Penn in the News

Shaun Harper of the Graduate School of Education is quoted about how the national black student population is “not a monolithic group” regarding ways to address racism on college campuses.

Kat Rosqueta of the School of Social Policy & Practice’s Center for High Impact Philanthropy is interviewed about charitable giving during the holiday season.

Where are massive open online courses now, and where are they going? Robert A. Rhoads, professor of education at the University of California at Los Angeles, tackles those questions in MOOCs, High Technology and Higher Learning (Johns Hopkins University Press), in which he places MOOCs in the broader context of open courseware. In the book, Rhoads formulates seven theses about MOOCs to frame his arguments, writing that the loosely defined “MOOC movement” presents problems of diversity, faculty life and academic freedom, among others.

John DiIulio of the School of Arts & Sciences is mentioned for guiding former students as they developed a data company that focuses on taking social-network analysis offline.

New graduates of elite colleges are concentrated in just a few career paths, in consulting, finance, and tech. Why is that? Amy J. Binder, a professor of sociology at the University of California at San Diego, wanted to find out, so she and her collaborators studied how students at Harvard and Stanford Universities are channeled into those fields — what the researchers call "career funneling." Their findings, which focus on the role universities themselves play in promoting certain careers, are out in a new paper published by the journal Sociology of Education. We caught up with Ms.

Low-income high school graduates were far less likely to enroll in higher education in 2013 than in 2008, a downward trend that came at the same time the Obama administration was pushing to boost college access and completion, according to a new analysis of Census Bureau data. College enrollment rates have fallen for all students since 2008, which is not surprising given that the economy has improved since then and therefore more young people can find jobs right out of high school.

Douglas Smith of the Perelman School of Medicine shares his advice about removing players from the field after suffering head trauma.

Complying with federal law governing sexual assault on campuses can be a complicated business. But the recent expulsion of a Middlebury College student accused of assaulting a fellow student on an overseas program — and the expelled student’s subsequent lawsuit — raises questions that stretch beyond the usual boundaries of campus rape: What if an alleged incident occurs while a student is studying abroad?

Shaun Harper of the Graduate School of Education says, “Simply having more students of color on a college campus does not ensure that they are going to feel included and respected.”

Joseph Barber of Career Services writes about the drawbacks job applicants face when job hunting.