Dan Shortridge’s beats in the School of Arts & Sciences (SAS) include Political Science; History, International Relations; East Asian Languages and Civilizations; Middle Eastern Languages & Cultures; Francophone, Italian, and Germanic Studies; Russian and East European Studies; and Economics, as well as the Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy, The Lauder Institute (Wharton/SAS), Penn Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies (PORES), McNeil Center for Early American Studies, Penn Institute for Economic Research, the Center for Study of Contemporary China, Center for East Asian Studies, Christopher H. Browne Center for International Politics, Fels Institute of Government, and Center for the Study of Ethnicity, Race, & Immigration. In addition, he covers Penn Carey Law, the SNF Paideia Program, and for Penn Global he covers the China Research and Engagement Fund, Penn Washington, and Perry World House.
Pope Leo XIV at St. Peter’s Basilica after being chosen the 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church on May 8.
(Image: AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Q&A: The first American pope
Melissa Wilde of the Department of Sociology, whose research has led her to the Vatican Secret Archive, among other places, discusses the new Pope Leo XIV, the first American pontiff, and the implications for the Roman Catholic Church.
Benjamin Nathans, the Alan Charles Kors Endowed Term Professor of History, has been awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his book “To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement.”
(Image: Matthew Hamilton)
Benjamin Nathans wins 2025 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction
Nathans, the Alan Charles Kors Endowed Term Professor of History in the School of Arts & Sciences, has taught at Penn since 1998.
Christina Bartzokis is earning dual degrees from Penn Carey Law and the School of Social Policy & Practice, and is headed to Louisiana to start her practice as a public defender.
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Aiming for a ‘holistic representation’ career as dual-degree Law and SP2 grad
Christina Bartzokis worked as a Child Protective Services case worker for three years in rural Oregon. Now she’s set her sights on Louisiana, where she’ll serve as a public defender.
In conversation with Fariha Khan during the Asian American Food course, Rahim Ullah (standing) speaks about his food truck and experience immigrating to the United States.
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Connecting with Philadelphia’s immigrant Asian communities through food
Through the Asian American Food course with Fariha Khan, students explore the many depths of the immigrant experience of different Asian ethnic groups to learn about history and culture.
“We all have voice, and we can use it,” Gutmann said, encouraging all American’s to be ambassadors and to “speak up for constitutional ideals of liberty and justice for all.”
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Penn leaders-turned-diplomats reflect on American statecraft and foreign policy
In a conversation at Perry World House event on “Common Sense Diplomacy,” President Emerita Amy Gutmann and former trustee chair David Cohen shared insights and experiences.
Students explored Amsterdam with a bike tour and even a bicycle scavenger hunt.
(Image: Elizabeth Feeney)
Turning bicycles into an engineering study tool
Penn students explore the Netherlands’ cycling infrastructure and learn about bicycle design principles in Dustyn Roberts’ popular Penn Global Seminar.
Sophia Rosenfeld’s new book traces the history of the idea of choice. She likes to work on ideas that are “ubiquitous,” or so prevalent in society that we rarely talk about or even notice them.
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Exploring the history of making choices, small and large
In a new book, Sophia Rosenfeld of the Department of History chronicles the past and present of an elusive idea—choice—and what it has meant and still means for people and society.
(From left) Jackie Balanovsky, Glynn Boltman, Ki Joon Lee, and Geddy Lucier, all third-year students in the College of Arts and Sciences, work on their analysis of student loan complaint data during the 2025 PORES Hackathon.
(Image: Courtesy of Andrew Arenge)
‘Hacking’ data for insights and innovation
Penn student data science teams tackle large volumes of information as they compete for honors with the Penn Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies.
