Global Centers and Institutes

Penn Arts and Sciences

Africana Studies

Africana Studies Department is an interdisciplinary field of study devoted to the critical and systematic examination of the cultural, political, social, economic, and historical experiences of African Americans, Africans, and peoples of African descent around the world.

University Life

Albert M. Greenfield Intercultural Center

The Albert M. Greenfield Intercultural Center is Penn’s resource for enhancing student’s intercultural knowledge, competency, and leadership through our programs, advising, and advocacy. They do this by offering experiential courses for credit, signature intercultural programs, and other services related to diversity and intercultural education.

Penn Medicine

Botswana-UPenn Partnership

The Botswana-UPenn Partnership (BUP) believes that quality medicine should be available to populations in need. Through clinical care, research and medical education, it is devoted to building capacity in sustainable and high quality healthcare in Botswana. The BUP is comprised of three main partners: the Government of Botswana, the University of Botswana and the University of Pennsylvania.

Annenberg School for Communication

Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication

The Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication (CARGC) is an institute of advanced study that aims to produce world class, field-defining research, grounded in a vision of “inclusive globalization” that embraces bottom-up actors and the stunning diversity of global media, politics and culture.

Penn Arts and Sciences

Center for the Advanced Study of India

Founded in 1992, the Center for the Advanced Study of India at the University of Pennsylvania is the first research institution in the United States dedicated to the study of contemporary India. A national resource, it fills an urgent need for objective knowledge of India’s politics and society, rapidly changing economy, and transformation as both an ancient civilization and major contemporary power.

Penn Arts and Sciences

Center for Africana Studies

The Center for Africana Studies is dedicated to fostering a deeper understanding of the peoples of Africa and their diasporas. Through its research, academic initiatives and public programming, the Center’s work seeks to explore the profound ways in which African peoples have functioned on a global scale and how their experiences have resonated around the world throughout history.

Penn Carey Law

Center for Asian Law

The Center for Asian Law (CAL) at Penn is a collaborative faculty and student effort to nurture innovative thinking on and analysis of international, and comparative law and policy in Asia. The Center engages in cutting-edge thinking in academic and policy-relevant teaching, research and scholarship focused on Asia, and acts as a public forum for seminars, workshops and conferences as well as a platform for intellectual exchange between comparative law scholars at Penn Law and around the world.

Penn Arts and Sciences

Center for East Asian Studies

The Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Pennsylvania is an interdisciplinary unit composed of faculty members whose teaching and research focus primarily on China, Japan, Korea, and bordering areas.

Penn Carey Law

Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law

The Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law (CERL) is a non-partisan interdisciplinary institute dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the rule of law in 21st century warfare and national security. The only center of its kind housed within a law school, CERL draws from the study of law, philosophy, and ethics to answer the difficult questions that arise in times of war and contemporary transnational conflicts.

Penn Medicine

Center for Global Health

The mission of the Center for Global Health is to improve health equity worldwide – through enhanced public health awareness and access to care, discovery and outcomes based research, and comprehensive educational programs grounded in partnership. 

Penn Nursing

Center for Global Women’s Health

The Center for Global Women’s Health (CGWH) is an interdisciplinary collection of faculty and students who collaborate on women’s health scholarship, education, and clinical practice relevant to global issues.

Penn Social Policy and Practice

The Center for High Impact Philanthropy

The Center for High Impact Philanthropy (CHIP) is the only university-based center with a singular focus on philanthropy for social impact. Founded as a collaboration between the School of Social Policy and Practice and alumni of the Wharton School, it is a trusted source of knowledge and education to help donors around the world do more good.

Penn Arts and Sciences

Center for Italian Studies

The Center for Italian Studies, the first of its kind in the United States, was created in 1978. The Center’s mission is to support Penn’s faculty and students in their research and pedagogy, while engaging the latest trends in Italian Studies, including topics of literature, music, theatre, art, film, history, politics, economy, and society; to broaden the impact of Penn-based Italian Studies beyond Penn’s campus; to foster relationships between Penn and the following constituencies: Philadelphia’s Italian-American community, governmental entities representing Italy in the U.S., research centers and cultural organizations promoting Italian issues in the U.S.

Penn Arts and Sciences

Center for Latin American and Latinx Studies (CLALS)

Center for Latin American and Latinx Studies (CLALS) is an interdisciplinary research and teaching Center for the study of Latin America and Latinx populations. Our vision is to provide the human and intellectual capital capable of addressing the most pressing challenges and opportunities that Latin America and Latinx populations will face during the 21st century.

Penn Arts and Sciences

The Center for Research in Feminist, Queer, and Transgender Studies (FQT Center)

The Center for Research in Feminist, Queer, and Transgender Studies (FQT Center) is Penn’s premier institutional site supporting collaborative academic research, artistic production, and public engagement for scholars, artists, students, and activists who are invested in gender and sexuality studies. In doing so, the FQT Center builds connections between research initiatives and social justice movements, the Penn community and the city and world beyond.

Penn Arts and Sciences

The Center for the Study of Contemporary China

The Center for the Study of Contemporary China (CSCC) was established in 2012 at the University of Pennsylvania to advance Penn’s leadership in programs, research, and scholarship about the political, legal, economic, and social factors shaping China and its role in the world today. The Center sustains and extends the University’s work on and partnerships in China, providing an institutional home for campus-wide collaboration among departments, programs, institutes, faculty and students at Penn engaged in work pertaining to contemporary China.

Center for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships

The Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships serves as the University of Pennsylvania’s information hub and primary support office for Penn students and alumni considering applying for major grants and fellowships.

Penn Arts and Sciences

Christopher H. Browne Center for International Politics

Founded with support of Penn alumnus Christopher H. Browne, C’ 69, the Center was established at the University of Pennsylvania in 1997 in order to promote interdisciplinary research and teaching across the University community on issues of international relations, international security, and international political economy.

Penn Arts and Sciences

East Asian Languages and Civilizations

The Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations (EALC) is a department of interdisciplinary scholars who focus on the humanistic tradition of East Asia, covering both the classical and modern civilizations of China, Japan and Korea.

Wharton

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Initiative at the Wharton School

The Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Initiative brings together Wharton faculty and students to conduct academically rigorous research, develop new curricular materials, and co-curricular experiences that shape the future of investing, consulting, and strategy on ESG factors.

Wharton

Faculty International Seminars (FIS)

Wharton’s Faculty International Seminars (FIS) take groups of faculty to selected countries where they could have first-hand exposure to business issues related to their research and teaching. Past seminars have traveled to India, Brazil, South Africa, Kenya, Japan, Israel, Turkey, Myanmar, and Thailand. Faculty interact with colleagues at partner universities and business and political leaders in each country.

College of Liberal and Professional Studies | Penn Arts and Sciences

Fels Institute of Government

For over 80 years, the Fels Institute has prepared its students for a broad range of public leadership positions in city, state, and federal agencies; elective politics; nonprofit organizations; and private firms that serve the public interest.

Penn Arts and Sciences

Francophone, Italian, and Germanic Studies

The Francophone, Italian, & Germanic Studies (FIGS) department is a vibrant intellectual community with a shared commitment to the study of culture through language, literature, and visual media.  FIGS offers language courses in Dutch, French, German, Italian, Swedish, and Yiddish as well as advanced seminars on literature and culture in a global context.

Penn Arts and Sciences

Global Medieval Studies

Eleven Penn departments contribute to the undergraduate interdisciplinary program in Global Medieval Studies, allowing students to discover the premodern world together, as the root and necessary precondition to the modern. The program encourages students to view the world through the lens of various disciplinary and geographic perspectives and discover the interaction of diverse civilizations and religions. 

Penn Global & Division of Finance

Global Support Services

Global Support Services (GSS) supports the administrative and business functions of the University’s international activities. GSS works closely with the Office of the Vice Provost for Global Initiatives to advise and support central organizations, schools and centers on new and ongoing international activities. 

Vice Provost for Education

Graduate Student Center

Established in 2001, the Graduate Student Center is a central hub for resources, activities, support, and advocacy for all graduate and professional students at Penn. 

Penn Medicine

Guatemala Health Initiative

Guatemala Health Initiative (GHI) is an organization of students from the University of Pennsylvania working in partnership with communities in Guatemala. Since 2005, GHI has primarily worked with Hospitalito Atitlán to improve health in the Tz’utujil Maya town of Santiago Atitlán.

Penn Arts and Sciences

Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies

The Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania is devoted to post-doctoral research on Jewish civilization in all its historical and cultural manifestations, and is a model for institutions of its kind. The Katz Center’s distinguished scholars and superb library holdings, along with Penn’s outstanding faculty in Judaic studies, have established the University of Pennsylvania as one of the world’s major centers for the study of Jewish civilization.

Wharton & Penn Arts and Sciences

Huntsman Program in International Studies & Business

The Huntsman Program in International Studies & Business is a unique, four-year interdisciplinary undergraduate course of study that integrates business education, advanced language training and a liberal arts education.

Penn GSE

International Educational Development Program

The International Educational Development Program is an interdisciplinary program housed at the Graduate School of Education with affiliated faculty drawn from across the University. Through rigorous academic course work, coupled with hands on experiences, our program prepares students with the distinctive skills required for working in the field of education and development.

Penn Global

International Student & Scholar Services

International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) aims to advance global engagement at the University of Pennsylvania and affiliated hospitals by offering inclusive, innovative and impactful immigration and integration services.

Penn Arts and Sciences

James Joo-Jin Kim Center for Korean Studies

The Center is named after its benefactor, James Joo-Jin Kim  (W’59, G’61, GR’63). The Center promotes interdisciplinary research and teaching across the university community on issues related to Korea.

Kelly Writers House

Founded in 1995 by a group of students, faculty, staff and alumni, the Kelly Writers House is a 13-room house at 3805 Locust Walk on Penn’s campus that serves as a center for writers of all kinds from Penn and the Philadelphia region at large. 

Weitzman School of Design

Kleinman Center for Energy Policy

The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy creates the conditions for policy innovation that support a just and efficient transition to sustainable energy. The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy was established in July 2014 with a generous gift to the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design from Scott (C’94 and W’94) and Wendy Kleinman.

University Life

La Casa Latina: The Center for Hispanic Excellence

The Center for Hispanic Excellence: La Casa Latina promotes greater awareness of Latinx issues, culture, and identity at Penn. La Casa Latina works closely with the Penn community to offer a supportive environment where all students are welcomed and engaged in programs, events, and dialogues that address important issues affecting Latinxs/Hispanics locally, nationally, and internationally.

Wharton & Penn Arts and Sciences

The Lauder Institute

The Joseph H. Lauder Institute for Management & International Studies was founded by brothers Leonard and Ronald Lauder in 1983 in honor of their father, Joseph H. Lauder. The Lauder Institute provides a fully integrated business education for a new generation of leaders, preparing them to speak the language of global business, culture, and politics fluently.

Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics

The Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics (LDI) was created to fill fundamental gaps in the evidence base that could inform policies critical to the financing and management of the nation’s increasingly costly and complex health care system. Considered one of the world’s leading university-based programs of its kind, LDI is a cooperative venture among Penn’s health professions, business, and communications schools (Medicine, Wharton, Nursing, Dental Medicine, Law School, and Annenberg School for Communication) and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, with linkages to other Penn schools, including Arts & Sciences, Education, Social Policy and Practice, and Veterinary Medicine.

University Life

LGBT Center

The Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center enriches the experience and fosters the success of Penn’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students. The primary activities of the Center are outreach and education, supportive services for individuals and campus organizations, including network facilitation, and advocacy for sensitive, inclusive University policies and practices.

Penn Arts and Sciences

Linguistic Data Consortium

Formed in 1992 to address the critical data shortage then facing language technology research and development, the Linguistic Data Consortium (LDC) is an open consortium of universities, libraries, corporations and government research laboratories. 

Wharton

Mack Institute for Innovation Management

Established in 2001, the Mack Institute for Innovation Management joins rigorous research with practical applications to help established firms navigate the risks and rewards of innovation, emphasizing multi-disciplinary, cross-functional perspectives.

University Life

Makuu: The Black Cultural Center

Makuu: The Black Cultural Center is a nexus of academic, professional and personal growth for University of Pennsylvania students interested in Black culture and the African Diaspora. Through advising, leadership development, network facilitation, and cultural programming, Makuu expands student access to the University’s resources, enhancing Penn’s campus and global communities. 

Penn Arts and Sciences

McNeil Center for Early American Studies

Established as the Philadelphia Center for Early American Studies in 1978, and renamed in honor of its benefactor Robert L. McNeil, Jr., in 1998, the McNeil Center facilitates scholarly inquiry into the histories and cultures of North America in the Atlantic world before 1850, with a particular emphasis on the mid-Atlantic region.

Penn Arts and Sciences

The Middle East Center

The Middle East Center aims to raise awareness of the unique circumstances of the region through research and instructional programs. The MEC has adopted an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the Middle East, and it offers a wide range of educational opportunities to support this endeavor.

Penn Arts and Sciences

Middle Eastern Languages & Civilizations

On July 1, 2024, the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (NELC) became the Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures (MELC).  MELC engages in the interdisciplinary study and teaching of the cultures and peoples of the the Middle East as they have expressed themselves in languages, texts and literatures, including written and oral sources, as well as art, architecture, archaeology, and material objects. MELC studies encompass the geographic region that stretches from North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula through the eastern Mediterranean to Arabia and Iran. 

Netter Center for Community Partnerships

Founded in 1992, the Barbara and Edward Netter Center for Community Partnerships is Penn’s primary vehicle for bringing to bear the broad range of human knowledge needed to solve the complex, comprehensive, and interconnected problems of the American city so that West Philadelphia (Penn’s local geographic community), Philadelphia, the University itself, and society benefit.

University Life

Pan-Asian American Community House (PAACH)

The Pan-Asian American Community House (PAACH) is a hub of academic, personal, and professional growth for University of Pennsylvania students interested in Asian American culture and the Asian American Diaspora. Through advising, leadership development, advocacy, social and cultural programming we expand student access to the University’s resources.

Penn Global

Penn Abroad

Penn Abroad serves as the hub for student global opportunities at the University of Pennsylvania. Each year the University sends over 2,000 Penn students to more than 50 countries around the world on semester study abroad, summer internships, service learning, and short-term programs.

Penn GSE

Penn Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy

The Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy (AHEAD) is dedicated to advancing higher education policy and practice that fosters open, equitable, and democratic societies. Through engagement with policy-makers, institutional leaders, scholars and practitioners, AHEAD produces research and applies research-based knowledge to address the most pressing issues pertaining to the public purposes of higher education in the U.S. and around the globe.

Penn Global | Penn Washington

Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement

An initiative of Penn Washington, the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement at the University of Pennsylvania is founded on the principle that a democratic, open, secure, tolerant, and interconnected world benefits all Americans. Based in our nation’s capital, the Penn Biden Center engages more of our fellow citizens in shaping this world, while ensuring the gains of global engagement are widely shared.

Penn Arts and Sciences & Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics

Penn Development Research Initiative (PDRI)-DevLab

The Penn Development Research Initiative (PDRI)-DevLab brings together faculty and graduate students across the University of Pennsylvania whose research seeks to identify solutions to the challenges facing developing countries. PDRI-DevLab seeks to foster impactful international development research by harnessing the expertise of its affiliates from various disciplines and utilizing diverse methodological approaches.

Weitzman School of Design

Penn Institute for Urban Research

The Penn Institute for Urban Research (Penn IUR) is a university-wide body that informs urban decision-making and public policy on issues of sustainable urban growth and development based on multi-disciplinary research, instruction, and outreach.

Penn Arts and Sciences

Penn Language Center

Since 1989, Penn Language Center (PLC) strengthens Penn’s language education and consistently supports the development of language professionals. In particular, PLC focuses on current trends in online instruction and teaching from within the National Standards.

Penn Libraries Global

Since 1750, the Penn Libraries have served the teaching, research and learning needs of scholars. Housed within Penn Libraries, Penn Libraries Global is a rich network of information resources and human expertise, offering access to knowledge at Penn and around the world.

Penn Museum

The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology was founded in 1887 to bring together under one roof artifacts that evidenced the development and history of humanity from antiquity to the present, for the most part excavated or acquired through the Museum’s own research missions.

Penn Global & Wharton

Penn Wharton China Center

The Penn Wharton China Center (PWCC) advances the long history of engagement with China by the Wharton School and its parent university, the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), in an increasingly interconnected global environment. PWCC provides on-the-ground support for the growing numbers of programs and collaborations between Penn’s 12 schools and many academic, government,  and business partners throughout China.

Penn Global

Perry World House

Perry World House is a center for scholarly inquiry, teaching, research, international exchange, policy engagement, and public outreach on pressing global issues. Located in the heart of campus at 38th Street and Locust Walk, it draws on the expertise of Penn’s 12 schools and numerous globally-oriented research centers to educate the Penn community and prepare students to be well-informed, contributing global citizens. At the same time, Perry World House connects Penn with leading policy experts from around the world to develop and advance innovative policy proposals.

Penn Arts and Sciences

Population Studies Center

The Population Studies Center (PSC) at the University of Pennsylvania has fostered research and training in population since 1962. Its goal is to remain a national and world leader in research on the growth and structure of human populations and on the role of socioeconomic stratification and human and social diversity on the health of populations.

Penn Arts and Sciences

Robert A. Fox Leadership Program

The Robert A. Fox Leadership Program engages and supports Penn undergraduates and recent alumni not only in the College of Arts and Sciences and College of Liberal and Professional Studies, but also in the Wharton School, the Nursing School, and the Engineering School. The program has five components: research and service fellowships (undergraduates and recent alumni); teaching, advising and service-learning; events and training; partnerships and special projects; and Fox Leadership International.

Penn Arts and Sciences

Russian and East European Studies

The Russian and East European Studies Department is dedicated to advancing knowledge of a vast and unique region of the world. Faculty interests and expertise span many centuries, countries, languages, and disciplines. Students can study medieval Czech manuscripts, population and health in Eastern Europe, 19th century Russian literature, nationalism and film in the Balkans, Russian and East European foreign policy, Byzantine art, gender and sexuality, and Putin’s Russia. The department teaches an array of East European languages, including Hungarian, and Russian to the advanced level.

Penn Arts and Sciences

South Asia Center

The South Asia Center’s mission is to enhance the study of South Asia (India, Pakistan, Afghanistran, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Maldives) at Penn and within the wider community. The Center supports faculty and student research, conferences, curriculum development, outreach, and other activities and events related to modern and pre-modern South Asia. The Center connects scholars with interests in South Asia across the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Penn’s professional schools, and within the wider community.

Penn Arts and Sciences

South Asia Studies

The study of South Asia at Penn has a tradition stretching back over a hundred years. Today, the South Asia Studies Department is a community of interdisciplinary scholars that combines expertise in the languages, literatures, histories, and cultures of South Asia. At present, students can study Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Panjabi, Malayalam, Marathi and Gujarati through the South Asia Studies Department, and can take courses in the disciplines of History, Literature, Anthropology, Art History, and Religious Studies.

Penn Arts and Sciences

Spanish and Portuguese Department

The Department of Spanish and Portuguese an undergraduate and graduate program, the Department is also home to the Hispanic Review, a quarterly journal devoted to research in Hispanic and Brazilian literatures and cultures. Edited since 1933, the journal features essays and book reviews on the diverse cultural manifestations of Iberia and Latin America, from the medieval period to the present.

Penn Arts and Sciences

University of Pennsylvania Institute for the Advanced Study of India

The University of Pennsylvania Institute for the Advanced Study of India (UPIASI) is the counterpart institution in New Delhi of the Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI). Since 1997, UPIASI’s portfolio of activities has grown to comprise over a dozen research projects and two fellowship programs. UPIASI’s collaborative research projects have engaged scholars across a range of institutions in India, USA, UK, Canada, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Japan, China, Thailand, Malaysia, and Israel.

Wharton

Wharton Global Family Alliance

Established in 2004, the Wharton Global Family Alliance (Wharton GFA) is a unique academic-family business partnership established through an agreement between the Wharton School and the CCC Alliance. The Wharton GFA is designed to create and disseminate knowledge that is helpful to substantial families and to their businesses.

Wharton

Wharton Global Forum

For more than 20 years, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania has hosted Global Forums for leaders from industry, government, and academia to learn from and interact with the best minds in business.

Wharton

Wharton Global Modular Courses

Wharton Global Modular Courses (GMCs) deliver global, experience-based learning to Wharton students in key business locations around the world.  Our courses are led on location by our world-class Wharton faculty, linking innovative ideas to new business phenomena, contextualized both in emerging markets and in developed economies.

Wharton

Wharton Global Youth Programs

The Wharton Global Youth Program mobilizes the extensive opportunities of the Wharton academic community to educate and inspire pre-collegiate students to explore business practices, analyze the world’s complex challenges, and take the first steps in becoming leaders who will transform the global economy.

Wharton

Wharton-INSEAD Alliance

The Wharton-INSEAD Alliance is a commitment from both schools to encourage mutual collaboration of faculty, students, executives, and alumni. The INSEAD-Wharton Center for Global Research & Education supports the development of innovative programs and teaching materials involving faculty members from the two schools.

Wharton

Wharton International Program

Wharton International Program (WIP) is a short-term international business course that gives undergraduate students an amazing global opportunity featuring business site visits, faculty lectures at our partner schools, cultural excursions, and networking opportunities with undergraduate students and business contacts from the destination countries.