Penn marks 31st annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service and Symposium
The Day of Service on Jan. 19 includes multiple volunteer and educational opportunities honoring Martin Luther King Jr., with more than 30 activities and celebrations continuing through Feb. 6.
Bridging urban studies and psychology to tackle housing instability
Building on his working helping psychology professor Sara Jaffee evaluate PHLHousing+, Philadelphia’s monthly cash assistance pilot program, fourth-year Stefan Hatch has focused on housing instability in two senior research projects for his majors, urban studies and psychology.
While big tech and market forces get much of the blame for the decline of news media, Barbie Zelizer makes the bold claim in her new book that problematic journalistic practices that became entrenched during the Cold War are responsible for the current issues facing journalism, such as inadequate funding and declining public trust.
People with PCOS can take birth control to alleviate symptoms without increasing heart disease
The findings, from researchers at Penn Medicine, challenge the current practice of combining birth control and metformin to moderate risks from birth control in women with polycystic ovary syndrome.
Gene therapy ‘switch’ may offer non-addictive pain relief
In a preclinical study, Penn Medicine researchers have uncovered a new gene therapy that targets only pain signals while leaving the rest of the brain untouched.
Penn biophysicist Arnold Mathijssen uncovers how and why E. coli manage to swim upstream causing infections in challenging places such as the urinary tract, respiratory system, and catheters, pointing to new strategies for designing safer, more effective biomedical tools and treatments.
Ahead of the main event on July 4, 2026, marking the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Penn students, faculty, and staff will have multiple early opportunities to engage with America’s 250th anniversary.
Centering joy in AI development and implementation
PIK Professor Desmond Upton Patton—of Annenberg and SP2—and collaborators introduce a joy-informed framework designed to initiate conversations among engineers, designers, and researchers.
Organized by the Environmental Law Project and the Weitzman School of Design, this symposium will focus on environmental justice in Philadelphia. Attendees will explore how environmental law, landscape architecture, and city and regional planning can address issues of environmental justice in Philadelphia’s urban landscapes. Free and open to the public. Register to attend.
A person cycles past the skyline in Philadelphia shrouded in haze, Thursday, June 8, 2023. Intense Canadian wildfires are blanketing the northeastern U.S. in a dystopian haze, turning the air acrid, the sky yellowish gray and prompting warnings for vulnerable populations to stay inside.
Nursing the Revolution: Care Work in Revolutionary America
This symposium will unite scholars of 18th-century nursing; early American healers; Indigenous, African, and European care practices; and Revolutionary War era military medicine and battlefield care, including related areas of focus, to discuss how the Revolutionary War—as a major health crisis—shaped healthcare labor in the early national United States. Free and open to the Penn community. Register to attend.
Penn’s guiding principles are the University’s enduring values and distinctive strengths: anchored, inventive, interwoven, and engaged. The practices support and strengthen Penn’s core educational mission.
At Penn Today, we focus on some of the ways the University is putting this framework into action. From student, faculty, and staff profiles to research updates and event coverage, Penn Today highlights the latest examples of the University’s principled approach to excellence.
Penn Forward’s Access, Affordability, and Value co-chairs on creating opportunity
As co-chairs of Penn Forward’s Access, Affordability, and Value working group, Sara Bachman, dean of the School of Social Policy & Practice, and Patrick Harker, a professor and dean emeritus of the Wharton School, discuss breaking down barriers and opening pathways.
A conversation with Penn Forward’s Global Opportunity and New Markets co-chairs
In a Q&A with Ezekiel Emanuel and Megan Ryerson, co-chairs of the Global Opportunity and New Markets working group for Penn Forward, the duo discuss the charge of their group, where they are in the process, and leaning into global engagement.
Through Penn First Plus, students unlock potential and purpose
Providing first-generation and limited-income students with a comprehensive array of support, Penn First Plus equips undergraduates for success during and after their time at Penn.
The eighth annual Penn Local Business Exchange brought together entrepreneurs, city officials, and University buyers to swap insights and build relationships.
Angela Duckworth of the School of Arts & Sciences and Jonathan Zimmerman of the Graduate School of Education were included on the 2026 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings.
