February 24, 2026 Volume 72 Issue 25

Provost John L. Jackson, Jr. announced the appointment of Laura W. Perna as Senior Vice Provost for Faculty. Dr. Perna, who is the GSE Centennial Presidential Professor of Education in the Graduate School of Education, was appointed Vice Provost for Faculty in 2020 and reappointed in 2025. 

“Laura Perna’s work as Vice Provost for Faculty has been essential to sustaining the eminence and well-being of our Penn faculty,” said Provost Jackson. “She helped us to navigate first the COVID pandemic in the early years of her tenure and then the series of complex, unpredictable challenges that we have faced in more recent years. She steers faculty hiring, promotion, and retention with great judgment and skill—working closely with all 12 schools and the Faculty Senate—and has advanced critical priorities that include promoting faculty wellness and work-life balance, using surveys and metrics to better assess and strengthen resources for faculty, innovating new forms of communication with and among faculty, and accelerating faculty leadership and development programs. I am indebted to her wisdom, insight, and compassion in this role, and I look forward to continuing to collaborate with her in support of our outstanding faculty colleagues.” 

The Senior Vice Provost for Faculty oversees faculty life and the academic personnel process at Penn, including faculty recruitment, retention, development, and retirement; appointments, tenure, and promotions; wellness, well-being, and work/life balance; and resolution of individual faculty issues, including grievances. The Senior Vice Provost coordinates the Provost’s Staff Conference and works closely with the leaders of Penn’s schools, departments, and graduate groups, as well as the Faculty Senate, the Office of the Ombuds, the Penn Association of Senior and Emeritus Faculty, the Penn Forum for Women Faculty & Gender Equity, and the Offices of Equal Opportunity Programs, General Counsel, Human Resources, and Institutional Research & Analysis, among others. 

“I am honored by this appointment,” said Senior Vice Provost Perna, “and energized by the opportunities ahead. Above all, I am grateful for my Penn colleagues, whose commitments to educational discovery and intellectual innovation advance Penn’s mission every day—and drive our shared responsibilities to help lead Penn forward, whatever challenges we may face together in the future.” 

Senior Vice Provost Perna is an internationally recognized expert in college access, affordability, and success, especially for low-income, first-generation, and non-traditional students. The co-founder of the Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy (Penn AHEAD), she has served as president of the Association for the Study of Higher Education and as vice president of the postsecondary education division of the American Educational Research Association and is currently chair of the Board of Directors of the Postsecondary National Policy Institute and a member of the board of the Lenfest Scholars Foundation. At Penn, she has served as chair of the Faculty Senate and of Penn GSE’s higher education division. She has received the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, the highest University-wide teaching honor, and the Faculty Award of Merit from Penn Alumni. She is a Penn alumna, holding a BA in psychology from the College of Arts & Sciences and a BS in economics from the Wharton School, as well as a PhD in education and a MPP from the University of Michigan.

America’s first chartered hospital will mark its 275th anniversary by transforming Pennsylvania Hospital’s historic Pine Building into a museum, open to the public in May 2026. Timed to coincide with semiquincentennial celebrations in Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Hospital Museum links the nation’s first hospital’s rich history with Penn Medicine’s continued leadership in science and medicine.

Exhibits will include the preserved historic library and surgical amphitheater and newly restored apothecary. Eight unique galleries will feature interactive video exhibits and other hands-on activities to illustrate previously untold stories about Pennsylvania Hospital’s role in the history of modern medicine.

“Pennsylvania Hospital is not only linked to the history of just Philadelphia, but to the history of the United States of America: from caring for soldiers during the American revolution to sending physicians and nurses abroad to caring for soldiers in World War I and World War II, from the Yellow Fever in 1793 to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, from brewing healing teas from herbs grown on hospital grounds to developing brain-computer interfaces that can treat conditions like Parkinson’s disease and obsessive-compulsive disorder,” said Stacey Peeples, lead archivist at Pennsylvania Hospital. “I am thrilled to illuminate the huge contributions of generations of caregivers, patients and staff, so that every visitor can share in the pride we feel in the history of Pennsylvania Hospital.”

The museum highlights the hospital’s robust tradition of “firsts” that continue to drive advancements in medicine today, including those pioneered across Penn Medicine. Each gallery is dedicated to a story central to Pennsylvania Hospital’s legacy. Highlights include:

• Brain and Mental Health: The hospital was first established to provide psychiatric care to Philadelphia’s poorest residents, which at the time was groundbreaking. Since then, Pennsylvania Hospital continues to pioneer cutting-edge technologies to treat complicated conditions, including using deep brain stimulation for binge-eating disorders and thought-powered prosthetics.
• Women’s Health: Today, Pennsylvania Hospital is the busiest birthing hospital in Philadelphia, welcoming over 5,000 babies into the world each year. It paved the way for modern obstetrics and gynecology for centuries, from establishing the first maternity ward in 1803 to addressing racial disparities in maternal healthcare today.
• Apothecary and Pharmaceuticals: In a reconstruction of the hospital’s original apothecary, the museum traces the history of how illness is treated, from early therapies that were created from plants through modern day innovative therapies developed at Penn Medicine, like CAR-T cell therapy and CRISPR gene editing.
• Leading Through Conflicts and Perseverance: Pennsylvania Hospital played an important role in guiding the nation through challenging times. Starting with the American Revolution, Pennsylvania Hospital cared for soldiers during times of war. The hospital also provided care to Philadelphians during pandemics, from the Spanish Flu all the way through COVID-19.

“Pennsylvania Hospital is a jewel in the crown that is Penn Medicine, where our staff draw energy from our rich history to shape the future of medicine,” said Alicia Gresham, CEO of Pennsylvania Hospital. “It is an honor to preserve this vibrant legacy while steering the hospital forward as we continue to make history through innovation, discovery, and advances that propel Penn Medicine’s mission.”

Pennsylvania Hospital was founded in 1751 by Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Bond “for the reception and cure of poor sick persons…free of charge,” an endeavor itself that was novel in a time when sick individuals called upon doctors to come to their homes and paid for their services themselves.

For 275 years, Pennsylvania Hospital continued to be a leader in patient care. Today, it is nationally recognized for programs in neurosurgery, obstetrics and high-risk maternal and fetal services, neonatology, behavioral health, and orthopedics. The hospital is home to 517 licensed inpatient beds and saw 19,759 adult admissions, 54,023 emergency department visits, and 5,163 births in fiscal year 2025.

Older than the United States itself, Pennsylvania Hospital plays an integral role in keeping Philadelphia healthy and safe, and has distinguished itself as a beloved member of the community it serves.

“From its founding, Pennsylvania Hospital has embraced the idea that everyone is welcome,” said Ms. Peeples. “The sense of community is woven into the very fabric of the institution—you can feel it the moment you walk through our doors. No one is ever a stranger here.”

Tickets will go on sale this spring. To sign up to receive updates on the museum, ticket sales, and museum events, visit www.PAHospitalMuseum.org. 

Wharton Executive Education has announced the launch of The Resilient Leader, a new four-day program designed for mid- to senior-level leaders who are responsible for guiding teams and organizations through sustained uncertainty, complexity, and change.

Today’s leaders are not encountering disruption as a temporary event; they are operating within it. Geopolitical instability, rapid technological change, and workforce pressures have made ambiguity and constraint part of everyday leadership. The Resilient Leader will reframe resilience not as a fixed personality trait, but as a strategic capability that can be intentionally developed and embedded across individuals, teams, and systems.

“Uncertainty is no longer episodic: It is structural,” said Samir Nurmohamed, an associate professor of management at the Wharton School and academic director of the program. “When leaders treat resilience as a personality trait rather than a capability, they leave performance to chance. Organizations need leaders who can anticipate strain, absorb setbacks, and keep people aligned when conditions are unstable.”

The Resilient Leader will blend rigorous research with experiential learning, diagnostic assessments, simulations, and peer exchange. Participants will actively test how they respond to uncertainty, trade-offs, and setbacks, and translate those insights into a personalized Resilience Action Plan that they can apply immediately in their roles.

The program faculty includes distinguished Wharton professors Samir Nurmohamed, Amy Wrzesniewski, Henning Piezunka, and Quinn Bauriedel, as well as Wharton Deputy Dean Nancy Rothbard, whose research spans leadership, organizational behavior, meaning at work, and team dynamics.

In addition to faculty-led sessions, the program will feature a conversation with Jane Golden, founder and executive director of Mural Arts Philadelphia, and a mural tour that will connect leadership concepts to community-based impact. A fireside chat with psychologist and best-selling author Angela Duckworth will explore the role of grit in sustained performance and how perseverance complements recovery and adaptability in resilient leadership.

Over four days on Wharton’s Philadelphia campus, participants will develop both a Resilience Action Plan and a resilient-leadership narrative, translating research and reflection into clear leadership commitments they can take back to their organizations.

Enrollment for the program’s inaugural running, June 8–11, 2026, is now open.

Founded in 1881 as the world’s first collegiate business school, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is shaping the future of business by incubating ideas, driving insights, and creating leaders who change the world. With a faculty of more than 235 renowned professors, Wharton has 5,000 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students. Each year, 100,000 professionals from around the world advance their careers through Wharton Executive Education’s individual, company-customized, and online programs, and thousands of pre-collegiate students explore business concepts through Wharton’s Global Youth Program. More than 105,000 Wharton alumni form a powerful global network of leaders who transform business every day. For more information, visit www.wharton.upenn.edu.

David J. Farber, an emeritus professor in the department of computer and information science in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, died on February 7. He was 91. 

Born in New Jersey in 1934, Mr. Farber earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1956 and a master’s degree in mathematics in 1961, both from the Stevens Institute of Technology. He began his career at Bell Laboratories, contributing to the design of the first electronic switching system (ESS-1) and to the development of the SNOBOL programming languages, before holding positions at the Rand Corporation and Scientific Data Systems.

After his time in the industry, Mr. Farber went on to hold faculty positions at the University of California, Irvine, the University of Delaware, and Carnegie Mellon University. During this period, he led work that produced the world’s first operational distributed computer system, later helping to conceive and organize major national research networks, including CSNET and NSFNET, and contributing to the National Research and Education Network. His paper “The Convergence of Computing and Telecommunications Systems,” which he co-wrote with engineer Paul Baran in 1977, was a seminal work that suggested that computers could take over communication functions, later to take the form of email, text messaging, and more. Mr. Farber also played a central role in establishing the NSF- and DARPA-funded Gigabit Network Testbed Initiative, chairing its coordinating committee and advancing the development of high-speed networking technologies that would underpin the modern internet.

Mr. Farber joined the Penn Engineering faculty in 1987 as a professor of computer and information science. In 1993, he was named the Alfred Fitler Moore Professor of Telecommunication Systems, which he held until he retired and took emeritus status in 2003. He also held a secondary appointment in the department of electrical and systems engineering, as well as appointments in the Wharton School and the Annenberg School for Communication. At Penn, Mr. Farber was known not only for his technical leadership but also for his deep engagement with public policy.

A pioneering computer scientist and visionary educator, Mr. Farber is widely regarded as one of the architects of modern computer networking. Over a career that spanned more than six decades, he helped lay the technical and policy foundations of the internet, earning recognition as a member of the Pioneers Circle of the Internet Hall of Fame in 2013. From 2000 to 2001, while on leave from Penn, he served as chief technologist of the Federal Communications Commission, where he advised on telecommunications and internet policy at a critical moment in the evolution of digital infrastructure. Throughout his career, he was a thoughtful and influential voice on the societal implications of emerging technologies, bridging the worlds of engineering, government and industry.

Mr. Farber was a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the Association for Computing Machinery, and American Association for the Advancement of Science, and received numerous honors for his lifetime contributions to computer communications, including the ACM Special Interest Group on Data Communication Award and the John Scott Award. In 2018, Mr. Farber became a distinguished professor at Keio University in Japan and co-director of the Keio Cyber Civilization Research Center, continuing to teach, mentor and advance international dialogue on the future of cyberspace until shortly before his death.

“Through his scholarship, public service, and unwavering commitment to students and colleagues, [Mr.] Farber helped shape not only the architecture of the internet, but also the civic and intellectual framework that guides its continued evolution,” said the computer & information science at Penn Engineering in a tribute. “His impact will endure in the networks that connect the world and in the countless lives he influenced through his teaching and leadership.” 

Mr. Farber is survived by his son, Emanuel, and two grandchildren.

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To Report A Death

Almanac appreciates being informed of the deaths of current and former faculty and staff members, students and other members of the University community. Email almanac@upenn.edu.

The University Council met in the Hall of Flags at Houston Hall on February 18, 2026.

President J. Larry Jameson introduced the meeting by encouraging everyone on campus to take Title VI training that was described in a recent University-wide email (Almanac February 10, 2026),

which is an important step toward making the entire Penn community feel welcomed and supported.

Brigitte Weinsteiger, the H. Carton Rogers III Vice Provost and Director of the Penn Libraries, gave the third focus issue presentation of the year, Penn Libraries: Advancing Faculty and Student Success. She described the Penn Libraries as a dynamic 21^st-century research library system and as a core part of Penn’s academic infrastructure, encompassing 17 libraries, centers, and commons; the University Archives; and Penn Press; and employing over 300 librarians. She described the diverse services the Penn Libraries offer to the Penn community, including support for open-access academic publishing, and previewed the Zilberman Family Center for Global Collections in the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center, which will soon begin construction.

Four Penn faculty members delivered the fourth focus issue presentation of the year, Faculty Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence in Teaching and Research.

• Russell Composto, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and the Henry Robinson Towne Professor of Materials Science and Engineering in Penn Engineering, discussed the formation of a faculty working group to develop guidance for incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) into pedagogy at Penn.
• Iwan Barankay, an associate professor of management and business economics & public policy in the Wharton School, described several popular classes and degrees in AI that the Wharton School offers. He also indicated that students have expressed a need to learn about AI at Penn to be competitive in the job market.
• Marissa DeCesaris Siegel, a practice assistant professor in Penn Nursing, described ways that AI augments human decision-making in nursing. She also noted that Penn Nursing faculty have expressed their willingness to begin to arm students with these tools.
• Kathleen M. Brown, the David Boies Professor of History in the School of Arts & Sciences, said that generative AI has no place in the humanities, as it emphasizes the final product over students’ progress and erodes students’ critical thinking skills, curiosity and skepticism about the world, classroom focus, and ability to read books for courses.

Associate Vice President and Associate University Secretary Lizann Boyle Rode, served as moderator in the absence of University Council moderator Michael McGarvey. She addressed new business topics raised during the January 21 University Council meeting. During the new business portion of the meeting, members:

• Applauded the University for coming to a tentative agreement with the graduate student union.
• Raised concerns about Muslim students’ safety while observing Ramadan traditions amidst increased Philadelphia ICE presence.
• Called attention to upcoming events that will promote gender equity (Gender Equity Week, March 23-27) and sexual violence awareness (Take Back the Night, April 9).
• Raised awareness of the financial plight of club sports teams at Penn and called on Penn to provide funding to these clubs.
• Urged the University to inform the Penn community about potential ICE raids on and near campus and to provide ICE resistance training and know-your-rights informational resources.

The next University Council meeting is scheduled for March 25, 2026, and will be an open forum. PennCard holders who would like to speak at the open forum must submit a request to the Office of the University Secretary ucouncil@pobox.upenn.edu by 10 a.m. on Monday, March 16.

On Thursday and Friday, March 5-6, 2026, there will be meetings of the Penn Board of Trustees.

Thursday, March 5, 2026

8:30-10 a.m.—Local, National, and Global Engagement Committee
10:30-11:45 a.m.—Facilities & Campus Planning Committee
1:45-3:15 p.m.—Student Life Committee
3:30-5 p.m.—Academic Policy Committee
3:45-5:15 p.m.—Budget & Finance Committee

Friday, March 6, 2026

11:30-12:30 p.m.—Stated Meeting of the Trustees

The agenda will be posted at https://secretary.upenn.edu/trustees-governance/open-trustee-meeting. Please contact the Office of the University Secretary at (215) 898-7005 or ofcsec@pobox.upenn.edu with questions regarding Trustee meetings.

Penn Nursing has announced that Diane Dodge, executive director of Tiba Foundation, has received the 2026 Penn Nursing Renfield Foundation Award for Global Women’s Health. Ms. Dodge will be formally recognized on April 13, 2026, at the Perry World House, where she will receive a $100,000 unrestricted grant to further her transformative work in women’s healthcare access and economic empowerment.

“We are proud to honor Diane Dodge for her visionary leadership,” said Antonia M. Villarruel, the Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Penn Nursing. “Her work to break down women’s healthcare barriers in rural Kenya through turning transportation into a driver of maternal health and economic agency is inspired—and it perfectly embodies the Renfield Award’s mission to champion community-led, transformative solutions. Diane’s efforts reimagine what is possible to improve the lives and well-being of women and girls globally, and that is what Penn Nursing is all about.”

“I am deeply honored to receive the Renfield Foundation Award for Global Women’s Health and to partner with Penn Nursing,” said Ms. Dodge. “I am so grateful for the opportunity to amplify transportation as an often-overlooked barrier to women’s health, especially in rural communities. I am proud to celebrate the Boda Girls—the first women in their villages to learn to drive, advocate for health, and provide free rides to the hospital. They ensure that women give birth in hospitals and can access cancer care. Their success inspires me!”

The Renfield Foundation Award is presented biennially to global leaders whose work has made a significant and measurable impact on the health of women and girls. Ms. Dodge was selected for her visionary leadership in addressing the “hidden” social determinants of health—specifically the lack of safe, affordable transportation in rural communities.

Diana C. Mutz, the Samuel A. Stouffer Professor of Political Science and Communication in the Annenberg School for Communication and the School for Arts & Sciences, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Council. Dr. Mutz is director of the Institute for the Study of Citizens and Politics at the Annenberg School.

She was elected to the NAS in 2021 and is one of four councilors elected to three-year terms on the NAS Council, starting in July 2026.

Dr. Mutz studies political communication, political psychology, and public opinion, and her research focuses on how the American mass public relates to the political world and how people form opinions on issues and candidates. She received a 2017 Carnegie Fellowship and a 2016 Guggenheim Fellowship to pursue research on globalization and public opinion, and in 2011 received the Lifetime Career Achievement Award in Political Communication from the American Political Science Association. In addition to many journal articles, Dr. Mutz is the author of Winners and Losers: The Psychology of Foreign Trade, Impersonal Influence: How Perceptions of Mass Collectives Affect Political Attitudes, Hearing the Other Side: Deliberative Versus Participatory Democracy, and In-Your-Face Politics: The Consequences of Uncivil Media.

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit institution that was established under a congressional charter signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. It recognizes achievement in science by election to membership, and—with the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine—provides science, engineering, and health policy advice to the federal government and other organizations. Members of the academy are elected by their peers for outstanding contributions to research. The membership includes approximately 2,650 active members and 550 international members, with a total of 190 members having been awarded Nobel Prizes.

The National Academy of Education (NAEd)—an honorific society dedicated to advancing high-quality education research and its use in policy and practice—has elected Katharine O. Strunk, Dean of the Graduate School of Education (Penn GSE), a new member of the academy. Membership in the NAEd is widely recognized as one of the highest honors in the field of education research.

Dean Strunk joins a distinguished group of scholars whose work has significantly shaped the understanding of educational systems, policies, and practices. Her election reflects her sustained contributions to education research, policy, and leadership—marked by a commitment to partner-driven inquiry and consequential scholarship that informs real-world decisions affecting schools and learners.

“It is an incredible honor to be elected to the National Academy of Education,” said Dean Strunk. “I am deeply grateful to my colleagues, partners, and students whose collaboration has made my research possible. This recognition underscores the importance of rigorous, partner-driven research that advances equitable and effective education for all learners.”

Dean Strunk, who became Dean of Penn GSE in July 2023, is nationally renowned for her work on teacher labor markets, school and district improvement, governance, and accountability policies. Her research blends mixed methods with deep partnership across education systems, helping policymakers and practitioners better understand the effects of policy choices on outcomes for educators and students alike.

Under Dean Strunk’s leadership, the Graduate School of Education has continued to build on its legacy of advancing “research with consequence”—fostering scholarship that not only expands academic knowledge but also drives practical improvements in education locally, nationally, and globally.

The National Academy of Education’s members include leading scholars in education and related fields whose work has had profound impacts on educational research, policy, and practice. Election is based on outstanding scholarship and a demonstrated commitment to the improvement of education through research and its application. 

Penn GSE’s presence in the National Academy of Education is both deep and distinguished. Dean Strunk’s election to the academy further strengthens Penn GSE’s presence within this prestigious community of scholars and amplifies the school’s role in shaping the future of education research and policy.

Alice Xu, an assistant professor in Penn’s School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2), has received the 2025 Mancur Olson Best Dissertation Award from the American Political Science Association (APSA). The award honors the best dissertation in political economy completed within the previous two years and commemorates the legacy of political economist Mancur Olson.

Dr. Xu’s dissertation, Segregation and the Spatial Externalities of Inequality: A Theory of Interdependence and Public Goods in Cities, addresses the question: Why do cities of comparable size and fiscal capacity provide vastly different patterns of public goods? Her research reveals that politically polarized cities under-provide public goods, and that the geographic configuration of cities (i.e., segregation along class lines) shapes when cities become politically polarized and when they develop cross-class coalitions to support public goods over private alternatives.

Dr. Xu holds a primary appointment at SP2 and a secondary appointment in the political science department of the School of Arts & Sciences. She specializes in the comparative political economy of development, with a focus on urban and distributive politics, the politics of inequality and social policy, and climate justice and environmental politics in the Global South.

The March AT PENN 2026 calendar is now available! Click here to view the online version of the calendar, and click here to view a printable PDF. 

Conferences

27        Journal of Constitutional Law Symposium: The Declaration at 250; will recognize the 250^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by exploring the historical and contemporary relevance of the document; 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; room 100, Golkin Hall, and Zoom webinar; register: https://form.typeform.com/to/zzXC9gzL (Journal of Constitutional Law).

28        Journal of Law and Social Change Symposium; panels will tackle issues of law, including workers’ rights, public benefits, criminal law, immigration, and education, and speakers will discuss ways in which lawyers, activists, and citizens can fight against the erosion of the rule of law and help empower their communities; 9 a.m.-6 p.m.; room 100, Golkin Hall; register: https://penncareylaw.cventevents.com/event/jlascsymposium2026 (Journal of Law and Social Change).

Fitness & Learning

Penn Libraries

Various locations. Info: https://www.library.upenn.edu/events.

25        Oney Judge Day Printing; make your own print commemorating Oney Judge Day, an important day in Philadelphia history.; 9-11 a.m.; Common Press, Fisher Fine Arts Library.

            Weingarten Center Drop-ins at the Butler Room; representatives from the Weingarten Center will be on hand to answer questions about resources, how to submit an accessibility request, get assistance with test scheduling, and more; noon-2 p.m.; room G101.11, Van Pelt Library.

27        Energy Week at Penn: Open Studio Session—Commemorative Poster Printing and T Shirt Stamping; explore relief printing in celebration of Penn Energy Week; participate in poster printing, t-shirt printing, or both; 1-3 p.m.; Common Press, Fisher Fine Arts Library.

Music

28        Penn Flutes: Flute Fleadh; Penn Flutes and traditional Irish band the Rookery visit the Penn Museum for an annual performance of traditional flute music; 1 p.m.; Asia Gallery Rotunda, Penn Museum (Music).

On Stage

27        Penn Thillana Presents: Navarasas; this Indian classical dance presentation combines two forms—Bharatanatyam and Kathak—to celebrate the nine (“nava”) emotions (“rasas”) central to classical dance: laughter, anger, surprise, fear, bravery, compassion, disgust, and love; 5 p.m.; Iron Gate Theater; tickets: $10-$12 (Platt Student Performing Arts House).

            Pan-Asian Dance Troupe Presents For:you; the Pan-Asian Dance Troupe celebrates 25 years of carrying messages forward, threading stories between generations, cultures, and emotions, where movement speaks what words cannot; 8 p.m.; Iron Gate Theater; tickets: $12-$14 (Platt Student Performing Arts House). Also February 28, noon and 7:30 p.m.

Readings & Signings

25        Feeling Mixed; Shantee Rosado, Rutgers University; noon; room 108, ARCH (Makuu, La Casa Latina).

26        Fundamentals of Drug Development; Jeffrey S. Barrett, Aridha Digital Research Environment; 5:30 p.m.; 2^nd floor conference room, Penn Bookstore (Penn Bookstore).

Talks

24        How Critical Minerals Are Driving the Future of Energy; Karen Goldberg, Kleinman Center for Energy Policy; Eric Schelter, chemistry; 5:45 p.m.; room 121, Vagelos Laboratory for Energy & Science Technology; register: https://tinyurl.com/schelter-talk-feb-24 (Penn Science Café).

25        The Calendarized Onomasticon and the Arrival of Birthday Celebration from the Ancient Near East to China; Sanping Chen, Northwestern University; noon; room 623, Williams Hall (East Asian Languages & Cultures).

            How Media Ownership Matters; Rodney Benson, New York University; noon; room 500, Annenberg School; register: https://tinyurl.com/benson-talk-feb-25 (Media, Inequality & Change Center).

            Living the Hard Promise: International Scholarship at a Crossroads; Mark Devlin, astronomy; Leticia J. Marteleto, sociology; C. Brian Rose, classical studies; noon; Café 58, Irvine Auditorium; register: https://tinyurl.com/devlin-marteleto-rose-feb-25 (School of Arts & Sciences).

            Reliable Physical AI for Power Systems: Stability-Constrained Reinforcement Learning and Generative Lyapunov Function Discovery; Yuanyuan Shi, University of California, San Diego; noon; room 414, Gutmann Hall, and Zoom webinar; join: https://upenn.zoom.us/j/97254514949 (ASSET Center).

            Active Center Design on Bulk and Highly Porous Surfaces for Atom-Efficient Catalysis; Rachel Yang, University of Michigan; 3:30 p.m.; Wu & Chen Auditorium, Levine Hall (Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering).

            Detecting the 21 cm Signal from the Epoch of Reionization and Beyond; Jonathan Pober, Brown University; 3:30 p.m.; room 4E19, DRL (Physics & Astronomy).

            Autonomous Combinatorial Experimentation for Search and Discovery of Quantum Materials; Ichiro Takeuchi, University of Maryland; 3:30 p.m.; room 2N3, DRL (Physics & Astronomy).

26        Inducing Broadly Neutralizing HIV Antibodies through Targeted B Cell Activation: Insights from Pre-Clinical and Clinical Trials; Leo Stamatatos, University of Washington; noon; online webinar; info: https://www.med.upenn.edu/cfar/seminar-series/ (Center for AIDS Research).

            Multi-Step Reasoning Via Curriculum Learning; Daniel Hsu, Columbia University; noon; room 414, Gutmann Hall (IDEAS Center, PennAI, Statistics & Data Science).

            Estimating Long-Term Treatment Effects by Integrating Randomized Trials and Real-World Data under Unmeasured Confounding, Study Heterogeneity, and Informative Dropout; Shu Yang, North Carolina State University; 1 p.m.; room 03-031 east, 3600 Civic Center Blvd, and Zoom webinar; join: https://tinyurl.com/yang-talk-feb-26 (Center for Causal Inference).

            Harmonic Maps Into CAT(0) Spaces; Yannick Sire, Johns Hopkins University; 3:30 p.m.; room 4C4, DRL (Mathematics).

            Yogis and Magic: Swami Viśuddānanda’s “Science of the Sun”; Loriliai Biernacki, University of Colorado, Boulder; 3:30 p.m.; room 204, Cohen Hall (Religious Studies).

            Goats and Cannibals: Reading Some Anecdotes in Procopius’ Gothic War; Cam Grey, classical studies; 4:45 p.m.; room 402, Cohen Hall (Classical Studies).

            2025-2026 Visiting Artist Lecture Series; Leilah Weinraub, artist; 6 p.m.; Institute of Contemporary Art (Fine Arts, ICA).

27        A Family Affair: The Effects of College on Parent & Student Finances; Oded Gurantz, University of Colorado, Boulder; noon; room 259, Stiteler Hall (Graduate School of Education).

            Michelangelo’s Rrime to Tommaso: The Sinful Love of a Believer; Mattia Italiano, Italian studies; The Hell of Sex: The Schizoanalysis of Pasolini’s Use of Dante’s Inferno in Salò, o Le 120 Giornate di Sodoma; Nicola Guida, Italian studies; noon; room 344, Fisher-Bennett Hall (Gender, Sexuality & Women’s Studies).

            Latinx Methods and the Politics of Praxis; Tommy Conners, University of Florida; 2 p.m.; room 330, Fisher-Bennett Hall (English).

28        Ancient Egypt in Watercolors: Paintings and Artifacts from Dra Abu el-Naga; Josef Wegner, Near Eastern languages & civilizations; 3 p.m.; Penn Museum (Penn Museum).

Center for the Advanced Study of India

In-person events in room 230, PCPSE. Info: https://casi.sas.upenn.edu/events.

26        Remaking the Urban in the Margins: Peripheral Resettlement and Differential Inclusion in India; Karen Coelho, Madras Institute of Development Studies; noon.

Economics

In-person events. Info: https://economics.sas.upenn.edu/events.

24        The Impact of Publicly Funded Home-Based Care on Nursing Home Quality; Brady Smith, economics; noon; room 200, PCPSE.

25        The Labor Demand and Labor Supply Channels of Monetary Policy; Christopher Huckfeldt, Federal Reserve Board; 4 p.m.; room 101, PCPSE.

26        The Efficiency and Equity of New and Used Electric Vehicle Subsidies; Hunt Allcott, Stanford University; 3:30 p.m.; room 101, PCPSE.

GRASP Lab

In-person events. Info: https://www.grasp.upenn.edu/events/.

25        Accelerating and Driving Robotics Progress with Simulation Integrated Robot Learning; Stone Tao, University of California, San Diego; 3 p.m.; room 307, Levine Hall, and Zoom webinar.

Population Studies Center

Various locations. Info: https://www.pop.upenn.edu/.

25        Marriage and Childbearing as an East Asian Package: Gendered Family Effects on Earnings in South Korea; Soonjin Kim, Yonsei University; 3 p.m.; room 367, McNeil Building, and Zoom webinar.

This is an update to the February AT PENN calendar, which is online now. The March AT PENN calendar appears elsewhere in this issue. To submit events for future AT PENN calendars or weekly updates, email almanac@upenn.edu.

Division of Public Safety
University of Pennsylvania Police Department Crime Report

About the Crime Report: Below are the Crimes Against Persons and/or Crimes Against Property from the campus report for February 9-15, 2026. The Crime Reports are available at: https://almanac.upenn.edu/sections/crimes. Prior weeks’ reports are also online. –Eds.

This summary is prepared by the Division of Public Safety (DPS) and contains all criminal incidents reported and made known to the Penn Police, including those reported to the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) that occurred within our patrol zone, for the dates of February 9-15, 2026. The Penn Police actively patrol from Market Street to Baltimore Avenue and from 30^th Street to 43^rd Street in conjunction with the Philadelphia Police.

In this effort to provide you with a thorough and accurate report on public safety concerns, we hope that your increased awareness will lessen the opportunity for crime. For any concerns or suggestions regarding this report, please call DPS at (215) 898-7297. You may view the daily crime log on the DPS website.

Penn Police Patrol Zone
Market Street to Baltimore Avenue and from 30^th Street to 43^rd Street

Philadelphia Police 18th District
Schuylkill River to 49th Street & Market Street to Woodland Avenue

Below are the Crimes Against Persons from the 18th District: 9 incidents with 1 arrest were reported for February 9-15, 2026 by the 18^th District, covering the Schuylkill River to 49th Street & Market Street to Woodland Avenue.

The Division of Public Safety offers resources and support to the Penn community. DPS developed a few helpful risk reduction strategies outlined below. Know that it is never the fault of the person impacted (victim/survivor) by crime.

• See something concerning? Connect with Penn Public Safety 24/7 at (215) -573-3333.
• Worried about a friend’s or colleague’s mental or physical health? Get 24/7 connection to appropriate resources at (215) 898-HELP (4357).
• Seeking support after experiencing a crime? Call Special Services - Support and Advocacy resources at (215) 898-4481 or email an advocate at specialservices@publicsafety.upenn.edu
• Use the Walking Escort and Riding services available to you free of charge.
• Take a moment to update your cellphone information for the UPennAlert Emergency Notification System
• Download the Penn Guardian App which can help Police better find your location when you call in an emergency.
• Access free self-empowerment and defense courses through Penn DPS.
• Stay alert and reduce distractions; using cellphones, ear buds, etc. may limit your awareness.
• Orient yourself to your surroundings. (Identify your location, nearby exits, etc.)
• Keep your valuables out of sight and only carry necessary documents.

As part of its commitment to carbon neutrality by 2042, Penn has cultivated a power purchase agreement (PPA) with energy company AES to develop solar arrays that supply the equivalent of most campus and health system electricity needs. Through this partnership, AES funds related educational efforts via a Penn Climate–run grant program.

The PPA Renewable Energy Research Program supports education and training on the technical, operational, and economic aspects of renewable energy and storage. All Penn faculty and students may apply. Faculty can request support for student projects, and students may seek funding for capstones, theses, internships, or fellowships. Projects may receive up to $15,000.

Particular consideration will be given to proposals that: 

• Foster the next generation of climate leadership. 
• Integrate and bolster interdisciplinary work, especially involving new collaborations.  
• Involve hands-on research or experiential learning connected to the solar field site in central Pennsylvania. 
• Will generate new knowledge and outline a plan to translate it for on-the-ground impact. 

Timeline

• March 30, 2026: Deadline to submit proposals through InfoReady. Only applications submitted by InfoReady will be reviewed. 
• April 29, 2026: Anticipated release of final responses. 

Learn more about application instructions and timelines for this funding opportunity: https://upenn.infoready4.com/#freeformCompetitionDetail/2007185. 

Find out about past projects: https://environment.upenn.edu/ppa-renewable-energy-research-program#ppaprojects.

Another tip in a series provided by the Offices of Information Security, Information Systems & Computing and Audit, Compliance & Privacy

Many people join clubs, social media groups, or dating sites as a New Year’s resolution to connect with others. With Valentine’s Day coming up, romance scams in 2026 have increased, driven by AI and stolen profiles. Scammers use AI to generate realistic photos, videos, voice messages, and convincing emotional messages that imitate genuine relationships. They create believable websites with fake pictures of active individuals to trick potential members into sharing personal info and using their credit and debit cards to pay for memberships. 

Some scam tactics include:

• Asking to switch from a secure app to a less secure platform like WhatsApp or Telegram.
• Quickly forming an emotional bond while manipulating victims to invest in crypto scams or cover fake urgent financial needs.
• Asking personal questions to gather sensitive information, or persuading individuals to share intimate photos or videos, then threatening to expose them unless they pay.
• In fake clubs or active society groups, interested people are asked to fill out forms and pay an initial fee to join. Scammers create convincing histories, testimonials, and photos of members to lure people into willingly sharing their personal and financial information.
• To protect yourself from these scams:
• Never send money or share financial info with anyone you meet online.
• Be skeptical of anyone claiming exclusive opportunities, pressuring you to act quickly, or promising high returns.
• Ask questions, but keep your personal info private when using a dating app. Be cautious about clicking links that are sent in chat rooms.
• Research the club or organization carefully before sharing your personal or financial details on an unverified website.
• If you believe you have fallen victim to a romance or an online club or group membership scam, report it to the FBI at ic3.gov and to your financial institution.

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For additional tips, see the One Step Ahead link on the Information Security website: https://isc.upenn.edu/security/news-alerts%23One-Step-Ahead.

Andi Johnson

A few years ago, I created a locally-engaged course, Health in Philly: Past & Present, to try to address the teaching problem of “shallow learning.” By shallow learning, I mean learning that seems to stay within the classroom or within a single assignment, learning that seems somewhat performative or transactional, or learning that stays at a level of abstraction without impacting the student’s “real life.” Maybe you have a sense of what I mean. (By the way, I don’t consider “shallow learning” the fault of the students; it’s a structural problem).

My turn toward locally-engaged teaching was inspired by reading the work of indigenous studies scholar and geographer Laura Harjo. A line from Harjo’s 2019 book, Spiral to the Stars, stopped me dead in my tracks: “If I am not here to honor and create the conditions for beautiful moments—everyday Mvskoke interactions—then in my eyes the worth and value of Mvskoke community work is lost” (23). I found myself musing, what would my teaching look like if my goal each class was “to honor and create the conditions for beautiful learning moments?”

Locally-engaged teaching was one answer to that question. A Health & Societies seminar grounded in history and anthropology, Health in Philly, teaches students about the structural determinants of health in a highly-localized way. Students investigate the history and current practices of a dozen Philadelphia community organizations, such as Lutheran Settlement House, Black Women’s Health Alliance, and Puentes de Salud. Of each organization, students ask: How was “health” defined during this organization’s founding, and by whom? What health concerns—and for whom—did this group address, and how? What does this organization do today? Students spend class time diving into historic primary sources and then go on site visits to talk to the staff of the organizations. For most visits, we take SEPTA to health clinics or community centers. One week we go to a community garden. Let me share an anecdote about the garden visit and then explain how locally-engaged teaching begins to address “shallow learning.”

One early morning last March, I met my students at the 40th & Baltimore trolley portal. While we waited for the next trolley to come out of the tunnel to take us westbound along Chester Ave, I realized something must have had happened downtown. There were no westbound trolleys. As I privately debated the speed, cost, and legality of alternate options (bus? Uber? my minivan?), one of my students said, “Andi, it looks like he’s turning around,” pointing to an eastbound trolley arriving from Baltimore Ave. Instead of continuing into the tunnel, it was circling around to head back west. I ran over and asked the driver if there was any way we could hop on. He asked, “Where do you want to go?” When I replied, “Well, we were going to take the T3 to a garden near Mount Moriah Cemetery,” he smiled and said, “I’ll be the T3,” and with that we went from having no trolley to our own trolley. Happy to be on our way, I wasn’t sure exactly which lessons about the structural determinants of health each of my students would take away from the next two hours, but I knew connecting them to the Karen Community Association of Philadelphia (KCAP) had “created the conditions.”  

Two days prior, our class had welcomed anthropology PhD candidate Rebecca Winkler for a history lesson. Rebecca taught us that the Karen state in Myanmar is the location of the longest, continuous civil war in the world, ongoing since 1949. Karen refugees fleeing the war often spend 10-20 years in “temporary” camps along the Thai border before relocating to other places, including, since about 2008, Philadelphia. Rebecca noted the unique mental and physical health challenges of Karen refugees, challenges including food insecurity. We learned that, with support from People’s Kitchen Philly co-founder Ben Miller, Reinhard Street neighbors, and Novick Urban Farm, Karen refugees had recently begun gardening in southwest Philly. 

When we arrived at the garden, farmers showed us where to grab some gloves and assemble. I realized the students weren’t going to drop a seed in a hole or something simple like that but were being asked to do some real gardening work. The students didn’t hesitate. They organized themselves into wheelbarrow teams, mulch teams, teams to turn the soil, and teams to put in irrigation lines. They traded smiles and tools with Karen elders. They asked questions. Over the course of the morning, we learned about the seasonality, cultural significance, and nutrition of different Karen crops, like rozelle leaf, long beans, mustard seed, and cilantro; about how Karen community members were adapting their growing techniques to Philadelphia’s climate and urban context; and about how they had taken care to devote a section of the garden to crops specifically requested by their neighbors. When it was time to stop gardening and shift to eating, the students passed around the juices we were contributing. They asked how to say phrases like “delicious!” and “thank you” in the Karen language and shared their delight at the dishes.

Locally-Engaged Teaching “Creates the Conditions” for Authentic Learning

Students submit video journal entries to Canvas, reflecting on what they learned from a previous week’s site visit. Here are some excerpts from reflections on the community garden visit:

I was being vastly out-gardened by community members who were significantly older than me. I will continue to think about the physical contributions and health impact [of gardening] on older members of the community… the opportunity to spend time with friends over a garden bed and plant and do light exercise seems so invaluable and overlooked [in conversations about health and healthcare].

The one thing I kept reflecting on is that [one elder] said that ‘as long as you have seeds, you have home.’ That wasn’t the first time I had heard that. My grandparents both lived through the Soviet Union’s specific attack on Ukraine during the 1930s, with the Ukrainian famine, or Holodomor... [The visit] made me really think about the means of rebuilding and belonging after displacement, especially for refugees like the Karen, who live through decades of trauma and statelessness.

[I’m] recognizing refugee farmers not only as recipients of aid but as knowledge holders and leaders in food cultivation and land maintenance...

I am thinking about the limits and possibilities of these kinds of organizations of grassroots care. Is it possible to scale up KCAPS’s model without losing the personal or cultural beliefs, or the grounded approach itself? What role should the government play, if it should?

During other site visits, students identified very different themes, relationships, and lessons. The following week, students reflected on relationships between residential segregation, industrial pollution, and community health after first diving into the history of Philadelphia’s oil refinery and its century-long impact on health in the Point Breeze neighborhood of South Philly and then talking to members of Philly Thrive. The week after, students reflected on how the intersection of gender norms, sexuality-based oppression, and occupational opportunities can impact health after first studying the history of Bebashi (a community organization founded during the AIDS epidemic) and then talking to staff. Truth be told, the students’ take-homes from the locally-engaged version of the course aren’t all that different, conceptually, from those of students in my reading seminar-only version of the course. The difference is that the ideas the students write and talk about are theirs. I create the conditions and then let them make their own observations.

One unexpected bonus of locally-engaged teaching is that it also teaches students that working hard and controlling the future are not the same thing. Engaging with people and spaces outside of our usual corner of the universe (our classroom) requires me to work hard and plan in advance but then also, importantly, a lot of adapting, embracing what is, improvising, and asking for help. The students witness all this in real time, and they help me adapt, improvise, and ask for help along the way. Thank you, SEPTA drivers!

Andi Johnson is the director of the First Year Experience in the College of Arts & Sciences.

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This essay continues the series that began in the fall of 1994 as the joint creation of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Center for Teaching and Learning and the Lindback Society for Distinguished Teaching. 

See https://almanac.upenn.edu/talk-about-teaching-and-learning-archive for previous essays.