Megan Becker, of the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, received the Kennedy Center Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability (LEAD^®) Award for 2018.  The award recognizes outstanding arts administrators and cultural arts organizations whose leadership and work furthers the field of accessibility. The awards increase awareness and focus on the importance of accessibility in artistic venues, cultural institutions, and natural history settings.

Sara “Sally” Bachman has been named dean of the School of Social Policy & Practice at the University of Pennsylvania, effective Jan. 1, 2019. The announcement was made today by Penn President Amy Gutmann and Provost Wendell Pritchett.

John MacDonald, Professor of Criminology, says lessons about environmental stressors and crime can be extended to the relationship between heat and crime.

In this episode of the OMNIA podcast, we explore a potential watershed moment in American politics: the unprecedented number of women running for office in 2018. Dawn Teele, Janice and Julian Bers Assistant Professor of Political Science, researches women and politics, voting rights reform, and candidate recruitment. Right now, she’s studying Emerge, the largest Democratic campaign training program in the United States. The program recruits, trains, and connects Democratic women who want to run for office.

We speak with Teele about the historical underrepresentation of women in politics and discuss some of the cultural narratives and structural factors—from fundraising trends to division of household labor—that potentially impact the success of female candidates in U.S. elections.

2018 College grad Nia Kaudo, a double major in Africana studies and political science with a minor in history, undertook summer research as part of Penn’s Jumpstart for Juniors program. Kaudo combined her academic interests to study the history and present-day status of incarceration in the U.S. and Brazil. Her project is titled Perpetually Bound: The Impact of 20th Century Policies on Black American and Afro-Brazilian Incarceration Rates.

Here, we talk to Kaudo about Jumpstart for Juniors, her research, and her hopes for the future of mass incarceration policies.

Penn Arts and Sciences has announced the 2018 funded projects for the “Making a Difference in Diverse Communities” initiative, which encourages faculty to explore innovative ways of applying their expertise. Through a combination of coursework, research and service, the projects address issues of diversity and inequality at the local, national and international level.

Wendy White, senior vice president and general counsel for the University of Pennsylvania, was one of three 2018 GC Impact award winners recognized by The Legal Intelligencer. This award acknowledges chief legal officers who, through their effective leadership, had significant accomplishments in 2017. 

Barbara Hewitt has been named Executive Director of Career Services. Dr. Hewitt, currently Senior Associate Director, will assume her new position in August after the retirement of longtime Career Services Director Patricia Rose.

Anita L. Allen, the Henry R. Silverman Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy and vice provost for faculty, became the first black woman president of the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association.

Sharon Smith, Executive Director of Student Intervention Services, has been named Associate Vice Provost for University Life. Since June 19, she has been a member of VPUL’s Central Resource Management Team (CRMT) reporting directly to Vice Provost Valarie Swain-Cade McCoullum.