12.15
Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences
Students take gold in Japanese language contest
In a Japanese-language speaking competition hosted at George Washington University, two Penn students won among university-level competitors from across the country.
Extreme weather won’t sway climate skeptics
Experiencing extreme weather is not enough to convince climate change skeptics that humans are damaging the environment, according to a new study based on research at the Annenberg Public Policy Center.
In this photography class, students become curators—at the Barnes
This year’s Spiegel-Wilks Curatorial Seminar has taken students inside the world of the Barnes Foundation, where they learn about the history of photography and get a hands-on look at museum operations.
Becoming a mother reduces a woman’s earning potential by up to 10 percent per child
In a Q&A, Sandra Florian, a post-doctoral fellow in sociology and the Population Studies Center, discusses motherhood’s short- and long-term effects on a woman’s career.
A walk through history
Jenny Holzer’s landscape installation “125 Years” celebrates its 15th anniversary as an interactive text-based tribute to women’s legacies at Penn.
Award-winning project sparks dialogue around trans literacy
A new working group funded by the Alice Paul Center serves as glue for cross-disciplinary dialogue surrounding trans literacy in classrooms and elsewhere.
Unpacking Philadelphia’s response to shifting immigration policies
At Perry World House, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney sat down with former City Solicitor Sozi Tulante, a PWH Visiting Fellow, to discuss the administration’s role in significant immigration-policy decisions.
From devastation, stories of hope and resilience
On a summer field trip, students assisted in the filming of virtual reality videos of artists in Puerto Rico reacting to Hurricane Maria.
Veteran homelessness down 5 percent, to continue declining each year
The U.S. departments of Housing and Urban Development and Veteran Affairs announced that veteran homelessness has decreased 5.4 percent in 2018—bringing the total down to nearly half the number of homeless veterans that were reported in 2010.
Social scientists trade academic silos for shared workspace
Faculty and grad students in the new Social and Behavioral Sciences Initiative have access to two state-of-the-art labs, grants, and a collaborative environment aimed at creating a vibrant research community.
In the News
National Geographic
Digging for the life stories of long-forgotten slaves
Penn researchers, including visiting student Adeyemi Oduwole, are analyzing mitochondrial DNA from bodies discovered in Charleston, S.C. All of the people found were of African ancestry, making the site the oldest known graveyard of enslaved Africans in the city. “Both of my parents grew up in Nigeria,” said Oduwole. “Those could be my ancestors down there.”
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PBS NewsHour
Could driverless vehicles spell the end of the road for truck drivers?
Steve Viscelli, a Senior Fellow and a lecturer in the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy and the Department of Sociology, was cited for his book about the trucking industry. “The biggest threat to the truck drivers is not job loss in the near term,” he said. Rather, job quality is at risk.
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The Washington Post
Why the speech George H.W. Bush didn’t give may be his most important
Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center said the late George Bush’s notable restraint after the Berlin Wall fell characterized his presidency. “Sometimes the right thing to do is not celebrate and engage in a rhetoric of triumph,” she said.
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Philadelphia Inquirer
In Philly galleries, three must-see shows for December
The Arthur Ross Gallery is host to “Citizen Salon,” a crowd-sourced exhibition of works chosen by Philadelphia’s art community. The show will be on display through March 24.
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WHYY Radio (Philadelphia)
Penn study: Marijuana doesn’t cause bad behavior — it’s the other way around
A new study, co-authored by Dan Romer of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, has found that marijuana may not be the “gateway drug” it was once thought to be. “Previous research had suggested that using marijuana would lead to conduct problems,” said Romer. “We found the exact reverse.”
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