In this episode of Penn Today’s “Understand This …” podcast series, Herman Beavers of the School of Arts & Sciences and Glenn Bryan of the Office of Government and Community Affairs discuss the Year of Civic Engagement, outreach to the West Philadelphia community, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” as this year’s Reading Project selection, and the merits of jazz as a way to build bridges.

Penn Today's Office Hours

Understanding Civic Engagement

Caroline Watts, a senior lecturer in the Graduate School of Education, and Philip Gressman, a professor of mathematics, join to talk about the fall 2021 return to the classroom. This episode is both a reflection on what students and educators have experienced in learning during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, plus an examination of how lessons from the pandemic can be applied to in-person classroom settings.

Understanding the Pandemic Classroom

In the latest episode of Penn Today's 'Understand This ...' podcast series, Assistant Professor of Political Science Dorothy Kronick and Assistant Professor of History Alex Chase-Levinson discuss the past and present of imperialism. Together, they tease out ways to interpret imperialism today, the legacy of imperial influence, and what new frontiers might be on the horizon.

Understanding Imperialism

In this episode, we explore the value of improving cross-cultural communication skills. Joining for the conversation is Mauro Guillén, professor of international management at the Wharton School and former director of the Lauder Institute, and Tomoko Takami, director of Penn’s Japanese Language Program in the School of Arts & Sciences. Together, they discuss the role of language in building empathy, how soft skills prepare students for a more automated workforce, and how cross-cultural understanding can improve business negotiations.

Understanding Cross-cultural Communication

Regina Smalls Baker, assistant professor of sociology in the School of Arts & Sciences, and Amy Castro Baker, assistant professor in the School of Social Policy & Practice and director of the new Center for Guaranteed Income Research, talk about the use of data to inform recent economic relief bills, data gaps in assessing who is experiencing poverty, and the feasibility of solutions like universal basic income in alleviating poverty. 

Understanding poverty and data

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, death has never been more top-of-mind during our lifetimes than it is now. Here, experts from Psychology and Religious Studies join to talk about how to cope with the idea of death and how past civilizations and cultures have examined this in religion.

Understanding...Death

Robert Inman of the Wharton School and John Landis of the Weitzman School discuss infrastructure of the future.

The inaugural episode of "Understand This ..." features Sigal Ben-Porath from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education and Sophia Rosenfeld from the University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences. Together, they discuss how a democratic society can agree on shared facts in the age of "fake news" and social media.

Sigal Ben-Porath and Sophia Rosenfeld discuss shared facts in the age of "fake news" and social media

In the spirit of holiday office parties, for the latest episode in the "Office Hours" podcast series Penn Today engages in conversation with returning guests Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, of the Graduate School of Education; "Mr. Fish" of the Annenberg School for Communication; and Julia Ticona, also of Annenberg. Closing out the year, the trio discusses holiday plans while reflecting on the year, and decade, that's been.

Office Hours Holiday Party

In the latest episode of Penn Today's “Office Hours” podcast series, Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, professor of the history of art in the School of Arts and Sciences, explains the event that shaped her career, the behind-the-scenes process of curating the new “30 Americans” exhibit at the Barnes Foundation that highlights contemporary art from influential African-American artists, and what her profession of choice might have been in a world where she didn’t end up as a scholar of art. 

Office Hours: Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw talks ‘30 Americans’

In the latest episode of 'Office Hours,' Assistant Professor of Communication Julia Ticona explains her research about the gig economy and chitchats about cooking, campus, and superpowers.

Office Hours: Julia Ticona talks sociology and superpowers

In this Penn Today Special Presentation podcast, Michael Kearns, Aaron Roth, and Lisa Miracchi talk about fairness constraints put on algorithms, the perception of artificial intelligence as “value-neutral,” and the convergence of disciplines in trying to address outstanding questions about how to make algorithms more ethical.

The Programming Ethos: A Penn Today Special Presentation

In the latest episode of Penn Today’s “Office Hours” podcast Doug Jerolmack, professor of Earth and Environmental Science with a secondary appointment in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, discusses the “science of scenery.”  He talks rounded pebbles along riversides, studying sand movement even as it’s apparently undisturbed, and also teases out the dynamic with his twin brother, who also studies the environment, and the status of his wife’s West Philadelphia taco shop. 

Office Hours: Doug Jerolmack explores 'science of scenery,' describes life as a twin

Today we knock on the door of Michael Horowitz, Professor of Political Science and Associate Director of Perry World House. Horowitz studies international relations, military politics and technology. Here he explains the fallout at the Iranian shoot down of a U.S. drone near the Strait of Hormuz in June. The unusual modern relationship between technology, the military and the markets as well as why he's a movies guy rather than a film guy.

Office Hours: Michael Horowitz talks Iran, why leaders go to war, and comic book movies

Welcome to the “office hours” of Vijay Balasubramanian, professor of physics in the School of Arts and Sciences.  Here, in the latest episode of the “Office Hours” podcast, which explores the minds of the University’s academic talents in a more unbuttoned and freewheeling setting outside of the lecture hall, Balasubramanian joins for a chat about the science behind smell and memory, the distinction between “cool” and “important,” and why MacGyver makes for such a moral character.

Office Hours: Vijay Balasubramanian connects smells and memory, gushes over MacGyver

Penn Today's "Office Hours" podcast explores the minds of the Penn's academic talents in a more unbuttoned and freewheeling setting outside of the lecture hall. Office Hours is produced by the Office of University Communications, University of Pennsylvania.

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Penn Today's Office Hours

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