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Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences
‘The Changing Terrain of Religious Freedom’
This timely volume of essays edited by professors Heather J. Sharkey and Jeffrey Green explores theoretical, historical, and legal perspectives on religious freedom, while examining its meaning as an experience, value, and right.
Kimberly Cárdenas on intersectional politics in political science
Doctoral candidate Kimberly Cárdenas considers the growing numbers of LGBTQ+ Black and Latinx Americans—and how they participate in the political process.
How dark money fuels climate denialism
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse joined Penn faculty to discuss distrust in science, the fossil fuel industry, and the conservative Supreme Court.
At Engaging Minds, three Penn Integrates Knowledge Professors take the stage
Alumni heard Lance Freeman examine racial equity in city planning, Dolores Albarracín talk about how conspiracy theories take hold, and Kevin Johnson discuss the importance of clear science communication.
Structured, Active, In-class Learning is changing the calculus on teaching
Mathematics professor Philip Gressman sees the comprehensive teaching approach as a way to engage students as a dynamic group, something STEM courses don’t often embrace.
From crisis communications to dissecting a decade of TV news
Sam Wolken, a joint doctoral student in communication and political science, studies public opinion, local news, and politics.
The University of Pennsylvania Libraries acquires archives of The Philadelphia Orchestra and the Academy of Music
The historic partnership provides the public access to nearly 175 years of Philadelphia’s rich musical history.
Scholars look at ramifications from ‘zero COVID’ protests in China
The Center for the Study of Contemporary China, in co-sponsorship with Perry World House, held a forum to discuss the protests and what they mean for China and its citizens going forward.
A relief wall that’s a window onto architecture’s future
A public library relief wall is a novel approach to architectural design and robotic fabrication from the Weitzman School and the Robotics Lab.
Abandoned house repairs reduced nearby gun violence
Installing working windows and doors, cleaning trash, and weeding at abandoned houses led to safety improvements and should be considered in efforts to create healthy communities, according to researchers from University of Pennsylvania and Columbia.
In the News
Meet the people working on getting us to hate each other less
Matthew Levendusky of the School of Arts & Sciences and the Annenberg Public Policy Center says that heightening a sense of American national identity can reduce polarization and partisanship between opposing political parties.
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Americans flunked this test on online privacy
A survey by Joseph Turow of the Annenberg School for Communication and colleagues finds that most Americans don’t understand how online devices and services track users.
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Fact-checking Biden before the State of the Union
The Annenberg Public Policy Center’s FactCheck.org finds that at least five Republican lawmakers, including Speaker Kevin McCarthy, have already voiced opposition to a proposal that would dismantle the IRS and replace current forms of federal taxation with a 30 percent sales tax.
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Why the debt ceiling fight is the GOP’s Groundhog Day
In an Op-Ed, Dick Polman of the School of Arts & Sciences says that conservative ideologues haven’t learned from past threats about raising the debt ceiling.
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Mississippi banned ‘Sesame Street’ for showing Black and white kids playing
According to Linda Simensky of the School of Arts & Sciences, there was a general feeling among 1960s TV executives that kids would watch anything that looked like it was for kids, leading them to not spend much money on programs.
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