Karen Tani Named a Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor

Karen Tani has been named the 24th Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor, effective July 1, 2020.

The Penn Integrates Knowledge program was launched by Penn President Amy Gutmann in 2005 as a University-wide initiative to recruit exceptional faculty members whose research and teaching exemplify the integration of knowledge across disciplines.

Tani will be the Seaman Family University Professor, with faculty appointments in the Department of History and the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. She was the inaugural graduate of Penn’s J.D./Ph.D. Program in American Legal History. 

“From the modern welfare rights movement to the implications of Title IX in the American legal landscape, Karen Tani is an exceptionally influential scholar who brings wide-ranging expertise at the intersection of law and history to Penn,” says Gutmann. “Her work exemplifies the rigorous cross-disciplinary research and teaching that is so essential to understanding society’s most pressing issues, prominent among them the fairness and integrity of our justice system. We are delighted to welcome home this truly remarkable scholar and educator.”

The Seaman Family University Professorship is a gift of Julie Breier Seaman, C’86, and Jeffrey Seaman, W’83. Julie Seaman, an associate professor and associate dean for academic affairs at the Emory University School of Law, is a University Trustee and a member of the Penn Arts & Sciences Board of Overseers. Jeffrey Seaman is the founder and CEO of Rooms To Go Inc.