Drexel’s new president says he’s ready to focus on the school’s academic overhaul

Antonio Merlo was attracted to the presidency at Drexel University because of the academic transformation the school was undertaking and its willingness “to look under the hood” and make changes.

And now that he’s here — the former political economist and dean from New York University became Drexel’s president July 1 — he said he’s ready to “put the spotlight” on academics and make overseeing those changes a priority.

Drexel, a 22,100-student private research university in West Philadelphia, is undergoing a multiyear process to merge two of its colleges and a school, convert from a quarter system to semesters in 2027, and establish new core competencies. As part of that process, the university is redesigning every degree program to make sure those competencies are emphasized for all undergraduates.

“This is time to really capitalize on all the hard work of academic transformation and bring it to the next level,” Merlo said during an interview in his office this week. “We are going to come out with a completely different curriculum for every single degree that Drexel offers.”

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Experiential learning will become a cornerstone in all academics, not isolated to Drexel’s signature co-op program that places students in mostly paid six-month work experiences, Merlo said. It could be civic engagement or study abroad combined with work experience or something else, he said.

“I’m a huge believer in the value of providing students not just with theoretical knowledge, but with knowledge that you marry as closely as possible with the career opportunities,” said Merlo, donning a Drexel tie and dragon pin to represent the university’s mascot. “One thing that Drexel really does better than anybody, in my view, is preparing students not just for their first job but for their last job and every job in between.”

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Now, he said, the school will aim to distinguish itself as the global leader in experiential education.

Merlo, who has touted his own experience as an Italian-born first-generation college student who came to the United States on a scholarship to pursue his doctorate, is an academic who understands the faculty perspective.

“I am one of you,” he said on his greetings video posted July 1, the day he started. “I am first and foremost an educator and I am very proud to bring this perspective to the table.”

That has resonated with faculty.

“He seems super dynamic and excited,” said Thersa Sweet, associate teaching professor of epidemiology and biostatistics in the School of Public Health. “I know faculty are excited because he is from the realm of faculty.”

By contrast, Merlo’s predecessor John Fry, who has an MBA from NYU’s Stern Business School, doesn’t have a doctoral degree and has never been a dean or provost. He has always been on the administrative side.

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But Sweet said Fry, who is now the president of Temple University, brought a lot of positives to Drexel, including growing the school and expanding its footprint. Its current academic transformation started under him.

“Academic institutions go through different phases in their trajectory,” said Drexel business school dean Vibhas Madan, who also is an economist and served on the committee that selected Merlo. “Different times, different focuses.”

Merlo, an academic entrepreneur with an expertise on team building around collective goals, is the right leader for this moment, said Madan, who has worked at Drexel since 1989.

“He’s laid it down for everybody,” he said. “Academic transformation is going to be our north star.”

Merlo, who worked next door to Drexel at the University of Pennsylvania from 2000 to 2014, noted how Drexel developed and thrived in different ways under the late Constantine “Taki” Papadakis and then Fry.

Fry helped launch a multibillion-dollar project to turn parking lots and industrial buildings between Drexel’s campus and 30th Street Station into a neighborhood of businesses, retailers, parks, and residential towers, and started a center for neighborhood partnerships. Papadakis changed Drexel from a struggling engineering school to a strong institution with a law school and medical school.

“We stand on the shoulders of giants, and that’s the way I feel,” said Merlo, who was NYU’s dean of the faculty of the College of Arts & Sciences before coming to Drexel.

Merlo got his undergraduate degree in economics and social sciences from Bocconi University in Italy in 1987, came to the United States in 1988, and earned his doctorate in economics from NYU. He also previously worked at Rice University and the University of Minnesota.

Drexel, like most private colleges, declined to release Merlo’s salary, though it will eventually become available through public tax forms.

Merlo already knows the presidents of Temple and Penn and said he looks forward to working more closely with them.

Merlo overlapped at Penn with Fry, who was executive vice president there, and J. Larry Jameson, who was then executive vice president of the health system and dean of the medical school. He said he plans to invite Jameson to watch Drexel’s first women’s home basketball game against Penn.

Asked if Drexel would look to merge with any other institutions, Merlo said “we’re not really thinking about” that. Drexel’s merger with Salus University recently received approval from the U.S. Department of Education, making it final.

There were some topics Merlo said he wasn’t ready to discuss, such as the loss of some federal funding. President Donald Trump’s administration seeks to limit research funding for universities.

Drexel lost $18 million in grants, the largest among local universities. The school appealed, and a Drexel spokesperson said this week that more than $5 million has since been restored.

Merlo said he is focused on looking for other ways to support Drexel’s position as a research powerhouse through industry and philanthropy.

He also said it was too early to talk about Drexel’s current financial picture, fall enrollment projections or how it finished the 2025 fiscal year. The university in November laid off 60 employees as it coped with a $63 million operating loss and 15% decline in first-year students.

Merlo, who coached men’s water polo at universities where he taught and led Penn’s team to three championship titles, said he has been working on getting to know his new leadership team at Drexel.

“It’s important that people recognize what their role is,” he said, “so that we can really achieve the overall mission of this university.”