2021
Max Wragan, C'22, named George J. Mitchell Scholar
She is the fifth Penn student to receive the scholarship since the inaugural class of Mitchell Scholars in 2001.
Nicholas Thomas-Lewis, C’22, Named Rhodes Scholar
The Rhodes is highly competitive and one of the most prestigious scholarships in the world.
School of Arts & Sciences Launches New Initiative in Data Driven Discovery
The initiative will be directed by Bhuvnesh Jain of Physics and Astronomy and Greg Ridgeway of Criminology.
Michael Weisberg Named Bess W. Heyman President’s Distinguished Professor
Weisberg is an expert on the role of models in scientific inquiry and social ecology.
Penn to Make Sweeping New Investments in Science
The funding includes includes major new commitments in support of key priorities at the School of Arts & Sciences.
Ph.D. Students Named Institute of Education Sciences Fellows
The program supports scholars conducting research that informs education policy and practice.
Bo Zhen Announced as Winner of 2021 ICO Prize
The prize is awarded to individuals who have made a noteworthy contribution to optics, published or submitted for publication before he or she has reached the age of 40.
Kassabaum and Steiner Receive Excellence Through Diversity Grants
Megan Kassabaum, Associate Professor of Anthropology, and Emily Steiner, Rose Family Endowed Term Professor of English, have received grants from the Excellence Through Diversity Fund. Awarded annually by the Office of the Provost, the fund provides resources for innovative interdisciplinary projects on topics related to diversity and inclusion.
Emily Steiner Named Rose Family Endowed Term Professor
Steiner is a medievalist who specializes in 14th- and 15th-century English literature and culture.
Emily Hannum Named Stanley I. Sheerr Term Professor in the Social Sciences
Hannum is a sociologist and demographer whose research focuses on poverty and child welfare, social stratification, and sociology of education, particularly in China.
Pilar Gonalons-Pons Named Alber-Klingelhofer Presidential Assistant Professor
Gonalons-Pons studies how gender, work, families, and public policies structure economic inequalities.
Mary Frances Berry Awarded 2021 Lewis Award for History and Social Justice
The prize is offered annually to recognize a historian for leadership and sustained engagement at the intersection of historical work, public culture, and social justice.
Butler and Hirschmann Named Segal Professors in American Social Thought
Butler is a widely-recognized historian of American religion and an expert on African American religion, evangelicalism, and Pentecostalism. Hirschmann is an internationally-known feminist theorist, historian of political thought, and analytic philosopher, with particular expertise on the concept of freedom.
Arts & Sciences Alum Named Inaugural Samvid Scholar
Scholars were selected for their academic and leadership achievements, and for their drive to make positive changes in society.
Fakhraai, Kozlowski Honored by American Chemical Society
Fakhraai will receive a Rising Star Award and Kozlowski an Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award.
Zoe Zhao, Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology, Receives Young Scholar Award
Zhao is one of 10 recipients of the China Times Cultural Foundation Young Scholars Award, in recognition of her research on platform game work in China.
National Academy of Medicine Welcomes Biology's Sarah A. Tishkoff
Election to the NAM is considered one of the highest honors in health and medicine and recognizes people who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.
Brighid Dwyer Named Inaugural Vice Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the School of Arts & Sciences
She will join Penn from Princeton University, where she has served as Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion in the Office of the Vice President for Campus Life since 2018.
Biology's Michael Lampson Receives Grants From The National Institutes of Health
Along with Ben Black of the Perelman School of Medicine, Lampson was recognized with the Transformative Research Award.
Angela Gibney and Daniel Krashen Named Presidential Professors of Mathematics
Gibney is an algebraic geometer who has obtained deep results about moduli spaces of complex curves and vertex operator algebras; Krashen’s research is in algebra and arithmetic geometry, including the study of division algebras, quadratic forms, local-global principles, moduli stacks, and derived categories.
The Power of Penn Arts & Science Campaign Creates a New Future for Students, Faculty, and Campus
The Power of Penn Arts & Sciences Campaign concluded on June 30, 2021 with $565.6 million raised in support of undergraduate scholarships, graduate fellowships, professorships, programming, and facilities.
David Christianson Receives American Chemical Society Philadelphia Section Award
Christianson’s research focuses on the structure and function of metal-requiring enzymes.
Robert A. Rescorla Fund Supports Undergraduate Research with MindCORE
The fund will support undergraduates conducting research on human thinking and behavior as part of MindCORE’s summer fellowship program.
Harun Küçük brings science, philosophy, and history to the Middle East Center
The newly appointed faculty director says his aim ‘first and foremost is to maintain all the good things that the Center’s already doing.’
Aurélie Ouss Named Janice and Julian Bers Assistant Professor in the Social Sciences
The Assistant Professor of Criminology studies how good design of criminal justice institutions and policies can make law enforcement fairer and more efficient.
Penn Arts & Sciences Announces Making a Difference in Global Communities and Klein Family Social Justice Grants
Fifteen projects were awarded grants.
Christopher Woods Named Avalon Professor in the Humanities
Woods recently joined Penn as Williams Director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.
Penn Arts & Sciences Welcomes New Faculty
The School appointed 15 new faculty members for the 2021–2022 academic year.
Deborah Rhebergen Appointed Vice Dean for Advancement in the School of Arts & Sciences
Rhebergen joined Penn as Associate Vice Dean for Advancement in Arts & Sciences in November 2019.
So-Rim Lee Is Korea Foundation Assistant Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations
Lee’s research and teaching explore the politics of representation in visual cultures and everyday embodiment in South Korea and the Korean diaspora.
Carol Muller and West Philadelphia H.S. Receive Faculty-Community Partnership Award
Muller, Professor of Music, and her partners at West Philadelphia High School are the recipients of the 2021 Provost/Netter Center Faculty-Community Partnership Award.
Three Presidential Penn Compact Professors Join Arts & Sciences Faculty
Wale Adebanwi, Jennifer Morton, and Keisha-Khan Y. Perry have joined the School of Arts & Sciences as Presidential Penn Compact Professors.
Anthony Braga Is Jerry Lee Professor of Criminology
He is one of the nation’s leading social scientists working to improve our understanding of crime and innovate in our justice system.
Douglas Durian Named Mary Amanda Wood Professor of Physics
Durian has made groundbreaking contributions in the areas of non-equilibrium soft matter physics and optics.
Study on Youth Homelessness
Dan Treglia, Associate Professor of Practice, co-authored a report that finds under-reporting creates gaps in service and funding.
Ron Donagi Named Thomas A. Scott Professor of Mathematics
Donagi is an internationally renowned scholar of algebraic geometry and string theory.
Antonio Feros and Jared Farmer Named Annenberg Professors of History
Feros is a leading scholar of Spain and early modern Europe, while Farmer is an environmental historian with temporal expertise in the 19th century and regional expertise in the American West.
Penn Arts & Sciences Office of Advancement Communications Team Receives Four CASE Awards
The Circle of Excellence Awards recognized cover design, feature writing, and the OMNIA podcast, In These Times.
Donna Huryn Receives Lifetime Achievement Award
The professor of chemistry was honored by the Philadelphia Chapter of the Association of Women in Science.
Matthew Stitt Appointed as Fels Distinguished Fellow
He will help equip Fels students to engage in today’s critical policy issues and to create a more diverse and equitable public sector.
Yun Ding Selected as Searle Scholar
The assistant professor of biology is studying how neural circuits evolve to generate new behaviors.
Michael Kahana Leads Team Awarded $3.4 million to Study the Treatment of Memory Loss in Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury
A team of neuroscientists led by Michael Jacob Kahana has launched a $3.4 million project aimed at developing and testing new therapeutics for treating memory loss in patients with traumatic brain injury.
Martin Seligman Awarded RCSI Honorary Doctorate
Seligman is Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology and Director of the Positive Psychology Center.
Nicole Rust Receives 2021 Troland Research Award
The award honors significant achievement in experimental psychology and neuroscience.
Dock Sang Rim Named South Korea National Laureate
Rim was Chair of the Department of Mathematics from 1975 to 1978.
College Student Honors and Awards
Learn more about College students who have received recent grants and other awards.
Joullié Receives Honorary Degree
The Professor of Chemistry received an honorary degree from Temple University.
2021 Penn Prize for Excellence in Teaching by Graduate Students
Five Penn Arts & Sciences students were honored.
Inaugural Presidential Ph.D. Fellows Announced
The new fellows are drawn from the most accomplished and diverse Ph.D. trainees at Penn.
Joseph Francisco Elected to the American Philosophical Society
Election to APS honors extraordinary accomplishments in all fields.