Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences

Oscars 2022, predicted

Penn Cinema and Media Studies and Theatre Arts faculty make their predictions about this year’s Oscar winners—organized by category.

Brandon Baker

Public media can improve our ‘flawed’ democracy

A new study finds that countries with well-funded public media have healthier democracies, and explains why investment in U.S. public media is an investment in the future of journalism and democracy alike.

Alina Ladyzhensky

New COVID-19 roadmap: Four takeaways

A report spearheaded by PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel, with input from other Penn experts, lays out a dozen priorities for the federal government to tackle in the next 12 months. The aim: to help guide the U.S. to the pandemic’s “next normal.”

Michele W. Berger

Climate scientist Michael Mann to join Penn faculty

Mann is the first new faculty member to be recruited as part of the recently announced Energy and Sustainability Initiative as a Presidential Distinguished Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science.

Katherine Unger Baillie



In the News


The New York Times

Why losing political power now feels like ‘losing your country’

Yphtach Lelkes of the Annenberg School for Communication says that political elites, not average voters, are driving the democratic backsliding that is occurring in America.

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Christian Science Monitor

A majority of Americans no longer trust the Supreme Court. Can it rebuild?

Matthew Levendusky of the School of Arts & Sciences says that a partisan trust gap has emerged in public perception of the Supreme Court as a conservative institution.

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Baltimore Banner

Baltimore expands anti-gun-violence strategy into Eastern District

An analysis released by the Crime and Justice Policy Lab at the School of Arts & Sciences suggests that a group violence reduction strategy drove a 2022 drop in shootings in Baltimore’s Western District.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Comcast’s Sports Complex plan for South Philly would make our city less livable

In an Op-Ed, Vukan R. Vuchic of the School of Engineering and Applied Science says that Philadelphia should make transit more accessible rather than striving to accommodate more cars.

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The New York Times

We don’t see what climate change is doing to us

In an Op-Ed, R. Jisung Park of the School of Social Policy & Practice says that public discourse around climate change overlooks the buildup of slow, subtle costs and their impact on human systems.

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