Sade Bonilla, an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Education, and colleagues found that high school students in the San Francisco Unified School District experienced academic benefits from participating in an ethnic studies course.
A specialized approach to mental health crisis care at HUP–Cedar
Penn’s Southwest Philadelphia crisis response center has expanded access, eased emergency department crowding, and connected more patients to ongoing mental health support.
Celebrating history and possibility on Market Street
As Philadelphia celebrates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, one of the City’s founding streets is back in the spotlight.
The design and elegance of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, celebrating its 100 year anniversary this month, is thanks to Paul Philippe Cret, the Weitzman School’s Chief of Design, explains William Whitaker, director of Weitzman’s Architectural Archives.
Philly Anthems: WXPN commemorates America 250 through local music
This month, WXPN rolls out its Philly Anthems project, featuring original songs from a Philadelphia-based group of seasoned and emerging musicians prompted by a timely theme: freedom.
Wharton MBA student Nick Dockery awarded Medal of Honor
Major Dockery, who retired from active duty in May, received the award for acts of gallantry while serving as a platoon leader in Kapisa Province, Afghanistan, in 2012.
Dolores Albarracín appointed new director of Annenberg Public Policy Center
Albarracín is a Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor with appointments in the Annenberg School for Communication and the School of Arts & Sciences. She is assuming the role from Kathleen Hall Jamieson, the inaugural director since 1993.
This walk-through of “A World in the Making: The Shakers,” free and open to the public, will be co-led by artist Amie Cunat and scholar Jayna Brown. Cunat will invite visitors inside her large-scale meetinghouse installation to discuss how historic Shaker architecture fuels her visual practice. Jayna Brown, a professor of theatre arts and performance studies at Brown University and the author of “Black Utopias: Speculative Life and the Music of Other Worlds,” will center the groundbreaking legacy of Philadelphia’s own Rebecca Cox Jackson and Rebecca Perot, both co-founders of the only Black-led Shaker settlement. Register to attend.
Participants in this workshop will learn how to create a visually compelling poster, communicate their research more effectively, and practice their “elevator pitch” skills. This program, free and open to the public, is primarily geared toward undergraduate and graduate students. 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.
Is buying a home still the way to wealth? Some Young americans aren’t sure
Broadly speaking, homes are a worse investment for first-time buyers today because wages haven’t kept up with surging prices and ownership costs, says Susan Wachter of the Wharton School.
“Absent confidence that we’ve created artificial minds capable of thinking and feeling, the care of minds damaged by diseases like Alzheimer’s ought to remain the work of humans judiciously supplemented and amplified by AI,” writes Jason Karlawish of the Perelman School of Medicine.
The next 250 years of American science depend on ordinary persistence, and the funding to sustain it
E. John Wherry of the Perelman School of Medicine writes that federal research support reflects a national decision that knowledge serving the public good is worth sustaining even when the payoff is distant.
US Healthcare founder and philanthropist Leonard Abramson dies at 94
Leonard Abramson donated $100 million to the University of Pennsylvania in 1997 to establish the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute. The gift at the time was the largest ever to a university cancer center.
