Dean reviews ready to begin

Reappointments expected Editor's Note: This is one of several stories focusing on the four graduate deans. Today's story centers on Law School Dean Colin Diver. Four graduate school deans are up for review this year and a recommendation of reappointment is expected for each. Law School Dean Colin Diver, Annenberg School for Communication Dean Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Dental School Dean Raymond Fonesca and Medical School Dean William Kelley will be judged by faculty members and students on their performances within the coming months. According to the Handbook for Faculty and Academic Administrators, a review committee is established in the sixth year of a dean's initial term if a reappointment of more than two years is considered. Executive Assistant to the Provost Linda Koons said she does not expect any difficulties for the deans. "I can't imagine that any of these are going to be bad reviews," she said. Diver said he does not anticipate problems in the process, as long as the president and provost want the Law School to continue on its current track. "If they're basically interested in the direction we've been going, then it seems to me it should be smooth sailing," he said. Diver said he hopes to increase the amount of publicity the school receives. After focusing for the last five or six years on improving the Law School's quality, he said he now hopes to work to make the school's reputation match its accomplishments. "I think we're trying to increase the effectiveness of our communications and our marketing because we're better than the world recognizes," he said. Several law students seemed quite pleased with Diver's performance. Chuck Connolly, a third-year Law student, praised the dean. "I think he's done a really good job," he said. "I've worked with him on a couple committees, and with the journal that I'm working on now?he's been open to me as a student." Last year, Connolly served on the committee to select a new dean of admissions for the school. "I was very impressed with [Diver] in that and his goal of trying to improve the Law School and searching for the best candidate," he said. Law School student body President Alan Reifenberg said he thinks Diver's "greatest accomplishment has been his fundraising." Reifenberg, like several students, commented on the school's new law library in Tanenbaum Hall, which was dedicated on Oct. 14, 1993 during a ceremony that included a speech by U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno. "I think it's extremely impressive that he was able to do this in very hard economic times, because this is a tremendous resource for the student body," said Reifenberg, a third-year Law student. "We have a cutting edge library, and that affects the day-in and day-out life of every law student." Jared Silverman, a second-year Law student and a member of the school's Council of Student Representatives, said he likes the direction in which the Law School is going. "I think that the dean has done a fantastic job at the Law School," he said. "He has a real vision for the Law School, where he wants it to be, and I think that's demonstrated through his hard work in raising money and seeing through the construction of the new library." Second-year Law student Jim Rollins said Diver has worked on expanding the size of the school's faculty. He said the dean "pulled off a major coup" in getting Geoffrey Hazard, the head of the American Law Institute, from the Yale University Law School. Ned Kase, a third-year Law student, was less enthusiastic than other students about Diver's performance. "The job of the dean of a law school, as I understand it, is to get money for the school," he said, "and to the extent that we have a brand new library, it looks like he's partially successful." He added, though, that the school "could use better teachers and more books." The committees that will review Diver and the other three deans will consist of four faculty members from within each school and four outside faculty members chosen by the president and provost. In addition, students select two of their peers to serve on the committee. The faculty members chosen by the Law School are Steven Burbank, Regina Austin, Eric Posner and Michael Fitts.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.