Penn’s School of Arts and Sciences recently recognized 20 students as 2026 Dean’s Scholars.
The April 1 announcement honored undergraduate and graduate students for their “exceptional” academic and research contributions at Penn. Nine seniors in the College of Arts and Sciences were recognized alongside students from the College of Liberal and Professional Studies and the graduate division of SAS.
Among this year’s recipients is College senior Amanda Rodriguez, an art history and Latin American and Latinx studies double major whose research examines “visual culture, land, and power through border studies and abolitionist frameworks.”
In an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian, Rodriguez explained that her work draws upon experiences growing up along the Texas-Mexico border and focuses on “the aesthetics of borderlands and the aesthetics of militarized zones.”
Rodriguez has presented much of her research through photography and other artistic mediums. She noted the significance of recognition for research in the humanities, expressing that receiving the award was meaningful on a personal level.
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She added that she has “been fortunate enough to be able to juggle” research work with “challenging” seminar and graduate-level coursework.
“I really dedicated a majority of my time out of class to my passion for academics and research,” Rodriguez said.
College senior Norah Rami — a former DP staffer — was recognized for her work exploring “gender, power, and property through feminist and critical theory.”
Rami explained that she was unaware she “was up for this award” until she received it.
“It’s not something that I specifically applied to,” she added, emphasizing that receiving a faculty nomination made the recognition particularly meaningful.
“When someone else says that they want you to win the prize and they are the one throwing your name in the ring, I think that really means a lot,” Rami said.
Rami’s senior thesis and prior research projects have focused on work in political theory where she examined image rights, autonomy, and identity.
“It particularly centered around image rights as they apply to intimate images, and the way in which a property right ownership in those images can undermine the subject autonomy and ability to create their own identity,” Rami explained.
She told the DP that her academic experience focused on intellectual exploration, adding that her time at Penn has been “a chance to learn and academically immerse” herself.
Rami added that she was “not really thinking” about the recognition “as a resume checkpoint,” but rather as a “nice thing to have.”
“I think the awards are really nice as affirmation for the work that you do, and they’re not an incentive with their affirmation,” she added.