Jennifer M. Morton

Speaker Profile

Jennifer Morton is Presidential Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research, which spans ethics, political and moral philosophy, and the philosophy of education, has been feature in The Atlantic, Inside Higher Education, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Nation, New York Daily News, Times Higher Education, Princeton Alumni Weekly, Public Books, and Vox. Her book Moving Up Without Losing Your Way: The Ethical Costs of Upward Mobility was awarded the Frederic W. Ness Book Award by the Association of American Colleges, and Universities, and was chosen as the Princeton Pre-Read for the Class of 2025. Jennifer also received the 2023 Grawemeyer Award for her work on the ethical sacrifices made by first-generation and low-income university students. She tweets at @jennifermmorton.

Books¹

Moving Up without Losing Your Way: The Ethical Costs of Upward Mobility Jennifer M. Morton
The dilemmas faced by disadvantaged college students seeking upward mobility and what educators can do to help these students flourish
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Ideas⁴

Ideas Podcast Moving Up without Losing Your Way: The Ethical Costs of Upward Mobility, Jennifer M. Morton

Moving Up without Losing Your Way Upward mobility through higher education has been an article of faith for generations of working-class, low-income, and immigrant college students. While this path usually entails financial sacrifices and hard work, little attention has been paid to ... Read More

Reconsidering ethical costs in a pandemic As the reality of the pandemic set in, faculty, students, and administrators scrambled to adjust to the sudden switch to online teaching. I learned to navigate Zoom with a toddler at home and my students packed up their dorms and prepared to finish t... Read More

Jennifer M. Morton on Moving Up Without Losing Your Way Upward mobility through the path of higher education has been an article of faith for generations of working-class, low-income, and immigrant college students. Read More

In Dialogue with Caitlin Zaloom and Jennifer Morton: Mobility costs and compromises Caitlin Zaloom and Jennifer Morton discuss the financial pressures of paying for college and the impact on the lives and well-being of middle-class families. Read More