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View from Campus

A smiling person with short hair wearing a light purple button-down shirt stands in a room. In the background, a large screen displays two people working on laptops.

WHEN TALK IS ACTION

On Feb. 20, Associate Professor Abby Reisman celebrated the launch of the DISCUSS website with her research team and many of the Philadelphia-area social studies teachers who participated in its creation over the past six years. The website gathers real-world scenarios those teachers faced when trying to facilitate classroom discussions to be used as learning tools for other educators who are trying to encourage discussion in their own practice.

Learn more: discussphilly.org

A smiling woman in doctoral regalia takes a selfie from a stage overlooking a massive indoor graduation ceremony. Seated graduates fill the floor, and the word "PENN" is visible on the distant stands.

FUTURE READY

On May 16, 670 students (pictured here in a selfie with Dean Katharine Strunk) strode across the stage at the Palestra and into their next chapters at Commencement. These newest members of Penn GSE’s alumni community were addressed by speaker Denise Forte, CEO of EdTrust, who told them, “Graduates, today you will walk out of this arena equipped not just with knowledge, but with purpose. You carry forward a tradition that believes a more just, humane, and worthy democracy stands at the end of an equitable education. The future of this country is in your hands.”

More: penng.se/commencement26

A group of seven people in formal business attire pose together in front of a blue backdrop printed with the Penn GSE logo.

A CELEBRATION OF EDUCATORS

The 2026 Education Alumni Award winners were honored at a ceremony on May 16 as part of Alumni Weekend for their outstanding contributions to scholarship, higher education, school leadership, professional development, education policy, technological innovation, and service to Penn GSE. This year’s honorees, pictured here with Dean Strunk, included (from left) Saad Sahil, GED’22; Elizabeth A. Radday, GRD’10; Claire Robertson-Kraft, C’04, GR’14; Rong Wang, GED’12; Jordan Tegtmeyer, GED’08, GRD’21; and Nikole T. Booker, GRD’24. Winners not pictured: Carlo Cinaglia, GED’16 and David E. Low, GR’15.

More: penng.se/coe26

A man in a blue blazer, a woman in a patterned jacket, and a woman with long curly hair in a black blazer smile and pose together inside an educational or event space.

A LEGACY OF EARLY CHILDHOOD LEARNING

When William T. Carter Professor Emerita of Child Development and Education Vivian L. Gadsden retired at the end of the fall semester, the community wondered how to possibly commemorate her field-defining impact in early childhood education and celebrate her 38 years of service to Penn GSE. One way was a daylong symposium in her honor, “Imagining and Securing the Futures of Children and Families.” Another was the scholarship announced in her name by Penn Trustee Harlan Stone, C’80 (left, with Gadsden and Dean Strunk), which will broaden access to graduate study in education.

More: penng.se/gadsden

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