Campus Events

A new exhibition curated by students in Penn's School of Arts & Sciences will explore the deep human history associated with the color blue. Into the Blue will span 4,000 years—displaying 20 objects from across the Penn Museum’s collections, including select artifacts from the Middle East, China, Africa, ancient Egypt, and Central America. The exhibition will examine three themes: Obtaining Blue, Making Blue, and Synthesizing Blue. On view through spring 2026. Included with Museum admission.

This exhibition continues the collaboration between ICA and New York-based textile studio Maharam, which invites artists to reimagine the windows of ICA’s façade. For the 2025-26 edition, Philadelphia-based artist Xenobia Bailey created a design that reflects her “Funktional” aesthetic and rooted in her decades-long fiber arts practice.

The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation, Arthur Ross Gallery, and Penn Live Arts present a unique opportunity to experience an installation of acclaimed contemporary artist Nina Chanel Abney’s epic painting cycle entitled I Dread to Think. This artwork comprises a 60-foot-long series of large canvases portraying wildly colorful and sometimes apocalyptic scenes from the Internet Age. Free and open to the Penn community.

This exhibit features the work of Penn staff and students who created replicas and new works of art in three campus makerspaces: Education Commons, the Bollinger Digital Fabrication Lab, and Venture Lab. Through experiential learning, the contributors to this exhibit cultivated creativity and new technological skills while deepening their appreciation of cultural heritage. Free and open to the public.

The Spring 2026 Weitzman Lecture Series offers perspective on some of the most pressing issues facing built environment professionals, cultural leaders, and policymakers today—from climate migration to threats to heritage sites around the world. Speakers will explore the lessons of pandemic-era experiments for public space, the dynamics of urban renewal in Portland following a municipal plan to combat displacement, and how an interest in salt lakes became a mission to save our water systems, among other topics. Free and open to the public. Registration is required for some events.

Part of America 250 at Penn programming, this exhibit explores the overlooked yet essential role of nurses during the American Revolution, whose vital work helped shape early American healthcare. It challenges the widespread belief that nursing began in the 19th century with Florence Nightingale by providing rare evidence of a world of nursing and caretaking that thrived before, during, and after the American Revolution. Free and open to the Penn community.

Part of America 250 at Penn programming, this exhibit will feature select photographs by Academy Award-winning cinematographer and Penn alumnus Phil Parmet, who documented life in Haiti after the fall of Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier in 1986. This display captures both the "resignation, disappointment, and sadness" and the "strength and determination" felt by the Haitian people during this pivotal time in their history. Free and open to the public.

“Collecting the New Irascibles: Art in the 1980s” opens a window into the 1980s Lower East Side art scene, where low rents and studio-ready lofts cultivated a dynamic arts ecology. The exhibition, located in the Arthur Ross Gallery, brings together loans from world-renowned collections and highlights several artistic movements of the 1980s that signaled a decisive break from past expectations and a full-force tilt toward the “new.” Free and open to the public.

“A World in the Making: The Shakers” explores the design legacy of the Shakers, a religious group whose values of community, labor, and equality shaped their furniture, architecture, and everyday objects. Through works by contemporary artists influenced by the Shakers, alongside original Shaker-made pieces, the exhibition invites reflection on how Shaker ideals continue to inform conversations around inclusion, gender, and intentional living in the 21st century. Free and open to the public.

Perry World House and the Center for the Study of Contemporary China will host a timely conversation with His Excellency Kevin Rudd, Australia’s ambassador to the U.S. and former prime minister. Ambassador Rudd will explore Australia’s perspective about what is required to advance security in the Indo-Pacific and beyond, discussing regional deterrence, how Australia’s partnership with the U.S. has evolved, and key challenges for alliance building in the 21st century. This hybrid event is free and open to the public. Register to attend.

This timely and forward-looking discussion at Perry World House will examine the modern evolving media landscape in the context of the protection and promotion of freedom of expression in the 21st century, including the broader implications for human rights in an era of technological transformation. The talk will feature David Kaye, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, and Sarah Banet-Weiser, the Walter H. Annenberg Dean of Penn’s Annenberg School for Communication. Free and open to the public. Register to attend.

Penn staff are invited to join this 15-minute conversation about activating an optimistic mindset. Participants will practice strategies to help them grow from various challenges. Register to attend.

The in-person STEM & Sustainability Career Fair provides an opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students, alumni, and postdocs to engage with employers, apply for positions, and make substantial progress in their internship and job searches and career exploration. This fair will focus on career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and sustainability fields.

This conversation will focus on tangible, community-level sustainability solutions, how environmental issues disproportionately affect certain communities, and the critical link between climate and justice. Participants will learn how local leadership and grassroots efforts can drive impactful climate action and discuss strategies for advancing environmental justice. Free and open to the Penn community. Register to attend.

Building Stories: Time and Change at Weitzman Hall brings together original architectural drawings and lithographs, as well as period and contemporary photographs, to explore the many lives of the building. The exhibition invites visitors to contemplate how architecture can endure challenges by taking on new roles, functions, and meanings beyond what its designers originally intended. Free and open to the public.

During this drop-in Open Studio at the Common Press, participants will learn to print a broadside—a single-sided print meant for public display—commemorating the important role iron played in Pennsylvanian and American history. Free and open to the public. Penn ID or photo ID required. Register to attend.

Widely exhibited and published photographer Leandre Jackson will join historian, curator, and Penn alumnus Samir Meghelli in a conversation about Jackson’s remarkable career documenting the lives and work of Black history-makers of the 20th and 21st centuries. The conversation will be followed by a reception and a display of Jackson’s photographs in the Henry Charles Lea Library. Free and open to the public. Register to attend.

Part of America 250 at Penn programming, this exhibit will showcase materials from various groups who have taken strident critiques of a wholly celebratory approach to American history and the mythos of the founding fathers. The exhibit includes posters, buttons, pamphlets, photographs, and other ephemeral materials—many of them produced by people of color, student organizations, and grassroots groups. Free and open to the public.

PennCHIPS at Penn Medicine will host this virtual panel connecting attendees with leaders who have successfully transitioned into industry, healthcare organizations, policy, and other sectors. Participants will gain practical insights on essential skills, strategies, and resources to confidently navigate their career journey.

The Penn community is invited to engage with faculty experts, students, and staff in an interactive, participatory reading of the U.S. Constitution, followed by a guided conversation about how its interpretation has evolved over time. Refreshments and take-home pocket editions of the Constitution will be provided. Register to attend.

Music theorist and ethnographer Anna Yu Wang will discuss the consequential yet still underexamined political implications of Anglo-American music theory’s relatively rigorous, descriptive vocabulary. Attendees will be invited to consider how these patterns and classifications can reflect the limitations and propensities of a given music analyst’s own sociopolitical positionality. Free and open to the public.

Hosted by Penn HR, this 15-minute conversation will focus on how to quiet mental chatter. Attendees will practice a strategy to strengthen focus and confidence. Penn staff can register to attend.

Free and open to the public, this Penn Nursing program will honor Black History Month with a viewing of “The Power to Heal: Medicare and the Civil Rights Revolution,” a documentary chronicling the historic struggle to secure equal and adequate access to healthcare for all Americans. Participants are invited to stay for a panel discussion after the screening. Light refreshments will be provided. Register to attend.

Participants in the Penn Student Making Workshop, hosted by the Penn Museum and facilitated by Brigitte Keslinke of the School of Arts & Sciences, will explore how and why people in the ancient Mediterranean made votives, followed by using air-dry clay to sculpt their own miniature offerings. Free for Penn students; must bring Penn ID.

Design students and alumni will have an opportunity to network with recruiters from firms and organizations spanning the architecture, landscape architecture, city and regional planning, historic preservation, real estate, spatial analytics, and fine arts fields. Sixty-plus firms are expected to participate at the in-person fair this year. Register to attend.

Penn alum and media scholar Michael Serazio reveals the story of America’s obsession with ‘authenticity’ through a panoramic, behind-the-scenes tour of the professionals, strategies, and practices working to keep it "real." Free and open to the public. Register to attend.

In early modern Europe, fashion and cartography shared a lot of common ground, but the connection between the two fields has largely gone unnoticed. Emanuele Lugli, associate professor of art and art history and director of public humanities at Stanford, will discuss how this overlooked convergence is precisely where fashion, as we understand it, first took shape. Free and open to the public. Register to attend.

Thaisa Way, director of garden & landscape studies at Harvard’s Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, will discuss the societal importance of better understanding the built environment, including how design can be taught as both an art and a practice. Free and open to the public. Register to attend.

Recent data offer encouraging signs that opioid overdoses may be declining, with overdose deaths falling nearly 27% in 2024 compared to 2023. As policymakers work to sustain this progress, efforts to expand access to medications for opioid use disorder and to leverage telemedicine remain critical. This virtual seminar will explore the current trajectory of the opioid epidemic and examine policy opportunities and challenges at both the federal and state levels. Free and open to the public. Register to attend.

Public art complements the Morris Arboretum & Garden’s landscape and plant collection, including sculptures that have become featured in prominent places or tucked in the shade of certain trees. This tour will highlight the sculptures that connect human art with the beauty of nature. Participants will meet at the Welcome Center. Free with general admission.

This performance will mark the Philadelphia premiere of Tilt!, a behind-the-scenes adventure exploring the roller coaster, Ferris wheel, and similar popular rides at theme parks. Cirque Mechanics’ new show offers a unique set of acrobatics. Students can receive a discount with Penn ID.

This symposium will unite scholars of 18th-century nursing; early American healers; Indigenous, African, and European care practices; and Revolutionary War era military medicine and battlefield care, including related areas of focus, to discuss how the Revolutionary War—as a major health crisis—shaped healthcare labor in the early national United States. Free and open to the Penn community. Register to attend.

Participants in this 15-minute conversation hosted by Penn HR will talk about catastrophic thinking and practice a simple strategy for taking purposeful action. Penn staff can register to attend.

Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, the inaugural faculty director of the Arthur Ross Gallery, and David Galperin, Vice Chairman and Head of Contemporary Art for Sotheby's New York, will lead a virtual tour of Collecting the New Irascibles: Art in the 1980s. The new exhibition opens a window into the 1980s Lower East Side art scene, where low rents and studio-ready lofts cultivated a dynamic arts ecology. Free and open to the Penn community. Register to attend.

Design students and alumni will have an opportunity to network virtually via Handshake with recruiters from firms and organizations spanning the architecture, landscape architecture, city and regional planning, historic preservation, real estate, spatial analytics, and fine arts fields. Register to attend.

Part of the One Health@Penn Research Community Work in Progress Series, this seminar will feature Lisa Murphy, professor of toxicology at Penn Vet, and Cindy Otto, professor of working dog sciences & sports medicine, providing attendees with insight on animals and emergency preparedness. A Q&A will follow the presentations. Open to the public. Register to attend.

This Kelly Writers House conversation will feature Matt Katz, a journalist and the executive producer of the City Cast Philly podcast, and Yowei Shaw, an award-winning podcast host and journalist who formerly produced NPR’s Invisibilia, discussing the vital importance of truth and integrity in audio storytelling. Free and open to the public. Register to attend.

This book celebration event will feature Penn faculty Dorothy Roberts in conversation with Marcia Chatelain about Roberts’ memoir The Mixed Marriage Project, which illuminates the experience of growing up in an interracial family in 1960s Chicago as well as a daughter’s journey to understand her parents’ marriage—and her own identity. Free and open to the public. Register to attend.

This interactive training for Penn students, faculty, and staff, equips participants with the skills and resources to intervene with student stress, distress, and crisis. Register to attend.

Part of SP2’s series The Politics of Well-Being, this session will explore the geography of well-being: how neighborhood infrastructure, environmental justice, urban design, and housing access shape physical and mental health. Speakers will discuss how place-based policies can foster or undermine equitable outcomes—and how communities reclaim agency over space. Open to the public. Register to attend.

Kelly Writers House will feature a screening of short films by college students, hosted by Bent Button Productions, Penn’s only film production club. Prizes will be awarded in several categories, including best picture, best script, and best editing. Free and open to the public. Register to attend.

This Kelly Writers House conversation will feature Margaret Eby, the Philadelphia Inquirer’s food editor, and Hannah Filreis Albertine, a Philadelphia-based writer and editor and formerly the food editor of Philadelphia magazine, reflecting on their experiences in these roles and what it means to be the food editor of a news publication. Free and open to the public. Register to attend.

During the 2026 Energy Week at Penn, organized by the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, the Penn community is invited to participate and engage with energy-focused events across campus. View the list of events for more information.

The Penn community is invited to recycle old and unused electronics responsibly. Participants can drop off electronic waste at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy. Volunteers will ensure items are properly recycled, preventing harmful materials from ending up in landfills and supporting a more sustainable energy future. Visit the event page for a list of items to recycle.

This expert panel of insurance sector leaders will discuss strategies for risk transfer to support greater investments in clean technology and clean energy. Part of Energy Week at Penn, this event is free and open to the Penn community. Register to attend.

This hour-long tour of the Penn Museum, part of Energy Week at Penn programming, will explore the collection with questions of ancient climates and energy production and consumption in mind. The tour will focus on how the history of human experience has long involved applying creative solutions to dealing with weather events, adapting to diverse climates, and harnessing the power of nature to produce efficient sources of energy to help us live comfortable lives. Free and open to the Penn community. Register to attend.

Penn staff are invited to join this 15-minute conversation focused on ways to strengthen positive emotions. Attendees will practice savoring strategies to enhance well-being. Register to attend.

Heather Boushey, Professor of Practice at the Kleinman Energy Forum and former chief economist of Investing in America Cabinet, will discuss possibilities and future directions for building a clean, equitable economy amid a rapidly warming climate. Free and open to the Penn community. Register to attend.

The 2026 Energy Week at Penn poster session will feature the work of students and postdocs whose research is related to energy science, technology, policy, and similar focuses. All presenters will be assigned an hour-long block where they are expected to be at their poster but are otherwise encouraged to visit other posters and network with attendees. Attendees can learn about the breadth of energy research at Penn and get a free Energy Week T-shirt. Open to the Penn community. Register to attend.