Wedding bells to ring in near future for President-elect Rodin

President-elect Judith Rodin will marry Paul Verkuil, president of the American Automobile Association, in New York on April 30, Rodin confirmed yesterday. Rumors about Rodin's marriage have been circulating within the University community for the past month, but Rodin has refused to comment previously about her matrimonial plans. Rodin, who is divorced and has an 11-year old son, said that her impending marriage is "a non-Penn event." "I will look forward to the Penn community getting to know him and him getting to know the Penn community in time," she said referring to Verkuil. In addition to being president of AAA, Verkuil is the former president of William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Va., and a well-respected expert in administrative law. Prior to serving as William and Mary's president, Virkuil was dean of Tulane University's Law School and a law professor at the University of North Carolina. While at Tulane, Virkuil became friendly with former University President Sheldon Hackney, who was then Tulane's president. Virkuil is recently divorced and has a 16-year old son who is currently attending Lawrenceville, a prep school in New Jersey. Virkuil could not be reached for comment last night. Rodin, who noted she has no plans to change her last name, said she is very excited about her upcoming marriage and her new family. She added that while she and her son Alex will move into Eisenlohr -- the University's presidential mansion on Walnut Street -- during the last week of June, Virkuil will not come to live with her until September. "Eventually, he will arrive and there will be two teenage boys in the house," Rodin said. Rodin's mother, Sally Seitz of Philadelphia, said Monday night that she is very excited for her daughter and glad that Rodin would soon be moving back to the city. Rodin said she decided to get married in New York because "it is central place for our friends who are spread out all across the country." Rodin yesterday downplayed any role her marriage plans may have had in her decision to step-down early from her current position as Yale University provost. "I did want a little time to take a honeymoon and decompress," Rodin said. But she added that her marriage was only a marginal factor in her decision. While visiting campus last Friday, Rodin said she plans to leave the Yale provostship early because her successor, Alison Richards, was appointed from within Yale, and will therefore take less time to adjust to her new post. Rodin said that after stepping-down, she plans to spend time working on her transition to the University and closing her psychology research laboratory in New Haven. Yesterday, Rodin said she will take a week off after her wedding for a honeymoon, but will then get back to working on her transition. She said she could not move to Philadelphia earlier than the last week in June because her son does not finish school until late that month. Rodin said she will be back on campus for more meetings with senior administrators at the end of this week. When she assumes office on July 1, she will become the Ivy League's first permanent female president.