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‘The passionate pursuit of social justice’
dennis culhane teaching in a classroom

Homepage image: “The mission of the School of Social Policy & Practice is the passionate pursuit of social justice,” says Dean Sara Bachman. Indeed, in their work, the established faculty at SP2 address the issues of homelessness, substance use, the carceral system, data and quantification, guaranteed income and universal basic income, the foster care system, and how to maximize philanthropic impact.

‘The passionate pursuit of social justice’

The School of Social Policy & Practice addresses social inequities through research.

Kristina García

Meshing academics and fun for a summer program like no other
gse student give a presentation in the front of a classroom

Most of the teachers recruited for the program had trained in some capacity with Penn GSE’s Philadelphia Writing Project and Responsive Math Teaching project, which enabled them to practice their craft and receive further coaching if they wanted.

Meshing academics and fun for a summer program like no other

An inaugural Projects for Progress award helped bring to light a Penn Graduate School of Education and Netter Center for Community Partnerships initiative that readied young learners returning to in-person school this fall, and boosted teachers’ confidence.

Lauren Hertzler

Penn Libraries’ new curator for Civic Engagement
Samantha Hill standing in a library.

Samantha Hill, curator for Civic Engagement. (Image: Penn Libraries News)

Penn Libraries’ new curator for Civic Engagement

Samantha Hill is the newest addition to the curatorial team in the Penn Libraries’ Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books & Manuscripts.

From Penn Libraries

Penn Summer Academy dives into social justice
Historical map of areas of Philadelphia

Historic map highlighting redlining in Philadelphia. (Image: Courtesy of Mapping Inequality)

Penn Summer Academy dives into social justice

High school students explore complex issues surrounding social justice and environmental justice through a variety of media at Penn Summer Academy.

From Omnia

How a diversity program enabled a childhood orthopaedics patient’s research dreams
Doctor holding up an X-ray of a spine in front of a patient, seated.

How a diversity program enabled a childhood orthopaedics patient’s research dreams

The McKay Orthopaedic Research Lab’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) committee’s conference grant program offers a welcoming environment and resources that support people of all identities, to engate in orthopaedic research.

From Penn Medicine News

A new name and a new director for the Alice Paul Center
A woman stands with folded arms in front of a building; six people enter/exit at the doors behind her

Melissa Sanchez stands in front of Fisher Bennett Hall, which houses the Center for Research in Feminist, Queer, and Transgender Studies.

A new name and a new director for the Alice Paul Center

Melissa E. Sanchez speaks about her research and her new position as director of the Center for Research in Feminist, Queer, and Transgender Studies, formerly the Alice Paul Center. 

Kristina García

In hard-hit neighborhoods, Philly CEAL outreach aims to address COVID disparities
A person in a mask holding a clipboard at the bottom of steps outside a home. On the porch are an unmasked adult and two unmasked children.

Image: Courtesy of Penn Medicine Service in Action

In hard-hit neighborhoods, Philly CEAL outreach aims to address COVID disparities

Through community engagement and improved information dissemination, researchers at Penn Nursing, Penn Medicine, and Annenberg, in conjunction with the City of Philadelphia, are working to increase vaccination and testing rates and decrease new COVID-19 infections.

Michele W. Berger

Penn commemorates 20th anniversary of 9/11
People hold white flowers up during moment of silence

Penn commemorates 20th anniversary of 9/11

On Friday, the University community gathered at the Love Statue on campus to remember the precious lives of those lost on that tragic day in 2001.

Lauren Hertzler

  • Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences

    • Understanding the pandemic classroom

    In the latest episode of Penn Today’s ‘Understand This ...’ podcast series, Caroline Watts of the Graduate School of Education and Philip Gressman of the School of Arts & Sciences discuss the return to the classroom.
    Masked students at desks

    Welcome to the fall semester’s first episode of the “Understand This ...” series, a Penn Today podcast. This podcast series is designed as a journey to understand how to solve problems of the day—and of our time—by uniting minds from different disciplines. This episode is both a reflection on what students and educators have experienced in learning during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, plus an examination of how lessons from the pandemic can be applied to a return to in-person classroom settings.

    Joining for the conversation is Caroline Watts, senior lecturer in the Graduate School of Education and director of School and Community Engagement at GSE, as well as Philip Gressman, a professor of mathematics in the School of Arts & Sciences. Watts is team leader for GSE’s Project for Progress, addressing West Philadelphia students’ school readiness and teachers’ instructional capacity and mental health needs. Gressman, meanwhile, reshaped the teaching of calculus during the pandemic to fit the needs of students, with a focus on inclusive and equitable teaching. Together, they talk about their experiences as educators during the early days of the pandemic, lessons learned, and how the classroom might look and feel different in the coming months.

    6:56: Gressman discusses recognizing the scope of the problem at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, identifying the need for education to adapt, and time spent on adapting a calculus curriculum for remote learning.

    13:30: Watts talks about what worked well in the transition to remote learning and what didn’t—plus, new forms of feedback for instructors.

    16:18: Watts discusses the ongoing Project for Progress in West and Southwest Philadelphia summer schools, what we gained from the experiences of the past 18 months, and the “joy” of students and teachers being reunited.

    21:20: “Quote Break” 27:40: Gressman highlights the need to be accommodating in this extraordinary moment in teaching, as well as what to consider taking out of the classroom when balancing synchronous and asynchronous learning.

    31:58: Watts: “A model I’ve learned for life is to be prepared to adapt and be flexible.”

    View Transcript

    Follow the “Understand This ...” podcast on Apple Music.

    Credits

  • Writers

    Brandon K. Baker

  • Photographers

    Eric Sucar

    • More from

  • Graduate School of Education
  • School of Arts & Sciences
  • Education Policy
  • Higher Education
  • Math
  • West Philadelphia
  • Outreach
  • Understand This...
    • How to connect communities to colorectal cancer screening
    A pair of hands holding a cancer screening kit vial in one hand and paperwork in another extended to a person standing in a park.

    A FIT Kit comes in an envelope and includes instructions, a prepaid return mailing envelope, and a small tube to contain a probe that the user will insert into a stool sample to capture a tiny particle. In the lab, the small sample is tested for signs of blood in the stool, which may not be visible. (Image: Penn Medicine Service in Action)

    How to connect communities to colorectal cancer screening

    Penn Medicine has been on a multiyear journey to both raise the rates of screening for colorectal cancer and increase uptake of follow up care, with the goal of driving down colorectal cancer death rates and addressing inequities

    From Penn Medicine Service in Action