Office of New Student Orientation & Academic Initiatives

Your NSO Daily Digest

Sunday, August 24, 2025

Hello Class of 2029!

Welcome to the fifth day of New Student Orientation (NSO)! Below you'll find more information about today's events. Events bolded and marked [MANDATORY] are events that you must attend.

If you have any questions or would like to know more information about any of the NSO programs, look for our well-trained volunteers, the Peers Helping Integrate New Students (PHINS), all around campus in light blue and dark blue polo shirts.

Today's Calendar

[MANDATORY] Penn Reading Project

Irvine Auditorium | 10am-3:30pm

PHINS Groups 1-62: 2pm-3:30pm
PHINS Groups 63-120: 10am-11:30am

The Penn Reading Project (PRP) was conceived in 1990 as a shared experience that introduces students to Penn’s vigorous intellectual life. This year, rather than a single book, our focus is Revolution at Penn?, an immersive exhibit in Penn’s Van Pelt Library that examines the formation of the University; the debates that divided the school during the American Revolution; and the compromises that reorganized it as the University of Pennsylvania in 1791.

All first-year students were introduced to PRP through a preview module in Thrive at Penn (TAP). On campus, they are expected to experience the exhibit in person, including through our special celebration, An Evening at Penn Libraries on Thursday, August 21. There, visitors can view political pamphlets, broadsides, maps, prints, manuscripts, and a full-scale replica of a colonial coffee house!

Concluding the PRP will be the mandatory session in Irvine Auditorium, where Penn faculty and students will discuss the exhibit and the themes it centers: the sometimes-contentious formation of American history, and the ongoing questions about the place of universities in America, then and now.

Women's Soccer: Penn VS. Mount Saint Mary's

Rhodes Field | 5pm

Show your Red & Blue pride! Come support the Quakers as they take on the Mountaineers in Women’s Soccer.

Download a PDF Version of the NSO Calendar

Events Calendar Webpage

View Your Mandatory NSO Schedule Here

Penn Disability Services

If you would like to request any specific accommodations including fully accessible transportation to any NSO event, please contact Penn’s Disability Services.

Phone: 215-573-9235
TTY: 215-746-6320
Email: vpul-sdsmail@pobox.upenn.edu

Event Spotlight:

Penn Reading Project

Irvine Auditorium I 10am-3:30pm

10am-11:30am (PHINS Groups 63-120)
2pm-3:30pm (PHINS Groups 1-62)

The Penn Reading Project panel presentation is a mandatory session in Irvine Auditorium, where Penn faculty and students will discuss the Revolution at Penn? exhibit and the themes and history it highlights. The audience will have the chance to hear student perspectives on how to make the most of their time at Penn and to learn more about the American Revolution, its connections to Philadelphia, and the experiences of young people—including but not limited to Penn students—during the fractious and contentious beginnings of the United States republic.

Visit the event info page to read more information about the lecturer and featured panelists!

Read Lecturer and Panelists' Bio

Visit the Revolution at Penn? Exhibit

Location: Goldstein Family Gallery, Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center, sixth floor

Revolution at Penn? examines conflicts around the formation, structure, and mission of the university in the era of the American Revolution: from debates about its mission in the 1750s and 1760s, to a devastating schism that tore the school apart in 1779, to eventual compromise and reorganization as the University of Pennsylvania in 1791. Political pamphlets, broadsides, maps, prints, manuscripts, and a full-scale replica of a colonial coffee house evoke the contentious era and provoke new questions about the place of universities in America, then and now.

Learn More About the Exhibit