Lynn Meskell is the Richard D. Green Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor in the Department of Anthropology in the School of Arts & Sciences, a professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning and the graduate program in Historic Preservation in the Stuart Weitzman School of Design, and a curator in the Middle East and Asia sections at the Penn Museum.
(Image: Eric Sucar)
Studying the past through a modern-day lens
In a Q & A, archaeologist and PIK Professor Lynn Meskell discusses her background, the subjects that interest her—from espionage to World Heritage sites—and collaborations that have organically arisen at Penn despite the pandemic and a mostly remote first year.
(Homepage image) As a scholar, Fakhreddine works hard to retain as much of a poem as possible when it moves from Arabic to another language. “It’s a challenge that all translation involves. We talk about what’s lost and what’s gained,” she says. “It’s all exaggerated here with these short musical pieces. Their meaning is ground in their sound.”
The ‘music’ of one poet’s words, translated
With help from her daughter, scholar Huda Fakhreddine published an English version of 30 poems for children written by her father in Arabic, paying tribute to their endearing and enduring subject matter and to the musicality and richness of their sound.
Senior Rachel Swym (left) was a summer intern with alumna Leanne Huebner at the educational nonprofit Minds Matter, and they have continued their connection ever since.
Mentor support for the first-generation college experience
Three decades apart, senior Rachel Swym and alumna Leanne Huebner found a common bond in their rural backgrounds and first-generation, highly aided college experience.
A novel theory on how conspiracy theories take shape
In a new book, Dolores Albarracín, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, and colleagues show that two factors—the conservative media and societal fear and anxiety—have driven recent widespread conspiracies, from Pizzagate to those around COVID-19 vaccines.
Homepage image: Students brought their own expertise to the experience of working with the archival materials, including translation of Chinese characters written on the back of photographs. Working together (center) were College freshmen (from left) Louis Dong, Nancy (Ziqi) An, and Alice (Yucheng) Feng.
From the archives, a class on different communities of Jews in China
Kathryn Hellerstein created an opportunity for her first-year seminar students to study archival material from a collection donated to the Penn Libraries by her mentor, Israeli scholar Irene Eber.
Pre-arrival and gateway testing for the start of the spring semester
Penn Today provides details on COVID-19 testing requirements for students, postdocs, faculty, and staff who are either enrolled in courses this spring or are coming to campus regularly.
The Class of 2022 has eight visual studies majors, including (from left) Zuqi Fu of Beijing, Eli Ricanati of Santa Monica, California, and Morgan Jones of Albany, New York.
The philosophy of visual studies
Founded 20 years ago, the interdisciplinary major of visual studies creates a bridge for students to combine interests, including philosophy, art history, architecture, fine arts, and psychology.
As the college football season comes to a close, the fifth-year senior discusses his career as a Quaker, takeaways from Penn’s season, his plans for the future, and his pick for Monday's national championship game.
This fall, students in Math 123, one of Penn’s Academically Based Community Service (ABCS) courses, applied the skills they learned about math education and communication while working with tenth graders in West Philadelphia.
Math education and engagement in West Philadelphia
This fall, students in Math 123 applied the skills they learned about math education and communication while working with 10th graders at Paul Robeson High School.
Laura Guerrero Peña (second from left), a senior studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Queens, New York, worked at Share Food Program over the fall semester.
Fighting food insecurity
Students from the Fox Leadership Program have lent their time and expertise to hunger organizations for more than a decade, and during the pandemic they’ve upped their involvement to meet the growing need.
