John L. Jackson, Jr. Named Dean of Penn's School of Social Policy & Practice

John L. Jackson Jr., Richard Perry University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and Senior Advisor for Diversity in the Office of the Provost, has been named dean of Penn’s School of Social Policy & Practice. His new position will become effective July 1.

Jackson, who has primary appointments in the School of Arts and Sciences and the Annenberg School for Communication, as well as a secondary appointment in the School of Social Policy & Practice, is a noted cultural anthropologist who has written and taught about the impact of mass media on urban life, globalization and the remaking of ethnic and racial diasporas, and racialization and media technology.

Jackson joined Penn in 2006 as its first Penn Integrates Knowledge (PIK) University Professor, a program developed to recruit preeminent faculty who have appointments in two Penn schools and who harness tools from different disciplines and professional perspectives to address compelling societal challenges.

Jackson earned his B.A. in Communication summa cum laude from Howard University as a University Merit Scholar and received his M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. with distinction in anthropology from Columbia University. He was a Junior Fellow in Harvard University’s Society of Fellows and a faculty member in Duke University’s Cultural Anthropology Department before coming to Penn where, in addition to his appointments in Anthropology, Africana Studies, and Communication, he is also affiliated with the School of Social Policy & Practice, the English department, the Graduate School of Education, and the Penn Institute for Urban Research. In 2009, Jackson served as a Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.

Jackson has served as program chair for the American Anthropological Association’s annual conference and on the editorial boards of highly respected journals including Cultural Anthropology, Cultural Studies, and Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture, & Society.

Jackson succeeds Richard Gelles, who has served with distinction as dean since 2001. 

Read the full story here.

Arts & Sciences News

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 >
Eva Del Soldato Awarded 2025-26 Rome Prize

She joins Sean Burkholder, of the Weitzman School of Design, and just 33 others in receiving the prestigious honor from the American Academy in Rome.

View Article >
Mark Trodden named Dean of Penn’s School of Arts & Sciences

A distinguished physicist and accomplished academic leader, Trodden will assume the role on June 1.

View Article >
Two Penn Arts & Sciences Faculty Named Guggenheim Fellows

Marcia Chatelain, Presidential Penn Compact Professor of Africana Studies, and Matthew Levendusky, Professor of Political Science, are among 198 in the U.S. and Canada selected for this 100th class of fellows.

View Article >
Penn ATLAS Shares 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics

The team, which includes Joseph Kroll, Evelyn Thomson, Elliot Lipeles, Dylan Rankin, and Brig Williams from the Department of Physics and Astronomy, is part of an expansive collaboration studying high-energy collisions from the Large Hadron Collider.

View Article >
2025 School of Arts & Sciences Teaching Awards Announced

Penn Arts & Sciences annually recognizes faculty, lecturers, and graduate students for their exemplary teaching. This year’s honorees come from 10 departments and two programs.

View Article >