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Louisa Shepard
Senior News Officer
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.
Two Penn alums named 2025-26 Schwarzman Scholars
Two members of the Class of 2023, Chuanyuan (Suzanne) Liu and Habib Salim, have each received Schwarzman Scholarship funding for a one-year master’s degree in global affairs at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
What’s That? Black squirrels
Penn Today spoke to Sarah Tomke in the School of Veterinary Medicine’s Wildlife Futures Program about the black squirrels regularly seen on College Green. They are black because of a genetic mutation in the melanin receptor protein, which regulates pigment.
Penn staff make the Philadelphia area a better place through side gigs
The 12th piece in Penn Today’s Side Gigs for Good series highlights staff who mentor and empower Latino professionals, lead Girl Scout troops, donate hand-knitted items to people in need, and connect Philadelphia children with music opportunities.
Two fourth-year students chosen as 2025 Marshall Scholars
Fourth-years Tej Patel and Sridatta Teerdhala, both in the Roy and Diana Vagelos Program in Life Sciences and Management, a dual degree in the College of Arts and Sciences and the Wharton School, have been chosen as 2025 Marshall Scholars.
Caretaker of 9,000 works of art
As the director of the Penn Art Collection in charge of nearly 9,000 artworks, Lynn Smith Dolby manages the conservation, registration, and display of all University-owned art, indoors and outdoors across campus.
Penn fourth-year Om Gandhi is a 2025 Rhodes Scholar
Penn fourth-year Om Gandhi, from Barrington, Illinois, has been awarded a 2025 Rhodes Scholarship, which funds tuition and a living stipend for graduate study at the University of Oxford in England. He is among 32 American Rhodes Scholars, and an expected 100 worldwide.
Kite and Key Society celebrates a century
Students share the campus and their experiences at Penn with visitors in person and online, forming meaningful friendships and lasting connections.
From the Archives: 1915 film of Penn-Cornell football game
The oldest film in Penn’s University Archives & Records Center documents the 1915 football game featuring Penn versus Cornell, played on Thanksgiving Day in front of a packed crowd at Franklin Field. Penn plays Cornell Nov. 9 in their 130th meeting.
Edible Books at the Kelly Writers House
The annual Edible Books contest at the Kelly Writers House features food creations inspired by books, often involving puns based on the titles. In this 14th year, 30-some entries were admired and (mostly) eaten.
Libraries exhibition explores the movement of books
A new exhibit at the Penn Libraries explores the myriad ways books move—as physical objects in different formats, and across space and time—featuring 24 items from the collection, a video wall displaying 26 additional items, and interactive models.