William Burke-White and Samantha Power

The University of Pennsylvania’s Perry World House hosted the inaugural Global Shifts conference: Urbanization, Migration and Demography—An Examination of Marginalization and Inequality, on April 20-21. The conference included a closed day-long session with working groups followed by a public day, April 21, bringing together scholars, policymakers and practitioners in a program designed to advance substantive, policy-relevant work and public awareness around the pressing global challenges at the intersections of urbanization, migration and demography.

Penn President Amy Gutmann joined PWH Director William Burke-White in convening a group of Penn faculty, Perry World House Visiting Fellows and guests. President Gutmann introduced the keynote speaker Samantha Power (above right), former United States ambassador to the United Nations and a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and human rights advocate. Ambassador Power spoke of the global refugee crisis, the largest displacement crisis since World War II. She suggested a politics of compassion and inclusion, adding that everyone has the capacity to help.