4.23
Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences
The Venezuelan crisis, explained
A Q&A with Tulia Falleti, a political science professor and the director of the Latin American and Latino Studies Program, on the past, present, and possible future of Venezuela.
Pint-size philosophers
By engaging with Philadelphia elementary students and high school teachers, Penn professor Karen Detlefsen is opening young minds to a new kind of philosophical thinking.
PennDesign partners with Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation
The Graduate Program in Historic Preservation at the School of Design has entered into a collaborative research agreement with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation to assist in activities leading to the study and preservation of Taliesin and Taliesin West.
Celebrating Chinese culture
The Penn Lions student dance troupe aims to spread good luck and good fortune around the Lunar New Year.
Risk and healthy behavior in the American adaptation of a telenovela
Researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center compare the CW Network show “Jane the Virgin” and the original Spanish-language telenovela “Juana la Virgen” and find an increase in risky adolescent behavior in the adaptation.
And the Oscar goes to…a Penn sophomore
Claire Sliney is a co-executive producer of one of five films nominated for an Academy Award in the Documentary Short Subject category. “Period. End of Sentence.” explores the stigma of menstruation for girls in India and Sliney’s work to address the issue.
The Knight Commission calls to rebuild trust in democracy with transparency, responsibility
Penn President Amy Gutmann joined 26 other national leaders to consider why the age of Facebook and “fake news” has pushed faith in government and the media to historic low, and how to mend the rift.
The language of climate change—and the Anthropocene
Hanna E. Morris, a doctoral student at the Annenberg School for Communication who researches environmental communication, explains the sudden rise of ‘Anthropocene’ as the latest buzzword in the climate dialogue.
25 years later, a legacy presses forward
It separates fiction from facts and sets standards for journalists. Since its formation in 1993, the Annenberg Public Policy Center has surely made its mark.
Supreme Court decision a boon for truck drivers and, potentially, the gig economy
Three Penn experts discuss the ruling, which gives transportation workers the ability to sue their employers in class-action lawsuits, sidestepping forced arbitration.
In the News
Smithsonian Magazine
If Thanos actually wiped out half of all life, how would Earth fare in the aftermath?
Lauren Sallan of the School of Arts and Sciences discussed the hypothetical results of a mass-extinction event, like the one depicted in “The Avengers” movie franchise. “I think humans would figure out a way to [survive], provided that not all of the ecosystems collapse,” said Sallan.
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Chronicle of Social Change
Does your agency reflect the diversity of the community it serves? Why not?
Raekwon Burton, a grad student in the School of Social Policy & Practice, wrote about the lack of diversity in the field of social work.
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WHYY (Philadelphia)
Eastern Pennsylvania's population growth bypasses western Pa.
Domenic Vitiello of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design weighed in on Pennsylvania’s shifts in population. “Pennsylvania remains very much a Rust Belt state,” he said. “But it’s heartening that we’re not declining as precipitously as we were in the 1970s or 1980s.”
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Time
The Mueller report is embarrassing for Trump, but it doesn’t call into question his 2016 win
Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center was cited for her book Cyberwar: How Russian Hackers and Trolls Helped Elect a President.
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Time
Why spicy food makes your nose run—and why it’s great for you
Paul Rozin of the School of Arts and Sciences explained why we enjoy eating spicy food, a kind of “benign masochism.” “People seem to enjoy pushing the limits of what we can take,” he said.
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