Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences

Brainy and Buff on Display at Mr. and Ms. Penn Competition

University of Pennsylvania students can be both brainy and brawny, as the Mr. and Ms. Penn bodybuilding competition demonstrates.On Nov. 3, Zellerbach Theater was packed with family and friends as 29 contestants vied for the titles.

Jeanne Leong

Penn 2014-2015 Bassini Writing Apprentices Announced

By Gina BryanUniversity of Pennsylvania undergraduates Jacob Gardenswartz, Annika Neklason and Leah Davidson have been selected as the 2014-2015 Bassini Writing Apprentices. They will complete their apprenticeships in the spring 2015 semester.

Jacquie Posey, Gina Bryan

Senior Cait Breslin Complements Penn Education With Study Abroad

For University of Pennsylvania senior Cait Breslin, studying abroad in Buenos Aires and in Kolkata has been an important part of her college experience. And she says it is good preparation toward her long-term goal of becoming a physician.

Jeanne Leong

Sniffing rotten coffee beans for the sake of history

In 1793, people walking around what is now known as Old City in downtown Philadelphia may have been subject to an unpleasant odor permeating the air. A shipment of coffee beans had been dumped on Water Street between Arch and Race streets, along the Delaware River, and left to rot.

Katherine Unger Baillie



In the News


Philadelphia Inquirer

Comcast’s Sports Complex plan for South Philly would make our city less livable

In an Op-Ed, Vukan R. Vuchic of the School of Engineering and Applied Science says that Philadelphia should make transit more accessible rather than striving to accommodate more cars.

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The New York Times

We don’t see what climate change is doing to us

In an Op-Ed, R. Jisung Park of the School of Social Policy & Practice says that public discourse around climate change overlooks the buildup of slow, subtle costs and their impact on human systems.

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Associated Press

Far fewer young Americans now want to study in China. Both countries are trying to fix that

Amy Gadsden of Penn Global says that American interest in studying in China is declining due to foreign businesses closing their offices there and Beijing’s draconian governing style.

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Associated Press

In death, three decades after his trial verdict, O.J. Simpson still reflects America’s racial divides

Camille Charles of the School of Arts & Sciences says that Black Americans have grown less likely to believe in a famous defendant’s innocence as a show of race solidarity.

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The Wall Street Journal

‘Slouch’ review: The panic over posture

In her new book, “Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America,” Beth Linker of the School of Arts & Sciences traces society’s posture obsession to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.

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