We’re the Graduate Division

Home to more than 30 graduate groups spanning the humanities and social and natural sciences, the Graduate Division at Penn Arts & Sciences is here to support your research.

Create New Knowledge

Home to expert faculty, archives, and state-of-the art equipment, Penn Arts & Sciences will help you grow into a leader in your field.

At the Frontiers

Our graduate groups offer a rigorous education, guiding students as they pursue advanced research and begin to make their own original contributions at the frontiers of knowledge.

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News & Announcements

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SAS Graduate Division Ceremony: Featured Graduation Speakers

The Graduate Division is pleased to announce that our keynote speaker for graduation 2025 will be Professor Michael Mann.

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SAS Graduate Students Honored as 2025 Dean's Scholars

Penn Arts & Sciences has named 20 students from the College of Arts & Sciences, the College of Liberal & Professional Studies, and the Graduate Division as 2025 Dean’s Scholars.

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2025 Penn Grad Talks Winners

Congratulations to this year's winners of Penn Grad Talks!

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Save the Date! Graduate Division's 2025 Graduation Ceremony

Mark your calendar! The Graduate Division of the School of Arts & Sciences will hold the 2025 graduation ceremony for Master's and PhD recipients on Friday, May 16, 2025 at 10:00 AM, in Irvine Auditorium.

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SAS Graduate Students Honored with 2024 Teaching Awards

Congratulations to this year's Penn Arts & Sciences teaching award recipients.

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SAS Graduate Students Honored as 2024 Dean's Scholars

Penn Arts & Sciences has named 20 students from the College of Arts & Sciences, the College of Liberal & Professional Studies, and the Graduate Division as 2024 Dean’s Scholars.

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Grad Students in the News

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A less ‘clumpy,’ more complex universe?

Joshua Kim, a Ph.D. candidate in physics, contributed to research that combined cosmological data from two major surveys of the universe’s evolutionary history and found that it may have become ‘messier and complicated’ than expected in recent years.

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Patterns of Soviet Jewish emigration in the post-Stalin era

For four decades, more than one million Jews left the USSR despite the Soviet Union’s complex bureaucracy and opposition to emigration. Doctoral candidate Sasha Zborovsky explores the intricate dynamics.

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Chinatown and community as a cornerstone

Will Chan, a Thouron Scholar and Ph.D. candidate in theoretical physics, is also an advocate for building Asian communities.

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Picking up on acoustic signals through better filtration

Yue Jiang, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, has led research hinting at a new way to control sound waves at frequencies in which phones and other wireless technologies operate.

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Deep Listening and The Sound of Philadelphia

In a graduate seminar taught by Professor of Music Carol Muller, students re-examined ethnographic research methods and worked on field projects aimed at documenting Philadelphia’s Black music history.

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From College Community to Career Path

Joyce Kim, Ph.D. student in sociology and education, wants to know what motivates undergraduates—especially those who are the first in their families to attend college—to choose the career trajectories that they do.

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Graduate Groups

Learn about our 33 graduate groups in the humanities and social and natural sciences.

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Penn Grad Talks

Penn Grad Talks is a day of TED Talk-style presentations by Penn Arts & Sciences graduate students representing the Humanities, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, and Professional Master’s programs as they compete for first place and audience choice prizes within their category.

Watch the 2025 Penn Grad Talks Presentations