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Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences
GovLabPHL embeds academic research into city government
As a part of the Philadelphia Behavioral Science Initiative, Penn faculty members connect with the City of Philadelphia to use innovative research data to inform more effective programs and policies.
Gruesome photos on cigarette boxes can propel anti-smoking campaigns
Warning messages on cigarette packs are most effective when diseased body parts and testimonials are pictured.
Marian Anderson’s legacy lives on
Philadelphia elementary school students visit the Penn Libraries to learn about the world-renowned singer (and the cat she dedicated an entire album to) through her collection.
A ‘magic moment’ for PennDesign
The School of Design kicked off its Lead by Design campaign with an awards and fundraising gala in New York City.
What happens when someone’s skin color and racial identity don’t align?
Doctoral student Haley Pilgrim is trying to answer this question through her research, which focuses on second-generation multi-racial populations.
She did it herself
The Penn Libraries exhibition “OK, I’ll Do It Myself” with selections from the collection of alumna Caroline Schimmel features 145 books, photographs, manuscripts, artwork, and memorabilia on women in the American wilderness, even Annie Oakley’s trunk.
Political intimidation, at-risk media, and the future of journalism
In the wake of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s death, Barbie Zelizer, director of the Center for Media at Risk, discusses how journalists and other digital media practitioners can better prepare for working in today’s climate and why, for that to happen, the media culture needs to shift.
Cuba libre
The complexities of Cuba’s history and the response by artists were the focus of the summer abroad course “Penn-in-Havana: Visual Culture and Public Art in Cuba,” taught by art historian Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, and funded by a Making a Difference in Diverse Communities grant.
Students, Bush talk political differences and bridging divide
Jeb Bush, the 43rd governor of Florida, and Penn’s very own Presidential Professor of Practice, joined students on Wednesday evening in College Hall for a wide-ranging, candid discussion.
As market concentration goes up, employees’ wages go down
Labor economist Ioana Marinescu discusses her research, which she presented to the Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday, Oct. 16.
In the News
NextCity.org
Philly applies a ‘light touch’ to get dollars flowing for middle-income homes
Vincent Reina of the School of Design discussed Philadelphia’s new Workforce Housing Credit Enhancement program, which guarantees loans to small and mid-size developers building income-restricted projects. The enhancement “is a nice way of releasing pressure on the housing market,” says Reina.
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Miami Herald
Sex and violence were pumped up to “Americanize” Jane the Virgin, study finds
A new study from the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that “Jane the Virgin,” like many other English-language adaptations of telenovelas, was augmented to feature more sex and violence than the original version in order to appeal to American audiences. These changes “could in turn adversely affect its adolescent Hispanic audiences,” wrote the report’s co-authors, Darien Perez Ryan and Patrick E. Jamieson.
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Forbes
What the Middle Ages can teach us about Star Wars’ ancient Jedi texts
The Schoenberg Institute was highlighted for its series of weekly videos in which the Libraries’ Dot Porter discusses parallels between fictional texts in the Star Wars universe and medieval manuscripts.
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The New Yorker
Does democracy need truth?: A conversation with the historian Sophia Rosenfeld
The School of Arts and Sciences’ Sophia Rosenfeld was interviewed about her new book, “Democracy and Truth: A Short History.” Addressing the rise of social media, Rosenfeld said, “we don’t have many tools, most of us, for distinguishing between legitimate stories and illegitimate ones, or we don’t care that much. The end result is a world of truth and falsehood all circulating, undifferentiated, globally.”
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The New York Times
Overlooked no more: Forough Farrokhzad, Iranian poet who broke barriers of sex and society
The School of Arts and Sciences’ Fatemeh Shams memorialized the late Iranian poet, Forough Farrokhzad. “She always had one eye back on tradition, and one eye toward the future,” said Shams.
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