February 24, 2026Volume 72 Issue 25

Source: https://almanac.upenn.edu/volume-72-number-25 Parent: https://almanac.upenn.edu/latest-issue

Laura W. Perna

Provost John L. Jackson, Jr. announced the appointment of Laura W. Perna as Senior Vice Provost for Faculty. Dr. Perna, who is the GSE Centennial Presidential Professor of Education in the Graduate School of Education, was appointed Vice Provost for Faculty in 2020 and reappointed in 2025.

“Laura Perna’s work as Vice Provost for Faculty has been essential to sustaining the eminence and well-being of our Penn faculty,” said Provost Jackson. “She helped us to navigate first the COVID pandemic in the early years of her tenure and then the series of complex, unpredictable challenges that we have faced in more recent years. She steers faculty hiring, promotion, and retention with great judgment and skill—working closely with all 12 schools and the Faculty Senate—and has advanced critical priorities that include promoting faculty wellness and work-life balance, using surveys and metrics to better assess and strengthen resources for faculty, innovating new forms of communication with and among faculty, and accelerating faculty leadership and development programs. I am indebted to her wisdom, insight, and compassion in this role, and I look forward to continuing to collaborate with her in support of our outstanding faculty colleagues.”

The Senior Vice Provost for Faculty oversees faculty life and the academic personnel process at Penn, including faculty recruitment, retention, development, and retirement; appointments, tenure, and promotions; wellness, well-being, and work/life balance; and resolution of individual faculty issues, including grievances. The Senior Vice Provost coordinates the Provost’s Staff Conference and works closely with the leaders of Penn’s schools, departments, and graduate groups, as well as the Faculty Senate, the Office of the Ombuds, the Penn Association of Senior and Emeritus Faculty, the Penn Forum for Women Faculty & Gender Equity, and the Offices of Equal Opportunity Programs, General Counsel, Human Resources, and Institutional Research & Analysis, among others.

“I am honored by this appointment,” said Senior Vice Provost Perna, “and energized by the opportunities ahead. Above all, I am grateful for my Penn colleagues, whose commitments to educational discovery and intellectual innovation advance Penn’s mission every day—and drive our shared responsibilities to help lead Penn forward, whatever challenges we may face together in the future.”

Senior Vice Provost Perna is an internationally recognized expert in college access, affordability, and success, especially for low-income, first-generation, and non-traditional students. The co-founder of the Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy (Penn AHEAD), she has served as president of the Association for the Study of Higher Education and as vice president of the postsecondary education division of the American Educational Research Association and is currently chair of the Board of Directors of the Postsecondary National Policy Institute and a member of the board of the Lenfest Scholars Foundation. At Penn, she has served as chair of the Faculty Senate and of Penn GSE’s higher education division. She has received the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, the highest University-wide teaching honor, and the Faculty Award of Merit from Penn Alumni. She is a Penn alumna, holding a BA in psychology from the College of Arts & Sciences and a BS in economics from the Wharton School, as well as a PhD in education and a MPP from the University of Michigan.