Penn in the News

The recent wave of campus activism over issues of gender and racial equity has presented a range of challenges for college lawyers, including the thorny question of how to protect free speech and sometimes conflicting demands from federal and state governments on transgender rights. Civil-rights issues arising from concerns like those were heavily discussed at the annual conference here this week of the National Association of College and University Attorneys, known as Nacua.

Dean Geoffrey Garrett of the Wharton School talks about how the elite in America have benefitted from globalization.

Aimee Payne, Michael Milone, Christoph Ellebrecht and Carl June of the Perelman School of Medicine are highlighted for using genetic engineering to treat leukemia.

Andrew Siegel of the Perelman School of Medicine and Dan Treglia of the School of Social Policy & Practice talk about collaborating with StreetChange, an app that allows people to donate to the homeless.

For professors, finding time to do research can be difficult. Especially if they are women. Numerous studies have found that female professors work the same number of hours as their male counterparts, but they spend less time on research and more time on other commitments. In a 2008 study by professors at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the University of Georgia, female participants spent an hour and a half less per week on research than their male counterparts. A big reason was that they spent an hour more on service and a half hour more on teaching.

A structural shift in the job market following the most recent economic recession has radically changed the composition of the American workforce, with four-year college graduates for the first time comprising a larger share of the workforce than those who got a high school diploma but don’t have a college degree, according to a report released Thursday by the Georgetown University Center on Education. Researchers at the center found that out of the 11.6 million jobs created in the post-recession economy, 11.5 million went to people with at least some college education.

For years they were considered the cash cows of academe, spinning off profits that could keep money-losing parts of the university afloat. But most law schools today are struggling to break even, buffeted by plummeting applications, a shrinking job market, and the constant pressure to avoid slipping in national rankings. First-year enrollment at the 204 J.D.-granting law schools accredited by the American Bar Association has fallen 30 percent from its peak six years ago. It’s slumped to its lowest level since 1973, when there were only 151 schools.

Mauro Guillén of the Wharton School discusses how Brexit has the potential to further fracture Europe’s economy.

Thomas Wadden of the Perelman School of Medicine suggests cutting daily caloric intake to help lose weight.

Marybeth Gasman of the Graduate School of Education comments on the increase in non-traditional black students attending historically black colleges and universities.