5/19
Campus & Community
Ten from Penn elected 2021 AAAS Fellows
Ten scholars representing five schools across the University of Pennsylvania have been named to the 2021 class of American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows, recognized for their “scientifically and socially distinguished achievements.”
Anti-racism and reproductive justice
PIK Professor Dorothy Roberts joined Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood, in the 21st annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Lecture in Social Justice. They addressed the intersectional nature of anti-racism and reproductive freedom.
Landmark gift endows Penn Integrates Knowledge Professorship in honor of Amy Gutmann
A $5 million commitment from James S. and Gail Petty Riepe will endow a new PIK Professorship in recognition of Dr. Gutmann’s distinguished tenure as Penn’s longest-serving President
Mentor support for the first-generation college experience
Three decades apart, senior Rachel Swym and alumna Leanne Huebner found a common bond in their rural backgrounds and first-generation, highly aided college experience.
M. Elizabeth Magill nominated to become President of the University of Pennsylvania
Magill, who currently serves as Executive Vice President and Provost of the University of Virginia, will assume the Penn Presidency on July 1, 2022. She succeeds Dr. Amy Gutmann.
Pre-arrival and gateway testing for the start of the spring semester
Penn Today provides details on COVID-19 testing requirements for students, postdocs, faculty, and staff who are either enrolled in courses this spring or are coming to campus regularly.
Penn receives pivotal gift to expand support for first-generation to college and modest-income undergraduates
The gift, from Scott and Elena Shleifer, will increase its support and critical resources for students who are in the first generation of their family to attend college and/or from households of modest or limited income.
A virtual day of service
Penn’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Symposium on Social Change will be virtual this year, offering events for adults and children of all ages.
Empowering community engagement through theory and practice
This fall, students applied community participation and stakeholder involvement processes to conduct their own outreach activities on campus as part of Participatory Cities, a Stavros Niarchos Foundation Paideia Program course.
Math education and engagement in West Philadelphia
This fall, students in Math 123 applied the skills they learned about math education and communication while working with 10th graders at Paul Robeson High School.
In the News
The tragedy of Robert McFarlane
Perry World House Fellow John Gans writes, “During his two years as then-President Ronald Reagan’s third national security advisor, [Robert] McFarlane aspired to wield power on the level of his most famous predecessor, Henry Kissinger. But McFarlane proved both too ambitious and too ineffective to wield it in accordance with the law, and instead he became embroiled in the Iran-Contra scandal.”
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Record applications, record rejections
Admissions Dean Whitney Soule comments on students engaged in academic research during their time in high school, many earning national and international accolades for research.
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Princeton, Cornell, University of Pennsylvania withhold Class of 2026 acceptance rates
Princeton University, Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania have also decided to refrain from releasing detailed admissions statistics. The remaining five Ivy League universities—Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Brown and Dartmouth—have made their traditional admissions announcements.
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Some Ivy League colleges to play down how selective they are
Admissions Dean Whitney Soule said drawing attention to the acceptance rate of Ivy League schools like Penn does more harm than good, distressing applicants and their parents. “We’re focusing not on how hard we are to get into but on who these young people are that we chose,” she said.
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Richard Perlman has donated $10 million to Wharton, his alma mater, to aid entrepreneurs
Alumnus Richard Perlman and his wife, Ellen Hanson Perlman, have donated $10 million to the Wharton School to support Venture Lab, a student center for entrepreneurship.
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