Policy, Politics and Social Change participants will explore topics of policy and political interest and how societal concerns get translated into policy and practice through formal and informal discussions, speakers representing diverse multi-disciplinary perspectives from within Penn and the broader community and ‘hands-on’ volunteer experiences. The challenges of policy development and implementation, particularly within the context of cyclical U.S. political elections, will be a major focus.

The Wendy and Leonard Goldberg Media & Communications Program, nestled in the westernmost end of Fisher Hassenfeld College House in the Quad, is open to students in any major or academic field and provides ample space to live and work. The program is centered in Foerderer, McKean, Baldwin, Class of 1887, and Craig – known collectively as Goldberg House, with the nearby Goldberg Media Lounge serving as the principal public space.

The Film Culture Program (FCP) is devoted to movie lovers interested in expanding their knowledge of the art form beyond just summer blockbusters and Oscar winners (though we like those too).

The Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program invites students from all academic backgrounds to participate. The group explores the opportunities and challenges for scientific, technological, and social innovation, in areas from machine learning to musicology and from medicine to politics. Through dinners, workshops, and field trips, students will meet and talk with researchers and entrepreneurs from Penn, the region, and the world.

Biosphere provides an exciting and fun atmosphere to all residents with an interest in the environment and in how people interact with the world around them. Biosphere evolves each year with its residents, who themselves control the specific direction the program will take. Volunteerism tends to characterize the spirit of student participation, with members often occupied with such activities as UC Green tree-plantings, involvement in the MLK Day of Service, and the House’s Courtyard Garden upkeep.

“And what is still far stranger than that is that not only does one branch of knowledge come to be in us while another passes away and that we are never the same even in respect of our knowledge, but that each single piece of knowledge has the same fate. For what we call studying exists because knowledge is leaving us, because forgetting is the departure of knowledge, while studying puts back a fresh memory in place of what went away, thereby preserving a piece of knowledge, so that it seems to be the same.”

Extending beyond Kings Court English House, the Science and Technology Wing (STWing) is a network of over two hundred undergraduates, graduate students, professors, and alumni from the University of Pennsylvania whose members share a strong interest in the science and technologies that permeate everyday life. While its reach is campus-wide, however, STWing’s simultaneous status as a residential program helps maintain a flourishing intellectual and social community foundation both for the College House and the larger society.

“Of such wisdom, the poetic passion, the desire of beauty, the love of art for its own sake, has most. For art comes to you proposing frankly to give nothing but the highest quality to your moments as they pass, and simply for those moments’ sake.”

– Walter Pater