Peter Decherney
DIRECTOR
Peter Decherney is Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Term Professor in the Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania. He is Professor of Cinema & Media Studies, Director of the Penn Global Documentary Institute, and Faculty Director of Penn’s university-wide Online Learning Initiative. He holds a secondary appointment at the Annenberg School for Communication and an affiliation with the Center for Technology, Innovation, and Competition at Penn Law School.
He is the author or editor of seven books including Hollywood’s Copyright Wars: From Edison to the Internet and Hollywood: A Very Short Introduction. Prof. Decherney has also written for The New York Times, Forbes, Inside Higher Ed, and other publications. His first book of photography, Endless Exodus: the Jewish Experience in Ethiopia is forthcoming.
He is an award-winning documentary and virtual reality filmmaker, who has directed a series of films about global migration and on the political role of artists in Myanmar, Kenya, Ethiopia, and the U.S. His virtual reality docuseries, “The Heart of Puerto Rico,” about artists in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria (co-directed with Jean Lee) won the Best VR Film at the AT&T Film Awards. And his documentary, “Dreaming of Jerusalem” (co-directed with Sosena Solomon), about the Jewish Community in Gondar, Ethiopia was a Discovery+ original.
Email: decherney@sas.upenn.edu
Sara Byala
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR
Sara Byala is a Senior Lecturer in Critical Writing and a scholar of modern African history. South African born, Byala holds a PhD from Harvard University and a BA from Tufts University. Her research into the ways in which capitalist systems intersect with social and cultural forces in Africa culminated in Bottled: How Coca-Cola Became African (Hurst, 2023). Based upon extensive archival research and fieldwork in Africa, Bottled suggests that the history and footprint of Coca-Cola in Africa is best understood as evidence of the company’s localness.
Byala’s early work explored the import of colonial archives in postcolonial times through the biography of a cultural history museum and resulted in A Place that Matters Yet: John Gubbins’s MuseumAfrica in thePostcolonial World (University of Chicago Press, 2013). She is currently embarking on new projects relating to religion and migration on the African continent.
Byala has taught a wide range of writing seminars about Africa, including ones on Coca-Cola, soccer, truth commissions, and cocoa. She also teaches Craft of Prose and Penn Global Seminars, which include travel to countries in Africa.
Email: sarabyala@gmail.com
Laurie Jensen
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF PENN ABROAD
aurie oversees the research and internship portfolio within Penn Abroad, including the Global Research&Internship Program (GRIP) and the Penn Global Research Institutes (PGRI). She works closely with employers, faculty, and other partners abroad to develop internship and research placements for Penn students. Laurie has worked within several Penn offices over the last decade, including Perry World House, Penn Global Initiatives, and the School of Social Policy & Practice. Laurie received her BA in Archaeology and Classical Civilization from Boston University and her MA in Classical Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. She studied abroad in Ireland where she spent the summer excavating a 13th-century church complex.
Email: lauriej@upenn.edu
