Penn Grad Talks (formerly known as Grad Ben Talks) features TED Talk-style presentations by Penn Arts and Sciences graduate students, including five this year from LPS professional master’s programs. Penn Grad Talks went virtual in 2021 and announced Ashley Session, a Fels Master of Public Administration student, as the professional master’s program category winner.
The LPS student presentations included:
From Queen Latifah to Queen Bee: The Evolution of the Feminist Emcee
Jacquelyn Jordan, a Master of Liberal Arts student, describes the evolution of feminist lyrics and music culture through some of hip-hop’s most profound female artists.
The Drum Major Instinct and Beyond: Motivations for National Service
Dana Kayser, from the Fels Master of Public Administration, makes the case for how volunteering in your own community has meaningful and positive outcomes, even when the service is compulsory.
Future Farming: The Rise of Big Data in Advancing Sustainable Agriculture and the Role of Public Policy
Justin Maroccia, from the Master of Environmental Studies program, covers how efficiencies in agriculture can impact climate change and asks big questions about data privacy in the future of farming.
My Soul Is Anchored: How African American Women Have Carried Elections and the Political Movement Forward, and How We Can Take Our Power Back
Ashley Session, from the Fels Master of Public Administration, is the Professional Master’s Penn Grad Talks winner with her presentation about Black women’s influence on elections from as early as the 1880s to the 2021 Congressional runoffs in Georgia.
Why We Sit So Much and What We Can Do About it
Allison Wishner, a Master of Behavioral and Decision Sciences student, dives into the reasons why we all sit so much, how our health is being adversely effected by sitting, and strategies to simply stand more, both individually and as a group.
Watch all the LPS student presentations with opening remarks from Vice-Dean Nora Lewis, on Vimeo.
