2024
Wale Adebanwi and Deborah A. Thomas Named 2024 Guggenheim Fellows
The award is designed to allow independent work at the highest level under “the freest possible conditions.”
Paul Sniegowski Named President of Earlham College
Sniegowski, the Stephen A. Levin Family Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, has been at Penn for 27 years. He will leave at the end of July.
2024 College of Arts & Sciences Graduation Speakers
James “Jim” Johnson, C’74, L’77, a School of Arts and Sciences Board of Advisors member, and student speaker Katie Volpert, C’24, will address the Class of 2024 Sunday May 19 on Franklin Field.
Undergraduate and Graduate Students Honored as 2024 Dean’s Scholars
This honor is presented annually to students who exhibit exceptional academic performance and intellectual promise.
Three College Undergrads Named 2024 Goldwater Scholars
These scholarships are awarded to students planning research careers in mathematics, the natural sciences, or engineering.
Azuma and Hart Named Roy F. and Jeannette P. Nichols Professors of American History
Eiichiro Azuma specializes in Asian American and transpacific history, while Emma Hart teaches and researches the history of early North America, the Atlantic World, and early modern Britain between 1500 and 1800.
Arts & Sciences Students Honored during 37th Annual Women of Color Day
Sade Taiwo, C’25, and Kyndall Nicholas, a Ph.D. candidate in neuroscience, were honored for their work.
Postdoctoral Fellow Kunyu Wang Selected for CAS Future Leaders Program
He was one of just 35 people chosen for the honor.
Nine College Students and Alums Named Thouron Scholars; Will Pursue Graduate Studies in the U.K.
The Scholars are six seniors and three recent graduates whose majors range from neuroscience to communication.
Irma Elo Named Tamsen and Michael Brown Presidential Professor in Sociology
Elo’s main research interests center on inequalities in health and mortality across the life course and demographic estimation of mortality. In recent years, she has extended her research to include predictors of cognition in high-, middle-, and low-income countries.
Julia Hartmann Named Fay R. and Eugene L. Langberg Professor in Mathematics
She specializes in algebra and arithmetic geometry, a newer field that applies techniques from algebraic geometry to solve problems in number theory and co-developed the method of field patching.
McNeil Center Announces New Benjamin Franklin Distinguished Lectures
The endowed series, the first in the field of early American studies, will begin this fall with three talks about war and slavery from CUNY’s Professor David Waldstreicher.
Martin Claassen Named 2024 Sloan Research Fellow
Claassen, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, is among 126 early-career researchers who will receive a two-year, $75,000 fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Holger Sieg Named Baird Term Professor of Economics
Sieg focuses his research on public and urban economics, as well as the political economy of state and local governments.
Frank Schorfheide Named Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Economics
His research provides a set of tools that are useful for empirical work with modern macroeconomic models, including forecasting and policy analysis.
Book from Grace Sanders Johnson Finalist for 2024 Pauli Murray Book Prize
The recognition goes to the “best book concerning Black intellectual history” from the past year.
Corinn Harrell Named Vice Dean for Finance and Administration
The role oversees finance and budget, facilities, staff human resources, and computing. Harrell had held the interim position since September.
Jade Gonzalez, C’22, Wins Pickering Fellowship
The honor supports two years of graduate student in preparation for a career in the U.S. Foreign Service.
Barbara Savage of Africana Studies Wins 2024 ASALH Book Prize
The annual honor recognizes an outstanding book in the field of African American history and culture.
Taussia Boadi, C’24, and Cheryl Nnadi, C’24, Honored as Projects for Progress Winners
The pair, along with Ariane Thomas of Penn GSE, won for Positioned for Success, which provides academic support and enrichment to Philadelphia middle school students in the child welfare system affected by gun violence or parental incarceration.
Hear the Latest Research by Penn Arts & Sciences Graduate Students at Penn Grad Talks February 23
Twenty students will present their work in eight-minute TED-style talks. Cash prizes are on the line.
Daniel Wodak Receives Political Philosophy Prize
The Associate Professor of Philosophy earned the recognition from the Marc Sanders Foundation for his essay “One Person, One Vote.”
Decherney and Woubshet Named Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Term Professors
Peter Decherney is a professor of cinema studies and director of the Penn Global Documentary Institute. Dagmawi Woubshet is a scholar, writer, and translator in the English department.
Paul Hendrickson Receives Humanities Institute Outstanding Alumni Award
The honor goes to graduates who have made a significant impact in the humanities.
LilyLoop Wins 2024 Y-Prize Competition
Rima Chavali, C’27, W’27, Neha Chelamkuri, C’27, W’27, and Kylie Chang, ENG’27, W’27, created the line of “smart” period products.
Joseph Kable Named Jean-Marie Kneeley President's Distinguished Professor
Kable researches psychological and neural mechanisms of choice behavior. He is is the director of MindCORE, Penn’s hub for integrative study of the mind.
Masao Sako Named Arifa Hasan Ahmad and Nada Al Shoaibi Presidential Professor of Physics and Astronomy
Sako’s research focuses on observational cosmology with supernovae in order to study dark energy, and he is an innovator on many fronts.
Penn Arts & Sciences Receives Record $83.9 Million Gift
Alumnus Roy Vagelos and his wife, Diana, strengthen science research and education with their transformative gift to the University of Pennsylvania.
Chronicle of Higher Education’s Best Scholarly Books List Includes Latest by Jed Esty
The Vartan Gregorian Professor of English authored The Future of Decline: Anglo-American Culture at Its Limits.
Fatemeh Shams Named 2024 Greeley Scholar for Peace Studies
The Associate Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations is being recognized for her tireless advocacy for “political change, structural justice, and gender equality.”
2023
Two College Seniors Receive Schwarzman Scholarships
The scholarships will fund a one-year master’s degree in global affairs at Tsinghua University in Beijing for Amanda Howard and Zhouyi (Joey) Yang.
Ashley Fuchs, C’22, Named 2024 Marshall Scholar
She plans to focus on the nexus between international politics and heritage studies as she pursues two graduate degrees, at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Cambridge.
Gordon Elected Honorary Fellow of American Society for Legal History
The award recognizes distinguished historians whose scholarship has shaped the broad discipline of legal history and influenced the work of others.
A Message from Dean Fluharty
The stresses on our community this fall have been formidable. We will not allow the challenges of the last few months to call into question our community’s ability to engage with one another on hard questions with civility and respect.
Huey Copeland Receives 2024 James A. Porter and David C. Driskell Award in African American Art History
The BFC Presidential Associate Professor of History of Art was honored for Black Modernisms in the Transatlantic World.
Rare Earth Elements Project Wins Royal Society of Chemistry Education Prize
Three Penn Arts & Sciences scholars were part of the project, which provides engaging and informative materials on the critical metals.
Michael Mann to Receive John Scott Award from the Franklin Institute and the City of Philadelphia
The award is given to “the most deserving” individuals who have contributed to the “comfort, welfare and happiness” of humankind.
Announcing Living the Hard Promise: A Dialogue Series
The School of Arts and Sciences has announced the launch of a new initiative to inform understanding and encourage respectful dialogue across the Penn community on today’s challenging issues.
Penn Among Education Partners in Mid-Atlantic Clean Hydrogen Hub (MACH2) to Advance Clean Energy
Tom Mallouk, Vagelos Professor in Energy Research and Chair of the Department of Chemistry, is one of several researchers involved.
Anna Papafragou Is New President of Cognitive Science Society
The society brings together researchers from around the world.
Grace Sanders Johnson Earns Honor for “White Gloves, Black Nation”
The prize, from the Haitian Studies Association goes to the book that exemplifies Haitian studies in the social sciences “with broad application beyond the academy.”
2023 Presidential Ph.D. Fellows Include Four from Penn Arts & Sciences
The first-year graduate students are studying in the Departments of Physics & Astronomy, Linguistics, History, and Religious Studies.
Thomas Mallouk and Colleagues Awarded $5 Million in Funding for Energy Earthshot Research
They’re studying bipolar membranes, part of overarching work aimed at advancing basic science that supports the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
Irma Elo Elected President of Population Association of America
The organization of demographers supports and promotes high-quality population research. Her term begins on Jan. 1, 2024.
Gordion Archaeological Site Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site
C. Brian Rose, James B. Pritchard Professor of Archaeology, has been co-director of the project since 2006.
New Gift Will Establish Funds for the Study of Jewish History and Culture, and for the Study of Antisemitism
The newly established funds will provide support for Katz Center projects and collaborations related to the study of Jewish life and new research into the history, causes and impact of antisemitism and anti-Judaism.
Jared Farmer Book Honored by American Philosophical Society
“Elderflora: A Modern History of Ancient,” received the 2023 Jacques Barzun Prize in Cultural History.
Michael Weisberg Named Perry World House Interim Director
Since 2020, he has served as Senior Faculty Fellow, Global Climate Policy Lead, and director of post-graduate programs there. The post took effect September 1.
2023-2024 Mellon Fellows Announced
Six Penn Arts & Sciences faculty were selected for the program, which “seeks to support mid-career faculty from core humanities and arts disciplines.”