4.21
Undergraduate Students
Two Yenching Scholars for Penn
Senior Patrick Beyrer and 2020 graduate Brook Jiang have been selected as 2021 Yenching Scholars, awarded full funding to pursue an interdisciplinary master’s degree in China studies at the Yenching Academy of Peking University in Beijing.
Increasing access for students on ‘Faculty Fridays’
For the past few years, PennCAP has hosted “Faculty Fridays” as a means to better connect first generation, lower-income students with the University’s professors. These efforts have continued virtually during COVID-19.
Penn Glee Club becomes fully gender inclusive after 159 years of all-male singers
The Penn Glee Club and Penn Sirens are merging, meaning that for the first time since its founding 159 years ago, the Glee Club will include singers of all genders and will perform repertoire for soprano and alto voices, in addition to tenor and bass, and for all four voice parts.
‘Opening doors’ to a Penn education
A virtual celebration showcased the Undergraduate Named Scholarship Program and its importance, especially in strengthening the vibrant, diverse community that exists on the University’s campus.
Student financial ambassadors promote financial wellness
A new team of student financial ambassadors offer peer one-on-one counseling and workshops on personal finance basics as part of the program launched this spring.
A Q&A with Trina Sokoloski, house director of New College House West
As New College House West prepares to welcome its inaugural residents this fall, House Director Trina Sokoloski talks with Penn Today about what to expect and what it means to build a new community
Celebrating women of color ‘At the table’
The annual Women of Color award ceremony celebrated its 34th year in an online event led by the Women of Color at Penn Planning Committee and the African American Resource Center.
Husnaa Haajarah Hashim sees poetry as transformative
As poetry is in the national spotlight following the Biden inauguration, junior Husnaa Haajarah Hashim, a Philadelphia Youth Poet Laureate, reflects on her writing and scholarship.
Niko Simpkins: At the nexus of engineering and music
For Niko Simpkins, a musician who performs, produces, and engineers his own tracks, the most exciting processes combine structure and flexibility, creativity, and rigor. As a third-year student in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, he sees his mechanical engineering education as a framework for problem solving that might serve him across a broad set of endeavors, and for now, he’s more interested in learning than narrowing to any one particular career path.
New Projects for Progress prize designed to promote equity and inclusion
Applications are now open for a new University initiative, Projects for Progress, which will award prizes of as much as $100,000 to support proposals by teams of students, faculty, and staff designed to promote equity and inclusion and make a direct impact in Philadelphia.
In the News
University of Penn nursing student co-creates product to help frontline workers care for patients in the dark
Anthony Scarpone-Lambert, a senior in the School of Nursing, spoke about the wearable nightlight he helped develop. The invention allows nurses to check on patients at night without turning on bright white lights. "On average, patients regularly report poor quality of sleep as their number one complaint during hospitalization," he said.
FULL STORY →
These Penn students have helped send more than 13,000 letters to front-line workers
Undergraduate students Rupa Palanki and Preethi Kumaran worked with peers to found an initiative to send letters of appreciation to front-line workers during the pandemic.
FULL STORY →
College student’s simple invention helps nurses work and patients rest
Anthony Scarpone-Lambert, a senior in the School of Nursing, collaborated with a nurse to invent a wearable LED that nurses can use to illuminate their work without waking sleeping patients. “I would say it’s been through COVID that this kind of innovation came to life,” he said. “It highlights the really important message that frontline health care workers and patients really deserve more support now more than ever.”
FULL STORY →
4 teams head into finals of collegiate a cappella championship
Penn Masala is among four teams heading into the final rounds of an a cappella championship, singing a mashup of Ed Sheeran’s “Castle On The Hill” and the Bollywood song “Ilahi.”
FULL STORY →
Meet Chloe Gong, one of the year’s best-selling authors
College of Arts and Sciences senior Chloe Gong of New Zealand was interviewed about her best-selling book “These Violent Delights,” a reimagining of “Romeo and Juliet.”
FULL STORY →
Penn student who aged out of foster care wins prestigious Rhodes Scholarship
May graduate Mackenzie Fierceton has been named a Rhodes Scholar, which will allow her to study at Oxford University in England.
FULL STORY →