October 26, 2023

After leading the Pennoni Honors College for 10 years, Paula Marantz Cohen, PhD, has decided to step down as dean of the College at the end of the 2023-2024 academic year to concentrate on teaching, scholarship and writing as part of her faculty role as Distinguished Professor of English.

Over her decade of leadership, Dean Cohen has cultivated a tightly knit, student-centered culture within the Honors College. She has expanded the College’s reach and offerings to both Honors students and all Drexel students. Most recently, she conceived, helped fundraise for, and oversaw the building of Bentley Hall and the development of the Honors Program Living-Learning Community, which brought together the units of the College within a dedicated space. She also strengthened the admissions process, which has increased student diversity and engagement in the College, leading to higher yield and retention rates in the Honors Program and an increase in applications to both Honors and to the STAR Scholars Program.  

In support of the Pennoni Honors College’s academic mission, Dean Cohen spearheaded an effort to win a four-year Teagle Foundation Planning and Implementation Grant for The Program for Civic Foundations, a three-course sequence for first-year students. She also organized an engaged Pennoni Advisory Board and bolstered the “Honors with Distinction” track, which includes The Program for Civic Foundations, with a $1.25 million gift to the College. Under her leadership, Undergraduate Research & Enrichment Programs became a consolidated unit designed to help students obtain fellowships, clarify student goals under the donor-supported Aspire Program, encourage students’ early research through STAR, and help them continue research through to graduation with the SuperNova Undergraduate Research Fellows Program.

Additionally under Dean Cohen’s guidance, the Pennoni Honors College has enhanced the intellectual life of the University with a diverse range of programming, including the “Taste of Honors” seminar series for alumni and high school instructors, art exhibitions, a weekly Shakespeare Read-Aloud, and regular Dean’s Teas. As founding host of the PBS-affiliated TV show “The Drexel InterView,” Dean Cohen rebranded the show as “The Civil Discourse,” welcoming guests such as Nikole Hannah-Jones and Iain McGilchrist to explore controversial topics. She also launched the Center for Civil Discourse and its popular Pennoni Panels speaker series while developing strong partnerships with cultural institutions like The Rosenbach, the Academy of Vocal Arts and the Free Library of Philadelphia.

A prolific scholar and author of numerous books, Dr. Cohen published two novels and two nonfiction books during her time as dean, most recently, Of Human Kindness: What Shakespeare Teaches Us About Empathy (Yale UP, 2021) and Talking Cure: An Essay on the Civilizing Power of Conversation (Princeton UP, 2023). She has written numerous op-ed pieces for The Wall Street Journal, reviews and commentaries for the Times Literary Supplement in London, and essays for The American Scholar, The Chronicle of Higher Education and The Yale Review, among others. She has continued to teach during her deanship and recruited faculty from across and outside the University to teach, mentor and share their ideas with students in the College.

We would like to sincerely thank Dean Cohen for her contributions to Drexel and for her dedicated leadership. Please join us in thanking her and wishing her well as she returns to the faculty. We are discussing next steps for leadership of the College and will keep the University community updated on the search process.

Sincerely,

John Fry
President

Paul E. Jensen
Executive Vice President
Nina Henderson Provost