1.19
Education, Business, & Law
Annual social change symposium to honor Martin Luther King Jr.
The annual Commemorative Symposium on Social Change features events to commemorate and honor the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.
The transformation of the teaching workforce
Updated research from the Graduate School of Education’s Richard Ingersoll finds new trends in America’s schools.
Law faculty perspectives on passage of the First Step Act
Penn Law faculty weigh in on the passage of the First Step Act, a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill that modifies sentencing laws, expands job training, and takes additional steps intended to reduce recidivism and create a fairer and less costly criminal justice system.
The best books of 2018 for young readers
Penn GSE’s Ebony Elizabeth Thomas and her team share their book choices for elementary and middle grade kids, showcasing authors whose work explores issues like race, gender, ethnicity, and class thoughtfully and empathetically.
Money alone won’t address climate change goals—we need policy action
Wharton’s Eric W. Orts joins other experts to analyze the likely outcome of the 24th annual Conference of the Parties, the two-week U.N. meeting where a plan of action to reverse climate change is the goal.
In negotiations, one strategy leads to better economic gains, but worse relationships
Behavioral scientist Nazli Bhatia found that aggressive but retracted offers known as ‘phantom anchors’ can improve outcomes—but only when employed with finesse.
Making sense of the war on Huawei
In an opinion piece, Wharton dean Geoffrey Garrett weighs in on the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, CFO of Huawei, and argues it is only the beginning of what is clearly becoming the U.S. government’s war on the Chinese tech firm.
‘The Pitch’ podcast comes to Penn
Senior molecular biology major Katherine Sizov won the judges over with her fruit biosensor company Strella Biotech.
‘Second Looks, Second Chances’ examines parole reform for life sentences
Regina Austin, Penn Law’s William A. Schnader Professor of Law, has authored a new paper offering a behind-the-scenes account of producing a documentary calling for commuting life sentences for prisoners in Pennsylvania.
Undergraduate leads NGO to change Chicago’s gun violence
Sophomore Eva Maria Lewis is tackling the root causes of Chicago’s gun violence crisis and working to create equitable communities.
In the News
Philadelphia Inquirer
Trump-friendly Newsmax bundled into Comcast’s Xfinity service
The Annenberg School for Communication’s Victor Pickard discussed conservative news channel Newsmax and its recent deal with Comcast. If Comcast is “feeling the heat from the right, it will make sense to appease some of those critics,” said Pickard.
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Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane (WHYY-FM)
ACA contraceptive coverage
Allison Hoffman of the Law School discussed the significance of a ruling by a federal judge in Philadelphia that stopped the expansion of employer exemptions for covering contraception on religious or moral grounds.
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National Public Radio
An unlikely treatment offers hope for chronic pains sufferers but drug makers see little incentive
Patricia Danzon of the Wharton School commented on drug companies’ hesitance to produce new medications. “Bringing a new drug to market requires getting FDA approval and that requires doing clinical trials,” she said. “That’s a significant investment, and companies, unsurprisingly, are not willing to do that unless they can get a patent and be the sole supplier of that drug for at least some period of time.”
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Vox.com
16 big predictions about 2019, from Trump’s impeachment to the rise of AI
Wharton’s Philip Tetlock was cited for his research on “superforecasters,” people who appear to be systematically better at predicting world events. Common traits among those people include lots of practice and an openness to being wrong.
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The New York Times
Company known for deep cost-cutting offers to buy Gannett
Victor Pickard of the Annenberg School for Communication commented on a possible takeover of Gannett Co., publisher of several major daily papers, by Digital First Media. “If Digital First acquires Gannett it will be good for their business but bad for everyone else, including employees that work at Gannett papers and the local communities that those newsrooms serve,” said Pickard.
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