Welcome to the Office of the President

Meet Drexel’s 16th President Antonio Merlo

Antonio Merlo, PhD, became Drexel University’s 16th president on July 1, 2025. An accomplished higher education leader, scholar and professor, President Merlo joined Drexel after most recently serving as the Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science at New York University, the institution’s largest academic unit comprising of 1,600 faculty and staff members, three schools, dozens of departments, research centers, institutes and cultural houses. He has also served in teaching and administrative roles at the University of Minnesota and Rice University, and for 14 years was a named professor, director and chair of various departments and programs at the University of Pennsylvania.

President Merlo, originally from Italy, attended Bocconi University in Milan for his undergraduate degree in economics and social sciences, and earned his doctoral degree from NYU. His scholarship fuses economics with politics, and he has been cited most for his research involving the career decisions of politicians and bargaining theory in a stochastic environment.

President Merlo joins Drexel as the University embarks on Academic Transformation, a blueprint for reimagining the institution’s future through the integration of programs and schools, redesign of curriculum and transition to a semester calendar — offering an improved academic experience and value proposition for students. Since his presidential appointment, he has emphasized his commitment to the initiative and his strong belief that it is giving Drexel an advantage, especially when combined with the University’s long-established differentiators, including experiential education.