Penn’s former Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer John Fry was named president of Drexel University Wednesday afternoon.

The Drexel Board of Trustees voted unanimously in favor of Fry who will begin his tenure on Aug. 1 according to a Drexel press release.

Fry has been the president of Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster Pa. since 2002 and previously served as EVP and COO at Penn from 1995 to 2002 under President Judith Rodin.

Fry said he hopes to explore more ways for Drexel and Penn to collaborate in the future.

"It just makes sense" he said recognizing the two universities' "tradition of working closely and well" with each other.

He said he maintains friendships with the Penn administrators he worked with while EVP and keeps in touch with several including current EVP Craig Carnaroli.

Fry who just found out about his appointment Tuesday said he will "miss Lancaster" but is excited to return to Philadelphia.

"Part of the attraction of this was to come home to Philadelphia" he said.

Over the past decade Fry has been a finalist to become president of the University of Vermont and Temple University but he withdrew on both occasions.

While at Penn Fry implemented the “Agenda For Excellence” — the University’s strategic plan in the late nineties. He also initiated a facilities outsourcing arrangement with the Trammell Crow Company and brought new vendors to campus including the movie theater and Fresh Grocer.

Fry was also instrumental in the creation of the University City District which helped facilitate communication between the universities retailers and residents in the area.

With his return to Philadelphia Fry said he plans to continue building connections between the universities and West Philadelphia neighborhoods. He said the relationship is not just a "big project" that can be completed but that it is "always evolving."

There is "never a moment when it won't be a priority" he said.

A native New Yorker Fry studied American Civilization at Lafayette College and earned a master’s from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

Drexel has been searching for a new president for almost a year after Constantine Papadakis who served as president for 14 years died of lung cancer in April 2009.

Fry said he looks forward to working with Drexel administrators and developing their plans for the university.

"A vision has to be crafted" he said explaining that it will be a joint effort that will progress as he visits campus more often during the remainder of the spring semester.

Vandalism

Feb. 28 — At about 6:45 p.m. an unknown suspect reportedly broke a window at Strikes Bowling Lounge located at 4040 Locust St.

Theft

March 2 — A female student 20 reported at about 10:45 p.m. that someone took her personal items from an unsecured locker at Pottruck Gym.

March 1 — A female student 21 reported at about 10 p.m. that someone removed her unattended laptop from the Stouffer Triangle.

March 1 — At about 8:30 a.m. cash was reported taken by an unknown suspect from the Science Center located at 3701 Market St.

Feb. 28 — A man unaffiliated with the University reported at about 12 a.m. that someone removed his briefcase left in plain view from his secured vehicle at Penn Lot 1 on Walnut Street between 32nd and 33rd streets.

Feb. 27 — A female student 29 reported at about 8:30 p.m. that an unknown suspect removed her unattended personal items from the Psychology Building.

Feb. 27 — A female University employee 62 reported at about 12:15 p.m. that an unknown suspect removed her unattended wallet and personal items from the Jaffe Building located at 3405 Woodland Walk.

Feb. 26 — A man unaffiliated with the University 34 reported at about 9:45 p.m. that someone removed personal property from his secured vehicle on the 200 block of S. 33rd Street.

Feb. 26 — At about 8:30 p.m. an unknown suspect was reported to have removed merchandise from CVS located at 3401 Walnut St. without paying.

Feb. 26 — At about 9:45 a.m. an unknown suspect was reported to have removed merchandise from the Penn Bookstore located at 3601 Walnut St. without paying.

All information was provided by the Division of Public Safety.

The final game of the 2009-10 Ivy season brought a familiar story for the Penn men's basketball team.

A slow start that was capped by a 23-point Princeton run forced the Quakers to play catchup for the rest of the night.

And though Penn seemed poised for a second-half comeback the Tigers' solid free-throw shooting kept them in the lead en route to a 68-56 victory Tuesday night at Jadwin Gymnasium in Princeton N.J.

It was Princeton's 100th victory in the rivalry between the two teams (though Penn still leads all-time 122-100).

Led by sophomore Douglas Davis who scored 21 points on the night the Tigers (20-8 11-3 Ivy) did not once trail their opponents. Princeton shot 56.5 percent shooting from the field in the first half--including 5-for-10 from behind the arc

Meanwhile Princeton's strong defensive pressure held the Quakers (6-22 5-9) to 23.8 percent on roughly the same number of attempts as their opponents. The Tigers would end the first stanza ahead 40-14.

Penn came out strong after halftime scoring 42 points on 14-for-26 shooting from the field. Zack Rosen who went scoreless in the first half racked up 18 points after halftime and was his team's leading scorer.

Princeton meanwhile put forth a sloppy second-half effort and converted only 25 percent of its shots from the field.

But with 16 fouls in the second stanza the Red and Blue gave the Tigers ample opportunity to score at the line. Though the Quakers narrowed the gap to seven points with 2:16 left in play an intentional foul by Mike Howlett gave Princeton the chance to pull the lead back into double digits for the remainder of the game.

The Quakers closed their home schedule on a high note downing Dartmouth 78-68 last night.

On Senior Night Penn (6-21 5-8 Ivy) gave its two graduating players a night to remember despite playing before a crowd of just 2335 at the Palestra on the second night of spring break.

With the two senior honorees Drew Godwin and Justin Reilly in the starting lineup Penn dashed to a 10-2 lead in the opening minutes and never looked back handing Dartmouth (5-23 1-13) a loss in its final game of the season.

Though the night was about Penn’s seniors it was junior Jack Eggleston who stole the show scoring a career-high 25 points while nabbing 11 boards.

Fellow junior Dan Monckton rained in 14 points on the night while sophomore point guard Zack Rosen finished with 18. Rosen currently leads the Ivy League in points per game with 17.8.

Though Penn never pulled out of the Big Green’s sight the Quakers never fell behind Saturday leading by as much as 13 points three minutes into the second half. The margin fell to six with less than a minute to go but Penn closed the door in the final seconds.

Fittingly on senior night forward Justin Reilly scored Penn’s final points a slam-dunk as the clock ran down.

The Quakers will make the short road trip to Princeton N.J. Tuesday to close out their season against the rival Tigers. Penn has the chance to play spoiler as a Princeton loss would set their Ivy record at 10-4 even with Harvard in a tie for second place in the Ancient Eight.

A win for Penn would boost their record to 6-8 in the League which would tie them for fourth with Yale.

Overall crime in February rose by 17.4 percent as compared to last February according to Division of Public Safety crime statistics.

The percentage is in line with a year-to-date increase in crime which rose 13.2 percent as compared to the same period last year.

Like this past January the number of thefts from buildings is on the rise increasing by 250 percent from February 2009. This has brought the total number of thefts from buildings this year to 63 compared to 22 from the same period last year.

Retail thefts continued to decrease with a 40 percent drop this February compared to last February.

Violent crime decreased from eight reports in February last year to seven last month while year-to-date figures show 16 cases each for 2009 and 2010.

Of these one robbery was reported along with one aggravated assault and two simple assaults. Aggravated assault as a category involves more serious injury than simple assault.

Last February three cases of robbery and three cases of aggravated assault were reported altogether bringing the number for both of these types of crime last month marginally down.

Crimes against property have displayed a 23.7 percent increase with a total of 47 reported incidents this February versus last February’s 38. This is however a drop from the 56 cases reported in January 2010.

Two cases of burglary were reported this February compared to zero in February 2009. Both theft from auto and bike theft have also increased by one case bringing the number of incidents to seven and two respectively.

The number of walking escort requests submitted decreased by 15 percent compared to last February reaching a total of 678 by the end of the month.

DPS spokeswoman Stef Cella explained that though walking escort numbers tend to fluctuate last month's snow days may have decreased the need for requests since fewer people were on campus.

The Wharton School dropped to fourth place in BusinessWeek's 2010 Undergraduate Business School Rankings.

The school took third place last year after holding down the top spot for several years in a row.

Mendoza College of the University of Notre Dame is the highest ranked school for 2010 followed by McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia in second place and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management in third place.

BusinessWeek’s ranking scheme takes into consideration job placement after graduation student and recruiter surveys and average starting salaries among other factors.

Wharton received an A-plus for both teaching quality and job placement and an A in facilities and services. Mendoza and McIntire received A-pluses in these categories.

Wharton spokespersons were not immediately available for comment.

With under five minutes remaining the men's basketball team was poised to eliminate the Crimson's lingering hopes of grabbing a share of the Ivy title.

But Penn's seven-point lead quickly eroded when the Quakers threw the ball away – literally.

The Quakers committed five of their season-high 21 total turnovers in that five-minute span ultimately falling to the Crimson Friday night 67-66. Kyle Casey provided the winning margin on a pair of free throws with 12 seconds remaining.

The turnovers “might have gotten swept under the rug had we pulled it out” coach Jerome Allen said. “But you can’t win ballgames at the Division I level turning the ball over 21 times.”

Harvard’s full-court press decimated the Quakers (5-21 4-8 Ivy) in the final minutes allowing the Crimson (21-6 10-3) to end the game on an 11-3 run. Penn managed only two field goal attempts in the final two minutes of regulation.

The loss was especially tough for the Red and Blue given the success they had shooting the ball. Penn shot a season-high 61-percent from the field – including 58-percent from long range – but mustered 13 fewer attempts than the Crimson due to turnovers.

The Quakers' turnovers had a major impact early as Harvard raced out early to an eight point lead with five minutes to go in the first half. They went into the break holding onto a five point lead.

But Penn came out of the break fired up tying the game at 41 less than five minutes into the second frame. The team held a small lead for most of the second half until it faltered down the stretch.

Strong shooting from the guards allowed Penn to take that lead as junior Dan Mockton and sophomores Zack Rosen and Rob Belcore combined for 46 of the team’s 66 points. Belcore's 17 points and 5 three-pointers were both career highs.

“I just think him making shots gave us a chance to win the game” Allen said. “Overall offensively we didn’t do a good job offensively but a lot of guys were making big shots.”

But it was Harvard’s guards who ended up stealing the show. Highly touted senior Jeremy Lin finished with 19 points on 8-for-10 shooting and freshman point guard Brandyn Curry tallied 10 points and nine assists on the night.

The win keeps the Crimson’s postseason hopes alive as they still look to earn a bid to the National Invitational Tournament. Harvard’s season sweep of Penn is its first since 1942.

It was the second time in three games that the Quakers suffered a one-point loss after leading in the final minute . Last Friday Columbia forward Brian Grimes scored the go-ahead bucket with 2.7 seconds left.

This contest however the Quakers had more time to set up a final shot. Having burned their final timeouts in press break situations they immediately inbounded the ball to Rosen who drove the length of the court before dishing it to sophomore Mike Howlett. Howlett’s jumper was off the mark and Lin tipped the rebound away so the Quakers could not get off another shot.

So despite the signs of growth and success against a top-tier Ivy team the 2010 Quakers added another loss to their record number.

“You lose by one or you lose by 20 it’s still a loss” Allen said. “You really don’t start finding moral victories at this point especially after 21 losses.”

The University endowment has shown a “strong rebound” from last year but Penn is still faced with serious economic realities according to a statement from Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli.

The Associated Investments Fund which constitutes the majority of Penn's endowment investments has returned 13.7 percent as of December 31 2009 — the close of the second quarter in fiscal year 2010. This is “ahead of the benchmark” according to Carnaroli.

Penn's total endowment is valued at approximately $5.8 billion up from $5.17 billion at the close of FY 2009. Endowment goes toward purposes that tuition does not fully cover including faculty support financial aid and research.

The value of a dollar invested in the Associated Investments Fund is now within five percent of its June 2008 value according to Carnaroli.

Penn President Amy Gutmann said this means that Penn's "planning is on track" for this year. As long as the market remains more or less in its current position Penn will not have to cut into student services she said.

Still Gutmann remains "wise enough not to predict what the market will do” next year.

Peer institutions are also struggling with the economic climate.

Princeton University is projecting a 10-percent increase in its approximately $12.6 billion endowment during FY 2010 according to the Daily Princetonian.

Harvard University’s endowment is valued at $26 billion making it the largest of any U.S. university. Harvard plans to sell around $500 million in assets out of a roughly $5 billion real estate portfolio the Wall Street Journal reported in February.

This weekend students from more than 100 colleges will travel to Penn for the 2010 East Coast Asian American Student Union conference.

Approximately 1400 students from all over the East Coast and as far as Nevada and California are expected to attend. The turnout will make the conference the largest in ECAASU history according to Associate Director and College senior Edith Chao.

Participants said they are looking forward to the conference.

“I think it’s going to be the perfect start to spring break” volunteer and Engineering sophomore Brian Lee said.

“It’s going to be really crazy but all the energy of the people and the atmosphere will be amazing” Executive Director and Engineering senior Carlin Yuen said.

Organizers are excited to showcase Penn’s resources and support for the Asian American community according to Associate Director and Wharton and College junior Rohan Grover who is also the Asian Pacific Student Coalition chairman.

Even though the conference is scheduled for spring break weekend there has been no shortage of Penn volunteers — 150 students have signed up to help according to Yuen.

Planning the conference has been “almost a full-time job” Chao said but she added that the effort has been worthwhile because of its positive impact on Penn’s Asian American community and on freshmen in particular.

There are 130 workshops scheduled for this weekend.

Topics range from the perception of Asian Americans in mainstream media to breakdancing and a workshop entitled “Adventures in the World of Chinese Food” according to the ECAASU website.

Multiple performances are also scheduled for this weekend including one from Youtube star AJ Rafael.

The opening keynote address will be given by journalist Helen Zia who has written about issues affecting Asian American communities.

After workshops social and networking activities on Friday and Saturday the closing keynote address will be given by California congressman Mike Honda.

The planning experience has been hectic but after the conference is over the directors expect to miss all of the activity.

“All we do now is think about the conference and I feel like after we’re going to feel a sense of nostalgia” Yuen said.

Grover agreed. “ECAASU hasn’t just been a conference ­— it’s been a lifestyle.”

While the No. 3 Penn women’s lacrosse team has established a reputation for strong defensive play and a less prolific offense senior Ali DeLuca is doing her part to make opponents fear the Quakers’ attack.

DeLuca lit up the scoreboard with six goals in Penn’s opener against Drexel and didn’t let up last night. In a 15-3 pounding of Temple Wednesday she added another four — all coming in the first 23 minutes of the game.

“Opposing coaches think of Penn for our defense but we’ve been focusing on attack a lot” DeLuca said. “We want to be able to work the ball around take risks and be more of a threat.”

But DeLuca wasn’t the only major offensive presence for the Quakers (2-0).

Senior attack Courtney Lubbe demonstrated a strong eye for finding open cutters racking up six assists while sophomore Erin Brennan dished out another four in her season debut after she sat out against Drexel due to illness.

“We did a good job on winning draws and keeping balls on the offensive end” coach Karin Brower Corbett said. “We took it to them right up front.”

The attack appears to be hitting its stride at just the right time as the Quakers have a tough spring break schedule that could set the tone for the rest of their season.

Penn kicks off the break with a Saturday showdown against No. 4 North Carolina (5-0) in Chapel Hill N.C. and finishes with a home match with conference-rival Harvard (1-0) the following Sunday.

In between the Quakers will take on a Hofstra (2-1)team whose only loss this season came at the hands of No. 8 Notre Dame.

“It’s really important to come out and play a full sixty minutes especially against teams that we are not used to playing” said junior Giulia Giordano who recorded a hat trick against Temple (1-2).

Against the Tar Heels the Quakers will need a balanced effort in order to counter UNC’s speed and depth.

Although Penn recorded an 11-2 victory over the Tar Heels last year UNC improved throughout the season and reached the final round of the NCAA tournament. This year’s team is picking up right where it left off scoring 59 goals in the past three games.

“It’s a big game no question; they are extremely fast” Corbett said. “Although they graduated a great defender [Amber Falcone] they return their entire midfield and attack. There is a reason they are ranked where they are.”

While the contest with UNC will affect the Quakers’ national ranking Penn must wait until the next weekend to make a statement in the Ivy League.

On March 13 the Quakers will take on a Crimson opponent that has made strides under the leadership of third-year coach Lisa Miller.

“With our first League game we definitely want to show the Ivy League that we are back and that we want to get back to the Final Four” Giordano said. “Especially attack-wise we definitely want to make a statement.”