Professional Biography

Laura W. Perna is the University of Pennsylvania's Vice Provost for Faculty and the GSE Centennial Presidential Professor of Education at Penn GSE. Dr. Perna also serves as Executive Director of Penn's Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy (Penn AHEAD). She is past chair of Penn’s faculty senate and has served as faculty fellow of the Institute for Urban Research, faculty affiliate of the Penn Wharton Public Policy Initiative, and member of the advisory board for the Netter Center for Community Partnerships. She holds bachelor’s degrees in economics and psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, and earned her master’s in public policy and Ph.D. in education from the University of Michigan.

She has held leadership positions in the primary national scholarly associations in the field of higher education administration. Dr. Perna served as President of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) from 2014 to 2015 and Vice President of the American Educational Research Association’s Division J (Postsecondary Education) from 2010 to 2013 and now is a member of the AERA Grants Governing Board. She has served on the editorial boards of leading journals including American Education Research Journal, Educational Researcher, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Journal of Higher Education, Review of Higher Education, Journal of College Student Development, Research in Higher Education, and AERA Open. She is now serving as editor of Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research. She is also a member of the Board of Directors for Postsecondary Network Policy Institute (PNPI).

Among other honors, Dr. Perna has received the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching from the University of Pennsylvania, Early Career Achievement Award from ASHE, Excellence in Public Policy in Higher Education Award from ASHE’s Council on Public Policy and Higher Education, the Dr. Constance Clayton Education Award from the Philadelphia College Prep Roundtable, and the Robert P. Huff Golden Quill Award from the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. In 2014, Dr. Perna was named a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association, a Penn Fellow, and the inaugural James S. Riepe Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2019, Dr. Perna was elected to the National Academy of Education. In 2021, Dr. Perna was an inaugural recipient of the University of Michigan School of Education's Distinguished Alumni Award.

Research Interests and Current Projects

Dr. Perna’s research examines the ways that social structures, educational practices, and public policies promote and limit college access and success, particularly for groups that continue to be underrepresented in higher education. Her scholarship is published in a variety of outlets, including books, journal articles, and policy reports. Recent books include Taking It to the Streets: The Role of Scholarship in Advocacy and Advocacy in Scholarship (2018, Johns Hopkins University Press), The Attainment Agenda: State Policy Leadership for Higher Education (with Joni Finney, 2014, Johns Hopkins University Press), and The State of College Access and Completion: Improving College Success for Students from Underrepresented Groups (with Anthony Jones, 2013).

Her research has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, The Atlantic, Education Week, and the Huffington Post, as well as on National Public Radio programs and Huffington Post Live. She has offered recommendations based on her research to federal policymakers through invited testimony to the U.S. Senate’s Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee and the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training, Committee on Education and the Workforce, United States House of Representatives. Her research has been funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences, Lumina Foundation, and other organizations.

Dr. Perna’s current projects focus on improving equity in higher education in the United States (in collaboration with The Pell Institute and funded by Lumina and Gates Foundations) and advancing knowledge of College Promise programs.

Selected Publications