By Gina Lovasi, PhD, MPH, the Dana and David Dornsife Dean and Professor of Epidemiology at Drexel University's Dornsife School of Public Health

This month, our university welcomed Dr. Antonio Merlo as Drexel University’s 16th president.

Since he was announced as our incoming leader, myself and other deans at Drexel have had the opportunity to connect with him multiple times. The incoming president met with deans over lunch and had a presence with us at student government, alumni, trustee, and commencement events. Since his start on July 1, he has called deans together for the first of a monthly series of leadership meetings, joined us for a Faculty Senate meeting, and reached out to me to schedule a time to connect with the department chairs, associate deans, and others on the Dean’s Executive Committee here at the Dornsife School of Public Health. This early and active engagement sets the stage for a smooth transition and for the two-way communication needed to collectively envision where we as a university are headed in our rapidly changing world.

Throughout his career, Dr. Merlo has demonstrated a distinctive ability to inspire and mobilize individuals and teams alike. Drawing from his dual experience as a water polo coach and senior academic leader, he has witnessed the profound impact that occurs when ideas resonate, and collective insight is achieved. I appreciate his early directive to us as deans that we cannot afford to spend energy on internal competition or working at cross-purposes with each other—we need to all be aligned in our efforts and clear in our roles so that we can bring focused energy to serving our students and society.

Dr. Merlo’s academic and administrative credentials reflect a deep commitment to excellence in higher education. He most recently served as the Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science at New York University. His previous appointments include leadership and faculty positions at the University of Pennsylvania, Rice University, and the University of Minnesota.

His arrival comes at a time of disruption and reinvention, which has us looking to leadership for a source of steadiness. As we face mounting uncertainties, shifts in higher education nationally, and embark on academic transformation to provide a more student-centered academic experience here at Drexel, Dr. Merlo has expressed his enthusiastic support for working toward a proactive multi-year plan. He sees opportunities to enhance Drexel’s competitive advantage as a global leader in experiential education. Something he has said that resonated with me is that our mandate is to provide a high level of rigor in the classroom to which we add the experiential opportunities to apply and deepen that learning for the long term—one does not substitute for the other, but both are synergistic.

Experiential learning being discussed by university leadership goes beyond Drexel co-op, and includes hands-on didactic formats like project-based learning, research assistantships, global travel, and civic engagement. These are building not only skills and connections to prepare students for their first job, but also competencies and resilience for the ways the careers of our alumni will progress and grow from there, to a future point where they can have even greater impact on society.

While on campus, I have walked by these words of our founder Anthony J. Drexel many times, but only in 2025 did I stop to really let them sink in: “I know the world is going to change, and therefore, the University must change with it." Today, these words inspire me to accept that the status quo needs to change, and to embrace new directions as does our university’s long history of transformation.

I urge those interested to watch the new president's greeting to the Drexel community below and learn more about Dr. Merlo here. I look forward to a new academic year with his leadership bringing us together, so that we can write the next chapter in our history.

Meet Drexel University's New President Antonio Merlo