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Side Gigs for Good, part three
Two people sitting on an L-shaped couch amidst four pillows. The one on the right is holding a clipboard.

Altagracia Felix (right) is a financial coordinator for the Annenberg School for Communication, but she also has a side gig as a money coach. Her aim is to help “disrupt the cycle of poverty and struggle,” she says. (Image: Courtesy of Altagracia Felix)

Side Gigs for Good, part three

The final 2019 installment in our series highlighting impactful work Penn faculty and staff do.

Katherine Unger Baillie , Michele W. Berger

‘May the force be with you’ and other fan fiction favorites
An array of plastic Star Wars figurines

‘May the force be with you’ and other fan fiction favorites

Researchers have created a unique digital humanities tool to analyze the most popular phrases and character connections in fan fiction based on blockbuster film series, starting with “Star Wars,” “Lord of the Rings,” and “Harry Potter.”
UPenn library acquires the papers of Ashley Bryan, a pioneering African American poet and artist known for children’s books

UPenn library acquires the papers of Ashley Bryan, a pioneering African American poet and artist known for children’s books

Lynne Farrington of the Libraries spoke about the acquisition of the Ashley Brian papers, which trace the author and illustrator’s 60-year publishing history. “He sees art as his salvation, as a way to deal with what’s happening in this country,” said Farrington.

Gifts to Penn Libraries enrich Judaic scholarship and digital humanities
Historic ticket with words Academy of Music Hebrew Charity Ball Thursday February 6th, 1873 Ladies' Invitation printed on front.

Ticket for the annual Hebrew Charity Bal at the American Academy of Music in Philadelphia, Feb. 6, 1873. (Image: Arnold and Deanne Kaplan Collection of Early American Judaica

Gifts to Penn Libraries enrich Judaic scholarship and digital humanities

The gift includes collections of more than 11,000 items, totaling $12 million and covering four centuries of American Jewish history, and the world’s first endowed position in Judaica digital humanities.

Penn Today Staff

Libraries launch Diversity in the Stacks initiative
A stack of books with titles including Mothership Connection, New Suns, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaurs, The Fifth Season, The Night Masquerade, The Summer Prince

Libraries launch Diversity in the Stacks initiative

The Libraries has launched a new initiative to enhance collections that represent and reflect the University’s diverse population, and to highlight those works in a series of blog posts, starting with Afrofuturism.
Stories of Penn scientists: Edgar Fahs Smith
Cartoon drawing of Edgar Fahs Smith in a lab circa 1927

Stories of Penn scientists: Edgar Fahs Smith

The story of the professor and provost whose affinity for science and history led him to amass a collection that stands as a testament to his passion for chemistry.

Erica K. Brockmeier

Engaging history
Student standing with historic buildings behind her.

Rising junior Margarita Ortiz, a history major, is a summer intern at Historic Germantown in her hometown of Philadelphia. 

Engaging history

Junior Margarita Ortiz conducted a comprehensive survey of 18 sites as a summer intern for the Historic Germantown consortium in her hometown of Philadelphia.
A deep dive into digital humanities at Penn
A group of people sitting around a rectangular wooden table on the bottom floor of a two-story room in a library adorned with books and busts.

Dot Porter’s Digital Surrogates course, seen here in Lea Library, was one of nine offered during the DReAM Lab. Topics ranged from text analysis to digital humanities in the classroom. (Photo: Sarah Milinski)

A deep dive into digital humanities at Penn

The weeklong DReAM Lab, put on by the Price Lab for Digital Humanities and the Penn Libraries, offered participants the chance to study a range of subjects, from text analysis to augmented reality and Afrofuturism.

Michele W. Berger