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Social Sciences

An online resource for learners across the Italian language community
Blurred figures of people walk across a public square in Milano, Italy.

The Italian language learning tool PRIMA was developed by faculty at Penn to help show students the diversity in Italian language and culture.

(Image: iStock/LeoPatrizi)

An online resource for learners across the Italian language community

The Pedagogical Repository for Italian Media Activities, or PRIMA, helps students and faculty explore Italian language and culture by using voices and imagery that better represent the culture.
Nelson Flores looks back on decades of bilingual education
Two middle school students in a classroom.

Image: iStock/diego_cervo

Nelson Flores looks back on decades of bilingual education

Flores, a professor in Penn’s Graduate School of Education, uncovers why Latinx students have tested as underperforming in academic language for decades due to education policy and societal constraints.

From Penn GSE

Why the most successful companies are scalable

Why the most successful companies are scalable

Giant companies stay on top because they’re both more productive and scalable than their competitors, according to research from Wharton and the School of Arts & Sciences.

From Knowledge at Wharton

2 min. read

Violent language in film has increased

Violent language in film has increased

A new study from the Annenberg School for Communication finds that violent speech in movies is increasing over time, even in non-crime films.

From Annenberg School for Communication

1 min. read

Restoring at-risk Assyrian cultural heritage
An ancient cuneiform tablet.

Cuneiform inscriptions on a kudurru (stone monument), which dates to 797 BCE, found by Penn Museum and Iraqi archaeologists at Nimrud, Iraq.

(Image: Courtesy of Penn Museum)

Restoring at-risk Assyrian cultural heritage

Archaeologists from Penn Museum and Iraq have recovered remarkably preserved shrines from a temple in northern Iraq.
The quest to find actionable data for policymakers in developing countries
Cocoa farming in Ghana.

In Ghana, a team led by associate professor of practice Heather Huntington is working with many partners to support “deforestation-free cocoa,” which could reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase carbon sequestration, and help cocoa farmers up their productivity and resilience.

(Image: Courtesy of Heather Huntington)

The quest to find actionable data for policymakers in developing countries

A collaboration between the Penn Development Research Initiative and the DevLab@Penn is on the ground in developing nations to generate better evidence that can influence real-world decisions.

From Omnia

Using data to make city planning more safe and accessible
Xiaoxia Dong.

Xiaoxia “Summer” Dong is an assistant professor of city and regional planning in the Weitzman School.

nocred

Using data to make city planning more safe and accessible

Weitzman School of Design’s Xiaoxia ‘Summer’ Dong focuses on the travel behavior and mode choice impacts of driverless cars.

From the Weitzman School of Design

1 min. read

A Q&A with the director of the Penn Center for AIDS Research
Four people in front of National AIDS Memorial Quilt.

Penn researchers affiliated with the Penn Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) attended AIDS Walk Philly in October 2024. Pictured with the National AIDS Memorial Quilt are Deratu Ahmed, a first-year epidemiology doctoral student studying pharmacogenetics related to HIV and tuberculosis in Botswana; Dominique Medaglio, a fourth-year epidemiology doctoral student studying ways to encourage smoking cessation for people with HIV in the United States; CFAR co-director Robert Gross, professor of medicine and epidemiology in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Penn Medicine; and CFAR director Ronald Collman, professor of medicine and microbiology.

(Image: Courtesy of Ronald G. Collman)

A Q&A with the director of the Penn Center for AIDS Research

Ronald G. Collman talks about the current state of AIDS care, work with the City of Philadelphia, and how the Center is supporting collaborations across campus.
Teaching and learning abroad in Vietnam
Group of students and professor pose for a photo in front of a restaurant.

Professor of history Fred Dickinson (back, right) with his students in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

(Image: Courtesy of Fred Dickinson)

Teaching and learning abroad in Vietnam

In a Q&A, Fred Dickinson of the Department of History discusses his semester as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar in Vietnam and building out Southeast Asian studies at Penn.
Penn GSE dean on meeting and making the moment
Dean Katharine Strunk looking ahead in front of the GSE building.

Katharine Strunk, dean of the Penn Graduate School of Education.

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Penn GSE dean on meeting and making the moment

Katharine Strunk, dean of the Graduate School of Education, began her tenure in July 2023. This week, she announced the School’s strategic vision, Together for Good.