How artists have depicted—and shaped—society’s relationship with the sea
In recognition of the summer season and beach vacations, Penn Today spoke with history of art professor Ann Kuttner about ancient Roman portrayals of the sea and Ph.D. student Benjy Jude about 19th-century French seascapes.
Barbie Zelizer: A career built on asking the right question
As the Raymond Williams Professor of Communication retires after three decades, the Annenberg School for Communication and the field itself bear the unmistakable imprint of her work.
Documenting architecture and memories of a changing neighborhood
A film by Penn fine arts professor David Hartt about Watts, a historically Black neighborhood in Los Angeles, is one of five videos included in ‘Freedom Dreams,’ an exhibition at the Barnes in Philadelphia that centers the “memories, dreams, and histories of Black Americans.”
Amyloid removal may reduce tau buildup and neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease
In a brain autopsy of a Penn Medicine clinical trial participant, regions cleared of amyloid showed little tau buildup, while nearby areas with persistent amyloid had greater signs of damage.
How mismanagement of gout could have impacted the American Revolution
Penn biology professor Philip A. Rea has written a provocative piece examining how gout sidelined two influential 18th-century British leaders and why England eschewed an effective gout treatment.
The impact of microplastics—and how to limit exposure
Microplastics researchers Samantha McBride and Derek Ho of Penn Engineering and Vijay Bhatia of the Philadelphia Water Department discuss how microplastics get into ecosystems and human bodies, offering practical ways to minimize exposure.
Examining the important and changing landscape of children’s media
Penn Today talked to Annenberg’s Kim Woolf about communication theories of children’s relationships to media and how the children’s media ecosystem has evolved—topics she covers in the Children and the Media class.
The Shakers: Black Visionary Practices in Collective Life
The Institute of Contemporary Art will host a conversation between featured artist and choreographer Reggie Wilson, whose work explores the intersections of African diasporic and Shaker traditions through movement and embodied research, and artist and composer Jean-Marc Superville Sovak, whose practice engages Black history, spirituality, and collective memory through music, performance, and storytelling. This panel considers the histories, legacies, and representations of Black Shakers. Free and open to the public. Register to attend.
This talk will share the results of a carbon footprint assessment of Penn Libraries’ digital collections environments. Participants will learn how storage decisions, redundancy, and system design can shape environmental impact. The session will also introduce a framework for measuring and tracking sustainability in digital preservation over time. Free and open to the public. Register to attend.
A University-wide initiative to shape Penn’s future
Guided by Penn’s strategic framework, In Principle and Practice, Penn Forward launched in September 2025 with six working groups of faculty, staff, students, and postdoctoral scholars who challenged legacy assumptions and proposed bold, actionable strategies to advance Penn’s mission and strengthen operations.
Penn Forward’s initial nine priority initiatives aim to build trust with those we serve, enable bold discovery, and extend Penn’s geographic reach and impact across a lifetime. Learn more about these initiatives and follow along with Penn Today as Penn continues to drive forward.
Penn’s community engagement progress at the turn of the century
The third installment in the limited series ‘Chapters of Change’ explores how Penn has led community engagement efforts in public education, economic development, and neighborhood prosperity during a time of widespread change in the nation’s cities.
Chapters of Change: Thirty years of life sciences transformation at Penn
In the fourth and final installment of the series, ‘Chapters of Change’ highlights another transformational moment in Penn’s past when the evolution of life sciences research sparked the University to commit to investing in new research facilities and cross-disciplinary collaboration.
How the Quaker Commitment empowered one student to create her path at Penn
Gabrielle Fine, a fourth year in the Wharton School and recipient of financial aid from the Quaker Commitment, will graduate in May with an interdisciplinary skillset and new perspectives from a global adventure and local engagement.
Chapters of Change: The blossom of Penn’s professional schools in the 19th century
‘Chapters of Change’ highlights key moments of change in Penn’s history, adapting to shifts in society. In the 19th century, the University faced industrialization and more by creating some of its first professional schools.
‘The Odyssey’ is the hit of the summer—the epic poem, not just the film
Emily Wilson of the School of Arts & Sciences, whose translation of “The Odyssey” inspired Christopher Nolan's film adaptation, has been a popular choice for book clubs.
Could daylight saving time become the new American standard? New bill reawakens debate
“Under permanent daylight-saving time, we just get many more weeks or months where the sun doesn’t come up until after 8 a.m.,” says Indira Gurubhagavatula of the Perelman School of Medicine.
City promises to replace all trees knocked down during microbursts
“[Trees] also mitigate urban heat islands. … They’re very important with intercepting rain and stormwater in order to slow down runoff and reduce the possibilities of flooding,” says Dean Frederick Steiner of the Weitzman School of Design.
“We had already done that with prescribing buprenorphine for opioid use disorder,” says Kit Delgado of the Perelman School of Medicine, who developed “nudges” for emergency department providers to ask patients about their alcohol concerns.
