Penn Reading Project 

Sarah Gronningsater

Sarah Gronningsater is an associate professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania, where she teaches courses on the history of American law, US democracy, the American Revolution, African American politics, and the history of baseball. Her first book, The Rising Generation: Gradual Abolition, Black Legal Culture, and the Making of National Freedom (2024) won the James Rawley Award for best book on U.S. race relations from the Organization of American Historians, an honorable mention for Best First Book from the same organization, and the Best First Book Prize from both the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic and the American Society for Legal History. She is also the recipient of numerous teaching awards at Penn, including the Dean’s Award for distinguished teaching by an assistant professor. She is a graduate of Harvard, Oxford, and the University of Chicago. 

William Sturkey

William Sturkey is the Roy F. and Jeannette P. Nichols Associate Professor of American History at the University of Pennsylvania, where he studies and teaches about the history of race in modern American life. His books include The Ballad of Roy Benavidez: The Life and Times of America’s Most Famous Hispanic Veteran and Hattiesburg: An American City in Black and White. Professor Sturkey’s writing has appeared in a wide range of venues from scholarly journals to major newspapers and magazines like The New York Times and The Atlantic. This semester, he is teaching History 1171: The South since 1865. 

Karen Tani 

Karen Tani is the Seaman Family University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, where she is jointly appointed in the law school and the history department. She studies modern U.S. history, with a focus on social welfare policy, civil rights, disability, and law. She has explored these topics in a prize-winning book, States of Dependency: Welfare, Rights, and American Governance, 1935-1972 (Cambridge University Press, 2016), as well as in articles in the Harvard Law Review, the Yale Law Journal, the Law and History Review, and other outlets. Her current book project is titled “Costed Out: Governing through Disability in the Late Twentieth-Century United States.” She holds a JD and a PhD in History from the University of Pennsylvania and a BA from Dartmouth College.  

Matthew Jacobs W’26

Matthew Jacobs is a 2026 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics with a concentration in Finance, graduating cum laude. Originally from Durban, South Africa, Matthew was deeply involved in campus life at Penn, serving as Secretary of the South African Students Association, Social Chair of the Penn Rugby Club, and as a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He now works as a Growth Markets Analyst at PIMCO in New York, one of the world’s largest asset management firms.

Audrey Levenson C’27

Audrey Levenson is a senior in the College studying political science with minors in English and history. She is originally from Pelham, New York. At Penn, Audrey is a Chair of the College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Advisory Board, a tour guide with the Kite and Key Society, an opinion columnist at the Daily Pennsylvanian, and a member of the Undergraduate Assembly of Penn Student Government. She enjoys playing her guitar, reading novels, and singing along to musical soundtracks. 

Anna Lugovskoy C’27

Anna Lugovskoy is a senior in the School of Arts and Sciences studying Cognitive Science with minors in History and Urban Education. Tangentially, she is pursuing an accelerated masters at Penn GSE with the goal of being a middle school science teacher in Philadelphia. Originally from the Boston area, she taught physics this summer as a teaching fellow at Breakthrough Cambridge. On campus, she is the Social Chair of Aspiring Educators at Penn (AEP), working to foster a community among Penn undergraduates interested in education, and a member of Skeptic’s Dinner. She is also involved in psychology research in Dr. Michael Arcaro’s lab and has worked as a CIS 1200 TA.

Eddie Mukalazi C’28

Eddie Mukalazi is a junior at the University of Pennsylvania studying Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) on the pre-law track. He serves as President of the Class of 2028, Press Secretary for the Penn Undergraduate Assembly, and is a member of the Class of 2028 cohort of Penn Civic Scholars. Through the Netter Center for Community Partnerships, Edward works as a youth docent at the Paul Robeson House & Museum, helping preserve and share the legacy of one of America’s most influential activists and artists. Passionate about public service, civic engagement, and expanding economic opportunity, he has worked across government, law, and community advocacy.”