Penn student athletes build community and camaraderie
A showcase of student athletes kicking off their fall team training. Members of four teams highlight the community spirit on the field and in the workout room.
Justin Parent on unlocking the science of resilience in kids
Penn GSE associate professor Justin Parent investigates how childhood adversity becomes biologically embedded, with the goal of identifying opportunities to intervene early and help children thrive.
How Penn researchers are advancing knowledge of psychedelics
Adding their expertise in psychiatry, medical ethics, nursing, history, and more, faculty and students are shaping conversations on treatments that show promise for helping people with various mental health conditions.
It’s been 50 years since Legionnaires’ disease was discovered in Philadelphia. David Barnes, associate professor of history and sociology of science, says people can learn a lot from that moment.
Awards and accolades for Penn faculty and recent graduate
Members of Penn faculty and a Class of 2026 graduate in Penn Carey Law, Penn Nursing, the Weitzman School, and the Wharton School received awards and honors in their fields.
Healthcare epidemiologist and infectious diseases specialist Judy O’Donnell gives facts about measles and its symptoms and important information regarding vaccination and immunity.
Reaching for the stars: Using light to sail into space
Multiple projects trace mechanical engineer Igor Bargatin’s decade-long commitment to space exploration as they climb from the edge of the atmosphere to the stars—powered, almost every time, by light itself.
Penn’s 287th academic year formally kicked off with Convocation, where Penn President J. Larry Jameson declared the start of the Class of 2030’s ‘Penn odyssey.’
This informal reception will provide a chance to get to know the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy and opportunities at the Center for students, meet faculty and staff, and share insights. The program will take place in the Kleinman Center’s Energy Forum, located on the 4th floor of the Fisher Fine Arts Building. Light refreshments will be served. Free and open to the Penn community.
This monthly student-run open mic night welcomes all kinds of readings and performances. With a sign-up sheet on arrival, participants will have three minutes to perform. Bring your poetry, your guitar, your dance troupe, your award-winning essay, or your flash fiction to share—or just visit to celebrate the work of classmates, colleagues, and fellow writers. Free and open to the Penn community.
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.
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.
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.
Emily Wilson’s ‘Odyssey’ became a cultural flashpoint. Now, she’s retranslating the whole thing
“It’s a complete retranslation. It’s not a revision of the old version,” says Emily Wilson of the School of Arts & Sciences. “I’m about halfway through.”
I study successful people. They have one habit in common.
“Being a successful self-starter doesn’t mean pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. It’s raising your hand and asking a teacher to explain, once again, a concept you still don’t understand,” writes Angela Duckworth of the Wharton School. “It’s not just stoically making the best of a bad situation — it’s proactively making your situation more supportive. Don’t assume you’re being a burden when you reach out asking for help.”
Pa. may ban cellphones in schools. Some Delco and Hershey educators say they’re already seeing results—without pouches
“I think that the same way that we should have discussions as parents with our kids on what they eat, how they handle themselves in the world, when they go outside of the house, how they should behave in terms of their safety — we should talk about cellphones in a similar manner,” says Ran Barzilay of the Perelman School of Medicine.
Burnout among psychiatric nurses is high. What can hospitals do to improve?
To reduce nursing burnout, Justinna Dixon of the School of Nursing says, “One of the main takeaways is that 40% of current inpatient psychiatric nurses right now are burned out...Staffing was a huge driver of these outcomes, the impact of the work environment on the poor job outcomes of the nurses.”
