Penn Abroad is located at 3935 Walnut St.
Credit: Chenyao LiuPenn faculty and staff provided insight into Penn Global Seminars for the upcoming academic year amid heightened concern about international travel amidst sweeping visa revocations.
In the 2025-2026 academic year, Penn Abroad plans to offer 20 courses across countries in regions such as Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, and South America. The Daily Pennsylvanian spoke to faculty and staff about the importance of PGS and the challenges they face, particularly in light of immigration restrictions enacted during the Trump administration.
Associate Director of PGS Arielle Schweber acknowledged that the “current climate on immigration is uncertain” and offered several guidelines for international students traveling with PGS. These included ensuring travel and immigration document validity, reviewing published guidance from International Student and Scholar Services, and staying up to date with regulations for United States ports of entry.
Schweber also noted that Penn Global also staffs each course with a staff leader to provide faculty and student support regarding logistics, health, safety, and security.
Philosophy professor Michael Weisberg — who is leading a PGS that will travel to Ecuador in January 2026 — expressed confidence with PGS, noting his course’s past success navigating the COVID-19 pandemic and political unrest in Ecuador.
“Penn Global is excellent at continuously monitoring the geopolitical situation,” Weisberg wrote to the DP. “I have no doubt we can make this work.”
Amid these challenges, faculty members emphasized the importance of Penn Abroad offerings. Schweber wrote that PGS courses were unique due to their “interdisciplinary” nature as well as their selection of “destination[s] that are under-represented in education and abroad.”
Schweber also expressed hope that PGS would be able to continue offering the number of courses as originally planned. Vice Provost for Global Initiatives and Medical Ethics and Health professor Ezekiel Emanuel had previously highlighted increasing the number of global seminars offered as one of his major goals.
Weisberg also noted how the flexibility of PGS has allowed his course themes to evolve in response to modern events.
His PGS course, “Darwin’s Laboratory: History, Philosophy, Evolution and Social Ecology in the Galápagos Archipelago,” started as an evolution course but changed into one about conservation.
Penn Carey Law professor Fernando Chang-Muy also said that PGS courses and the flexibility they provide give students a unique opportunity to reflect on Trump administration policies.
“We envision, where relevant, to educate students about how changes in laws or regulations, or Executive Orders have an impact on immigration, health, public education, etc.,” Chang-Muy wrote in a statement, noting that his course — which will travel to Greece — plans to discuss recent cancellations to U.S. refugee programs.
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