The recent appointment of Marc Lo as the inaugural executive director of the Office of Penn First Plus Students signaled another advancement in Penn’s ongoing Campaign initiative to Expand Student Opportunities. Lo will be tasked with supporting a central home where low-income and first-generation undergraduate students can form a community, learn about resources, and connect with faculty and alumni. He will direct funds raised through the Campaign to endow additional grant-based financial aid for these students, and institutionalize resources to prepare, support and retain them.
In his new role alongside faculty directors Camille Charles and Robert Ghrist, Lo will provide a strategic vision for the Office of Penn First Plus Students and make connections between the numerous Penn programs, initiatives, and resources that already serve this cohort.
“Marc is a highly experienced expert in undergraduate student learning and development,” said Provost Wendell Pritchett, noting that his scholarship focuses on how personal backgrounds inform the ways students choose to engage with their campus communities.
A first-generation undergraduate student himself, Lo went on to earn his Ph.D. in higher and postsecondary education. His combination of personal experience, professional expertise, and research on the links between student identity, learning, and campus life make him uniquely qualified to lead the newly created Office. Filling the position marks a significant step toward the University’s goal of increasing access for low-income students, not just into the University itself, but to the full student experience at Penn.
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