11/15
Graduate Students
Facing mounting pressure, ICE rescinds visa rule
Amid mounting pressure from colleges and universities, including Penn, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has revoked a controversial policy affecting international students with F-1 visas.
The unique subculture of Cuban punk
Often idealized through images of painstakingly restored Chryslers and romantic, backroom rumbas, Cuba has untold subcultures that one graduate student, Carmen Torre Pérez, is analyzing through a social history of Cuban punk.
Health care education in a virtual world
For future health care providers, moving education online has proved especially challenging. With ingenuity and creativity, faculty are helping them continue gaining the skills they’ll need.
Alex Chen’s lessons from Ebola
Alex Chen, a doctoral candidate in anthropology, studies emerging disease preparedness, and how air and airflow is the most powerful tool against disease.
Career Services in the pandemic: ‘We’re all in this together’
Career Services moves online to help students navigate employment, internships, and even mock interviews during uncertain times.
An online celebration to mark a very special day
Penn will host an online University-wide graduation event at 11 a.m. on Monday, May 18. In-person ceremonies for Penn’s 264th Commencement will still take place on campus at a later date.
Penn’s wellness goals reach far and wide, together or apart
In just a few weeks, Student Health Service, Counseling and Psychological Services, and Campus Health revamped almost entirely, providing a full array of support for students on and off campus.
Finding meaning amid misfortune
In an audio message, President Amy Gutmann urges the Penn community—from Camden to California, Canada to Kuala Lumpur—to make the very best of this new way of life.
The push for 2020 Census participation, amid a pandemic and data privacy fears
Groups across Penn are working to ensure that college students and hard-to-reach demographics get counted in the once-a-decade tally.
Ensuring an effective rollout of virtual classes
On Monday, March 23, after an extended week of Spring Break, Penn will resume its thousands of classes remotely only, due to COVID-19. Faculty members and instructors, and the staff that supports them, have been preparing around the clock.
In the News
Rising student absenteeism may be hurting teacher job satisfaction
A study by Michael Gottfried and Ph.D. student Colby Woods of the Graduate School of Education finds that student absences are linked to lower teacher job satisfaction, which could exacerbate growing teacher shortages.
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CAR-T cell therapies show promise for autoimmune diseases
Daniel Baker, a Ph.D. student in Carl June’s lab at the Perelman School of Medicine, discusses the results of a study on donor CAR-T cell therapy.
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Many wealthy members of Congress are descendants of rich slaveholders — new study demonstrates the enduring legacy of slavery
A co-authored study by Ph.D. student Neil Sehgal of the School of Engineering and Applied Science found that legislators who are descendants of slaveholders are significantly wealthier than members of Congress without slaveholder ancestry.
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Penn analysis supports state commission’s recommendation for boost in Pa. education funding
An analysis by A. Brooks Bowden and doctoral candidates David Loeb and Katie Pullom of the Graduate School of Education outlines the measurable benefits of a $5.1 billion increase in Pennsylvania K-12 spending over seven years.
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A new idea for Market East: A ‘Welcoming District’ for immigrants who are driving population growth
Graduate students at the Weitzman School of Design are submitting speculative proposals for a Welcoming District near Philadelphia’s Fashion District that could replace or supplement the Sixers arena.
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Few options available to Western leaders weighing response to Vladimir Putin critic Alexei Navalny’s death
Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon of the School of Arts & Sciences says that Western countries have little practical leverage to push Russia off its authoritarian path after Alexei Navalny’s death, given the economic and diplomatic sanctions already levied against Vladimir Putin.
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