Sun appointed to Wharton post

Greenfield Intercultural Center Interim Director Joseph Sun is the new director of academic affairs for the Wharton School's undergraduate division, Vice Dean of Wharton Janice Bellace announced yesterday. Sun will begin work at Wharton on July 1, a day after his term as interim GIC director ends. "I am absolutely ecstatic about this opportunity," Sun said yesterday. "I'm looking forward to the challenge of providing service to the undergraduate student population and in particular, working with students from the Wharton School." In accepting the prestigious Wharton position, Sun turned down another offer -- to become the GIC's permanent director. Associate Vice Provost for University Life Larry Moneta, who offered Sun the GIC position, said "an offer had been made but he received another offer and he took it." "It's not something I could compete with -- it's a much higher position," he said. Moneta added that he "will not be offering the position to anyone else that came from this pool." "There's some good candidates but no one who could really take the GIC the next leap forward as many of us had proposed," Moneta said. "Joe was certainly the person to do that." Sun was the top contender for both positions, and took several weeks to decide on which was right for him. "The opportunity to return to an administrative post in an academic setting reflects my own professional interests much more so than working within the context of student affairs," he said. Sun, who has also served as an assistant dean for advising in the College of Arts and Sciences, will take the position of Elizabeth Bennett, the current director of academic affairs for Wharton's undergraduate division. Bennett is moving to Chapel Hill, N.C. because her husband received a professorship at Duke University. Bellace said the Wharton School is happy to have Sun as its newest administrator. "I'm very excited -- he's extremely talented and has had a broad background at Penn, which will be very useful to him at this particular position," she said. "I think the combination of his skills and talents and background and his track record are really quite outstanding, and?I'm glad we were able to attract him to Wharton." Sun will help design and implement academic curriculum policy, initiate and support study abroad opportunities and oversee all undergraduate academic advising. Moneta said he now plans to "seek out another interim director" while he conducts a second search for a permanent one. "I'm very optimistic that given the second opportunity we'll identify some other people," he said. "It's too important of a position to hire someone who I don't think will be a good candidate." Sun said he felt proud of his accomplishments at the GIC this year, especially being able to "help put GIC back onto the map in students' lives." He added that he leaves with "every expectation that the Vice Provost's office will come through [with another GIC director] for the students."