Pivoting to online classes to keep students safe during the COVID-19 pandemic introduced challenges—but also opportunities. Our innovative LPS community discovered new ways to stay connected.

On Monday, November 23, 2020, The College of Liberal and Professional Studies hosted a webinar with panelists from Penn’s Task Force on Support to Asian and Asian-American Students and Scholars. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, an alarming increase of anti-Asian behavior began at Penn, in Philadelphia, and beyond, and members of the Penn community recognized the need to offer support for students and staff by bringing together the University’s experts, resources, and support staff.

This spring, the Master of Behavioral and Decision Sciences (MBDS) program organized its second Design Challenge, aimed at connecting students and MBDS Industry Affiliates to integrate cutting edge knowledge in the fields of behavioral economics, decision sciences, network analysis, and public policy into real-life problems. Fifty-four students teamed up to tackle twelve challenges in health, wellness, sustainability, technology integration in marketing, and finance over six weeks.

Fels was privileged to host Senator Elizabeth Warren for their Public Policy in Practice speaker series on Friday, November 6. Moderated by Distinguished Fellow Elizabeth Vale, the conversation was guided by questions submitted by Fels students. Senator Warren shared her thoughts on healthcare, student loan cancellation, and the recent presidential election, “In this election, people proved that nothing was going to stop us from making our voices heard, and our votes count. So, here’s what we know: Voters decide.”

From nine to five, Joseph Hallman works at Penn’s College of Liberal and Professional Studies, interfacing with faculty and departments on course logistics. Outside the office, however, Hallman has a side gig dreaming up musical landscapes that recently landed him a Grammy nod.

Penn’s Organizational Dynamics graduate program celebrated 40 years with a gala held on Friday, June 2nd. More than 120 faculty, alumni and current students gathered at the Mütter Museum to reunite with classmates and make new connections.

Aminata Sy, a native of Senegal, is a current international relations major and English minor in the Bachelor of Arts program at the College of Liberal and Professional Studies. She also speaks five languages (Pulaar, Wolof, French, English, and Spanish) works as a freelance journalist, raises three children, and recently got to work on launching an after-school program for young people of African descent called the African Community Learning Program.

“I took Anne Farnsworth-Alvear’s class in oral histories when I was a Bachelor of Arts (BA) student at the College of Liberal and Professional Studies (LPS), and that’s where the idea for my book started,” remembers Dr. Sharon McConnell-Sidorick (BA ’97 Summa Cum Laude).

A course in the Organizational Dynamics program, Global Collaboration for Sustainability: The Food-Water-Energy Nexus in Italy, recently partnered with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Dynamics students and their instructor Steven Finn joined thought leaders and practitioners from around the world to tackle food waste issues related to environmental sustainability and hunger. Finn’s talk at the conference focused on food waste in the US and the culture of abundance that causes it.

Howard Neukrug was recently appointed as Professor of Practice in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science for his contributions to Philadelphia’s green infrastructure initiatives. During his time as the CEO of the Philadelphia Water Department, Howard established the $2.5 billion Green City, Clean Waters program, which became a blueprint for water resource management and sustainability for cities across the nation.