University

When patient Carmello Torres walks into the clinic examining room at Cooper University Hospital, he knows the drill. First-year medical student Sara Zaidi, dressed in a white lab coat with a statoscope hanging from her neck, has seen him twice in the previous two months. Torres, 55, sits on the examining table, ready to answer questions about his acid reflux and a new health issue: His left hand, broken five years ago, is causing him intense pain at night. Zaidi, a member of the inaugural class at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, looks forward to her days at the Camden Community Collaborative Practice, a free health-care clinic the school sponsors for uninsured Camden residents.

  The Chester County Hospital and Health System said Friday that it will join the University of Pennsylvania Health System. Chester County announced in August that it would search for a partner after management decided that the $150 million to $275 million needed over the next decade to fulfill its vision for the institution was more than it could get on its own. "Throughout this process we spoke with many excellent organizations, but...

HARRISBURG - Pennsylvania higher education officials are heading back to the negotiating table with the union representing state university faculty. The sides are to meet Friday for the first discussions since Dec. 11. Members of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties have been working without a contract for about 18 months. Bargaining has stalled over issues including pay for part-time instructors, health-care benefits, and compensation for online education.

Lloyd H. Elliott, 94, the president of George Washington University who helped shepherd its transition from a regional commuter school in the mid-1960s to an institution of growing academic prominence in the late 1980s, died Tuesday at the university's hospital in Washington. Dr. Elliott had a brain hemorrhage after falling twice, his family said. During his tenure as university president from 1965 to 1988, he sought to steer clear of political battles and guard the independence of an institution just blocks from the White House.

Temple University's incoming president will take office Monday, but will postpone laying out his agenda in an inauguration speech until October. Neil D. Theobald, whose inauguration had been scheduled for April, said he wanted more time to learn about the 39,000-student university before formulating a solid plan for the future. "The goal is to listen - what should our priorities be? - and discuss them," said Theobald, 56, who has just finished his tenure as senior vice president and chief financial officer at Indiana University.

Imagine a particle 1/10,000 of a cross-section of a human hair. That's the size of a protein, way smaller than a cell. Bernardo Cordovez, 29, and his partners have come up with something they call a NanoTweezer that allows them to pick up and move that kind of teeny-tiny particle using a laser beam of light. There's been a lot of talk about trying to bring high-tech, high-potential businesses to Philadelphia, and the story behind how Cordovez's very small company, Optofluidics Inc., landed here provides an object lesson.

Technology-transfer efforts at universities are in a fishbowl. The fingers of critics in Congress and at the entrepreneurship think tank Kauffman Foundation tap the glass as they advocate stripping the monopoly authority granted tech-transfer offices by law for patent and license academic research. Some want to see more economic bang for the billions in federal bucks spent. Todd Sherer , president of the Association of University Technology Managers , has heard the percussive beats.

What began as an effort to enrich the experience of its students has led to a musical coup for Temple University. Two compositions nominated for Grammy Awards were commissioned, performed, and recorded by the school's orchestra. "This is icing on the cake for us," said Robert Stroker, Temple vice provost for the arts, speaking of the Dec. 5 Grammy nominations for works by the late Dave Brubeck and his son Chris, and by another jazzman, Bill Cunliffe. "I'm thrilled for the kids and the faculty, and for Temple.