Perry World House, Coronavirus COVID-19 Update: Greetings from Perry World House

As the COVID-19 pandemic persists in Philadelphia and elsewhere, we hope you and your families are safe and cared for.
 
With commencement now complete (congratulations again to the class of 2020!), we want to share what Perry World House has been accomplishing since Penn suspended in-person operations in March and the pandemic upended so much across the country and the globe.
 
Amid all the disruption, Perry World House has adapted and continued to be an essential partner for the Penn community and those combating the pandemic on the frontlines and in the halls of power.
 
Our World House undergraduate student fellows and graduate associates have met online, including our first virtual World House Student Fellows conference. Our virtual events have been attended by thousands of people from all over the world. Our visiting fellows have guest lectured in online class sessions, our new writing platforms have helped Penn students and scholars alike recount their pandemic experiences, and our faculty, fellows, and staff have presented new research for a world in desperate need of sound ideas.
 
During this stressful time, our goals remain the same, even if our methods are new. We will serve as a home for Penn students and the broader community. We will work to bridge the gap between the best thinkers on pandemics and other pressing global challenges and those making decisions and policies in governments, corporations, and NGOs. And we will continue to help everyone think more deeply about this strange moment in history—you can hear some of my thoughts on what COVID-19 will mean in the most recent edition of our podcast The Global Cable.
 
Thank you for your support. We look forward to seeing you online (and on Locust Walk) in the weeks and months ahead. Please take care and keep in touch.
 

Best,
Michael Horowitz, Interim Director

Perry World House Activities During COVID-19

Virtual World Today

Perry World House has hosted The World Today, a weekly seminar on one of today’s most pressing global issues, since opening four years ago. With the COVID-19 outbreak, we shifted these one-hour events online and focused on the impact of the pandemic. These events feature leading experts at Penn and around the world, reaching thousands of attendees in the Penn community and beyond. Below are links to the videos of some of these conversations:

• The Coronavirus Pandemic and Human Rights with Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Perry World House Professor of the Practice of Law and Human Rights.
• Are We Winning the War against Coronavirus? with Ezekiel J. Emanuel, Vice Provost for Global Initiatives, Diane v.S. Levy and Robert M. Levy University Professor, and Chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy. Hosted in partnership with the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
• The Geopolitics of the COVID-19 Pandemic with Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster (ret.), former National Security Advisor and Perry World House Distinguished Visiting Fellow.
• Will COVID-19 Infect the U.S.-China Relationship? with Jacques deLisle, Stephen A. Cozen Professor of Law; Amy Gadsden, Associate Vice Provost for Global Initiatives; and Avery Goldstein, David M. Knott Professor of Global Politics and International Relations.
• Plagues Past and Present – Pandemics in Historical Perspective with David S. Barnes, Associate Professor of the History and Sociology of Science.
• From Russia With Gloves – Diagnosing Russia’s Response to COVID-19 with Yevgenia Albats, editor-in-chief of The New Times; Trudy Rubin, foreign affairs columnist at The Philadelphia Inquirer and Visiting Fellow at Perry World House; and Alexander Vershbow, former U.S. Ambassador and Wolk Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Perry World House.

Penn Pandemic Diary

Perry World House launched a “Penn Pandemic Diary” initiative to record what undergraduates, graduate students, and others in the Penn community are seeing and feeling during the historic COVID-19 outbreak. Nearly 30 members of the Penn community have submitted posts so far, recounting the various ways the pandemic has marked them—their losses and worries; how they are living; how work, study, and research are changing; and what they are looking forward to in a post-pandemic world. A few highlights include:

• No Longer Just a Statistic by Camila Celi, a senior majoring in French and Political Science. She shares the deeply moving story of losing her uncle to COVID-19.
• No More Races by Daniel Brennan, a senior majoring in History and Political Science.
• All Changed, Changed Utterly by Conor Donnan, a doctoral student in the History Department.
• 10,000 Miles from Home by Mae Mouritsen, a sophomore studying Health and Societies.
• Sociology in the Time of COVID-19 by Shaquilla Harrigan, a doctoral student in Sociology.

Penn on the World after COVID-19

Penn on the World after COVID-19 is a joint project of Penn Global and Perry World House. We've asked some of Penn's leading faculty, fellows, and scholars to imagine what the global pandemic will leave in its wake. So far, we’ve learned about the impact on supply chains, bioethics, global interconnectedness, surveillance in China, and air travel, with many more articles to come. Read these vital posts here:

• The Post-COVID-19 World Will be Less Global and Less Urban by Geoffrey Garrett, Dean, Reliance Professor of Management and Private Enterprise, and Professor of Management.
• You’re Grounded: The Aviation Industry in the World after COVID-19 by Megan S. Ryerson, UPS Chair of Transportation and Associate Professor of City and Regional Planning and Electrical and Systems Engineering.
• The Geopolitics of Post-COVID-19 Supply Chains by Regina M. Abrami, Senior Lecturer in Political Science and Director of the Global program and Head of International Studies faculty at the Lauder Institute.
• Bioethics, COVID-19, and the Changing International Order by Jonathan D. Moreno, David and Lyn Silfen University Professor, Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor, and Professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, of History and Sociology of Science, and of Philosophy.

The Global Cable

Perry World House refocused the latter part of the third season of our podcast, The Global Cable, to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Through in-depth conversations with leaders from a range of fields, we have explored different aspects of the pandemic, including how governments can communicate more effectively on public health issues and COVID-19's implications for climate action.

• Fighting Coronavirus with Martin O’Malley, former Governor of Maryland and Mayor of Baltimore and Perry World House Distinguished Visiting Fellow.
• A Warning from Italy with Erik Jones, Director of European and Eurasian Studies and Professor of European Studies and International Political Economy at Johns Hopkins University’s campus in Bologna, Italy.
• Confronting Climate Change with Koko Warner, Manager of the Climate Impacts, Vulnerability, and Risks Subprogram at the United Nations Framework on Convention on Climate Change.
• Coming Back from COVID-19 with Charlie Dent, former Congressman representing Pennsylvania’s 15th District, senior policy adviser at DLA Piper, political analyst at CNN, and Perry World House Visiting Fellow.

New Ideas

Perry World House is a home for innovative research, and that’s still true during the pandemic.
 
This week, we launched a new Working Group, "COVID-19 and the Future of the Global Order," for Penn faculty and fellows to consider how the pandemic will reshape world politics and power.

It will be chaired by Trudy Rubin, Perry World House Visiting Fellow and Philadelphia Inquirer Worldview Columnist; Alexander Vershbow, Perry World House Wolk Distinguished Visiting Fellow and former U.S. ambassador to NATO, Russia and South Korea; Michael C. Horowitz, Perry World House Interim Director and Political Science Professor; and John Gans, Perry World House Director of Research and Communications. Christian Ruhl, Perry World House’s Global Order Program Associate, is staffing the study group.
 
Our staff, fellows, and faculty are also still developing and promoting new ideas. Below are a few highlights:

• Could COVID-19 Upend International Asylum Norms?, Lawfare by Lama Mourad, Perry World House Postdoctoral Fellow, and Stephanie Schwartz, former Postdoctoral Fellow and Assistant Professor, University of Southern California.
• Spain goes (partly) back to work with a message for U.S. coronavirus efforts: test, test, test, The Philadelphia Inquirer by Trudy Rubin, Perry World House Visiting Fellow.
• Note to Nations: Stop Hacking Hospitals, Foreign Policy by Christian Ruhl, Perry World House Program Associate for Global Order.
• How can Trump fight the pandemic when he’s chasing experts out of government?, The Washington Post by John Gans, Perry World House Director of Communications and Research.