloween on the horizon, DrexelNow reached out to Jonathan Seitz, PhD, director of undergraduate studies and associate teaching professor of history in the College of Arts and Sciences, who will be teaching a new course on the history of witchcraft during the winter term. He also authored the book “Witchcraft and Inquisition in Early Modern Venice” (Cambridge University Press, 2011), and is currently conducting research exploring magic and witchcraft practices closer to home — in Pennsylvania around 1700 and in more recent times.

Artist, designer and urban planner Candy Chang wants the University City community to think about life and death. She recently installed one of her popular "Before I Die" walls at the University City High School construction site as a precursor to her visit as a distinguished speaker in the spring.

Lee Gutkind, “the ‘Godfather’ behind creative nonfiction” (Vanity Fair), will join Drexel University on Monday, Nov. 3 from 2 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. for a workshop and discussion to help faculty, students and other scholars, researchers and academics learn how to write about their research for a broad audience. The event aims to help those who have a passion to share their knowledge outside of the classroom, laboratory or institution to communicate their ideas to the public to advance knowledge and create new dialogue.

A diverse group of educators, organizations, parents, students and researchers who are interested in education in Philadelphia will come together at Drexel University on Monday, Nov. 17 from 6 – 8 p.m. Attendees will collaboratively define “urban education” and determine how that shared understanding informs the promise, potential and possibilities in the West Philadelphia Promise Zone neighborhood bordering Drexel and beyond. The discussion is part of the Critical Conversations in Urban Education series hosted by Drexel’s School of Education.

In a landscape of slashed school budgets and teacher layoffs, pursuing a degree in education may seem like a big risk. But now, more than ever, the nation needs dedicated teachers in STEM, special education and urban education. It’s a good thing, then, says School of Education Dean Nancy Butler Songer, that Drexel specializes in exactly these areas.

World-famous violinist and concertmaster of The Philadelphia Orchestra David Kim will join the Drexel University Orchestra from Drexel’s Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design this fall for a master class and concert.

Ambassador Joseph M. Torsella (Ret.) has been named Drexel University Distinguished Visiting Fellow in Public Policy for the duration of this academic year. He will contribute to the teaching and scholarship undertaken by Drexel’s Center for Public Policy, and in particular help advance the Center’s efforts to facilitate public policy discussion and debate in the region.

Just in time for the holidays, students from Drexel University’s Center for Hospitality and Sport Management will team up with Project HOME on Oct. 28 at the Free Library of Philadelphia to make and jar cranberry sauce. All of the proceeds from the sales of the sauce will support Project HOME’s initiatives to provide job training for formerly homeless individuals.

A team of assessors from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. will visit Drexel to evaluate all aspects of the Drexel University Police Department’s policies and procedures, management, operations and support services.

As medical personnel and public health officials are responding to the first reported cases of Ebola Virus in the United States, many of the safety and treatment procedures for treating the virus and preventing its spread are being reexamined. One of the tenets for minimizing the risk of spreading the disease has been a 21-day quarantine period for individuals who might have been exposed to the virus. But a new study by Charles Haas, PhD, a professor in Drexel’s College of Engineering, suggests that 21 days might not be enough to completely prevent spread of the virus.

Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania Jim Cawley visited Drexel University’s campus on Oct. 10 and announced a $5 million Economic Growth Initiative Grant to assist in the development of the University’s Innovation Neighborhood development project.

Researchers have discovered a previously unknown 149-page manuscript from 1940 defending homosexuality, and documented the remarkable life of its author, a gay Jewish World War II veteran.

A lover awaits. A bride runs away. A celebration becomes a nightmare. Federico García Lorca’s “Blood Wedding” will have a rare staging in Philadelphia as the Philadelphia Artists' Collective (The PAC) teams up with students from Drexel University’s Co-Op Theatre Company in the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design to present the classic tragedy of revenge and deception. The show will run from Nov. 6 – 23 at Drexel’s Mandell Theater (3201 Chestnut St.).

On October 16, choreographer and dancer Eiko Otake will visit Drexel to speak on the topic of her signature movement style, Delicious Movement, a quiet and conscious experience of one's own body.

What’s it like doing a co-op at what Bon Appetit magazine dubbed the second best new restaurant in the country? Senior Ally Zeitz reveals all, including her love affair with bread.

More than 220 employers lined up to recruit from more than 1,700 students at Drexel University’s Fall Career Fair on Oct. 9.

In case you couldn't make it to Convocation earlier this week, DrexelNow brings you a roundup complete with some of the event's main speeches by President John Fry, Interim Provost James Herbert and keynote speaker Paula Cohen.

Book readings, activities for children, a book giveaway, educational resources, insurance enrollment and health and wellness resources for parents and guardians were among the activities at the Stephen and Sandra Sheller 11th Street Family Health Services Center of Drexel University's “11th Street Loves to Read Day.”

This Halloween night, the Drexel Co-op Theatre Company in Drexel University’s Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design will open its version of “War of the Worlds” at the URBN Center Annex’s Black Box Theater (3401 Filbert St.). The show will run from Oct. 30 – Nov. 2. On opening night – Halloween, Oct. 31 – attendees who come dressed in costume will receive free admission.

Part of legendary musician David Bowie’s five-decade career is currently housed in the basement of a Drexel building.

Mitchell Hurwitz, creator of the award-winning sitcom “Arrested Development” will be at Drexel University on Tuesday, Oct. 21 for a far-ranging conversation about the iconic show, his career as a successful writer/producer and a look ahead to the future of television.

For hundreds of years biologists have studied cells through the lens of a microscope. With a little help from a team of engineers at Drexel University, these scientists could soon be donning 3-D glasses in a home-theater-like lab to take their own fantastic voyage into the petri dish.

Drexel’s Esther Chernak gives us the facts about the Ebola Virus Disease outbreak in West Africa and weighs in on the confirmed case of the disease here in the United States, which she says is not expected to spread.

Drexel University Archivist Rob Sieczkiewicz takes us back to 1946 and introduces Drexel’s very own Glee Club, a group that found its beginning at the University in the 1920s.

The Philadelphia Orchestra, in collaboration with engineers from Drexel University’s Expressive and Creative Interaction Technologies (ExCITe) Center, is launching a mobile app that will change the way audiences experience musical performances.

Thanks to a $5 million gift from the Raymond and Ruth Perelman Education Foundation, Drexel University transformed the center of its campus along 32nd Street, between Chestnut and Market Streets. The resulting hub, known as the Raymond G. Perelman Plaza, opened to the campus community on Sept. 30. The University marked the occasion with a celebration and dedication ceremony.

A team of researchers from Drexel University’s School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems has been called on to help upgrade a handheld brain scanning device used by the military to assess injuries in the field. InfraScan, Inc., a Philadelphia-based medical technology firm specializing in brain injury diagnostics, will be working with the group of biomedical engineers for the next three years to improve Infrascanner™ -a tool that saves lives by detecting severe head injuries.