Provost Wendell Pritchett announced the appointment of Laura Perna as vice provost for faculty, beginning July 1, 2020. 

Dr. Perna is GSE Centennial Presidential Professor in the Graduate School of Education, where she is also chair of the higher education division and executive director of the Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy. She has taught at Penn since 2005, following six years teaching at the University of Maryland at College Park, and she has served in a wide range of leadership roles at Penn, including chair of the Faculty Senate, chair of the Faculty Senate Committee on the Economic Status of the Faculty, and member of the University-wide Provost’s Academic Planning and Budget Committee. Outside Penn, among many other leadership roles, she served as president of the Association for the Study of Higher Education and vice president of the Postsecondary Education Division of the American Educational Research Association, and she was named to the National Academy of Education in 2019. 

“Laura Perna’s extraordinary accomplishments and her lifelong commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion in higher education make her an ideal leader for our faculty initiatives in the years ahead,” said Provost Pritchett. “She will build on the invaluable work of Anita Allen, who, as vice provost for faculty since 2013, has immeasurably advanced our progress in these essential areas. I am deeply grateful to the consultative committee whose judicious and insightful work helped to produce this outstanding result: Chair Risa Lavizzo-Mourey and committee members Eugenie Birch, Zachary Ives, Kelly Jordan-Sciutto and Timothy Rommen.” 

Dr. Perna’s pioneering research focuses on identifying public policies and institutional practices that improve college access, affordability and success, especially for low-income, first-generation and non-traditional students. Her research has also made important contributions to the study of gender and racial differences in faculty outcomes, including salary, rank and tenure. A widely recognized expert, she has testified to the US Congress and Pennsylvania Public Higher Education Funding Commission and is a member of the Gates Commission on the Value of Postsecondary Education. She has published more than 100 books and scholarly papers; she has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, among others; and she was included in the 2020 RHSU Edu-Scholar ranking of the most influential US scholars shaping educational practice and policy. She began her career as a Penn undergraduate—earning both a BA magna cum laude in psychology from CAS and a BS magna cum laude in economics from Wharton. She went on to earn an MPP and PhD from the University of Michigan. In 2010, she received the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching (Almanac April 20, 2010), Penn’s highest University-wide teaching honor. 

As the campus leader with broad oversight of faculty affairs across the University, the vice provost for faculty reports directly to the Provost and is a member of his senior leadership team for academic and strategic planning. The vice provost oversees faculty life and the academic personnel process at Penn, including faculty recruitment, retention, development and retirement; appointments, tenure and promotions; enhancement of faculty diversity and equity; and resolution of individual faculty issues, including grievances. The vice provost coordinates the Provost’s Staff Conference and works closely with the deans and chairs of Penn’s 12 Schools, as well as the Faculty Senate, vice president for human resources, Ombuds Office, Affirmative Action Office, diversity search advisors and PASEF.