Marvin & Sybil Weiner Undergraduate Essay Prizes in the Humanities (2006-2007)

Through an essay contest offered in spring of 2006 and 2007, the Penn Humanities Forum in association with Penn Libraries, recognized outstanding papers from Penn undergraduate students on issues that related to the Forum’s themes during those years: Word & Image in 2005-2006 and Travel in 2006-2007. First-place winners presented their papers at a special symposium held in each spring following announcement of the awards.

 

 

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Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • Publication
    The Pharmaceutical Paradox: Helping and Harming the Developing World
    (2007-04-01) Strain, Robert
    Pharmaceutical companies are in quite a predicament. With the majority of the global disease burden resting on the developing world and the vast majority of wealth residing in industrialized countries, these corporations are caught in a constant struggle between the altruistic inclinations they are expected to espouse and their responsibility to turn a profit. With the international community placing unprecedented emphasis on the universal right to health, the pharmaceutical industry has become a central facet of humanitarian work. In recent years, wealthy governments have funneled vast sums of money toward treating the world’s poor and the United Nations has allocated four of its eight Millennium Development Goals to specifically address health concerns. A passing glance at the issues most plaguing the world today will easily explain this new focus: one billion people worldwide lack access to clean water, eleven million die every year from infectious diseases, and the World Health Organization (WHO) now estimates the number of AIDS-related deaths to exceed three million annually. These tragedies produce ripple effects that can be felt throughout the inflicted nations and, because of our globalized society, throughout the world. We live amidst a global health crisis of the highest degree - one that simply cannot be addressed without the active participation of the pharmaceutical industry.
  • Publication
    Franklin's Ivy Leagues and the Junto of Education
    (2006-01-01) Katz, Gena
  • Publication
    If Ben Had His Way: Of Virtue, Wit, and Wisdom
    (2006-01-01) Mausner, Dvorit
  • Publication
    On Inaction
    (2007-04-01) Nirmel, Nikhil
    In this paper, I establish the grounds and rationale for a new ethical framework with regards to the responsibility of entities in the developed world – people, corporations, organizations, and governments – towards victims of humanitarian crises such as inescapable poverty and disease in the third world. I will examine why the prevention of global problems is not perceived as urgent and what may be needed to align policies and actions with more ethically appropriate principles in a global context.
  • Publication
    Spark
    (2006-01-01) Raviv, Tal