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Who, What, Why: Alicia Meyer on the wonders of the Kislak Center
Alicia Meyer talks to students in Technology and Society course.

In February 2025, Alicia Meyer showed students in Elly Truitt’s Technology & Society course a rare 19th-century book of hours woven from silk on a Jacquard loom, an Egyptian clay tablet from 400 BCE, an astronomical rotula used to predict the movement of heavenly bodies, posters from Central America made on sugarcane paper, and more.

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  • Who, What, Why

    • Who, What, Why: Alicia Meyer on the wonders of the Kislak Center

    As curator of research services, Meyer wants students from every discipline to visit the Kislak Center and to find new insights from old materials.

    2 min. read

    The enduring legacy of Rumi

    The enduring legacy of Rumi

    In a new book, Jamal J. Elias, Walter H. Annenberg Professor in the Humanities and professor of Islamic history and visual culture in the School of Arts & Sciences, explores the poet’s impact.

    Studying Shakespeare through the lens of love
    A professor standing at the head of a table talking to students.

    In honor of Valentine's Day, and as a way of fostering community in her Shakespeare in Love course, Becky Friedman took her students to the University Club for lunch one class period. They talked about the movie "Shakespeare in Love," as part of a broader conversation on how Shakespeare's works are adapted.

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    Studying Shakespeare through the lens of love

    In Becky Friedman’s English course Shakespeare in Love, undergraduate students analyze language, genre, and adaptation in the Bard’s plays through the lens of love.

    3 min. read

    Exploring ‘One Thousand and One Nights’
    Students and faculty look at rare books in the Lea Library.

    Dr. Paul Cobb, center, looks on as students and library staff examine rare versions of “One Thousand and One Nights” in the Lea Library.

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    Exploring ‘One Thousand and One Nights’

    A seminar from Middle Eastern medievalist Paul Cobb gets students talking and thinking about the “disorienting” storytelling in “One Thousand and One Nights.”

    3 min. read

    ‘Collecting the New Irascibles’ debuts at the Arthur Ross Gallery

    ‘Collecting the New Irascibles’ debuts at the Arthur Ross Gallery

    The Jan. 30 celebration featured 32 artworks from the avant-garde cultural world in New York City’s East Village during the 1980s, which offer a new perspective on the personal connections between collectors and emerging artists, and their impact on the trajectory of art history.

    Literature and medicine
    Dag Woubeshet (right) speaks with student in a classroom who is giving the thumbs up.

    Dagmawi Woubshet (right), Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Term Associate Professor of English, says “we try to teach our students how to think critically and historically, but also with fidelity to the art object.”

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    Literature and medicine

    The Penn Arts & Sciences course Literature and Medicine begins with Apollo and the Hippocratic Oath and extends through the 21st century with poetry, novels, videography, historical texts, and guest lecturers from the Perelman School of Medicine and beyond.

    Kristina Linnea García

    2 min. read

    The professor who moonlights as a songwriter
    Album cover for My Mother In Love's “The Summer Sessions”

    Professor Girlfriend’s debut album marks a shift from Anna Weesner’s prior work, situating her as part of a collaborative trio rather than as a composer.

    (Image: Courtesy of Anna Weesner)

    The professor who moonlights as a songwriter

    The musical trio Professor Girlfriend, which includes Anna Weesner, Dr. Robert Weiss Professor of Music in Penn's School of Arts & Sciences, bends genre and challenges boundaries with a new album, “My Mother In Love: The Summer Sessions.”

    From Omnia

    2 min. read

    An inside look at the history of television
    Handwritten notes and paper relics from TV shows in the past.

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    An inside look at the history of television

    Materials in the Annenberg School for Communication Library Archives include thousands of TV scripts, the first issue of TV Guide, and interviews about the early days of HBO—which help to chronicle TV’s 100-year story.

    3 min. read

    Connecting Latin American fiction through infrastructure and transit
    Left: Valeria Seminario; right: An old illustrated map of the Americas.

    Sixth-year Spanish & Portuguese Ph.D. student Valeria Seminario.

    (Image: Courtesy of Omnia)

    Connecting Latin American fiction through infrastructure and transit

    Penn Arts & Sciences Ph.D. student Valeria Seminario’s dissertation explores themes of transportation and infrastructure in 19th- and early 20th-century Latin American fiction.

    Marilyn Perkins

    2 min. read

    Sizing up Pennsylvania’s creative workforce
    Alex Watrous throwing pottery on a wheel.

    Waterhouse Pottery focuses on handmade functional wares for home and garden. Alex Watrous earned her BFA in Ceramics at Edinboro University and has since worked professionally in the ceramics industry through manufacturing, retail supply, gallery management and sales, as well as arts administration.

    (Image: Courtesy of Bridge Perspective)

    Sizing up Pennsylvania’s creative workforce

    A new report prepared by Weitzman faculty for the Pennsylvania Creative Industries, powered by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, shows a large and diverse creative workforce in the state.

    2 min. read