International Centers Across the Penn Campus

Penn Law's uniquely interdisciplinary faculty is complemented by the Law School's extensive links with the strong international and foreign area studies resources at Penn's Wharton School, its School of Arts and Sciences, and specialized centers throughout the University.

African Studies Center

This Center brings together researchers and students, along with cultural, business and media entities, to gain knowledge of contemporary and historical Africa. Distinguished visiting scholars from the United States and Africa regularly contribute to the Center's diversity of expertise, while benefiting from the resources available at Penn and in the region.

Center for Advanced Study of India

This is the only research institution in the United States dedicated to the study of contemporary India. Through its collaborative research initiatives, seminars, conferences, publications, and outreach, the Center provides in-depth, policy-relevant analysis of the most pressing issues facing India and the Indo-US relationship today.

Center for Bioethics

The Center for Bioethics is a global leader in bioethics research and its deployment in the ethical, efficient, and compassionate practice of the life sciences and medicine. The Center's full and part-time faculty hold appointments not only in the medical and law schools, but also in nursing, business, education, philosophy, psychology, sociology, religious studies, public policy, and public health.

The Center for East Asian Studies

The Center for East Asian Studies at Penn is an interdisciplinary unit composed of faculty members whose teaching and research focus primarily on China, Japan, Korea, and bordering areas. Funded in part through a program of the US Department of Education, it offers lectures, conferences, and other resources for students and scholars who share its regional focus.

Christopher Browne Center for International Politics

The Center for International Politics was established in 1997 to promote interdisciplinary research and teaching across the University community on issues of international relations, international security, and international political economy. It sponsors a regular schedule of visiting speakers, awards research grants, organizes occasional conferences, and hosts distinguished visiting scholars.

Democracy, Citizenship, and Constitutionalism

The Penn program on Democracy, Citizenship and Constitutionalism is designed to build on the university's established strengths in pursuit of these scholarly goals. Its Faculty Workshop Series and Spring Conference on annual themes result in publications of cutting-edge scholarship on topics of public and scholarly significance. The DCC Postdoctoral Fellowship, the DCC Graduate Fellowships and Graduate Workshop, and the DCC Undergraduate Research Grants involve younger scholars in researching the challenges and the opportunities posed by the spread of citizenship in constitutional democracies today.

Institute for Law and Economics

Founded in 1980, the Institute for Law and Economics is a joint effort of the Law School, Wharton, and the Department of Economics. The study of law and economics remains the most rapidly growing movement in legal scholarship and jurisprudence. ILE seeks to influence national and international policy debates by analyzing the impact of law on the global economy.

Institute of Strategic Threat Analysis and Response (I*STAR)

Faculty members from a variety of disciplines collaborate through their research to aid in the response and recovery from potential attacks. Their findings are distributed to government agencies as well as the general public.

Lauder Institute of Wharton

Middle East Center

MEC integrates Penn's long-established programs in ancient and medieval languages and civilizations together with scholarship on modern Middle East politics and societies. The Center covers the region's various ethnic groups, religions, languages, civilizations, and countries in addressing the different needs of academics, educators, journalists, and the general public and provides a robust calendar of events.

Penn Program in Ethnic Conflict

The Penn Program in Ethnic Conflict was created in 2007 to advance research, education, practice, and policy-relevant study in ethnic group conflict and political violence. The mission of the Program is to sustain and enhance the efforts of social scientists to identify the origins, trajectory and impact of violent intergroup struggles.

Weiss Center for International Financial Research

The primary mission of the Weiss Center, founded at the Wharton School in 1990, is to encourage research on international finance. The Center supports research activities at Wharton, while also sponsoring international conferences, research meetings, and scholarly publications.