Dr. Laura W. Perna is a nationally recognized expert on college access, affordability, and success—particularly for low-income, first-generation, and non-traditional students. She is the GSE Centennial Presidential Professor of Education at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education and the founding Executive Director of the Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy (Penn AHEAD), where she leads research and public engagement at the intersection of higher education policy and equity.

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Dr. Perna’s research examines how social structures, institutional practices, and public policies shape postsecondary access and completion. Through extensive collaborations with scholars, policymakers, and advocacy organizations, she has advanced national understanding of College Promise programs, transparency in affordability, and the persistent inequities embedded within U.S. higher education systems. She has testified before Congress, advised university leaders and federal agencies, and contributed directly to state and national policy development.

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She is a former President of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) and past Vice President of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Division J, and currently serves on the AERA Grants Governing Board and the Board of Directors for the Postsecondary National Policy Institute (PNPI).

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Dr. Perna is also editor of Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research, overseeing Volumes 37 through 41. Her scholarship appears widely in peer-reviewed journals and has been cited in the New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic, NPR, and Education Week.

 

Among her recent contributions is the 2024 Indicators of Higher Education Equity in the United States report, co-authored with the Pell Institute and funded by Lumina Foundation. This report continues her long-standing commitment to making educational opportunity measurable, visible, and accountable.

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Dr. Perna holds bachelor’s degrees in economics and psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and earned her M.P.P. and Ph.D. in education from the University of Michigan. In 2019, she was elected to the National Academy of Education, and in 2021 received the University of Michigan School of Education's Distinguished Alumni Award.

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