Professor of Education at the University of Pennsylvania
About
Laura W. Perna is the James S. Riepe professor and executive director of the Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). She has also served as president of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, vice president of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), and chair of Penn’s Faculty Senate.
Her research focuses on identifying how 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. Recent books include Taking it to the streets: The role of scholarship in advocacy and advocacy in scholarship (2018), The Attainment Agenda: State policy leadership for higher education (with Joni Finney, 2014), and The state of college access and completion: Improving college success for students from underrepresented groups (with Anthony Jones, 2013).
She has provided invited testimony to the U.S. Senate’s Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee and U.S. House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training. She is a Fellow of AERA, and recipient of ASHE’s Early Career Achievement Award, Penn’s Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching, and National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators’ Robert P. Huff Golden Quill Award. She holds a BS in economics and B.A. in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, and MPP and PhD in education from the University of Michigan.
Current Work:
Laura W. Perna's research focuses on identifying how 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. Current projects focus on understanding free college/college promise programs and the ways that colleges and universities communicate information about college costs.
Research Area Keyword(s):
Public policy, college access, higher education finance
