Dr. Marcus T. Wright is an award-winning leader in higher education whose professional vow is to empower and encourage every college student he encounters to the absolute best of his ability. He is dedicated to college student success, belonging, and well-being. He has taught, mentored and advised hundreds of college students at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), the Wharton School of Business, the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education (Penn GSE), Widener University, Holy Family University, the Community College of Philadelphia, and Rutgers University. His philosophy is to develop college students with the critical thinking, confidence, self-direction, and resource-seeking skills necessary for them to successfully navigate their opportunities and curate meaningful collegiate experiences. Particularly, Dr. Wright focuses on holistically developing college students to overcome personal setbacks, socioemotional challenges, and institutional obstacles. He believes that it is not enough for institutions to facilitate degree attainment; rather, he feels that educators must relentlessly impact campus culture to create environments where students feel fully human.
His current work in higher education includes growing the Sociology and Law & Society programs at Penn while advising the majors and minors; teaching leadership courses to first-year students at the Wharton School and graduate students at Widener University; and teaching courses on access and choice to graduate students at Penn GSE. Dr. Wright has helped students earn prestigious scholarships and fellowships, design original research projects, and co-author analytic papers and memos. He has also collaborated with students in program leadership and mentoring, as well as innovation across academic and co-curricular initiatives. His former students have gone on to pursue Ph.D.s, J.D.s, and M.D.s; launch non-profits; and excel in fields such as consulting, technology, marketing, government, education, and more. A champion in particular for first-generation and low-income students, Dr. Wright wholly believes in the power of higher education to transform lives.
Dr. Wright is also the author of four books. His most recent effort, Onward, Undergrad! How to Crush Self-Defeating Thoughts in College (2025) is a motivational guide to help college students overcome self-doubt and second guessing. His third book, Henry’s Hoodie! is a children’s story centering the experience of a boy who doubts whether he can do great things without his precious hoodie! Dr. Wright’s second book, Paradox of the Learning Game: The Promise and Plight of Video Games and Learning (2017) is a treatise that examines how video games can be used as powerful learning resources. His debut young adult fantasy novel, Raincloud, follows a teenage boy who must lead a powerful group of people that his city – and his father – hates. Marcus believes in the power of books; as a young boy growing up in a single-parent, poor household in North Philadelphia, he read books everyday since he was not allowed to go outside aside from school. Inspired by these books, he also wrote many stories. He credits reading and writing with “giving him life” during the turbulent times of his childhood.
Marcus graduated grade school from the historic Girard College (a 1st-12th grade private boarding school in Philadelphia for children from financially limited single-parent or guardian-led homes). He earned his undergraduate degree in Sociology from Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ), before returning to Philadelphia to start a high school sports multimedia coverage company, Varsity 365. After covering many of “the biggest games and best rivalries” in Philadelphia area high school sports, Marcus shut down Varsity 365 to return to the books. He then earned his M.S.ED. in Learning Sciences & Technologies at Penn GSE in 2014, followed by a Doctorate in Higher Education at Penn GSE in 2023. He is the co-founder of Design Meets Mind, LLC, a mental health and wellbeing practice where he provides resilience coaching for college students.
Marcus resides with his beloved wife and two children.
Press
The Story of Henry’s Hoodie, OMNIA, Penn Arts & Sciences
COVID Communications and First-Generation Students, Penn Today
Weekly Paid Professional Staff Learn Resilience Through Free, Online Opportunity, Penn Today.
Using Video Games as Tools for Learning and Education, Penn Current
The Real Mr. (W)Right Holy Family University Tri-Lite.
Dr. Marcus T. Wright 