Dr. Michael Weisberg, Bess W. Heyman President’s Distinguished Professor and Chair of Philosophy at Penn, has been selected to address the College of Liberal and Professional Studies Class of 2024 at the graduation ceremony on Saturday, May 18. Dr. Weisberg is also the interim director of Perry World House, the editor-in-chief of Biology and Philosophy, and director of the Galápagos Education and Research Alliance. With Penn LPS, Dr. Weisberg has taught philosophy of science courses for the Master of Liberal Arts degree, and helped develop a course in scientific reasoning for Penn LPS Online’s Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences degree. “LPS is one of the places where you see the most educational innovations in the University,” he notes. “I’ve been working with LPS since the beginning of my time at Penn, and I feel very proud of the people I get to work with.”
Dr. Weisberg is the author of Simulation and Similarity: Using Models to Understand the World and co-author of the landmark photographic study Galápagos: Life in Motion. He has served as an advisor to the Republic of Maldives, Republic of Palau, and Republic of Fiji; as a senior negotiator at United Nations Climate Conferences, he recently returned from the 2023 Conference of the Parties (COP28) in Dubai. Dr. Weisberg received his PhD and MA in philosophy from Stanford University and a BS in chemistry and BA in philosophy with highest distinction from the University of California at San Diego. “My career is a good example of the fact that you don’t really know how all the things that you’re learning will come together to help you solve the next problems—so I advise students to just dive into the things that you’re passionate about learning,” he says. “The world is going to keep changing, and the important thing is that you develop some depth of knowledge and skills and interests that you can bring to the table.”
The 2024 College of Liberal and Professional Studies Graduation Ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 18, in Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center (300 South Broad Street). For more information, see our web page for graduating students.
