News Archives

Penn’s Founders Day Symposium Panelists to Discuss Forbidden Knowledge, Censorship in Arts and Sciences

WHAT: The University of Pennsylvania’s fifth annual Founders Day Symposium, celebrating the 304th anniversary of the birth of Penn founder Benjamin Franklin. This year’s event will feature six Penn scholars discussing “Forbidden Knowledge: Art, Science and Censorship.” Significant audience participation is encouraged. WHO:

Examining education in Franklin's age

  It’s well known that Ben Franklin had definite ideas about education. In his 1749 pamphlet, “Proposals Relating to the Youth in Pensilvania,” he laid out his vision for educating students, which included an English language-based curriculum, and schools that were secular, independent entities.

Staff Q&A/Marilyn Kraut

  Just a few decades ago, employers couldn’t be counted on to provide workers with childcare, wellness classes or flex time. The deal was employers provided a stable work environment, and employees kept their jobs as long as they were reliable and responsible.

Penn Awarded Funding for Critical Zone Observatory Project

PHILADELPHIA –- Environmentalists from the University of Pennsylvania have been awarded a $4.35 million, five-year grant from the National Science Foundation to establish a Critical Zone Observatory in Puerto Rico.

Penn’s Project for Civic Engagement Hosts Workshops on the Public Engagement Process of City’s New Zoning Code

 PHILADELPHIA — The University of Pennsylvania Project for Civic Engagement, in partnership with the Philadelphia chapter of the American Institute of Architects (under its umbrella organization of the Center for Architecture) and media partner WHYY will host a series of deliberative workshops to provide input to the Zoning Code Commission about the public engagement process of Philadelphia’s new zoning code.

"Silence Dogood: An Installation by Miler Lagos" at Penn’s Arthur Ross Gallery

PHILADELPHIA — “Silence Dogood: An Installation by Miler Lagos,” which opens at the University of Pennsylvania’s Arthur Ross Gallery on Jan. 27, transforms nearly four tons of recycled newspapers into a sculpted “forest.”Contemporary Colombian multi-media artist Lagos will create this site-specific installation during his three-week residency as a Distinguished International Scholar, a grant awarded to the Gallery through the Office of the Provost at Penn.

Penn Study Shows Antidepressants Work Best for Severe Depression, Provide Little to No Benefit Otherwise

PHILADELPHIA –- A study of 30 years of antidepressant-drug treatment data published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that the benefit of antidepressant medication compared with placebo may be minimal or nonexistent in patients with mild or moderate symptoms. University of Pennsylvania researchers say, however, the benefit of medications is substantial for patients with very severe depression.

Genetic Study Led by University of Pennsylvania and Cornell Clarifies African and African-American Ancestry

PHILADELPHIA –- People who identify as African-American may be as little as 1 percent West African or as much as 99 percent, just one finding of a large-scale, genome-wide study of African and African-American ancestry released today.

Penn-led genetic study clarifies African and African-American ancestry

An international research team led by Sarah Tishkoff, the David and Lyn Silfen University Associate Professor at Penn, has released its analysis of 365 African Americans, 203 people from 12 West African populations and 400 Europeans from 42 countries to provide a deeper genome-wide understanding of African and African-American ancestry.

Penn Law students help reform state criminal law