OMNIA Podcast

In this fourth episode, Dean Mark Trodden sits down with Ramanan Raghavendran, ENG’89, W’89, LPS’15, Chair of the University of Pennsylvania’s Board of Trustees, and Former Chair of the School of Arts and Sciences Board of Advisors. The two discuss Raghavendran’s Penn journey and how Horizons, the School’s new strategic vision, positions its students and faculty to lead in an AI-driven and globall...

In the third episode of the new podcast series Horizons, Dean Mark Trodden and Heather Andrea Williams, Geraldine R. Segal Professor in American Social Thought and Professor of Africana Studies, discuss Williams' journey from law into history, the importance of studying the humanities, and the value of cultivating empathy and ethics in the classroom. Horizons is a new podcast series from Penn Arts...

In our second episode of Horizons, Dean Mark Trodden chats with Michael Mann, Presidential Distinguished Professor of Earth and Environmental Science and Director of the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media. The two discuss Mann’s groundbreaking research as a leading climate scientist, his collaborative work at Penn, and why science communication is essential to meeting the urgen...

Horizons  is a new podcast series from Penn Arts & Sciences featuring Dean Mark Trodden talking with faculty experts about the big issues shaping our world and higher education—including their work exploring new ideas, inspiring students, and driving meaningful change. In our first episode, Dean Trodden talks with Guy Grossman, David M. Knott Professor of Global Politics and International Relation...

In the fifth episode our special edition of the Ampersand Podcast, Mark Trodden, Dean of Penn Arts & Sciences and Thomas S. Gates, Jr. Professor of Physics & Astronomy, speaks with Bhuvnesh Jain, Walter H. and Leonore C. Annenberg Professor in the Natural Sciences and the Co-Director of the Penn Data Driven Discovery Initiative and the Penn Center for Particle Cosmology. The two discuss how advanc...

What do street lights, tree cover, and public art all have to do with criminology? According to the data, these small initiatives can move the needle on the prevalence of neighborhood crime.  In the fourth special edition of the Ampersand Podcast, Mark Trodden, Dean of Penn Arts & Sciences and Thomas S. Gates, Jr. Professor of Physics & Astronomy, talks with John MacDonald, Professor of Criminolog...

We all have intuitions about why we are the way we are, says Associate Professor of Psychology Rebecca Waller. The connection between self and subject matter in psychology is especially close, she says. “That’s exciting because you have the potential to think about things you learned and apply them in your own life.” In the third special edition of the Ampersand Podcast, Mark Trodden, Dean of Penn...

What role does higher education play in a democracy? In the second episode of a special edition of the Ampersand Podcast, Dean Mark Trodden and historian Sophia Rosenfeld discuss the importance the humanities play in preserving culture, how the history of choice can help students think critically about the hidden assumptions that shape their worlds, and how democracies work best when they operate...

Join us for the launch of a special edition of the Ampersand podcast, featuring Mark Trodden, Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences and Thomas S. Gates, Jr. Professor of Physics & Astronomy in conversation with select faculty members across the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. In this conversation, Trodden speaks with Peter Struck, Stephen A. Levin Family Dean of the College of A...

Our new podcast series, Ampersand , features faculty from different disciplines discussing a topic they have in common. In our first episode, Sophia Rosenfeld, Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History, and Sudeep Bhatia, Associate Professor of Psychology, explore the ramifications of choice in everyday life and society as a whole. *** Produced and edited by Alex Schein  Theme music by Nicholas Esc...

Our final episode of this Omnia podcast season offers a conversation between Stephanie Perry, Executive Director of the Penn Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies, and Rogers M. Smith, Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Political Science. They discuss the implications of Trump’s second term as president, as well as what the future of democracy may look like in the...

The results of last week’s presidential election are in and Donald Trump will have a second term after earning 312 Electoral College votes and some 75 million votes overall. Republicans also re-gained a majority in the Senate and are poised to maintain control of the House of Representatives. In the fifth episode of Democracy and Decision 2024, the Omnia podcast that has been dissecting the state...

In this season of Democracy and Decision 2024, we take a close look at the state of U.S. democracy in the context of the 2024 election.  The fourth episode, “The Gears of Democracy,” features Marc Meredith, Professor of Political Science, in conversation with podcast host Stephanie Perry, Executive Director of the Penn Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies (PORES) and the Fox Leadership...

In this season of Democracy and Decision 2024, we take a close look at the state of U.S. democracy in the context of the 2024 election.  The third episode, “The Fight for Democracy,” features Matthew Levendusky, Professor of Political Science and Stephen and Mary Baran Chair in the Institutions of Democracy at the Annenberg Public Policy Center, in conversation with podcast host Stephanie Perry, E...

In this season of Democracy and Decision 2024, we take a close look at the state of U.S. democracy in the context of the 2024 election. The second episode, “The Voice of Democracy,” features Diana Mutz, Samuel A. Stouffer Professor of Political Science and Communication, in conversation with podcast host Stephanie Perry, Executive Director of the Penn Program on Opinion Research and Election Studi...

Our new season of Omnia , Democracy and Decision 2024, examines the state of U.S. democracy in the context of the upcoming presidential election.  The first episode, “Truth and Democracy,“ features Sophia Rosenfeld, Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History, in conversation with podcast host Stephanie Perry, Executive Director of the Penn Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies (PORES) and...

Many people know Philadelphia for the Declaration of Independence, Rocky, and cheesesteaks. Philly’s deep musical history is less familiar, but its influence continues to inspire audiences and artists across the globe.  For Carol Muller’s graduate-level ethnomusicology field methods class, students focused on documenting the city’s Black music history, interviewing figures ranging from Grammy-awar...

After the enormous success of her translation of Homer’s The Odyssey, Emily Wilson spent another five years translating The Iliad. The book was released this fall, again to tremendous acclaim. Wilson is the College for Women Class of 1963 Term Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Classical Studies. She is the recipient of two prestigious fellowships, the MacArthur “Genius Grant” and the Gu...

This July, global temperatures soared to the warmest ever recorded. Ocean surface temperatures hit record highs. Extreme weather-related events are becoming ever more common, seen this spring and summer with the wildfires in Canada and Hawaii, flooding in Vermont, and a tropical storm in Los Angeles dumping almost three inches of rain in one day. Renowned climate scientist Michael Mann, Presidenti...

The 2022 midterm elections took place on Tuesday, November 8th in the United States, and are still being decided in many parts of the country. Historically, the president’s party loses in the midterms. And yet this year, Democrats – the party of President Joe Biden – maintained their control of the Senate and may only lose their majority in the House of Representatives by a slim margin. So what ha...

The pandemic has had a pronounced impact on mental health. Participating in activities that benefit well-being is crucial, but Katherine Cotter and James Pawelski, experts in the field of positive psychology, say being conscious of these benefits, and optimizing participation, is the end goal. In this final episode of the season, we speak with both researchers from the Positive Psychology Center a...

Music is undeniably one of oldest and most essential art forms. The power of song and dance has been the pulse of social movements throughout the world and a source of collective and individual healing during difficult times for millennia. In this episode we speak with ethnomusicologist Carol Muller about the power of song and dance during the apartheid era in South Africa, and Nicholas Escobar, C...

For as long as humans have had voices, trauma has been told and processed through stories, poetry, and music. In this episode, we speak with author Lorene Cary, Senior Lecturer in English, and poet Fatemeh Shams, Assistant Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, on the ability of words to move people, create a community, and help us to heal. Guests: Lorene Cary, Senior Lecturer, Dep...

The legacy of trauma resulting from more than 200 years of slavery in North America, and colonialism abroad, has yet to be fully comprehended. In this episode, Breanna Moore discusses her engagement with fellow student collaborators to recreate the history of Penn’s connections to slavery, which began with a memory book and a journey through her own family’s history. And Deborah Thomas explains ho...

In coping with the stresses of recent times, many people are finding respite in connecting with nature. Writers extolling the virtues of wellness travel, ecotherapy, and going for a long walk are just one spin on a long tradition of reflections on how to find health, happiness, and wisdom through nature in any of its manifestations, from herbs and flowers, to animals and crystals. In this episode,...