Search narrows for new College dean

School of Arts and Sciences Dean Rosemary Stevens said last night she hopes to meet with a prospective candidate for the deanship of the College of Arts and Sciences in the near future. College Dean Matthew Santirocco announced last month that he will leave the University this summer to become dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at New York University. Stevens said she has been soliciting suggestions from student groups, such as the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education and the Dean's Advisory Board. She has also spoken with various faculty members, College advisors and administrators. The dean search has been limited to full professors in SAS, she said, adding that she hopes the search will be over "as soon as possible." "I'm going to spend the next week or so branching out as widely as possible, giving everybody an opportunity [to speak] about the role of associate dean and about [candidate requests]," Stevens said last week. "It is important that we get exactly the right person." Stevens said she has been looking for someone to continue the "strengthening" that has occurred in the College under Santirocco. "I would like to see the College take a more central role in undergraduate education at Penn as a whole," she added. SCUE President and Engineering junior Matthew Kratter said he is confident Stevens will make a wise choice to fill the spot vacated by Santirocco. "We've had sort of a model of what the associate dean of the College should be," Kratter said last night. "[Stevens] and [SCUE] have the same image." Kratter added that SCUE submitted a recommendation list with about 30 candidates on it, but he could not recall any of them last night. "Two years ago, at least three people from SCUE specifically picked Santirocco," Kratter said. Kim Van Naarden, chairperson of the Dean's Advisory Board, said a list of recommendations was submitted to Stevens by her organization. She refused to comment on the list. David Brownlee, chairperson of the Committee on Undergraduate Education, said although Stevens had not met with CUE as a whole, she has met with individuals from the committee. Brownlee added that CUE is scheduled to meet with Stevens sometime in the next two weeks. Santirocco said last week that he is not involved with picking his replacement.

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