A jubilant Class of 2022 filed into Irvine Auditorium on Saturday, May 14, to mark the Weitzman School’s first in-person commencement ceremony since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The 296 graduates in 20 degree programs were poised to enter the professions at a moment when the world looks dramatically different than it did when they began their studies.
Weitzman School in the Media
“Conversations in Urban Design”
Weitzman Dean and Paley Professor Fritz Steiner talks to NYIT’s Marcella Del Signore and Karan Ambardekar about his role in the early climate movement, his immersion into ecology at Penn, and a new book on megaregions.
“I Am Effecting Lasting Change Today”
Lisa Servon, the Kevin and Erica Penn Presidential Professor and chair of the Department of City and Regional Planning, shares how she, as a white person in a leadership position, is making short- and long-term changes to increase diversity and inclusion in the design disciplines.
“The Sponge Revolution: How the Chinese Communist Party is building an “ecological civilization.”
Weitzman Dean and Paley Professor Fritz Steiner describes the singular contribution of landscape architect Kongjian Yu in relation to a new government initiative.
“Our public school infrastructure is set up to continue to fail”
Assistant Professor of City and Regional Planning Akira Drake Rodriguez suggests how the School District of Philadelphia could assume a proactive stance in dealing with chronic facilities issues.
“How Philadelphia Plans to Beat the Looming Eviction Cliff”
Vincent Reina, associate professor of city and regional planning, offers perspective based on research done by the Housing Initiative at Penn.
“The American Jobs Plan Should Help Us Avoid Climate Catastrophe, Not Build a Carbon Bomb”
Billy Fleming, of The Ian L. McHarg Center for Urbanism and Ecology, looks at President Biden’s infrastructure proposal and its implications for designers.