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Louisa Shepard

Senior News Officer
  • lshepard@upenn.edu
  • 215-573-8151
  • Louisa Shepard

    Louisa Shepard covers English, history of art, music, theater, classical studies, and cinema and media studies, among other subject areas, in the School of Arts and Sciences. She also supports coverage for the Kelly Writers House, the Graduate School of Education, the Penn Libraries, the Penn Museum, the Arthur Ross Gallery, and the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships, as well as fine arts in the Stuart Weitzman School of Design. 

    Articles from Louisa Shepard
    From the Archives: Photograph of Penn’s first female law graduate
    43 people sitting and standing on the steps of College Hall

    University of Pennsylvania Law School Class of 1883 group portrait on the steps of College Hall in 1883. Caroline Burnham Kilgore, the first female graduate of Penn Law is top row, center. The photo is a gift of Peter Conn of Penn’s School of Arts & Sciences.

    (Image: Broadbent and Taylor, courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania Archives and Records Center)

    From the Archives: Photograph of Penn’s first female law graduate

    A photo in the University Archives pictures 43 members of the Penn Law School graduating class of 1883 on the steps of College Hall. Among them is Caroline Burnham Kilgore, the first woman to enter the law school, to receive a law degree, and to be admitted to the Pennsylvania bar.

    3 min. read

    Recording oral histories in rural Uganda
    A person being interviewed by Penn students in a Ugandan village.

    Image: Courtesy of Penn Global

    Recording oral histories in rural Uganda

    As part of the Penn Global Seminar, Global Jewish Communities, 15 students traveled to rural Uganda in January to film oral histories that will become part of the Shoah Foundation archive.

    8 min. read

    Penn fourth-year Annabelle Jin named 2025-26 Luce Scholar
    Annabelle Jin standing outside in the sunshine

    Penn fourth-year student Annabelle Jin is one of 16 students chosen as a 2025-26 Luce Scholar by the Henry Luce Foundation.

    (Image: Courtesy of Annabelle Jin)

    Penn fourth-year Annabelle Jin named 2025-26 Luce Scholar

    Annabelle Jin, a fourth-year student in the College of Arts and Sciences, is one of 16 recipients selected by the Henry Luce Foundation to be a 2025-26 Luce Scholar.
    Patti Smith as a Kelly Writers House Fellow
    Patti Smith and Al Filreis at microphones.

    Smith and Filreis held a public discussion, filled with her stories and readings of her works, on the morning of Feb. 25.

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    Patti Smith as a Kelly Writers House Fellow

    Singer, songwriter, poet, author, and musician Patti Smith was in residence at the Kelly Writers House for two days, telling stories about the people in her life throughout the decades, reading passages from her books, and performing her songs.
    Penn announces seven 2025 Thouron Scholars
    a composite with seven headshot photos

    Penn’s 2025 Thouron Scholars are (left to right): (top) Benjamin Cohen, Alexander Gerlach, Joy Gong, and Sarah Hinkel; (bottom) Sophie Kadan, Benjamin May, and Joey Wu.

    (Images: Courtesy of the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships)

    Penn announces seven 2025 Thouron Scholars

    Seven University of Pennsylvania affiliates—five fourth-years and two recent graduates—have each received a 2025 Thouron Award to pursue graduate studies in the United Kingdom.
    Penn named top producer of 2024-25 Fulbright Scholars
    people on campus with flowering trees

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    Penn named top producer of 2024-25 Fulbright Scholars

    The Department of State has named Penn a Fulbright U.S. Student Program “Top Producing Institution,” one of the colleges and universities with the highest number of awardees, for the 2024-25 academic year. Last year, 15 Penn students and alumni were offered Fulbright grants to 13 countries.
    From the Archives: Raymond and Sadie Alexander family home movies
    Sadie and Raymond Alexander with a film projector in a room with books on bookshelves and framed photos behind them.

    Penn alumni Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander and Raymond Pace Alexander in their North Philadelphia home, 1708 W. Jefferson St., in 1952, looking at some of their home movies, which are in the University Archives and Records Center.

    (Image: University Archives and Records Center)

    From the Archives: Raymond and Sadie Alexander family home movies

    The University Archives’ Alexander Family Papers document the professional and personal lives of Penn trailblazers Raymond and Sadie Alexander, as well as some of their family members. Included are more than 100 home movies, dating from 1930 to 1961.
    ICA exhibition surveys artist Carl Cheng’s career
    Artist Carl Cheng standing in art gallery with sculptures and photographs

    Artist Carl Cheng at the opening of the ICA exhibition at Penn.

    (Image: Constance Mensh)

    ICA exhibition surveys artist Carl Cheng’s career

    A new exhibition at Penn’s Institute of Contemporary Art is the first in-depth museum survey of the six-decade career of California artist Carl Cheng, on view through April 6.
    New campus choir finds harmony
    Members of Penn’s choir.

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    New campus choir finds harmony

    The new Penn Staff & Community Choir, formed by Penn’s Office of Social Equity and Community in the fall, will have its debut mini-concert on Feb. 4, led by director Ruth Naomi Floyd.
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