4.2
Kristen de Groot
News Officer
krisde@upenn.edu
History
Walter Licht’s legacy of civic engagement
Walter Licht’s legacy of civic engagement
For more than 40 years at Penn, Walter Licht has crafted a career of equal parts renowned historian, teacher, and community activist, including creating the Penn Civic Scholars Program. Licht recently announced he is stepping down from his positions at Civic House.
The Great Depression, the New Deal, and how disasters change politics
The Great Depression, the New Deal, and how disasters change politics
History professor Brent Cebul talks about lessons politicians can take from the Great Depression and the New Deal and how disasters like the current pandemic can change politics.
The legal history of epidemics in America
The legal history of epidemics in America
Sarah Barringer Gordon, the Arlin M. Adams Professor of Constitutional Law and Professor of History, offers a commentary on American political responses to epidemics past.
Pandemics, quarantines, and history
Pandemics, quarantines, and history
History professor Alex Chase-Levenson explores pandemics and quarantines in his upcoming book, and shares lessons that citizens and politicians can take from the past.
Understanding what makes a fact a fact
Understanding what makes a fact a fact
Professor of History Sophie Rosenfeld and Professor of Education Sigal Ben-Porath unite their perspectives on truth for Penn Today's first “Understand This ...” podcast episode.
The history behind International Women’s Day
The history behind International Women’s Day
Kristen R. Ghodsee, professor of Russian and East European studies, talks to Penn Today about the global holiday’s history, and why America has been late to embrace it.
Penn’s pioneering mathematicians
Penn’s pioneering mathematicians
Two of the first African Americans to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics, Dudley Weldon Woodard and William Waldron Schieffelin Claytor worked on fundamental problems in the field of topology and supported graduate-level math education for minority students.
African Americans have been blocked from voting, but the Black vote is not a ‘bloc’
African Americans have been blocked from voting, but the Black vote is not a ‘bloc’
Black History Month’s theme for 2020 is African Americans and the Vote. Three Penn scholars define what the “Black vote” means when viewed through history, and what it doesn’t mean when viewed as an indivisible bloc.
Karen Tani named a Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor
Karen Tani named a Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor
Karen Tani has been named the University of Pennsylvania’s 24th Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor, effective July 1. The announcement was made today by President Amy Gutmann and Provost Wendell Pritchett.
A hallmark year in voting history
A hallmark year in voting history
This year marks the centennial of the 19th Amendment as well as the bicentennial of Susan B. Anthony’s birth. Penn experts reflect on Anthony’s legacy and voting rights today.
Media Contact
In the News
KYW Newsradio (Philadelphia)
Can studying history tell us anything about life after COVID-19?
Brent Cebul of the School of Arts and Sciences was interviewed about significant times of disruption in U.S. history and the sociopolitical changes that accompanied them.
FULL STORY →
NBC News
Coronavirus outbreak revives dangerous race myths and pseudoscience
PIK Professor Dorothy Roberts spoke about misinformation regarding race and public health, such as the myth that black people are immune to coronavirus. “These myths have a track record not just of shaping attitudes but of shaping policy and practice in public and private spaces, in hospitals and in schools, in workplaces, too,” she said.
FULL STORY →
Philadelphia Inquirer
American Philosophical Society and David Library join to create a center for study of the revolutionary era
Stephen Fried and Daniel Richter of the School of Arts and Sciences spoke about the David Library of the American Revolution’s move from Bucks County to Philadelphia, where it will partner with the American Philosophical Society to form a new research center. “This is very much the model of what needs to happen with nonprofits,” said Fried. “You’ll be able to serve anyone who wants to engage with history.”
FULL STORY →
WHYY (Philadelphia)
Anti-Asian propaganda on display in City Hall
Rob Buscher of the School of Arts and Sciences contributed his collection of vintage anti-Asian propaganda to “American Peril,” an exhibition he hopes will help people understand the present-day vilification of Muslims. “These kinds of [anti-Muslim] conversations don’t come from nowhere,” he said.
FULL STORY →
The Atlantic
Prohibition was a failed experiment in moral governance
Samuel Freeman of the School of Arts and Sciences and Law School spoke about the “failed experiment” of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. constitution, which installed Prohibition, calling it “an amendment that had to do with a matter of private morality [that] didn’t work.”
FULL STORY →
Newsweek
Ancient Greek settlement with purple-producing shells and carved fish tanks discovered on tiny island
The Penn Museum has confirmed research that identifies Minoan-era Crete as the production site of a variety of vibrant dyes, including red, purple, and yellow.
FULL STORY →