What kind of news and research stories does the University of Pennsylvania website cover?

Updated

upenn.edu's news section covers a broad mix of research findings, faculty interviews, campus news, and philanthropy across six recurring topic areas: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences, Business & Law, Natural Sciences, Technology, and Health & Medicine. If you want to know whether Penn's news is worth following for a specific field, the answer is that it publishes short, accessible stories on all of these areas, with research and expert commentary as the dominant formats rather than official announcements alone.

The six topic categories

Penn organizes its news under a consistent set of labels that appear on story cards and section headers:

Category Example stories from the site
Health & Medicine "The human body in space"; a $25M gift establishing the Smilow Center for Precision Therapeutics at Penn Medicine
Natural Sciences "What 'pristine relics' at the edge of the solar system reveal about how planets formed"; "Mapping Lenape plant knowledge"; "Diving for research"
Technology "How a Penn-based consortium has shaped modern AI"
Social Sciences "Nerdiness, race, and perceptions of precision"; "Studying the building blocks of early math learning"; "Joseph Turow on data protection in the age of AI"
Arts & Humanities "A creative approach to learning biology"; "Mind the gap(s): Crossing languages, cultures, and time"; "Using AI to integrate design and finance"
Business & Law "Golkin Family Foundation gift launches next era of law and technology at Penn Carey Law"; "The long view of long-term care"; "How trust shapes retirement security"

Campus & Community and Global also appear as tags, covering university life and international topics.

What formats the stories take

The news is not limited to press releases. Recurring formats include:

  • Research summaries — short pieces explaining a study or discovery, such as the solar system "pristine relics" story or collagen growth research.
  • Faculty interviews and profiles — for example, sleep and chronobiology expert Mathias Basner on what keeps astronauts up at night, or Julie Petersen on helping children thrive.
  • Philanthropy and institutional news — gift announcements like the Smilow Center for Precision Therapeutics and the Golkin Family Foundation gift to Penn Carey Law.
  • Thematic roundups — such as a World Space Week story collection.
  • Cross-disciplinary angles — stories that connect fields, like using AI to integrate design and finance, or a creative approach to learning biology.

Where to browse

Stories are surfaced through Penn Today, which the site points to with a "MORE NEWS VIA PENN TODAY" link, and there is a newsletter sign-up ("Sign up for the Penn Today Newsletter"). Topic sections (News, Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences, Business & Law, Natural Sciences, Technology, Health & Medicine) each list several current stories, so you can follow a single field rather than reading everything.

Who this is useful for

  • Prospective students and families — to see the range of research and campus life beyond admissions materials.
  • Researchers and journalists — to track Penn work in a specific field, though the stories are written for a general audience rather than as technical papers.
  • Donors and alumni — to follow gift announcements and institutional developments.

One practical caveat: the news page is a rotating feed, so specific stories move off the front sections over time. If you need a particular item, use Penn Today's archive rather than the homepage.