Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences

New Leadership and a New Affiliation for Penn's Fels Center of Government

PHILADELPHIA - Samuel H. Preston, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania, has named leading criminologist Lawrence W. Sherman as the new Director of the Fels Center of Government. Sherman will also be appointed the Albert M. Greenfield Professor of Human Relations in the Department of Sociology.

Elaine Wilner ・

The Colombian rainforest.

The stories of a war-scarred Colombian rainforest

Through her research, Kristina Lyons, associate professor of anthropology, is relaying the tales of the land’s suffering, as well as its enduring practical and spiritual importance to its residents.

Blake Cole ・

Oscar

And the Oscar goes to…

Excellent writing is evident in many of the films nominated for Academy Awards this year, with several edgy alternative films sharing major categories with mainstream blockbusters, says Penn’s Timothy Corrigan, a professor of English and cinema and media studies.

Louisa Shepard

Author Carmen Machado sitting on a sofa by a window and the cover of her memoir In the Dream House with an illustration of a house with a person looking out

Tales of abuse from a ‘Dream House’

Carmen María Machado, who teaches speculative fiction as a writer in residence in the Creative Writing Program, has received extraordinary attention for her new memoir, “In the Dream House,” using multiple genres to describe an abusive relationship with her former girlfriend.

Louisa Shepard

An image of an outline of an elephant is painted with blue stars on the back and red stripes on the legs and trunk

The future of conservatism

A top GOP pollster, a former White House aide and Penn grad, and a leading “Never Trumper” journalist share their thoughts on where the Republican Party goes from here.

Kristen de Groot

Student standing outside in on deck in front of trees

A 2021 Rhodes Scholar for Penn

May graduate Mackenzie Fierceton from St. Louis been awarded the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship for graduate study at the University of Oxford in England. She earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and is currently completing her master’s degree in clinical social work.

Ron Ozio



In the News


The New York Times

Europe has a leadership vacuum. How will it handle Trump?

Amy Gutmann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that Germany is front and center in the economic problems currently afflicting Europe.

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The Hill

Trust in court system at record low: Gallup

An October survey from the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that the public’s trust in the U.S. Supreme Court has dropped to a record low.

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Los Angeles Times

Trump offers murky worldview ahead of second term, mixing dire warnings with rosy promises

Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center says that Donald Trump is far more hyperbolic on average than traditional presidential candidates, who still routinely claim that they will do something alone that can’t be done without Congress.

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The New York Times

An epidemic of vicious school brawls, fueled by student cellphones

PIK Professor Desmond Upton Patton says that many schools don’t have a playbook for addressing student violence or helping pupils engage more positively online, in part because few researchers are studying the issue.

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The New York Times

N.Y.C. grocery prices are high. Could city-owned stores help?

Andrew Lamas of the School of Arts & Sciences says that the logistics of running grocery stores are complicated and that New York City should examine different models like cooperatives.

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