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Five events to watch for in April
Dancers striking a pose

Dancers pose as part of Kun-Yang Lin/Dance’s upcoming performance at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. (Photo courtesy: The Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts)

Five events to watch for in April

Happening around campus this April: an appearance by “Sorry to Bother You” director Boots Riley, a talk from Inquirer critic Inga Saffron, and the 10th annual West Craft Fest.
From Play-Doh to Slinkies, an engaging introduction to the basics of the brain
Elementary school students with model brains

Students like Anijah Tucker-Hill tried different-sized brains on for size, trying to guess which model was to human scale. 

From Play-Doh to Slinkies, an engaging introduction to the basics of the brain

The Kids Judge! Neuroscience Fair brought West Philadelphia fourth graders and Penn neuroscience students together for a morning of hands-on fun.

Gwyneth K. Shaw

Bringing healthy smiles to Philadelphia communities
patient looking in the mirror after dental work

Bringing healthy smiles to Philadelphia communities

In health care facilities embedded around Philadelphia, students and faculty from the School of Dental Medicine are ramping up the care they provide to underserved populations.

Katherine Unger Baillie

PennPraxis launches toolkit for neighborhood preservation
booklet questionnaire about a home's history

(Photo courtesy: PennDesign News)

PennPraxis launches toolkit for neighborhood preservation

In the past decade, Philadelphia’s building boom has been accompanied by a string of demolitions touching almost every corner of the city, and resulting in the loss of everything from iconic churches to vernacular row houses. But even as a growing number of Philadelphians lament these losses, advocates for historic preservation have sometimes struggled to make a case for keeping Philadelphia’s built fabric intact.

Penn Today Staff

Five events to watch for in March
Woman dancing on floor of stage A performer dances on stage. (Photo courtesy: The Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts)

Five events to watch for in March

Happening around campus this March: the world premiere of ‘Vessels’ at the Annenberg Center, a lecture on trees from China, and a visit to Kelly Writers House from reporter Emily Jane Fox.
A tour of the ancient world—in Mandarin
Susan Radov leads a tour of the China Gallery with sculptures in the background Susan Radov, an undergraduate cultural anthropology student, leads a tour of the China Gallery at Penn Museum.

A tour of the ancient world—in Mandarin

The Penn Museum offers tours of its exhibits in Mandarin, increasing cross-cultural access to its invaluable assemblage of objects on display, the only known museum in Philadelphia with regularly scheduled tours in the language.
From urban renewal to today, tracking the struggles of America’s cities
Penn history professor Brent Cebul working with students on wall maps.

With help from the Penn Libraries' staff, Cebul and his students worked with maps in an electronic classroom in Van Pelt-Dietrich Library. 

Image: Eric Sucar

From urban renewal to today, tracking the struggles of America’s cities

Equipped with SEPTA Key cards, Brent Cebul’s students are taking a deep dive into Philadelphia’s history, looking into the past and present challenges facing cities.

Gwyneth K. Shaw

Campus running club benefits the body and the brain
A group runs past trees and a green colored, Gothic-style building, Penn's College Hall.

Passing College Hall, the Anennberg (Lunchtime) Running Club turns attention to featured speaker Sean Brown (far left). The club organizes two Ideas in Motion lecture series, one held while running and the other while walking.

Campus running club benefits the body and the brain

Three times a week runners gather in Annenberg Plaza to work their bodies and stretch their minds. Through regular runs and monthly running and walking lectures, the group fosters community and health while promoting intellectual exchange.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Pint-size philosophers
Karen Detlefsen working with students

Pint-size philosophers

By engaging with Philadelphia elementary students and high school teachers, Penn professor Karen Detlefsen is opening young minds to a new kind of philosophical thinking.

Michele W. Berger

Testing finds signs of African-American burial ground beneath Chestnut Street property
Parking lot on Chestnut Street

The burial ground stretches across two lots, one of which Penn bought in 1986 and used as a parking lot. It's now closed. (Photo: Gwyneth K. Shaw)

Testing finds signs of African-American burial ground beneath Chestnut Street property

Portions of the cemetery, dating to the 19th century, may still lie beneath land owned by Penn. University officials are working with the community to decide what’s next.

Gwyneth K. Shaw , Ron Ozio