Bushnell set for College takeover

Under the sunlit, airy and high ceilings of her College Hall office sits Rebecca Bushnell, the next dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

With the new position, Bushnell will not only receive a new office and nameplate, but also the challenge of heading Penn's largest undergraduate community base.

"I'm really ready to take this on -- I'm very excited," Bushnell said.

Although apprehensive at first about accepting the new position, Bushnell has agreed to take over in July, after current College Dean Richard Beeman steps down from his administrative post to pursue a year-long visiting professorship at Oxford University.

Although she currently sits behind a shining, cherry wood administrator's desk, her experience at Penn is not limited to an administrative role. While she has served as associate dean for the past five years, Bushnell has spent most of her career in the front of lecture halls.

From her intensive teaching work, the future College dean has garnered such accolades as the National Endowment for the Humanities Teaching with Technology grant and the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching.

"In my 20 years at Penn, I've taught... every possible kind of student from freshman writing courses to graduate courses," Bushnell said.

"My experience in teaching here is probably the most important thing I've done."

Bushnell first lectured at Penn in 1982 after receiving her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Princeton University.

In 1984, she was appointed assistant professor.

She received tenure in 1990 and became a full professor in 1995.

Over the years, as her administrative duties have increased, Bushnell has continued teaching. After accepting her new position in July, she plans to instruct at least one English course per year at Penn, as well as continue her role as freshman adviser for students in the pilot curriculum.

Nicolas Walters -- a College freshman and one of Bushnell's advisees -- explains that she has helped guide him in his course choices without pushing him away from the path of study he decided to pursue before he even arrived at Penn.

"I think she's been excellent -- she's helped me to focus my interests on what I want to study."

While the majority of her career in academia has been spent studying modern English literature, culture and history, Bushnell explains that she is not short on experience in the administrative realm.

In addition to her years as associate dean, she has served as chairwoman of the School of Arts and Sciences Committee on Undergraduate Education and was the director of the Presidential Commission on Strengthening the Community from 1993 to 1994.

"In my administration experience I have really been around the block," the future dean said, adding, "I feel I really know this institution at this point."

Bushnell will transition from her current post's primary focus on the humanities to a wider concentration on the entirety of undergraduate education.

With her broadening horizons, she hopes to further develop Penn's writing program, build more cultural competency into foreign language instruction and further emphasize the need for integrity within both the academic and everyday life of students.

In addition, Bushnell she has visions of increasing student involvement in research in the humanities and social sciences.

The future dean explains that while student-faculty research experiences are "very labor intensive," she notes that such interaction is frequently cited by graduates as the most valuable time spent during undergraduate education.

Although no plans have been made on how to foster increased research experience and participation, Bushnell described her hope that students might achieve this goal by using Philadelphia as a humanities and social sciences resource.

"I would like to see [students] working on internship projects and curatorships in all the local museums and the libraries and in social service agencies," Bushnell said.

Bushnell says that she will miss aspects of her current position, such as her strong and consistent interaction with faculty and department chairs, but adds that she is greatly looking forward to "having a chance to work with and talk to people about teaching and education" as the new College dean.

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