Faculty of Arts & Science dean Antonio Merlo will step down from his position to serve as the president of Drexel University after this academic year. Announced in a January memo from President Linda Mills and Provost Georgina Dopico, the move concludes Merlo’s almost six years in the position, and a total of 12 years at NYU in the roles of administrator, tenured economics and politics professor and GSAS student.
In an interview with WSN, Merlo reflected on his career as an economist — and as a water polo coach — his accomplishments at NYU and future at Drexel.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
WSN: What brought you to serve as the Faculty of Arts & Science dean at NYU?
Merlo: This opportunity presented itself as something that was very close to my heart, because NYU is the university that changed the trajectory of my life. None of what happened in my life would have been possible without NYU opening the door for me. As a political economist, I always viewed universities as a microcosm of any large complex organization that politics play a role in. Over the years, I took more and more responsibilities and experienced various types of academic administration positions. Coming back to my alma mater in a job that really allowed me to lead the academic unit that made me who I am was truly exciting for me.
After growing up in Italy, Merlo attended NYU on a scholarship as a first-generation college student, earning a Ph.D. in economics and the Dean’s Outstanding Dissertation Award in 1992. For the next 27 years, Merlo served as a leading economics professor and researcher at various U.S. universities including the University of Minnesota, NYU, the University of Pennsylvania and Rice University, where he was also the dean of the School of Social Sciences.
In 2019, Merlo was tapped to head NYU’s Arts & Science unit — the largest at the university which encompasses the Graduate School of Arts & Science, Liberal Studies and College of Arts & Science. Administrators had emphasized Merlo’s familiarity with the university and numerous awards and scholarly publications on his research in political economic analysis, empirical microeconomics and the bargaining theory.
WSN: What were your proudest achievements in this role?
Merlo: Number one, the fact that we were able to attract and recruit so many new faculty members. So during my tenure as dean, we hired 120 new faculty in the tenure and tenure track, ranked across all of the departments of arts and science. Second, the ability to retain the faculty that we have is something that I’m very proud of. Another area is that we increased the volume of research that is done within arts and science. The fact that we were able to find a new home for the College of Arts and Science — the brand new building — and also the Goddard building, which is going to be housing the Department of Sociology and Department of Environmental Studies. Those are all the things I’m very proud that we were able to do.
During his time at NYU, Merlo established the Arts & Science Office of Research in 2021 and helped expand research funding from $300 million in 2018 to $450 million in 2023. He said that before this expansion, the school had a decentralized grant application process where faculty would apply for it independently and that research was heavily skewed toward STEM majors. This project created more research opportunities for students and faculty in the humanities and social sciences, such as the $2.5 million research that allowed an anthropology professor to study how indigenous communities can reclaim control over their cultural heritage.
As an educator, Merlo also fostered his lifelong passion for water polo at numerous institutions. He launched NYU’s water polo program and served as the team’s head coach while pursuing his Ph.D., and continued to work as the head water polo coach at UPenn and Rice. Merlo is a three-time winner of the Collegiate Water Polo Association’s Coach of the Year award, and spoke of his experiences with the sport as a way to interact with students outside of the classrooms.
WSN: Why did you decide to lead Drexel as its next president?
Merlo: Drexel now is where NYU was a few years ago, and they share a lot of things in common. They are both urban universities without closed campuses and universities that come from humble beginnings. Drexel is so committed to educating students that deserve to be admitted regardless of their socioeconomic background — it admits more first-generation students than any private university in the Northeast. It’s really committed to being an engine of social mobility, which is something that is very close to my heart, exactly the same way that NYU was.
Merlo will begin his tenure at Drexel on July 1, following the board of trustees’ six-month-long search for the school’s next president. In a memo to the Drexel community, Merlo said that he aims to further the university’s Drexel 2030 plan — which focuses on expanding the university’s transdisciplinary research, fostering scholarly partnerships across Greater Philadelphia and cultivating an inclusive and unbiased culture for students.
The FAS dean said that he views this transition as a natural progression in his career, describing it as “more of a pull than a push.” Although Merlo considered staying at NYU for several more years, he ultimately accepted Drexel’s offer to serve as president because it spoke to his values as a first-generation college student with a passion for urban universities.
WSN: How do you feel about this transition?
Merlo: People always say it’s bittersweet. I loved every minute of my experiences as a dean here at NYU. I loved the faculty and the students, so I would bring this with me everywhere I go. At the same time, I’m excited about the new opportunity especially because Drexel really stands for many of the same values that NYU has throughout its history. So I’m looking forward to interacting with the students at Drexel in many different ways and be there to cheer and support them as they go through all of the wonderful experiences.
Contact Amanda Chen at [email protected].
