The Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy aims not just to promote, but to understand, democracy. Global in its outlook, multifaceted in its purposes, the Mitchell Center seeks to contribute to the ongoing quest for democratic values, ideas, and institutions throughout the world. In addition to hosting speakers from the fields of academia, journalism, politics, and public policy, the Mitchell Center supports undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral research. It continues the legacy of the Penn Program for Democracy, Citizenship, and Constitutionalism, which fostered interdisciplinary scholarship from 2007 to 2017.
The Center's key goals are to nurture a new generation of scholars across disciplines and to provide a forum for dialogue among the academic, business, and foreign policy communities. Founded in 1992, the Center for the Advanced Study of India at the University of Pennsylvania is the only research institution in the United States dedicated to the study of contemporary India. A national resource, it fills an urgent need for objective knowledge of India's politics and society, rapidly changing economy, and transformation as both an ancient civilization and major contemporary power. Through its collaborative research initiatives, seminars, conferences, publications, and outreach, the Center provides in-depth, policy-relevant analysis of the most pressing issues facing India and the Indo-US relationship today.
The Center for the Study of Ethnicity, Race, and Immigration (CSERI) gathers together faculty, visiting researchers, and students from across disciplines to address common interests in the study of race, ethnicity, and immigration. The Center’s goal is to support cutting edge research and encourage the formation of collaborative research networks at Penn and beyond. Among its activities, CSERI hosts post-doctoral fellows and visiting scholars, offers funding for graduate student research, and supports workshops led by the Center’s affiliates.
The Center for the Study of Contemporary China (CSCC) was established in 2012 at the University of Pennsylvania to advance Penn’s leadership in programs, research, and scholarship about the political, legal, economic, and social factors shaping China and its role in the world today. The Center will sustain and extend the University’s work on and partnerships in China, providing an institutional home for campus-wide collaboration among departments, programs, institutes, faculty and students at Penn engaged in work pertaining to contemporary China. Activities will include conferences, roundtables, and a speaker series. The Center will also provide support for faculty and graduate student research and serve as host for visiting international scholars and prominent public leaders.
The Browne Center was established at the University of Pennsylvania in 1997 in order to promote interdisciplinary research and teaching across the University community on issues of international relations, international security, and international political economy. Founded with support of Penn alumnus Christopher H. Browne, C' 69, the Center sponsors a regular schedule of visiting speakers, awards research grants to Penn faculty and graduate students, organizes occasional conferences, and hosts a post-doctoral fellow, as well as distinguished visiting scholars.
Penn's Fels Institute of Government has been educating students committed to making a difference in the world for almost 75 years. Its approach is distinctive--its small size and unique setting make the Fels program incredibly personal, and its practice-focused curriculum, taught by practitioners and some of Penn's most distinguished faculty, keeps us closely focused on real world results. Fels also practices what it teaches through its Research and Consulting Group, which brings students together with seasoned researchers and consultants to partner with government agencies, nonprofit organizations, civic groups and other Penn departments to bring the academic resources of the University to bear on the challenges and opportunities facing the public sector.
In the summer of 1965 the University of Pennsylvania set up a center for the study of the modern Near East. Today, the Center's mission remains raising awareness of the unique circumstances of the region through research and instructional programs. The MEC has adopted an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the Middle East, and it offers a wide range of educational opportunities to support this endeavor.
PDRI-DevLab affiliates work on projects focused on various aspects of international development including education, health, governance, environment, gender, urbanization and migration, labor markets, poverty, and economic growth. Through regular seminars, conferences, collaborative research projects, and dissemination activities, PDRI-DevLab makes it possible for faculty and graduate students at Penn to expand their efforts to conduct research that advances science and contributes to the improvement of well-being in developing countries.
Penn in Washington supports and encourages students who are interested in pursuing public policy internships and careers in the nation’s capital. PIW maintains an extensive database of opportunities in Washington and has enlisted more than 500 alumni in the Washington area who meet with students throughout the year. Participants in the four credit semester program are taught by active policy professionals, meet in small groups with dozens of policy leaders, and are challenged by some of the best internships available. During the summer PIW arranges several events a week for all Penn students spending the summer in Washington. More information is available on the PIW site and via their weekly newsletter.
The Penn Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies (PORES) is a new undergraduate research program committed to conducting high-quality social research in the public interest on issues of national and international importance. PORES aims to develop a data-driven approach to understanding political outcomes in the United States through public opinion survey research and poll analysis. The program provides Penn undergraduate students valuable training in public opinion theory and research through specialized courses, mentoring and hands-on instruction with leading industry organizations. Founded by John Lapinski, associate professor of politics, PORES sponsors visiting speakers, hosts leading scholars and grants fellowships to Penn undergraduate students.
PTESC was founded in 2005 to promote the study of Europe in the Delaware Valley. PTESC aims to build an active scholarly community in the region with regular opportunities for the exchange of ideas and research. PTESC welcomes and encourages the participation of scholars from all post-secondary institutions in the Delaware Valley.
The intent of the workshops is to bring energetic scholars engaged in substantively interesting and methodologically varied projects in the field of comparative politics, American politics, political theory and international politics to a Penn audience. While the workshop has occasionally brought speakers to present previously published work, for the most part we target research in progress. Thus, the workshop serves the function of providing the Political Science community at Penn with a glimpse of scholarly endeavors at different stages of the research process, while at the same time offering our visitors feedback in the form of often vigorous exchanges on the presented work.
Founded in 1999 through the generosity and vision of Penn Alumnus Robert A. Fox (C'52), the mission of the Robert A. Fox Leadership Program is to enrich the 21st century Penn undergraduate educational experience in ways that excite and equip students for present and future leadership roles in whatever realms of human excellence and endeavor may call them.
The Penn Social Science and Policy Forum is the university hub for scholarly research on key social, economic, legal, and policy problems confronting the United States and the world, fostering cutting edge scholarship across the social sciences. It serves as a conduit to disseminate knowledge to diverse audiences through workshops, public lectures, annual conferences, working papers, and scholarly articles, and books (through a partnership with the University of Pennsylvania Press). The Forum embodies Penn’s commitment to integrating knowledge across the university and Penn’s long history of supporting engaged scholarship in the public interest.