Download a PDF of this issue
May | Jun 2025
Vol. 123, No. 5
Features
Welcome to Despair
Through his unorthodox courses, religious studies professor Justin McDaniel is training Penn students how to immerse themselves in literature, disconnect from their phones, build lifelong bonds with classmates … and prepare for the inevitable emotional pain life will bring.
By Dave Zeitlin
Rules of Engagement
Following a stint advising the US Department of Defense on warfare’s AI-inflected future, political science professor and Perry World House director Michael C. Horowitz is back at the helm of Penn’s “home for global policy engagement.”
By Alyson Krueger
Stewarding The Simpsons
In 1997, 25-year-old Matt Selman landed his dream job writing for The Simpsons. He’s still there today as head showrunner, striving to keep the 35-year-old animated series vital and surprising while also hanging on to its humor and heart. But how long will the show go on?
By Molly Petrilla
Departments
From the Editor | Existential despair, global engagement, comedy royalty.
From College Hall | The power of your Penn story.
Letters | On transplants, postcards, stereotypes, and more.
Views
Elsewhere | Brothers and allies.
Alumni Voices | “Three months, I told myself.”
Rabbit Hole | How every fatal plane crash echoes the first one, in 1908.
Gazetteer
Leadership | Jameson and Epstein appointments made permanent.
Advancement | Penn Medicine’s Kate Griffo named DAR VP.
Education Costs | Quaker Commitment extends aid eligibility.
Higher Education | Executive orders target universities including Penn.
Admissions | SAT/ACT testing requirement has been restored.
Milestone | Institute for Urban Research marks 20 years.
Economic Impact | Latest report puts Penn’s benefit to region at $37 billion.
Sports | The story of Penn’s squash success starts in Egypt.
Gift | Pavilion renamed the Clifton Center after $120 million donation.
Sports | Iowa’s Fran McCaffery W’82 named men’s basketball coach.
Arts
Calendar
Architecture | Fleeting witnesses to a vanished past. Building Ghosts.
Historical Fiction | Wartime tale of parallel lives. Last Twilight in Paris.
Biography | A new life of Henry Charles Lea. The Inquisition’s Inquisitor.
Briefly Noted
Alumni
Darius Arya C’93 roams Rome (and more) for his popular YouTube channel.
Marcia Budet GAr’10 GFA’10 designs jewelry instead of buildings.
Jen Liao C’12 started a business making the dumplings she wanted to eat.
Notes
Obituaries
Old Penn | Present at the Revolution.
