Annette Y. Reed: M. Mark and Esther K. Watkins Assistant Professorship in the Humanities

Annette Y. Reed has been named the M. Mark and Esther K. Watkins Assistant Professor in the Humanities in the School of Arts and Sciences. She is a member of the department of religious studies, as well as the Jewish Studies Program and Graduate Group in Ancient History.

Dr. Reed’s research spans Second Temple Judaism, early Christianity, and Jewish/Christian relations in Late Antiquity. Her publications include Fallen Angels and the History of Judaism and Christianity (Cambridge University Press, 2005), Heavenly Realms and Earthly Realities in Late Antique Religions (edited with Ra‘anan S. Boustan; Cambridge University Press, 2004), and The Ways that Never Parted: Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages (edited with Adam H. Becker; Mohr Siebeck, 2003).

Dr. Reed received her doctorate from Princeton University in 2002 and came to Penn in 2007, after teaching for four years at McMaster University. She is a member of the editorial board for the book series Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism, a co-chair of the Society of Biblical Literature’s Hellenistic Judaism Section, and coordinator of the Philadelphia Seminar on Christian Origins.

Mark and Esther Watkins established the Watkins Assistant Professorship through a bequest in 1969.  Their gift supports an accomplished teacher who shows potential as a leader in his or her field.  The holder must demonstrate a breadth of knowledge and accomplishment spanning more than one discipline and, most importantly, have a lively awareness of the role and ramifications of the humanities as they touch upon cultural values, aesthetics, and history.

Arts & Sciences News

University of Pennsylvania, Neubauer Family Foundation, and Philadelphia Police Department Partner to Support Police Leadership Education

The first-of-its-kind graduate degree in the U.S. for police leaders launches this fall at the School of Arts & Sciences.

View Article >
Marisa C. Kozlowski Named Next Associate Dean for the Natural Sciences

Kozlowski, who joined the Penn faculty in 1997, succeeds Mark Trodden, who transitions to the Dean of Penn Arts & Sciences on June 1.

View Article >
One Fourth Year, One Alum Receive 2025 Hertz Fellowship

Eric Tao, C’25, Gr’25 (left), and Suraj Chandran, C’23, were awarded the honor, part of a group of 19 fellows selected this year. Each one receives five years of funding toward a doctoral program.

View Article >
Benjamin Nathans Wins 2025 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction

Nathans, Alan Charles Kors Endowed Term Professor of History, won for his book “To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement.”

View Article >
Mark Devlin Elected to National Academy of Sciences

He joins three others from Penn to receive the honor this year, all recognized for “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.”

View Article >
Michael Jones-Correa and Sophia Rosenfeld Elected to American Academy of Arts & Sciences

They join three others from the University of Pennsylvania, selected as part of the Academy’s mission to convene leaders from “every field of human endeavor to examine new ideas, address issues of importance to the nation and the world, and work together.”

View Article >