I was reading an article today and it covered some very valid points on user experience with WordPress. One of its points was that the profile should go under the Dashboard menu. I like this idea but not sure if it could be done.
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You could just write a custom Dashboard Widget:
Tutorial
How to Add Custom Dashboard Widgets in WordPress
In this article we will show you how you can customize dashboard widgets in WordPress.
Documentation
Dashboard Widgets API
The Dashboard Widgets API (added in WP 2.7) makes it very simple to add new widgets to the administration dashboard. Doing so requires working knowledge of PHP and the WordPress Plugin API, but to plugin or theme authors familiar with hooking actions and filters it only takes a few minutes and can be a great way to make your plugin even more useful.