School of Arts & Sciences

James Primosch continues to compose during COVID

The professor of music, who won an award and released two new albums during the pandemic, discusses composition, text as music, and embracing electronic music in the absence of concert halls.

Bottle of liquid COVID-19 vaccination with a syringe lying against it in front of a row of vaccine bottles in the background.

Is the threat of COVID vaccine hesitancy getting enough attention?

The ultimate key to ending the coronavirus pandemic is developing an effective vaccine and administering it to the population. But a number of trends are converging in ways that may prevent the achievement of that population-wide herd immunity.

Masked person puts a sign on door that says "OPEN BUSINESS AS NEW NORMAL"

Q&A

Why the pandemic introduces language that is ‘hard to explain’

Linguist Andrea Beltrama discusses new words and phrases that have entered the language during the current health crisis, and the “massive” impact the pandemic has had on language.

A person standing along a glass wall in a building with a yelllow waffle ceiling.

Brain scans of 9- to 11-year-olds offer clues about aggressive, antisocial behavior

Two new papers, one about gray matter, the other about reward behavior, suggest that at the neural level not all conduct problems look the same.

Graduate School of Education professor Sigal Ben-Porath poses in a hallway with her arms folded.

Free speech advocate discusses growing talk of ‘cancel culture’

Sigal Ben-Porath, a professor of education, political science, and philosophy, talks de-platforming, toppling statues, rescinding admissions, Twitter, the First Amendment, and hate speech.

Professor sitting outside with trees and a metal trailer behind him.

Jay Kirk on writing, teaching, and his new nonfiction book, ‘Avoid the Day’

Penn and Philadelphia are woven throughout a new book by Jay Kirk as he pursues the mystery of a missing music manuscript by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, traveling from Vermont to Europe to the Arctic Circle. Penn Today spoke the lecturer in nonfiction creative writing about “Avoid the Day: A New Nonfiction in Two Movements.”

The Russian flag cracked diagonally overlaps with the US flag behind it

Russia, bounties, and the U.S. elections

Amid allegations of Russian bounties on U.S. soldiers and of hackers trying to steal vaccine research, Penn Today spoke to two experts to get their take and how the developments play into the U.S. presidential election cycle.

Professor in front of a bookshelf filled with books

Q&A

Cancel culture on the silver screen

Iconic films like the 1939 blockbuster “Gone With the Wind” are being scrutinized in light of the Black Lives Matter movement against racial injustice. Cinema studies’ Meta Mazaj says framing films within context is more valuable than erasure and disclaimers.

Professor Emily Wilson dressed in costume as three different characters in the Odyssey, one with a fringed scarf around her head, one with an eye patch and a fur headband, and one with a wig with long red hair.

Pandemic project: Odyssey-a-Day

Classics Professor Emily Wilson created a project where she filmed herself reading short passages from each of the 24 books of her celebrated translation of Homer’s “Odyssey,” complete with costumes, props, and voices.

Screenshot of four people in a grid form, top left is Mary Frances Berry, top right is Margo Natalie Crawford, bottom left is Guthrie Ramsey, bottom right is Dagmawi Woubshet

What happens to a dream deferred? 60-Second Lectures on racial injustice

In an effort to amplify the messages of the recent protests against racist violence, Penn Arts & Sciences created a special series: What Happens to a Dream Deferred? 60-Second Lectures on Racial Injustice.

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