8.15
Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences
Survival of the trees on an urban campus
Since 2015, the Office of the University Architect has been partnering with the Morris Arboretum on a tree donation program in order to determine how particular trees fare in an urban environment.
French lit professor discusses her new book, a stranger-than-fiction tale of finance and fashion
Joan DeJean’s book of French society in the 17th and 18th century is not unlike a modern soap opera, complete with high fashion, murder, bad investments, and family betrayal.
Scholar of Britain discusses the royal family and upcoming nuptials
Historian Alex Chase-Levenson talks the impending wedding between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, and Americans’ fascination with the British royal family.
Parents not OK with movie gun violence for younger teens
A new study by researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center reveals how parents determine what makes intense gun violence in PG-13 movies acceptable for teens.
New ‘match’ streamlines clinical training experience for psych graduate students
A new “match” for clinical psychology graduate students connects trainees with potential externship sites. In its second year, the initiative successfully matched more than 250 trainees in the mid-Atlantic region.
33rd Philadelphia Children’s Festival offers three days of performing arts fun
Now in its 33rd year, the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts ushers in a three-day wave of merriment with the Philadelphia Children’s Festival, marked by its interdisciplinary lineup of performing arts acts.
The World on View
The world is on view at the Arthur Ross Gallery, interpreted by 13 students in André Dombrowski’s history of art curatorial class. They chose more than 100 objects from 14 institutions to represent World’s Fairs from 1851 to 1915.
Breaking the bank
Economics professor Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde reveals that Bitcoin is not the first private currency in history, and may face regulation in the future.
Morris Arboretum art exhibit reflects on time in the garden
For its latest exhibition, the Morris Arboretum posed a simple question to more than 100 artists who submitted concepts: What does the idea of “time in the garden” mean to you?
Wrongful convictions reported for 6 percent of crimes
For capital crimes like rape and murder, wrongful convictions happen in about 3 to 5 percent of cases. Such an estimate had proved elusive for the prison population as a whole—until now, thanks to work from Penn criminologists.
In the News
The New York Times
The trouble with trucking
Steve Viscelli, a Robert and Penny Fox Family Pavilion Scholar Senior Fellow and a lecturer in the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy and the Department of Sociology, was cited for his expertise in the trucking industry.
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Philadelphia Inquirer
When a white woman from Old City wears a Black Lives Matter T-shirt in Cherry Hill
Marybeth Gasman of the Graduate School of Education wrote a viral Facebook post about her experience wearing a Black Lives Matter T-shirt in public.
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Bloomberg View
Trump loses a battle in his war on truth
The Annenberg Public Policy Center’s Kathleen Hall Jamieson said, of the status of truth in contemporary politics, that “checks and balances can still forestall or prevent unjustified action in domestic affairs (assuming that those in the Congress and the courts retain their respect for the knowable and known).”
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The New York Times
Classical myths filtered through a modern prism
Emily Wilson of the School of Arts and Sciences reviewed Zachary Mason’s “Metamorphica” for The New York Times.
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Philadelphia Inquirer
When Philadelphians just can’t get enough Fringe Fest here, they go to Scotland’s monster version
Rosemary Malague of the School of Arts and Sciences has taken groups of students to the Edinburgh Fringe festival for over 25 years. “It’s a tremendous learning opportunity for all of us – and we get to see some great shows,” said Malague.
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