Laura W. Perna is GSE Centennial Professor of Education,[1] Founding Executive Director of the Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy (Penn AHEAD), and Vice Provost for Faculty at the
University of Pennsylvania (Penn).[2]
Perna's research employs various methodological approaches to examine how
social structures, educational practices, and public policies impact college access and success, particularly for individuals from lower-income families and
racial/ethnic minoritized groups.[3]
Perna began her faculty career at the
University of Maryland-College Park in 1999 and was appointed to the faculty of
Penn's Graduate School of Education (GSE) in 2005. Earlier in her career, she served as Director of Institutional Research and Planning at the
University of Dallas, and as Research Scientist and Director of Data Analysis at the Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute of the
United Negro College Fund.[14] At Penn, she was the James S. Riepe Presidential Professor (2014 to 2019) and since 2019 is the GSE Centennial Presidential Professor of Education. She is Founding Executive Director of the Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy (Penn AHEAD).[15] She served as Chair of Penn GSE's Higher Education Division and Chair of Pen's Faculty Senate[16] and has been Penn's Vice Provost for Faculty since July 1, 2020.[17]
Leadership and advisory work
Perna serves or has served on the board of directors for the Postsecondary Network Policy Institute (PNPI),[18] Lenfest Scholars Foundation,[19] and Institute for Higher Education Policy, and is a member of
Bowdoin College's THRIVE Program Advisory Group.[20] She served as president of the
Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE)[21] and vice president of the postsecondary division of the American Educational Research Association (AERA).[22] She has served on the AERA Grants Governing Board,[23][24] advisory panels for the
U.S. Department of Education,
Lumina Foundation, and
Spencer Foundation, and was a member of the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Postsecondary Value Commission.[25] She has been Editor of Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research annual book series since 2018.[26]
She has delivered keynote and other addresses.[34] Her contributions also include providing recommendations to state and federal policymakers, including through invited testimony to the U.S. Senate's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee[35] and the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training.[36]
Scholarship
Perna's work has identified sources of persistent differences in
educational attainment across racial/ethnic and income groups, despite substantial investments from governments, institutions, and
philanthropies to close these disparities.[37][38][39] She has received funding from the U.S. Department of Education's
Institute of Education Sciences,
Lumina Foundation, and other organizations with publications including journal articles, policy reports, edited volumes, and books. Her scholarship also examines how to connect education research to public policy[40] and sources of observed differences in faculty salary, rank, and
tenure.[41][42]
A primary goal of Perna's scholarship has been to understand how to increase higher education attainment, particularly for underrepresented students.[43] By specifying how college opportunity and outcomes have been influenced by characteristics of the family, school, community, and state contexts in which students live and are embedded, her 2006 conceptual model has highlighted what education administrators and policymakers can do to improve college opportunity and outcomes for particular groups of students in particular places.[44]
Perna utilizes economic and
sociological frameworks, along with
quantitative and
qualitative methods, to analyze the impact of public policies and institutional practices on college access and success.[45][46] Her research examines predictors of undergraduate enrollment for African American and Hispanic students,[47] institutional strategies for promoting
STEM attainment,[48] the influence of state policies on college enrollment,[45] the cost-related information presented to students and families via
net price calculators,[49] and the effects of grants on college student outcomes.[50] She partnered with The Pell Institute of the Council on Opportunity in Education to produce the Indicators of Higher Education Equity in the United States historical reports. Other studies explore how college opportunity is influenced by characteristics of the high school attended, including parental involvement[38] and the availability of
college counselors[46] and state-mandated testing.[51] Her 2014 book, co-authored with Joni E. Finney, presented case studies of the relationship between public policy and higher education outcomes in five states and offered a
conceptual framework for explaining how state policies influence higher education attainment for different groups.[52] Stella Flores-Montgomery's review praised the book for its insights into how state policies can contribute to improved socioeconomic equity.[53]
Perna has also conducted research on the potential roles of
MOOCs,[54] government-sponsored
international student mobility programs,[55][56] and free tuition or college promise programs[57][58] in improving students' college outcomes. The edited volume, Preparing Today's Students for Tomorrow's Jobs in Metropolitan America, delved into the need to align education with evolving job requirements and emphasized the importance of preparing students for the dynamic demands of the modern workforce,[59] while the edited Understanding the Working College Student shed light on the experiences of undergraduates who work for pay while enrolled.[60] In her review, Pazich Loni Bordoloi of The Teagle Foundation praised The State of College Access and Completion, a volume co-edited with Anthony Jones, saying, "The volume comprehensively but succinctly discusses what is known and what is not known about a range of policy-relevant issues affecting underrepresented students in higher education."[61]
Other scholarship has examined the use of higher education research to improve public policy and institutional practice. Using
critical discourse analysis, Perna and co-authors examined how
educational research has been used in
Congressional legislative hearings about
higher education policy.[40] In Taking It to the Streets, she showcased how higher education scholars advocate for equity, inclusiveness, and
social change. In his review,
Lee University's Roy Y. Chan stated, that with this volume, "Laura W. Perna provides a comprehensive introduction to the central issues affecting higher education policy advocacy between academic researchers and policymakers."[62]
Awards and honors
2010 – Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching, University of Pennsylvania[4]
2011 – Robert P. Huff Golden Quill Award, National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators[5]
2014 – Fellow, American Educational Research Association[11]
2017 – Excellence in Public Policy in Higher Education Award, Council on Public Policy in Higher Education[6]
2017 – Dr. Constance Clayton Education Award, Philadelphia College Prep Roundtable[63]
2019 – Elected Member, National Academy of Education[12]
2020 – Recognition of Service Award, University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education[7]
2022 – Exemplary Research Award, Postsecondary Education Division of the American Education Research Association[9]
2022 – Faculty Alumni Award of Merit, University of Pennsylvania Alumni Association[10]
Bibliography
Selected books and monographs
Theoretical Perspectives on Student Success: Understanding the Contributions of the Disciplines (2008) ISBN 978-0470410783 (with Scott L. Thomas)
The Attainment Agenda: State Policy Leadership in Higher Education (2014) ISBN 978-1421414065 (with Joni E. Finney)
Selected edited collections
Understanding the working college student: New research and its implications for policy and practice (2010). ISBN 978-1003448495
Preparing Today's Students for Tomorrow's Jobs in Metropolitan America (2012) ISBN 978-0812244533
The State of College Access and Completion (2013) ISBN 978-0415660464 (with Anthony Jones)
Taking It to the Streets: The Role of Scholarship in Advocacy and Advocacy in Scholarship 1st Edition (2018) ISBN 978-1421425467
Improving Research-Based Knowledge of College Promise Programs (2020) ISBN 978-0935302783 (with Edward Smith)
Selected articles
Perna, L. W. (2000). Differences in the decision to attend college among African Americans, Hispanics, and Whites. The Journal of Higher Education, 71(2), 117–141.
Perna, L. W., & Titus, M. A. (2005). The relationship between parental involvement as social capital and college enrollment: An examination of racial/ethnic group differences. The journal of higher education, 76(5), 485–518.
Perna, L. W. (2006). Studying college access and choice: A proposed conceptual model. In Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (pp. 99–157). Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands.
Perna, L. W., Ruby, A., Boruch, R. F., Wang, N., Scull, J., Ahmad, S., & Evans, C. (2014). Moving through MOOCs: Understanding the progression of users in massive open online courses. Educational Researcher, 43(9), 421–432.
Perna, L. W., Orosz, K., Gopaul, B., Jumakulov, Z., Ashirbekov, A., & Kishkentayeva, M. (2014). Promoting human capital development: A typology of international scholarship programs in higher education. Educational Researcher, 43(2), 63–73.
Perna, L. W., Orosz, K., & Kent, D. C. (2019). The role and contribution of academic researchers in congressional hearings: A critical discourse analysis. American Educational Research Journal, 56(1), 111–145.
Perna, L.W., Wright-Kim, J., & Leigh, E. (2020). Is a college promise program an effective use of resources? Understanding the implications of program design and resource investments for equity and efficiency. AERA Open, 6(4), 1–15.