Announcing the 2025-2026 Penn Global Seminars
Pictured: American Race: A Philadelphia Story with travel to Greece
Penn Global Seminars (PGS) are semester-long courses taught on campus that include an embedded travel component.
Through PGS, Penn undergraduate students are able to take full advantage of essential global learning Penn Global Seminars (PGS) combine on-campus coursework with immersive travel experiences, offering Penn undergraduates the chance to engage in global learning, no matter their class year or major. The 2025-2026 course lineup spans diverse disciplines, providing students with unique opportunities to explore the world while advancing their studies.
Highlights of next year’s seminars include:
- 20 courses offered over the 2025-2026 academic year
- New program sites, including Armenia, the Dominican Republic, and Taiwan.
- Courses offered in a diverse array of disciplines, including Middle Eastern studies, engineering, language, history, nursing, and environmental science.
- 12 returning courses, demonstrating Penn Abroad’s commitment to sustaining relationships with local communities and Penn faculty.
Continuing our mission to keep the program cost low and accessible to all students, PGS participants will pay only a $950 flat program fee: round-trip airfare, accommodation, most meals, and course related activities are included.
Applications for the Fall 2025 semester will open on March 24, 2025. For more information about the program visit the Penn Global Seminars page.
2025-2026 Academic Year Courses
In the 2025-2026 academic year, the following Penn Global Seminars will be offered.
Fall 2025
Travel over Winter Break 2025/2026
- Compassionate Leadership: “The Power of Love, Service and Inner Work”: Experiencing the Life of Mahatma Gandhi and other Compassion-based leaders
Nimo Patel, Chaz Howard, and Tia Gaines, Asian American Studies; School of Arts and Sciences
Travel to the India - Darwin’s Laboratory: History, Philosophy, Evolution and Social Ecology in the Galápagos Archipelago
Dr. Michael Weisberg, Philosophy; School of Arts and Sciences
Travel to Galápagos - Energy Security and Geopolitics
Scott Moore, Department of Political Science; School of Arts and Sciences
Travel to Taiwan - Health and the Healthcare System in Chile
Dr. Eileen Lake, Biobehavioral Health Sciences; School of Nursing
Travel to Chile
Spring 2025
Travel over Spring Break 2026
- American Race: A Philadelphia Story
Dr. Fariha I. Khan, Asian American Studies Program, School of Arts and Sciences and Fernando Chang-Muy, JD, Penn Carey Law
Travel to the Greece - The Biochemical Engineering of Wine
Bomyi Lim and Talid Sinno, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; School of Engineering and Applied Science
Travel to Argentina - The Functions of Art
Errol Lord; Department of Philosophy; School of Arts and Sciences
Travel to Italy - In the Shadow of Empires: Iran, Armenia and Azerbaijan
John Ghazvinian; Modern Middle Eastern Studies; School of Arts and Sciences
Travel to the Armenia - Lactation and Birth Care Advocacy in the Dominican Republic
Elizabeth Harbuck, Cara McGuinness, and Dr. Diane Spatz, School of Nursing
Travel to Dominican Republic - Palermo: Empires, Migrations and Mafia
Dr. Domenic Vitiello, Urban Studies Program from Weitzman School of Design
Travel to Italy - Paris under the German Occupation and Its Places in [Non-] Memory
Mélanie Péron, Department of Francophone, Italian, and Germanic Studies; School of Arts and Sciences
Travel to France - Writing Health and Healing in Botswana
Dr. Sara Byala, Critical Writing Program; School of Arts and Sciences and Dr. Rebecca Tenney-Soeiro, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Travel to Botswana
Spring 2025
Travel in May 2026
- Case Studies in Environmental Sustainability
Dr. Alain Plante, Department of Earth and Environmental Science; School of Arts and Sciences
Travel to Iceland - Caves, Cathedrals, and Curiosities: Unearthing Stories on the Chemin des Dames in France
Lisa Britton, Department of Francophone, Italian, and Germanic Studies; School of Arts and Sciences
Travel to France - Chinese Language and Culture: High Intermediate Modern Chinese II
Dr. Ye Tian and Professor Jing Hu; Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations; School of Arts and Sciences
Travel to China - Communicating Change in Mongolia
Dr. Aurora MacRae-Crerar, Critical Writing Program; School of Arts and Sciences
Travel to Mongolia - Global Business Communication for Impact | Open to Wharton students only
Sara Mangat; The Wharton School
Travel to China - Pacific Worlds: Vietnam
Dr. Frederick Dickinson, Department of History; School of Arts and Sciences
Travel to Vietnam - Sacred Stuff: Religious Bodies, Places, and Objects
Dr. Donovan Schaefer, Department of Religious Studies; School of Arts and Sciences
Travel to the United Kingdom - Tourism, Sustainability and Local Impact in Indonesia
Dr. Helen Jeoung, Critical Writing Program; School of Arts and Sciences
Travel to Indonesia