In a Q&A, David Meaney, vice provost of research, and Michael Ostap, chief scientific officer in the Perelman School of Medicine, explain the charge of the Research Strategy and Financing working group they co-chair and working to grow Penn’s impact even further. “We have data that I’ve now seen as part of the working group, and it’s very clear that the population is living healthier lives and surviving diseases in part because of research that Penn has been part of,” says Meaney. “And it’s unquestionable. I would put Penn up against any other institution in the world, with our record in that.”
Kelly Jordan-Sciutto, vice provost for graduate education and chair of the Graduate and Professional Training working group for Penn Forward, discussed her journey to Penn, assessing what graduate education needs to be in 2035 to be at the cutting edge, and working to make sure today’s students don’t have to “walk uphill both ways in the snow just because I had to,” she says.
Co-chairs of the Penn Forward Global Opportunity and New Markets working group Ezekiel Emanuel, vice provost for global initiatives, and Megan Ryerson, chair of the Department of City and Regional Planning, talked about Penn’s commitment to remaining engaged globally, as well as building institutional structures to support new opportunities for impact in the future.
Florence Onyiuke, a fourth-year pursuing an international relations and business degree in the Huntsman Program, with a minor in Spanish, was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship for graduate study at the University of Oxford in England. She was one of 32 American Rhodes Scholars this year.
The University honored eight distinguished alumni and a notable faculty member at the 2025 Alumni Award of Merit Gala. The classes of 1995 and 2000 received the Class Award of Merit, and the Class of 2005 received the David N. Tyre Award for Excellence in Class Communications.
Mendel Kranz is the inaugural recipient of the Ross-Silk-Lowenstein Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism. Kranz promotes empathy for modern Jewish experiences through postdoctoral research projects, teaching undergraduate classes, and organizing educational events. The fellowship, says Michael Weisberg, who leads implementation of recommendations from the 2024 University Task Force on Antisemitism and the Presidential Commission on Countering Hate and Building Community, “strengthens scholarship, teaching, and public engagement about contemporary antisemitism at a time when it is most needed.”
Antonia Villarruel, who serves as the Margaret Bond Simon Dean of School of Nursing, has been reappointed for an additional two years, through June 30, 2028. “Under her tenure, the School has made notable strides in research, education, and community impact while continuing to grow financial support for faculty and students,” says Penn President J. Larry Jameson. “Her leadership is exemplified by major progress towards achieving the School of Nursing’s strategic goals.”
Penn Live Arts received a visionary gift from Julie Beren Platt and Marc E. Platt to name the Platt Student Performing Arts Center, currently under construction at the intersection of 33rd Street and Woodland Walk. The building will include 38,700 square feet of performance, teaching, rehearsal, and practice spaces for use by the more than 2,000 students involved in the performing arts on campus. (Image: Courtesy of Steven Holl Architects)
Penn alumni Glenn and Amanda Fuhrman gifted “Rui Rui,” a 23-foot-tall cast-iron bust by Spanish sculptor Jaume Plensa. Glenn Fuhrman said, “Bringing ‘Rui Rui’ to Penn holds particular significance. This campus is where I first discovered my love of art as a student, and ‘Rui Rui’ is a masterpiece that I believe will inspire that same appreciation in generations of students to come.” (Image: Eddy Marenco)
The renovated 2,000-square-foot gallery features more than 250 archaeological, historic, and contemporary items from the Penn Museum’s North American collections. The gallery centers Indigenous perspectives and was created in collaboration with eight Indigenous consulting curators.
Penn Leads the Vote, the University’s student-run, nonpartisan outreach program, worked to increase voter engagement on campus leading up to and during Election Day on campus. Penn President J. Larry Jameson visited PLTV’s tables along Locust Walk before casting his ballot at his campus polling location.
Penn is preparing a steady stream of activities for the semiquincentennial, the nation’s 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Ways to engage include courses spanning disciplines that explore America’s history, new books from Penn Press, and an ongoing interactive project from the Common Press—with more opportunities trackable at the America 250 at Penn website. (Image: Mark Schiefelbein via AP Images)
As part of the Side Gigs for Good series, Penn Today highlighted staff who spend time outside their work hours giving back to Philadelphia organizations. Featured: an archivist who curated an exhibition on the history of the U.S. Navy, a Penn Medicine nurse manager providing health education to the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation, a College of Liberal & Professional Studies instructional designer helping creative teens with entrepreneurial and life skills, and an Institutional Review Board analyst who fosters cats and dogs.
Penn President J. Larry Jameson issued a message of thanks to students, faculty, staff, and alumni around the globe. “As we enter the final weeks of the semester, I encourage you to thank someone who has made a difference in your life at Penn,” he wrote. “Gratitude strengthens the bonds that hold our community together and propel us forward. I remain grateful to each of you—students, faculty, staff, and alumni—for your commitment to our shared goal of using knowledge for good.”
In the New York Times, Mohamed A. El-Erian, Senior Global Fellow at The Lauder Institute argues for the net good of artificial intelligence, even if the economy is experiencing a much-feared “bubble.” “Whichever way you look at it, the potential payoffs of A.I. adoption are staggering — for the economy, for social sectors and, of course, for investors,” says El-Erian. “That could not be said for a majority of the big historical bubbles, such as the tulip mania of the early 17th century.” (Image: Courtesy of Knowledge at Wharton)
Following layoffs at Amazon, UPS, and Verizon in recent weeks, Ioana Marinescu, a professor of labor economics at the School of Social Policy and Practice, spoke to ABC News about a need to look at the fuller picture of the economy to see whether hiring initiatives might be overshadowed by job losses. “You can’t look at a few companies,” she said. (Image: Courtesy of School of Social Policy and Practice)
