Laura W. Perna is Vice Provost for Faculty, GSE Centennial Presidential Professor of Education, and Founding Executive Director of the Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy (AHEAD) at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). Her research uses various methodological approaches to identify how social structures, educational practices, and public policies promote and limit college access and success, particularly for students from groups that are historically underrepresented in higher education. Publications include Improving Research-Based Knowledge of College Promise Programs (with Edward Smith, 2020, AERA), Taking It to the Streets: The Role of Scholarship in Advocacy and Advocacy in Scholarship (2018, Johns Hopkins University Press), and The Attainment Agenda: State Policy Leadership for Higher Education (with Joni Finney, 2014, Johns Hopkins University Press). She has served as President of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE), Vice President of the Postsecondary Division of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), and Chair of Penn’s Faculty Senate. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Postsecondary National Policy Institute (PNPI) and Lenfest Scholars Foundation and previously served as a member of the Gates Commission on the Value of Postsecondary Education and the Board of Directors for the Institute for Higher Education Policy. Among other honors, she received the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching from the University of Pennsylvania, Faculty Alumni Award of Merit from the University of Pennsylvania Alumni Association, Early Career Achievement Award from ASHE, Excellence in Public Policy in Higher Education Award from ASHE’s Council on Public Policy and Higher Education, Dr. Constance Clayton Education Award from the Philadelphia College Prep Roundtable, and Robert P. Huff Golden Quill Award from the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. She is also a member of the National Academy of Education and a Fellow of AERA.
