Ian Bernardin

Eghosa Ben-Eka

Collegium Institute Student Association at Penn is a student group at the University of Pennsylvania, working as a part of the Collegium Institute. Collegium Institute is a vibrant intellectual community of students and faculty interested in the interdisciplinary, humanistic, and communal pursuit of knowledge. We offer seminars, fellowships, special events, and other programs designed to enrich academic culture by drawing from the Catholic intellectual tradition and the liberal arts tradition of humane studies more broadly. Our members represent a variety of academic disciplines. Some are religious—many are not. All are interested in exploring “catholic,” or universal, questions and engaging in rich, cross-disciplinary conversations. While the Collegium community includes Undergraduate Fellows, Graduate Fellows, and Faculty Fellows, <ins>you don’t need to be an official Fellow to participate in our programs.</ins>&nbsp;
One of Collegium’s most popular programs is <a href="https://www.collegiuminstitute.org/food-for-thought"><ins>Food for Thought</ins></a> , an informal, weekly seminar in which students convene to discuss interesting texts and questions without the stress of grades and papers. Past themes have included: How Do We Know What We Know?; Memory, History, Identity; Silence and Community; and Living With Death.&nbsp;
We also offer unique Fellowship opportunities for students who want to explore the fundamental questions that arise in the practice of medicine (<a href="https://www.collegiuminstitute.org/medical-humanities"><ins>Medical Humanities</ins></a> ), law (<a href="https://www.collegiuminstitute.org/legal-humanities"><ins>Legal Humanities</ins></a> ), and finance (<a href="https://www.collegiuminstitute.org/philosophy-of-finance"><ins>Philosophy of Finance</ins></a> ). Led by faculty and experienced practitioners (doctors, lawyers, and financial professionals, respectively), each of these Fellowships will challenge students to think beyond the pre-professional, technical training associated with these fields and ask questions like: What role do art and storytelling play in medicine? What might happen if legal structures and institutions were envisioned as instruments not only for justice but also for mercy and forgiveness, reconciliation and community? What philosophical assumptions about the human person underlie the free market as we know it?
Find our more by visiting our website: <a href="https://www.collegiuminstitute.org"><ins>https://www.collegiuminstitute.org</ins></a>&nbsp;
Check out this video to hear directly from our students fellows:

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Collegium Institute Student Association at Penn Alumni