School of Arts & Sciences

A line of people waiting to vote outside on a city sidewalk, a child points to a Vote Here sign taped to a colorful wall painted with a mural.

Super Tuesday takeaways

Super Tuesday votes in 14 states offered some surprises and seem to have dramatically transformed the Democratic bid for president.

The Sacramento of Desire book cover and author Julia Bloch

Q&A

With ‘The Sacramento of Desire,’ Julia Bloch completes a personal trilogy

The creative writing professor’s most recent book of poetry focuses on her desire for making a family as a member of the queer community.

A person standing outside in front of a brick building, hands in the pockets of a gray swearing, over a black shirt and purple necklace.

The curious case of ancient bear bones at a Mississippi dig site

Penn and UNC Chapel Hill researchers theorize that the considerable black bear remains indicate an animal that was a food source and considered close kin to the people who lived there 1,300 years ago.

Documentary filmmaking in the Himalayas

Supported by National Geographic and other grants, seniors Alina Peng and Charles Zhang traveled to Bhutan to discover how villagers are coping with the effects of water scarcity and climate change.

Ecuador’s vice president talks biodiversity protection

Vice President Otto Sonnenholzner spoke to a packed Perry World House about protecting the environment while balancing economic growth.

A person in a black dress and glasses stands against a wooden wall with arms crossed, looking at the camera, in the background is a huge window and people in chairs in front of the window.

The politics of health inequality

The eight major Democratic candidates for president agree that Americans need expanded and more affordable health care. According to Julia Lynch, none of their proposed plans will solve the problem of heath inequality in the U.S.

side by side portraits of Dudley Weldon Woodard and William Waldron Schieffelin Claytor

Penn’s pioneering mathematicians

Two of the first African Americans to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics, Dudley Weldon Woodard and William Waldron Schieffelin Claytor worked on fundamental problems in the field of topology and supported graduate-level math education for minority students.

African American person tearing off an I Voted Today sticker

African Americans have been blocked from voting, but the Black vote is not a ‘bloc’

Black History Month’s theme for 2020 is African Americans and the Vote. Three Penn scholars define what the “Black vote” means when viewed through history, and what it doesn’t mean when viewed as an indivisible bloc.

Learning civil discourse and open-mindedness from high schoolers

In the city’s first regional Ethics Bowl, facilitated by Penn philosopher Karen Detlefsen and Graduate School of Education doctoral student Dustin Webster, six local teams competed for a chance at Nationals.

Helpful interactions can keep societies stable

New work by Erol Akçay of the School of Arts and Sciences and Jimmy Qian, a recent alum, challenges 50-year-old predictions that mutualistic interactions make a community unstable.

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