CoursesFellows Proseminar I
COMM 0025

Fellows Proseminar I

The SNF Paideia Fellows Proseminar I introduces sophomore Fellows to academic research and practice related to dialogue across difference. The course also explores the relationship between robust, civil dialogue and citizenship, wellness, and service. We engage diverse perspectives on the purpose of higher education, the role of dialogue in learning and communities, the nature of citizenship, the value of civility, and the relationship between individual and community wellness.

Day, Time TBA

To help cultivate a sense of belonging and connection to Penn, the course invites several guest lecturers from entities at Penn to share how they foster citizenship, service, wellness or dialogue into our community. Students will identify the ways in which their academic, professional and personal interests in these themes could align and then develop a strategy to cultivate and apply these interests during their time at Penn and to the benefit of the Penn community. The goal of the course is to equip students with the knowledge, skills, experiences, and ethical frameworks for healthy, sustainable and robust civic leadership at Penn and in their local, national, and global communities. This course is open only to SNF Paideia Fellows, who are required to take it during the fall of their sophomore year.

Other Courses of Interest

COMM 2898

The Art and Ethics of Communication in Times of Crisis

Instructor(s)

  • Amy Gutmann
  • Sarah Banet-Weiser

Semester

Fall 2026

Along with many advances in our country and world, we also face crises with inescapable ethical dimensions where communication plays a key role. Communication can contribute to aggravating and to resolving most crises, creating an urgent need for us to understand the art and the ethics of communication. How can we responsibly use our powers of communication, personhood, and citizenship to deal constructively with crises?

Faculty: Dr. Amy Gutmann and Dean Banet-Weiser

Learn More

Philosophy and Children (NEW)

Instructor(s)

  • Karen Detlefsen

Semester

Fall 2026

We sometimes see philosophy as an inaccessible subject and the philosopher a solitary academic musing about abstract concepts from her office chair. However, philosophical thinking lies at the heart of many aspects of human life. Anyone who has pondered over questions regarding goodness, value, friendship, fairness, how to live well, or how to determine the right course of action has thought philosophically. These issues are of great interest and importance not just to adults, but also to children and teenagers. Introducing younger students to philosophical thought consists, in part, of showing them the ways in which they are already thinking philosophically.  

Learn More