Penn in the News

The U.S. Department of Education introduced a new rule on June 13 that could have an outsize negative impact on historically black colleges and universities. And no one noticed. As the former president of Bennett College -- the nation’s oldest historically black college for women -- I have been honored to play a role in increasing the immense opportunities HBCUs have provided to black students and other students of color over the past 150 years.

The University of Wisconsin at Madison got a call on Saturday saying a group of bicyclists on the campus had their heads buried in their smartphones, and were weaving in and out of traffic. The caller offered a theory: They were playing Pokémon Go. Since late last week, officials at colleges across the country have noticed the swift adoption of the game, which players download onto their mobile phones.

Research led by David Mandell of the Perelman School of Medicine about children who are diagnosed and treated for autism spectrum disorder due to state mandates that require health insurers to provide services is highlighted.

Most scientists are accustomed to spending time in a lab. But for many humanities scholars, the lab is unfamiliar territory. The humanities lab aims to change that. Faculty members and students in humanities labs seek to use inquiry to advance collaborative, often interdisciplinary research. The emphasis isn't on the type of experiments one might find in a physics lab, but on the collaborative aspect of conducting research together.

Peter Dodson of the School of Veterinary Medicine and the School of Arts & Sciences is quoted about the future of dinosaur paleontology careers.

Michael Perlis of the Perelman School of Medicine offers advice on what to do after a night of insomnia.

Undergraduate women at larger, public universities are at greater risk of becoming victims of rape than those at smaller, private colleges, a new study suggests. The study, published in the journal Violence and Gender, examined data from the Online College Social Life Survey, which was conducted between 2005 to 2011 and contained responses from about 16,000 female students at 22 institutions.

If things had gone according to the administration’s plans, the 24-campus City University of New York would have a new free-speech policy by now. But that didn’t happen. CUNY’s Board of Trustees was to vote on a proposed policy at its June 27 meeting, but the decision has been postponed indefinitely. "It was clear from testimony at the public hearing on June 20, 2016, and other communications that there are questions and concerns about the proposed policy," the online calendar for the meeting reads.

Clay Shirky stares into the camera in front of him as he reaches the core of his argument. “The social network is the human connection,” the associate professor of journalism at New York University and writer of all things internet says, turning to highlight an illustration on a digital blackboard of large and small clusters of connected users on social media.

Richard Berk of the School of Arts & Sciences is highlighted for leading the effort to develop an algorithm for pretrial decisions.