Higher Education

Masked students at desks

Understanding the pandemic classroom

Penn professors join the “Understand This ...” podcast to talk about the fall 2021 return to the classroom, reflecting on what students and educators have experienced during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, while examining lessons from remote learning.

Brandon Baker ・

Karen Detlefsen on a back porch in the snow.

Karen Detlefsen named Penn vice provost for education

The professor of philosophy in the School of Arts & Sciences, with a secondary appointment in the Graduate School of Education, has been named vice provost for education at the University of Pennsylvania, effective July 1.

Leo Charney ・

Students and staff sitting and eating at round tables. A screen in the back reads, "let's talk!"

How to engage academic wellness services

The Weingarten Center provides disabilities services, tutoring, and learning resources for students across all 12 schools. The Center employs an integrative approach connecting students with the resources they need to perform at the highest level.

Kristina García ・

Marcus Wright

COVID communications and first generation students

Marcus Wright, undergraduate program manager and academic coordinator in the Department of Sociology and doctoral student at the Graduate School of Education, analyzes academic messaging to expose blind spots.

From OMNIA ・



In the News


Chronicle of Higher Education

Higher ed’s evolutionary—not revolutionary—pandemic response

Drawing on pre-pandemic data, Robert Zemsky of the Graduate School of Education predicted that 20% of higher education institutions were in danger of shuttering.

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The Washington Post

Texas community college group aims to help students beyond the classroom

Laura Perna of the Graduate School of Education said applying for financial aid can be complicated for students. However, the Alamo Promise program, which provides students in Texas with free tuition and additional services, sends “a clear message with no fine print,” she said.

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Inside Higher Ed

Perceptions of affordability

Joni Finney of the Graduate School of Education spoke about the impact of rising college costs on low-income families, saying, “For these families the high cost of college is not a perception but a reality that they must deal with.”

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MSNBC

Harvard's complicated relationship with its Black students

Camille Z. Charles of the School of Arts & Sciences said Black immigrant students are overrepresented at selective U.S. universities relative to Black American students. She said that even though college applications “ask where your parents were born, they're not collecting and sort of storing the information that way because I think it's something that they don't necessarily want to talk about.”

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USA Today

Biden’s free college plan never happened. Are debt-free degrees the answer to student loan crisis?

Laura Perna of the Graduate School of Education spoke about College Promise Programs, which help cover students’ tuition and other expenses. Perna said these programs “reflect real concern about how much it costs to go to college.”

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Chronicle of Higher Education

Teaching: A Different Way of Thinking About Rigor

In a recent presentation, Jamiella Brooks of Penn’s Center for Teaching and Learning and Yale’s Julie McGurk proposed that educators reframe the concept of “rigor.” They argued that faculty members often look for evidence of rigor in the wrong places and overlook the inequities underlying inadequate student outcomes.

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