Favorite classes at Penn

Between my majors (and the entrepreneurship minor I dropped with one class remaining), I took a lot of different classes at Penn. Here are some of my absolute favorites that pushed me as a person and make a big part of who I am today.

RELS 256 (Existential Despair) / Justin McDaniel

7 hour class that met once a week from the afternoon till midnight, taught by a former monk. We’d read a new (surprise) book cover to cover every class, exploring themes of trauma and existental despair. Fun article written about the class.

DSGN 269 (Typography) / Sharka Hayland

Class about the theory and history of letterforms, along with the origins of typefaces. Taught me about the intentionality in our world that we often take for granted.

NETS 150 (Market & Social Systems on the Internet) / Swapneel Sheth

Class that explored some of the basic systems underlying the internet, such as search engines / algorithms and recommendation models. TA’d for 3 years.

DSGN 306 (Design 21: Design After the Digital) / Orkan Telhan

Interdisciplinary class that explored the role of design in the 21st century, and how it integrates with science and technology. Convinced me to pursue a second major in Design.