Stetson Departure | Qualities for new dean make for specific search pool

Though officials are advertising far and wide for a new dean of admissions, Penn probably knows exactly the type of person it's looking for.

After former Dean of Admissions Lee Stetson's controversial resignation in August, the University now has to fill the shoes of one of the most respected figures in the admissions world.

And executive search firms say Penn will likely look to the University's peer institutions for Stetson's replacement, recruiting second- and third-ranking officials in those offices.

Paula Fazli, a principal at Sage Search Partners, said familiarity with the Ivy League's need-blind admissions process would be essential for any candidate.

And while the new dean only handles undergraduates, Stephen Peeps, a partner at search firm Heidrick & Struggles, said Penn's status as a research university require a different skill set than someone who has only worked at a small liberal-arts college.

"If I'm seeking the dean of admissions at Penn, I'm looking for someone who . works with graduate [students] and faculty," Peeps said. "I wouldn't want to pick someone whose admissions had been strictly undergraduate liberal arts."

That means the candidates Penn is targeting might not be the same people who would respond to the advertisements the University has placed in publications like The New York Times and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

"The people who respond to ads are people looking for jobs. The people looking for jobs are generally not the ones you want. They're looking because they don't have a job," Peeps said.

That's where Witt/Kieffer, the firm Penn hired to conduct the search, comes in.

"A search firm has an active search" and will go out and recruit people it thinks will fit the criteria set out by Penn, said George Rent, a founding principal of Rent Consulting.

Fazli agreed, saying that it's the search firm's job to find people who both aren't initially interested in the position and also people who are interested but "don't want to show their cards right off the bat" by submitting a resume for consideration.

Witt/Kieffer will do this by drawing on its connections in the higher-education world to solicit candidates through networking, Peeps said.

"I would identify institutions across the country that are at or pretty close to the quality of [Penn] and drill down to see who their dean is and who's on their staff," he said. "You do a combination of targeting organizations where you're likely to find the kind of person [you want], and you network with the people you know."

Witt/Kieffer declined to comment for this article, citing a policy against discussing ongoing searches.

But the company will be especially important because Penn, as a nonprofit, will be conducting a much different search than, say, a multinational corporation looking for a new CEO.

Whereas a company in the private sector could woo candidates with hefty compensation packages, the search for a job at Penn is much more delicate, requiring a "cultural fit" with the University, said Allison Kupfer of search firm Isaacson, Miller.

Thus, Witt/Kieffer will serve as an essential "neutral broker" between the committee at Penn charged with leading the search and potential candidates, determining what person would fit the University's mission.

The search will also have to take into consideration a wider variety of constituencies than at a private company.

At a large corporation, the wishes of a company's board of directors are the ones that matter, while a successful search in the nonprofit world requires an open process that welcomes the input of various parts of the University - from faculty to the athletic department.

Regardless, the new dean of admissions will have large shoes to fill as Stetson was widely recognized as one of the top admissions deans in the country.

He resigned mysteriously at the beginning of the semester, and both he and Penn President Amy Gutmann have refused to divulge the reasons behind his departure.

Gutmann will only say that it was in the "best interests" of both Stetson and the University and has refused numerous requests to clarify this statement.

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