Graduate Students | Penn Today

An image of the "Friendship Gate," with people walking by on a winter day

A charter bus to Chinatown

Launched in 2021 by a student-led initiative, the biweekly bus service connects students with local businesses in Philadelphia’s Chinatown.

Don’t let reports of racist acts by Ukrainians against Africans distract from what’s at stake

Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon, a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Arts & Sciences, spoke about reports of anti-Black racism in Ukraine and the influence of Russian disinformation. “This idea that Ukraine is solely a white country is false, and it’s harmful. Black and brown people will die in this invasion, and people really need to understand that,” she said.

A closer look at racist biases in the coverage of Ukraine

Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon, a Ph.D. student in the School of Arts & Sciences, was interviewed about the mistreatment of Ukraine’s Black residents as they attempt to flee the country. “This is a multi-country problem we’re looking at,” she said.

Leaders decry reported mistreatment of Africans fleeing Ukraine

Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon, a doctoral candidate in the School of Arts & Sciences, said there are thousands of Black Ukrainians living in the country’s major cities.

Person holding a Ukrainian flag at a solidarity with Ukraine rally on Penn’s campus.

Solidarity walk for Ukraine

More than 100 members of the University community joined a student-led walk in support of Ukraine, rallying awareness and calling for action.

The Ottawa trucker convoy is rooted in Canada’s settler colonial history

Taylor Dysart, a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Arts & Sciences, wrote an opinion piece about the legacy of settler colonialism and white supremacy in Canada. “Canada’s history of freedom then, was founded in the unfreedom of Indigenous people,” she said. “This dynamic has been unnoticed and misconstrued by organizers, attendees, and supporters of the Freedom Convoy.”

Senior Erin Hayes named Gates Cambridge Scholar

Senior Erin Hayes, a Roy and Diana Vagelos Scholar in the Molecular Life Sciences, has been awarded a Gates Cambridge Scholarship to pursue a Ph.D. in astronomy at the University of Cambridge in England.

Congress is trying to figure out what to do about crypto’s colossal carbon footprint

Zane Griffin Talley Cooper, a doctoral candidate in the Annenberg School for Communication, said “proof of work” algorithms used to mine and trade cryptocurrencies need to be “intensely regulated.”

M. Elizabeth Magill nominated to become President of the University of Pennsylvania

Magill, who currently serves as Executive Vice President and Provost of the University of Virginia, will assume the Penn Presidency on July 1, 2022. She succeeds Dr. Amy Gutmann.

The biggest deep fake abuse site is growing in disturbing ways

Sophie Maddocks, a doctoral student in the Annenberg School for Communication, said society and law enforcement need to have a zero-tolerance policy for websites that sell fake nude photos of real people. “This harm is going to become part of the sex industry and is going to become profitable; it's going to become normalized,” she said.

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