Penn Global News & Media

Penn Washington is pleased to welcome Amanda Catanzano as a Visiting Scholar. During her appointment, Catanzano will direct Penn Washington’s Project on the Future of U.S. Foreign Assistance, an initiative designed to bring together experts from academia, U.S. and foreign governments, philanthropy, multilateral institutions, and the nonprofit sector to assess the future of American foreign assistance programs and…

The Mershon Center for International Security Studies is pleased to announce that PWH Faculty Fellow Fiona S. Cunningham has been selected to receive the 2025 Edgar S. Furniss Book Award for Under the Nuclear Shadow: China’s Information-Age Weapons in International Security (Princeton University Press, 2025). 

Perry World House is pleased to announce the application processes for the 2027-28 Postdoctoral Fellowship and Lightning Scholar (untenured faculty) are now open through December 1, 2026. The application for the Perry World House Postdoctoral Fellowship can be found here; and applications for the Lightning Scholar program can be found here.

For the third year in a row, Perry World House hosted a series of policy discussions on the margins of the UN General Assembly High Level Session and New York Climate Week. In addition to climate change, this year’s offerings also addressed the future of healthcare in Africa and humanitarian priorities for the next UN Secretary-General. Perry…

On September 17-18, 2026, Perry World House in collaboration with Penn Climate convened a conference on Climate Leadership and Health. The convening examined the intersection of global climate diplomacy and public health, with a focus on the policy frameworks needed to address the accelerating reality of climate-related illness. The discussion brought together former ministers, United…

Perry World House—the University of Pennsylvania’s home for global policy engagement—is thrilled to continue its Non-Resident Senior Advisor (NRSA) Program. “The Non-Resident Senior Advisors program has been a critical component of how PWH engages with practitioners over the years,” said Faculty Director Michael C. Horowitz. “We appreciate the time and effort they give to us throughout…

Perry World House (PWH) – the University of Pennsylvania’s hub for global affairs – is pleased to announce its 2026-27 cohort of distinguished visiting fellows. Over the course of the year, these scholars and policy practitioners will visit Penn’s campus and engage with students, staff, faculty, and other members of the PWH community on some…

Perry World House announced the inaugural cohort of researchers participating in its Faculty Fellowship Projects Initiative last week.   The program offers the center’s resources to Penn faculty members who are currently engaged in research projects with a potential global policy impact. Resources will be devoted to faculty leads of the six selected projects for…

Perry World House highlighted Penn founder Benjamin Franklin’s key role in the drafting of the Constitution at a Tuesday panel. Vice Provost of Global Initiatives Ezekiel Emanuel moderated the Sept. 15 event, which featured Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Stacy Schiff and Yale Law School professor Akhil Reed Amar. The panel — hosted on National Voter Registration…

A federal judge temporarily blocked a Trump administration rule that would have imposed a four-year cap on international student visas on Monday, just one day before it was set to take effect. If implemented, the Department of Homeland Security policy would apply to students, researchers, professors, foreign press representatives, or other academics entering or reentering the United…

On September 14, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued an order postponing the September 15 effective date of the federal government’s Duration of Status (D/S) Final Rule. The court also temporarily blocked DHS and ICE from taking further action to implement the rule while the order remains in effect. What…

Perry World House (PWH), the University of Pennsylvania’s hub for global policy engagement, is thrilled to announce new Faculty Fellows selected through PWH’s inaugural Faculty Fellowship Projects Initiative. The program expands PWH’s faculty engagement and provides new avenues for Penn ideas to generate global policy impact.  “Perry World House was designed to help bridge the gap…

Perry World House (PWH), the University of Pennsylvania’s home for global affairs, has selected 25 graduate students to form the 2026-27 cohort of our Perry World House Graduate Fellows Program. This year’s Graduate Fellows Program cohort has been assembled following a highly-competitive selection process with the aim of engaging graduate students from all twelve of…

Perry World House (PWH) welcomes thirty-one students to its 2026-27 cohort of World House Student Fellows. Due in large part to the program’s interdisciplinary nature, all four of Penn’s undergraduate schools are represented in this year’s group of fellows. “I am thrilled to lead this important student program at Perry World House and look forward…

According to the ISSS email, applications are being paused “while the University conducts a thorough review of its academic programs and CPT processes.” ISSS defines CPT as a pathway for international students to earn “work experience in the U.S. in the student’s field of study through internships, cooperative education, or other work-study programs.” The Student and Exchange…

The Penn Project on the Future of U.S.-China Relations is delighted to announce the selection of its third class of undergraduate Student Fellows, made up of ten outstanding students at the University of Pennsylvania. Their profiles are presented on our website at https://global.upenn.edu/future-of-us-china-relations/student-fellows-2026-2027/. Student fellows are an integral part of the Project community, benefiting from…

A coalition of higher education associations has sued the federal government over a new rule limiting how long international students can remain in the United States. The Department of Homeland Security rule — scheduled to take effect on Sept. 15 — replaces the longstanding “Duration of Status” framework with fixed admission periods for F-1 students,…

This summer, Penn Medicine served as the official Medical Services Provider for the 2026 FIFA World Cup matches in Philadelphia. Here at Penn Washington, we were able to catch up with some of the Penn experts leading this effort to learn more about their work during this World Cup and its relevance for large event crisis management.  “The…

Professor Neysun Mahboubi, Director of the Penn Project on the Future of U.S.-China Relations, recounts his experiences as a legal scholar in China during the 1990s Reform and Opening Up period, focusing on his mentors and the legal scholars who were at the forefront of legal reform in the PRC. A passionate advocate for scholarly…

Penn Abroad announced the return of an opportunity for students to study at the British American Drama Academy in the United Kingdom earlier this summer. The London Theatre Program offers an acting and directing track to junior and senior College students majoring in theatre arts. The application process includes an audition, and prior acting experience is required.…

Professor Amal Jamal, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Tel Aviv University will be at Penn this fall and will offer a course available to Penn students. Learn more about the course and how to enroll directly below. The Middle East Distinguished Visiting Scholar Initiative responds to an urgent institutional and global need:…

Domenic Vitiello, Professor of City Planning and Urban Studies at the Weitzman School of Design, announced the launch of the Organizing Diasporas to Realize Rights website. Published in English and Italian, the website provides a summary on Professor Vitiello’s research with immigrant communities entering Europe through Palermo, Italy and the network of organizations that support…

Dr. Jae Song has been awarded a 2026 U.S.-Korea Presidential STEM Initiative Fulbright Award, a prestigious honor that will support a high-impact international research collaboration to advance stroke diagnosis and prevention. Dr. Song will work with colleagues at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital (SNUBH) in Seoul, South Korea, where she will be hosted by Dr.…

By Luke Petersen, Daily Pennsylvanian Penn and Philadelphia have organized several events for America’s 250th anniversary this summer. Institutions across the city have prepared lectures, art exhibits, and concerts to display American tradition and stories. At the University’s 270th Commencement, speakers hearkened back to the signing of the Declaration of Independence — which eight Penn affiliates signed…

PHILADELPHIA — Penn Global will support 13 doctoral students to conduct globally-oriented research through the 2026 Penn Global Dissertation Grants Program . Launched in 2023, the program supports Ph.D. students conducting international fieldwork and research, enabling deeper engagement with communities, archives, and datasets around the world. The program also reflects Penn Global’s commitment to fostering early-career scholarship that addresses pressing global questions through interdisciplinary approaches.   The 2026 awardees  will conduct research spanning Africa, Asia, Europe,…

PHILADELPHIA — Penn Global is excited to announce funding for 17 new research and engagement projects through the Penn Global Research and Engagement Grant Program. 

“Colleges and universities are one of America’s most ‘enduring public goods,’ President J. Larry Jameson said. Nearly 400 years into its history in the United States, higher education is facing unique challenges, a panel of former university presidents and deans said during a recent discussion of its future through the lens of the past and…

As global attention turns to the highly anticipated Trump-Xi summit, questions about the future of U.S.-China relations, economic competition, and geopolitical stability loom large. Against a backdrop of rising tensions and deep interdependence, experts from across the University of Pennsylvania and the Perry World House network share their perspectives on what is at stake, what…

hree Penn faculty members have been elected to the American Philosophical Society (APS) as part of its 2026 cohort. They are Ezekiel J. Emanuel, vice provost for global initiatives and the Diane v.S. Levy and Robert M. Levy University Professor; Elizabeth Magill of Penn Carey Law; and Sophia Rosenfeld, Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History in the School of Arts & Sciences. Established by Benjamin Franklin…

The University is kicking off a new series celebrating America’s 250th anniversary with a forum hosted by Perry World House on May 15: “Higher Education in the United States: From Origins to Outlook.” Moderated by Graduate School of Education Dean Katharine Strunk and taking place in conjunction with Penn’s Alumni Weekend in Claudia Cohen Hall, the event brings four former university presidents and deans…

Julio S. Amador III analyzes the unusual position that the Philippines occupies in the strategic geometry of the Indo-Pacific. It is neither a great power nor a marginal actor, but a maritime state whose geography places it directly along the region’s principal fault lines—from the South China Sea to the Taiwan Strait and the broader…

On April 22, 2026, Perry World House convened a conference to identify and analyze the ways gender and women’s rights shape the global struggle between democracy and autocracy. The goal of the conference was to better understand how gender “works” alongside and against authoritarianism and to shed light on the strategies, tactics, and narratives that strengthen democratic forces. The…

Perry World House’s ‘Financing Resilience for Ocean Economies’ workshop brought together policymakers, practitioners, and academics to discuss how to close the $175 billion annual investment gap in ocean resilience. Penn’s Perry World House convened a workshop in early April titled “Financing Resilience for Ocean Economies,” bringing together policymakers, practitioners, and academics from Australia, Barbados, Costa Rica, India,…

Italian Minister of Economy and Finance Giancarlo Giorgetti discussed global economic instability and the nation’s fiscal outlook on Friday. The April 17 event — co-hosted by the Lauder Institute and Penn Global — was moderated by Associate Vice Provost for Global Initiatives Amy Gadsden. The conversation, which focused on global trade and economic policy, was…

Perry World House Faculty Fellow Fiona Cunningham was recently the featured speaker for the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland’s annual Kelleher Forum. In her keynote, Cunningham discussed how China’s military strategy and the role that technology plays in advancing its core objectives.

Penn President Larry Jameson provided an update to the University community on the progress of the “Penn Forward” strategic framework on Wednesday.  In the April 15 email, Jameson announced that the University will proceed with nine key initiatives centered on building trust, strengthening Penn’s discovery efforts, and extending its global reach. These nine programs were…

What does Penn Forward intend to accomplish? At its core, Penn Forward is about preparing Penn for the future, advancing our mission, and strengthening how we operate. You can learn about our initial nine initiatives on the Penn Forward webpage. We’ve organized them around three core actions: build, discover, and extend. 1) First, we are focused on building trust…

On Thursday, April 9, Perry World House convened a workshop titled “Financing Resilience for Ocean Economies.” It brought together policymakers, practitioners, and academics with participants hearing a range of perspectives from Australia, Barbados, Costa Rica, India, Maldives, Palau, and Seychelles, as well as the International Monetary Fund, InterAmerican Development Bank, United Nations University, United Nations…

International law governing freedom of expression, supported by half a century of treaty development and jurisprudence at international, regional and national levels, defines freedom of expression as protecting both speakers’ and audiences’ rights. However, this multi-directional framing is often left out of most public discussions of “free speech,” which instead, frequently focus only on the…