Former interim JIO departs U.

After serving for a year as Interim Judicial Inquiry Officer and before that as an assistant dean in the Annenberg School, Catherine Schifter has left the University. Schifter said Sunday that she withdrew her nomination for the permanent JIO post in the spring. "I decided it was not a career move for me," she said. But although the new permanent JIO, Steven Blum, will not begin work until October 13, Schifter left her position June 30. According to Associate Vice Provost for University Life Larry Moneta, Schifter was not expected to stay any longer. "She was only on board for one year," he said. "That was from the get-go." Schifter did not return to her former post at Annenberg because, she said, the position has been eliminated. "The [Annenberg] position does not exist anymore," she said. "That decision was made in January and was based strictly on economic reasons." Annenberg Dean Kathleen Hall Jamieson said that although there are still assistant deans at Annenberg, "the position that [Schifter] occupied does not exist any longer" due to a consolidation process in the school. Moneta, Schifter's direct supervisor when she was interim JIO, said Schifter's failure to return to Annenberg had "nothing to do with" her term as interim JIO. He added that Schifter "was not encouraged to withdraw" her candidacy for permanent JIO. Schifter said this weekend that while she viewed her interim JIO role as a "phenomenal opportunity to work with the ... division of University Life," she thinks the job could use some changes. "The position [of JIO] is probably the least valued, least understood and potentially the most difficult position on that campus," she said. "It will always be a no-win position but I think that it could be made better." Schifter was credited by both Moneta and Vice Provost for University Life Kim Morrisson as being a key figure in "opening up the lines of communication" between the JIO's office and campus publications such as the Daily Pennsylvanian and Almanac. Schifter said that communicating with the student body is essential. "I tried to be very open with the DP," she said. "I may not have always come across that way, but I really felt that the office had an opportunity to be more open and to provide more information. That was important for me to do." Schifter said she is currently looking for a new job, possibly at the University. "I am actively looking to find a position where I can best use my skills to help an organization grow," she said. "With a lot of luck, I might be back at Penn where I would honestly love to be."

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