Penn alum nominated as U.S. Representative to the United Nations
President Barack Obama has nominated Penn alumnus Joseph M. Torsella to be the Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations for U.N. Management and Reform, with the rank of Ambassador, pending Senate approval.
Torsella is currently Chairman of the Pennsylvania State Board of Education. He was formerly the founding President and CEO of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Torsella also served in the mayoral administration of then Philadelphia Mayor and now Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell, becoming the youngest Deputy Mayor in City history.
A 1986 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the College with a degree in economics and history, Torsella also did graduate work as a Rhodes Scholar at New College, Oxford University following his years at Penn.
“I am delighted that Joe will have an opportunity to put his exceptional leadership skills to work on a global level,” says Penn President Amy Gutmann. “We congratulate him on his nomination.”
Materials in the Annenberg School for Communication Library Archives include thousands of TV scripts, the first issue of TV Guide, and interviews about the early days of HBO—which help to chronicle TV’s 100-year story.
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.
Winter Storm Fern brought icy and snowy conditions to the Northeast and other parts of the country over the weekend. Penn Today asks physicist Robert Carpick about the unique properties of ice, the science of curling, and how close we are to ‘nonslip’ ice.
Organizations like Penn’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships foster collaborations between Penn and public schools in the West Philadelphia community.
Penn receives national distinction for community engagement
The recognition by the American Council on Education and Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching acknowledges Penn’s long-standing commitment to community-engaged scholarship and partnerships in West Philadelphia and beyond.
