Regina Smalls Baker, assistant professor of sociology in the School of Arts & Sciences, and Amy Castro Baker, assistant professor in the School of Social Policy & Practice and director of the new Center for Guaranteed Income Research, talk about the use of data to inform recent economic relief bills, data gaps in assessing who is experiencing poverty, and the feasibility of solutions like universal basic income in alleviating poverty. 

Penn Today's Office Hours

Understanding poverty and data

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, death has never been more top-of-mind during our lifetimes than it is now. Here, experts from Psychology and Religious Studies join to talk about how to cope with the idea of death and how past civilizations and cultures have examined this in religion.

Understanding...Death

Robert Inman of the Wharton School and John Landis of the Weitzman School discuss infrastructure of the future.

The inaugural episode of "Understand This ..." features Sigal Ben-Porath from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education and Sophia Rosenfeld from the University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences. Together, they discuss how a democratic society can agree on shared facts in the age of "fake news" and social media.

Sigal Ben-Porath and Sophia Rosenfeld discuss shared facts in the age of "fake news" and social media

In the spirit of holiday office parties, for the latest episode in the "Office Hours" podcast series Penn Today engages in conversation with returning guests Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, of the Graduate School of Education; "Mr. Fish" of the Annenberg School for Communication; and Julia Ticona, also of Annenberg. Closing out the year, the trio discusses holiday plans while reflecting on the year, and decade, that's been.

Office Hours Holiday Party

In the latest episode of Penn Today's “Office Hours” podcast series, Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, professor of the history of art in the School of Arts and Sciences, explains the event that shaped her career, the behind-the-scenes process of curating the new “30 Americans” exhibit at the Barnes Foundation that highlights contemporary art from influential African-American artists, and what her profession of choice might have been in a world where she didn’t end up as a scholar of art. 

Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw talks ‘30 Americans’

In the latest episode of 'Office Hours,' Assistant Professor of Communication Julia Ticona explains her research about the gig economy and chitchats about cooking, campus, and superpowers.

Julia Ticona talks sociology and superpowers

In this Penn Today Special Presentation podcast, Michael Kearns, Aaron Roth, and Lisa Miracchi talk about fairness constraints put on algorithms, the perception of artificial intelligence as “value-neutral,” and the convergence of disciplines in trying to address outstanding questions about how to make algorithms more ethical.

The Programming Ethos: A Penn Today Special Presentation

In the latest episode of Penn Today’s “Office Hours” podcast Doug Jerolmack, professor of Earth and Environmental Science with a secondary appointment in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, discusses the “science of scenery.”  He talks rounded pebbles along riversides, studying sand movement even as it’s apparently undisturbed, and also teases out the dynamic with his twin brother, who also studies the environment, and the status of his wife’s West Philadelphia taco shop. 

Doug Jerolmack explores 'science of scenery,' describes life as a twin

Today we knock on the door of Michael Horowitz, Professor of Political Science and Associate Director of Perry World House. Horowitz studies international relations, military politics and technology. Here he explains the fallout at the Iranian shoot down of a U.S. drone near the Strait of Hormuz in June. The unusual modern relationship between technology, the military and the markets as well as why he's a movies guy rather than a film guy.

Michael Horowitz talks Iran, why leaders go to war, and comic book movies

Welcome to the “office hours” of Vijay Balasubramanian, professor of physics in the School of Arts and Sciences.  Here, in the latest episode of the “Office Hours” podcast, which explores the minds of the University’s academic talents in a more unbuttoned and freewheeling setting outside of the lecture hall, Balasubramanian joins for a chat about the science behind smell and memory, the distinction between “cool” and “important,” and why MacGyver makes for such a moral character.

Vijay Balasubramanian connects smells and memory, gushes over MacGyver

Here, in the latest episode of the “Office Hours” podcast series produced by Penn Today, which explores the minds of the University’s academic talents in a more unbuttoned and freewheeling setting outside of the lecture hall, Thomas discusses growing up with limited children’s literature options, where young adult and children’s lit is going today, why she still hasn’t watched “The Wire,” and what she thinks is an overrated virtue. 

Ebony Elizabeth Thomas speaks on children's lit, 'The Dark Fantastic,' and pie

Today, we knock on the door of James Serpell, the Marie A. Moore Professor of Ethics & Animal Welfare at the School Veterinary Medicine and the Director of the Center for the Interaction of Animals in Society. Serpell studies behavioral phenotypes of dogs and cats, a specialty study in the world of veterinary medicine as veterinary behavior itself is a rare expertise to have, with only about 70 veterinarians board certified in the specialty in the United States. Serpell works to broaden access to that well of knowledge while deepening our understanding of our companion's behaviors. Here, Serpell discusses the origins of his interest in animal behavior starting with a parrot and what he's working on right now; plus, his knack for cooking, an odd interaction during a behavior consult involving a dog and a TV, and why we can all stand to be a little less idealistic.

James Serpell, animal behaviorist, talks dog depression, confusing cats, and the parrot that catalyzed his career

Here, in the first episode of the “Office Hours” podcast--produced by Penn Today--senior lecturer Kathy DeMarco Van Cleve joins us for a look back on the 2019 Oscars, exploring what The Academy got right and wrong this year, and whether it's worth feeling bad for Bradley Cooper. Plus, gab about what she likes to munch on, reflection on her favorite movie (or movies), and some shout-outs to her favorite places on Penn's campus.

A post-Oscars chat with Kathy DeMarco Van Cleve

Penn Today's "Office Hours" podcast explores the minds of the Penn's academic talents in a more unbuttoned and freewheeling setting outside of the lecture hall. Office Hours is produced by the Office of University Communications, University of Pennsylvania.

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Penn Today's Office Hours

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