We’re the Graduate Division

Home to more than 30 graduate groups spanning the humanities and social and natural sciences, the Graduate Division at Penn Arts & Sciences is here to support your research.

Create New Knowledge

Home to expert faculty, archives, and state-of-the art equipment, Penn Arts & Sciences will help you grow into a leader in your field.

At the Frontiers

Our graduate groups offer a rigorous education, guiding students as they pursue advanced research and begin to make their own original contributions at the frontiers of knowledge.

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News & Announcements

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SAS Graduate Division Graduation Celebration

The University has recently announced plans for an undergraduate Commencement ceremony. The SAS Graduate Division will again host a virtual celebration to honor our graduates.

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Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowships

This fellowship program provides opportunities for doctoral candidates to engage in full-time dissertation research abroad in modern foreign languages and area studies. Internal application deadline: March 19, 2021.

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2021 Penn Grad Talks

For the past four years, the Penn community has gathered in late February for an afternoon of TED Talk-style presentations by Penn Arts & Sciences graduate students representing the Humanities, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, and Professional Master’s programs.

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Extended funding for SAS Doctoral Students

We hope you are navigating the last weeks of this semester and looking forward to a much-needed break.

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Big Ideas for Strange Times

A series featuring short lectures on life’s bigger questions from Penn Arts & Sciences experts, including Ph.D. Candidates Aylin Malcolm (English), Sara Ray (History and Sociology of Science), and Angelina Eimannsberger (Comparative Literature and Literary Theory).

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Extended funding for SAS Doctoral Students

As you know, SAS has made the difficult decision to pause school-funded PhD admissions for the 2021-22 academic year. Some graduate groups regularly support students with external grants and so may be able to admit graduate students, albeit in smaller numbers.

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Graduate Groups

Learn about our 33 graduate groups in the humanities and social and natural sciences.

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Grad Students in the News

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Developing a new platform for DNA sequencing

Yung-Chien Killian Chou, Ph.D. Candidate in Physics and member of Drndic Lab, discussed how solid state materials can be developed for large-scale automated sequencing by incorporating state-of-the-art fabrication and analytics.

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In These Times: Black lives and the call for justice

Breanna Moore, Ph.D. Candidate in History, contributed to Season 2 of Penn Arts & Sciences' 'In These Times' podcast.

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‘Alone Again in Fukushima’

Caitlin Adkins, Ph.D. Candidate in East Asian Languages and Civilizations, participated in a virtual panel discussion about the film “Alone Again in Fukushima.”

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Now 60 years old, the Peace Corps can be more than a Cold War artifact

Lacy Feigh, a Ph.D. candidate in History, wrote an op-ed calling for a renewed commitment to the Peace Corps as the pandemic comes to a close.

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Writing History

To understand how ideas about racial difference took root in American history, Makiki Reuvers, a Ph.D. candidate in history, examines 17th-century encounters between British colonists and Native Americans.

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The Sound and the Technology

Erik Broess, a doctoral candidate in musicology, studies how electric guitar gear influences the kinds of music guitarists create—and the kinds of music histories that get shared.

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Tweets by PennGradCenter

Visit Penn Grad Center on Twitter

Penn Grad Talks

Each year, Penn Arts and Sciences presents Penn Grad Talks (formerly Grad Ben Talks): an afternoon of TED Talk-style presentations by graduate students representing the Humanities, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, and Professional Master’s programs. Judges select winners in each of the four categories. There is also an Audience Choice Winner selected by online votes.

Watch the 2021 presentations