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Arts & Humanities

Tracing an ancient blue across the ancient world
Examples of cross sections of Egyptian blue samples.

Tracing an ancient blue across the ancient world

Penn researchers Vanessa Workman and Alexis North are studying one of the largest collections of Egyptian blue objects ever found in the ancient Near East, shedding new light on how the world’s first synthetic pigment may have traveled far beyond Egypt.

4 min. read

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Exploring popular culture and entertainment in 1920s Cairo

Exploring popular culture and entertainment in 1920s Cairo

A number of periodicals cropped up in 1920s Cairo that offered artistic critique, gossip, and cultural commentary, and several are available digitally and in person at the Penn Libraries.

The museum as object of design
Ferda Kolatan (seated far right) in his studio pointing to photographs on the wall with onlookers.

Weitzman’s Ferda Kolatan (seated far right) in his MSD-AAD studio.

(Image: Dylan Li)

The museum as object of design

From expansion projects to new builds, faculty and students at the Stuart Weitzman School of Design are helping museums deepen connections to their site and community.

From the Weitzman School of Design

2 min. read

Penn filmmaking class shares the stories of Philadelphia’s neighborhoods
Two students take video of archivist holding up newspaper clipping.

Student filmmakers Harper Prentice and Hosaena Tilahun interviewed Alisha Davis, a former history teacher who has served as the Free Library of Philadelphia’s Hyperlocal Heritage archivist since August 2025. As part of America 250, Davis has been surveying collections held at Parkway Central Library and identifying archival materials for digitization, use in programming, and preservation.

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Penn filmmaking class shares the stories of Philadelphia’s neighborhoods

Graduate and undergraduate students in Alissa Jordan’s course partnered with community organizations to create five short films that touch on education, archiving, and grassroots organizing in Germantown, Northeast Philadelphia, and West Philadelphia.

3 min. read

Championing the humanities

Championing the humanities

Humanities Works is one piece of a new, larger, and broader umbrella hub for the humanities,  raising the visibility of humanities scholarship through shared spaces and events including faculty lightning talks.

From Omnia

Reimagining a shelter as a supportive space for childhood

The HAVEN team with Liz Donaghue, assistant shelter director, in Jane Addams’ Bright Spaces room.

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Reimagining a shelter as a supportive space for childhood

HAVEN, a winning project of the 2026 President’s Engagement Prize developed by three fourth-year undergraduates, will launch an after-school program for K-5 children at Jane Addams Place, a homeless shelter in North Philadelphia.

3 min. read

Connecting Black culture, music, and community with the built environment
Cacie Rosario Jackson

Weitzman MFA student Cacie Rosario Jackson.

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Connecting Black culture, music, and community with the built environment

One of eight artists in the 2026 MFA Thesis Exhibition at the Weitzman School and Arthur Ross Gallery, Cacie Rosario Jackson uses circuitry to study Black performance in the U.S. from the 1930s to the 1970s.

Louisa Shepard

2 min. read

Weitzman externships in retrospect: Xindi Lyu
Xindi Lyu.

Master of city planning candidate Xindi Lyu.

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Weitzman externships in retrospect: Xindi Lyu

The master of city planning candidate worked at a Kansas City firm to see how different design practices engage with urban design and planning.

From the Weitzman School of Design

2 min. read

Weitzman externships in retrospect: Harisa Martinos
Harisa Martinos.

“What surprised me was how natural the transition from school to practice felt,” says Weitzman MLA candidate Harisa Martinos.

(Image: Courtesy of Weitzman News)

Weitzman externships in retrospect: Harisa Martinos

The master of landscape architecture candidate spent her externship at a New York City firm, absorbing its culture and learning its design process.

From the Weitzman School of Design

2 min. read