PennDesign’s Commitment to Diversity

PennDesign is committed to building and supporting a strong and inclusive PennDesign community, together. A number of events at PennDesign this fall support this mission.

PennDesign Social Justice Group will be hosting a series of conversations on a range of topics chosen to inspire reflection and dialogue. The first one, ‘Civil Conversations: Sidling Up to Difference’ will be held on Tuesday, September 18 at noon. Hosted by Lisa Servon, Professor and Chair of City Planning, this discussion will be about "difference," using an interview between Krista Tippett and Kwame Anthony Appiah as the springboard for the conversation. You can find the interview here. These events are open to all PennDesign students, staff, and faculty. You can rsvp by sending an email to roslynne@design.upenn.edu.  

Dean Steiner is hosting a Students of Color Breakfast with the Dean on Friday, September 21 at 9:30 am.  This is an opportunity for PennDesign students of color, both new and returning, to meet each other and talk to the Dean, as well as with representatives of the PennDesign Diversity Committee, to share thoughts about ways to help make the experience at PennDesign as good as it can be for everyone. If you would like to attend, please RSVP to Karyn Tufarolo, Diversity Coordinator, at tufarolo@design.upenn.edu.

Lecture: Learning from LGBTQ Places: Thoughts on Heritage and Preservation On Tuesday, September 25, at 6:30pm, Donna Graves will discuss her recent work on LGBTQ historic sites and current efforts to recognize and protect historic places and intangible heritage in the face of the economic tsunami reshaping San Francisco. This event is co-sponsored by the Alice Paul Center for Research on Gender, Sexuality and Women.

Lecture: Mabel O. Wilson: Memory/Race/Nation - The Politics of Modern Memorials The recent debates and now deadly protests sparked by the removals of Confederate war monuments around the United States raises import questions about the racialized origins of American democracy and as a consequence whether public representations can ever truly represent foundational ideals liberty, equality and justice for all. On Wednesday, September 26, 6:30pm, Mabel O. Wilson’s talk will explore the blueprint for the biopolitics of the U.S. social order, one where white citizens, idealized in the bronze figures of soldiers, politicians and muses, have thrived at the expense of the lives and labor of black and brown bodies. Mabel O. Wilson is a Professor of Architecture, a co-director of Global Africa Lab, and the Associate Director at the Institute for Research in African American Studies at Columbia University. She has authored ‘Begin with the Past: Building the National Museum of African American History and Culture’ (2016) and ‘Negro Building: African Americans in the World of Fairs and Museums’ (2012). She is a member of the design team for the Memorial to Enslaved African American Laborers at the University of Virginia.

Visit Diversity at Design for more information.