Integrated Studies Program

About ISP

The Integrated Studies Program (ISP) is the first year curriculum for Benjamin Franklin Scholars pursuing degrees in the College of Arts and Sciences. Taught by Penn’s leading faculty and living together in Hill House, ISP students are among the University’s most fearless and curious intellects. ISP students go on to major in everything from Biology to Classics before pursuing careers at start-ups, NGOs, the federal government, and more. What sets them apart is their ability to see connections across disparate areas of knowledge, and to apply those connections to the world’s most pressing questions.

Deeply rooted in the liberal arts tradition of acquiring and applying expansive knowledge, this residential academic program invites highly-motivated students to examine complex themes through the integration of multiple academic disciplines and methodologies.By investigating fundamental ideas under two distinct lenses, drawing over the course of their first year from the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, students sharpen their focus on the similarities—and differences—between the disciplines’ habits of mind. What kinds of questions do art historians ask? What sorts of evidence do economists favor? What kind of answers carry weight with neuroscientists?

ISP’s origins go back to 2011, when its inaugural lecture was given by Penn’s president at the time, the political philosopher Amy Gutmann.