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Higher Education
Invested and engaged
Invested and engaged
In a Q&A, Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli reflects on the University’s latest Economic Impact Report and the new effort to include an account of Penn’s civic engagement and impact on Philadelphia, its residents, and surrounding communities.
Penn named one of America’s best large employers
Penn named one of America’s best large employers
Forbes recognized the University of Pennsylvania among the top 100 of its 2021 list.
Sachs-funded web series helps first-gen Latinx students tell their stories
Sachs-funded web series helps first-gen Latinx students tell their stories
A Ph.D. student in the Graduate School of Education is helping first-gen Latinx college students tell their stories in their own words.
Black borrowers are hit hardest by the student debt crisis
Black borrowers are hit hardest by the student debt crisis
Released by the NAACP, a report by Penn GSE’s Jalil Mustaffa Bishop argues for the cancellation of student debt and reinvesting in institutions that serve the most Black students.
Academic freedom in an age of global digital delivery
Academic freedom in an age of global digital delivery
During a virtual forum, Penn experts across disciplines discussed specific implications online learning can present for international students and their freedom of expression.
Penn scholars record lectures for AP students
Penn scholars record lectures for AP students
Lecturers and staff contributed video lectures that aid AP students in their ongoing studies during the pandemic.
Rooting out systemic bias in neuroscience publishing
Rooting out systemic bias in neuroscience publishing
An interdisciplinary research team has found statistical evidence of women being undercited in academic literature. They are now studying similar effects along racial lines.
A task force for higher education’s pandemic budget challenges
A task force for higher education’s pandemic budget challenges
A policy brief from Penn GSE lays out principles to guide state policymakers through higher education’s trying summer and beyond.
Penn launches no-cost, online summer program for rising high school seniors
PennRSSA has the capacity to reach thousands of School District of Philadelphia students with content meant to boost academic, career, and postsecondary preparation.
Higher education system faces the inequities COVID-19 exposes
Higher education system faces the inequities COVID-19 exposes
With pandemic budget cuts looming, Penn GSE’s Laura Perna says policymakers should prioritize low-income college students.
In the News
Inside Higher Ed
Race and medical curricula
Jaya Aysola of the Perelman School of Medicine co-authored a paper that found that medical education often reinforces the idea that race is a biological category, rather than a social one. “Medical schools are training the next cadre of not only physicians that serve on the front lines, but physician scientists that are generating the medical knowledge that we’re going to use in the future,” she said. “Medical schools define the individuals that are going to define the institutional structures, policies and practices of medicine tomorrow.”
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Chronicle of Higher Education
Teaching
Rebecca Stein, executive director of Penn’s Online Learning Initiative, offered two theories as to why some students report doing more work during the pandemic, in spite of professors saying they’ve lightened workloads. “The first is that students don’t have their usual busy social and extracurricular life. You would think this would give them more time. But rather, it makes them feel that all their time is focused on study.” The second explanation, she said, is that “students depend much more on their peers as scaffolding for their learning then we realized.”
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Chronicle of Higher Education
What’s at stake for higher ed in the election?
Mitchell Orenstein of the School of Arts & Sciences called on colleges and universities to take a strong role in defending democracy. “Academic freedom can only exist in a society that protects political freedom,” he said.
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The Wall Street Journal
U.S. medical school applications soar in COVID-19 era
Admissions Dean Neha Vapiwala of the Perelman School of Medicine said some medical schools are waving prerequisites to accommodate students who may have been unable to participate in extracurricular activities earlier this year.
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Inside Higher Ed
Report: Focus funding on colleges best able to help unemployed
Joni Finney of the Graduate School of Education and colleagues wrote a report calling on U.S. governors to develop a long-term higher education strategy that stimulates the economy and restructures how colleges are funded.
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PBS NewsHour
How COVID-19 has made some colleges question the academic calendar
Peter Eckel of the Graduate School of Education said the pandemic has given colleges a chance to reevaluate their summer offerings and other scheduling matters. “The pandemic has raised a lot of questions about long-held traditions about how to deliver higher education,” he said. “The academic calendar is one of them.”
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