3910 Irving Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6007 House Office: 215.573.3539 • Hours: Monday-Friday 9AM-5PM http://harrison.house.upenn.edu • harrison@collegehouses.upenn.edu |
"A big House with a big heart"
Harrison College House brings Penn home to its residents to effect the seamless integration between education in the classroom and residential living. Harrisonians take their studies and their friendships seriously: the life of the mind can be lived with a healthy balance of humor, compassion, and creativity. Harrison, the house with the largest number of residents and student staff, is a big house with a big heart. Harrison’s size, population, and policies allow for unsurpassed opportunities and a wide range of programming. Through the regular Dinner and Conversation series, favorite members of Penn’s faculty come to the house to meet students in a relaxed, convivial setting. Through Food for Thought, a partnership with the Collegium Institute, Harrisonians engage in an informal seminar, reading and discussing works by some of the most influential and provocative thinkers from antiquity through modernity. Cinema 180, a .5 credit course taught in Harrison by Harrison senior staff, offer residents the opportunity to develop critical skills through watching films with their neighbors. The Harrison Reading Community builds community by the book, inspiring conversation among topics related to race, class, ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation, through discussion of literary works that have included: Between the World and Me, Janesville: An American Story; and The New Jim Crow. Weekly, Harrison Fellow Deven Patel hosts a course in mindfulness of breathing for the development of calm concentration and clarity.
Harrison provides a home to Penn Reflect, a student-run endeavor dedicated to the destigmatizing care for mental health, providing students a safe forum to engage in open and honest discussion.
Harrison Saturday Night events provide opportunities for Harrisonians who wish to stay close to home on any given Saturday night a low-pressure opportunity to socialize with events ranging from Quizzo hosted by the House Dean, arts and crafts, dance lessons, and laser tag. Through the Harrison Late Night movie series, students select either a cult classic or a newly released film to watch together. Penn’s Art Club host “Art-Ins” throughout the semester, inspiring the creation of arts and crafts while giving students the opportunity do de-stress while exploring their creativity. Harrison’s residential theater troupe Front Row Theater, performs in the Heyer Sky Lounge, bringing world-class entertainment into resident’s living room. Once a month Harrison hosts house-wide brunches, bringing the broad array of Harrison residents together through their shared love for bagels, fruit, and yogurt. Coffee comes from Harrison’s own Café Prima, a full-scale coffee bar and commissary run by Harrisonians for Harrisonians.
Residents are encouraged to work with staff to create programs of their own design, to present their research through Harrison’s Academic Work-in-Progress series, create a partnership between Harrison House and the various groups and activities in which they participate to cosponsor events.
If you can imagine it, you can build it in Harrison. Harrison boasts the largest staff of student workers ready to help all bring ideas for social interaction into reality.