A number of anthropology courses related to health and nutrition are taught by Professor Francis Johnston. Johnston is a medical anthropologist who specializes in human growth, development, and nutritional status in Guatemala and other third world nations. As part of their coursework in urban and medical anthropology, Penn students teach a nutrition curriculum and work with Turner students to publish a nutrition textbook appropriate to this African American community. The middle-school pupils learn about healthy nutrition habits and the basic science related to nutrition, and collaborate on school and community health improvement projects. An ongoing study of the nutrition status of Turner's students is underway.
Parent involvement is also on the rise, as is the rate of student promotions.
Over the last three years, the number of seniors graduating from University City High School has doubled. When Harvard wanted to start up a similar community partnership program several years ago, it looked to Penn's model for inspiration. I really cannot tell you how much I believe in the value of what is being done in those courses. They give our students a problem-oriented experience in learning, and all the research literature shows that the best learning takes place, not in studying theories and abstract forms, but in solving concrete problems. I am committed to getting first rate faculty involved in that effort as an important definition of their contribution to undergraduate education at Penn.