Student Opportunities
Perry World House welcomes Penn undergraduate and graduate students from all fields, including nursing, engineering, and political science, to connect with global issues. Explore our student programs, events, and more on this page.
World House Student Fellows Program
The World House Student Fellows program is Perry World House’s flagship undergraduate student program. Each year, 25-30 Fellows are competitively selected from Penn’s four schools. The students’ range of talents and interests lends a natural diversity to the group, yet they have two important things in common: their keen interest in global affairs, and their commitment to collectively addressing a pressing policy challenge for a full academic year.
The program is run by Melissa M. Lee, Klein Family Presidential Associate Professor in the department of Political Science.
A focal point of the program is a year-long policy project. As part of the program, the student fellows break into smaller teams to collaborate on a policy-relevant research project on a particular global issue.
Weekly seminars give the student fellows the chance to explore and analyze a range of other global issues throughout the year. An important element of the fellowship is field learning—in Washington, D.C. and New York—where a robust agenda of meetings is arranges with key policymakers and other leaders in the global policy arena.
Graduate Associates Program
Perry World House’s Graduate Associates Program is for all graduate students, from any school or department, who have demonstrated a serious interest in exploring world affairs in depth during their time at Penn.
This competitive program is intended for students who want to complement their engagement in global affairs within a vibrant community of scholars, students, and visitors, while also developing professional skills relevant to shaping policy.
The program is run by Regina Abrams, Chang Sun Term Professor and Faculty Director of the Global Program at the Lauder Institute of Management & International Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.
House Committee
The Perry World House Committee is a student advisory group comprising undergraduate and graduate leaders from internationally-oriented organizations. These representatives help convey information about PWH programming to other members of their organizations and their wider networks and provide feedback to Perry World House on the interests and priorities of the student body related to global affairs and internationally-relevant programming. The committee meets regularly to discuss ideas, priorities, and upcoming programming at Perry World House, as well as to update PWH and one another on their respective organizations’ recent and upcoming initiatives.
Critical Conversations
Critical Conversations is an event that provides space for undergraduate students to engage in thought-provoking, open conversation and respectfully discuss complex topics. Our faculty and expert-led panel opens the evening with all attendees by applying their expertise to the question at hand. Following the panel discussion, students split up into smaller groups to sit down for dinner led by one of the panelists.