Upcoming Events

An Evening with Penn: Philadelphia

Join President J. Larry Jameson for a University update and a conversation about how Penn is advancing the responsible use of artificial intelligence to improve health, expand educational opportunity, and create meaningful societal impact.

Following the program, connect with fellow Penn alumni, parents, and friends at a networking reception.

J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD
Penn President

and

Seiji Isotani, PhD
Associate Professor, Penn Graduate School of Education
Faculty Director, Learning Analytics and Artificial Intelligence Program

Anne Marie McCarthy, PhD
Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, Perelman School of Medicine
Innovation Faculty, Penn Center for Cancer Care Innovation

Crystal Yang, M&T’29
Founder and CEO, Audemy
ChatGPT Futures Class of 2026
2026 Forbes 30 Under 30 – Games List

Thursday, October 8, 2026
6:30 p.m. ET

National Constitution Center
525 Arch Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106

October 8, 2026 | 6:30 p.m. ET

Human Resilience in High Stress Environments

When does our environment stress us out? And when does it push us over the edge? Humans have managed to survive and thrive in environments all over the globe and beyond. From remote tropical forests to urban heat islands to the Himalayas to outer space, Dr. Mallika Sarma (Penn Anthropology, Director of the Health and BioBehavior Laboratory) explores how humans have (mostly) successfully navigated and respond both physiologically and behaviorally to the natural, built, and social dimensions of novel and demanding environments. With climate change transforming the environments we thought we knew, she asks what this means for human stress and resilience in the face of our rapidly changing future.

October 8, 2026 | 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. ET

Penn’s Sylvania: The Campus as Landscape

William Penn envisioned Philadelphia as a “greene country towne.” Perhaps nowhere has this ideal been realized more than the University of Pennsylvania campus. Join Frederick Steiner, dean and Paley Professor of the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design, for a conversation about his new book Penn’s Sylvania: The Campus as Landscape. The book analyzes and celebrates the development of the university as a green space, with noted landscape architects, designers, architectural historians, and photographers providing their perspectives on the campus and the specimens housed within. Learn how trees, along with other plants, have played an essential role in establishing the character of the Penn campus in West Philadelphia from its inception onward. As an official arboretum, the campus contributes a botanical collection to the University’s educational purpose.

October 22, 2026 | 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. ET

Re-Translating Ancient Poetry

This talk will discuss Dr. Emily Wilson’s work as a re-translator of ancient epic and drama, especially focusing on poetic form, revision, and the possibilities for creating a sense of surprise and discovery for readers of ancient literature. Dr. Wilson’s widely acclaimed 2017 translation of Homer’s ancient Greek epic The Odyssey was notable for being the first complete English translation by a woman, focusing on clarity and a more modern sensibility while remaining faithful to the original text. Her translation of the Iliad was released in 2023.

November 3, 2026 | 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. ET

Life in the City of Brotherly Love During the Early Republic

This fall, the Arthur Ross Gallery will feature the work of notable figures, such as Benjamin Franklin, alongside depictions of daily life in Philadelphia by Gilbert Stuart, John Lewis Krimmel, members of the Peale family, and other artists active in the era of the Revolution. Join Dr. Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, Inaugural Faculty Director of the Arthur Ross Gallery and the James and Nan Farquhar Professor of the History of Art, and Lynn Smith Dolby, Director of the Penn Art Collection, for a virtual tour of the show, followed by live Q & A. This exhibition draws on the holdings of the University of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Winterthur Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

November 11, 2026 | 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. ET