Penn Community

The Penn Museum has many opportunities for members of the Penn community to learn and to contribute to our own educational mission. Admission for Penn faculty, staff and students is, of course, free. We welcome all to come to the Museum to enjoy the historic building and grounds which now have wireless connectivity in most galleries and gardens.

Volunteer Opportunities
Penn Museum has an active volunteer program available to students as well as the general public. Whether giving tours as docents or assisting in the archives or the records room, volunteers have an opportunity to grow and share knowledge with us.

Work Study Program
Penn students can apply for a work study position in specific departments. Visit Penn's Student Employment Office website for more information.

The Halpern-Rogath Curatorial Seminar
Leslee Halpern-Rogath and David Rogath have given the Art History department's program of curatorial seminars an enormous boost. Their generosity will support many of these popular and unusual courses for years to come. In the seminars, undergraduate and graduate students work with faculty to study a subject and mount an exhibition in one of the University's galleries. The Halpern-Rogath Curatorial Seminars also provide selected students with fellowship funding to travel both nationally and internationally to exhibits, museums and art centers. The most recent exhibition to come out of the seminar was Penn in the World, jointly curated by the Halpern-Rogath Curatorial Seminar professors Dr. Ann Blair Brownlee, Senior Research Scientist in the Museum’s Mediterranean Section, and Dr. David B. Brownlee, Chairman and Professor, History of Art, at the University of Pennsylvania. Penn students who took the fall 2006 art history course, “University of Pennsylvania Museum: Architecture and Institution” researched, structured, and wrote much of the exhibition text.

Penn's Arts & the City Year
Penn Museum is part of Penn's Arts & the City Year, featuring an exciting range of events in Fall 2009 and Spring 2010, from dynamic student performances and distinguished guest artists, to vital discussions about national arts policy, the role of the arts in public health, and the importance of civic engagement with arts and culture.
Listen to the Lecture on iTunes

Penn Museum broadens the discussion about cultural heritage and the battle over who, if anyone, owns cultural property.  The exhibition Iraq’s Ancient Past: Rediscovering Ur’s Royal Cemetery, opening October 25, explores the ongoing struggle to preserve cultural heritage in Iraq.

On November 2, the Museum hosted an evening lecture Museums, Antiquities, and Cultural Property by James Cuno, President and Director of The Art Institute of Chicago and author of Who Owns Antiquity? Museums and the Battle over Our Ancient Heritage.

Hear Museums, Antiquities, and Cultural Property on iTunes U.

Also, the exhibition Fulfilling a Prophecy: The Past and Present of the Lenape in Pennsylvania will be extended through 11 July 2010 in celebration of Penn's Arts and the City Year.

Read the article in the Gazette and Penn's Arts & the City Year

“We are delighted to be part of the Arts & the City initiative this year, since the museum is a natural forum for conversations and events focused on the arts,” says Loa Traxler Gr’04, Associate Deputy Director of the Penn Museum.

International Students Reception
The International Student Welcome Reception is a special event hosted by International Classroom and sponsored by more than 50 colleges, universities, and programs to welcome new international students and scholars to the Delaware Valley. Read more