When Lurch the butler answers the door at the home of The Addams Family, it is College Hall that you see.
Cartoonist and Penn alumnus Charles Addams is said to have used College Hall as his inspiration for the mansion of the Addams Family. And just as College Hall served as the home for the Addams family, it also serves as a home base for School of Arts and Sciences Dean Rebecca Bushnell.
Her job includes overseeing the College, the graduate division, and the College of General Studies.
Since she began working at Penn in 1982, she has moved from solely teaching as an English professor, to the associate dean of Arts and Letters for SAS, to her current position.
"I love the intellectual diversity of my job. I love that I get to talk to social scientists, poets and economists," Bushnell said. Bushnell, who has been dean for 10 years, was also involved with the creation of the Penn Humanities Forum, an integrated program of research, teaching, and interchange with the Penn community.
"I participated in the creation of it, overseeing the forum. Now its just one of the 30 centers of the School of Arts and Sciences," she said.
Originally from New Jersey, Bushnell attended Swarthmore College for her undergraduate studies and obtained her Ph.D. from Princeton University.
As Bushnell is a literature professor, she enjoys reading English renaissance and classic literature. For fun, she enjoys reading mystery and history novels. Her musical tastes include Bob Dylan's album "Blonde on Blonde" and her favorite Dylan song, "Like a Rolling Stone."
Although she says she has little free time, Bushnell makes good use of it.
"I love to spend time with my family, especially my two daughters. One just turned 23 and the other is 19. I love to talk to them and hang out with them," she said.
Five years from now, Bushnell still sees herself at Penn, a place she said she truly loves.
Her advice to students: "Find a way in life to find something you really do feel passionate about. I can't believe I found a job I love. A job I wake up to every day and can't believe I am getting paid to do."
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