Department of English

Charissa Howard, of Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, is majoring in English with minors in political science and French in the College. Her research interests focus on how media shapes perceptions of national identity, the subject of her honors thesis. At Penn, she is a Civic Scholar, a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow, and a member of the European Studies Institute. She works as a Peer Restorative Practitioner, a research peer advisor with the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships, and as engagement and access chair with the Kite and Key Society. Howard has interned at NBC News and The Philadelphia Citizen, and at Penn has worked with Lorene Cary on the #VoteThatJawn initiative as a Bassini Fellow and PIK Professor Dorothy Roberts through the Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program. As a Thouron Scholar, Howard plans to pursue a master’s degree in media and communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Read more about the Thouron Scholarship and the other winners at this link: https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/penn-announces-nine-2026-thouron-schola...