Rodin returns to U. after visits to capitals

University President Judith Rodin will be back at work in her College Hall office today, following meetings with elected officials in both Harrisburg and Washington last week. Rodin traveled to Harrisburg on Thursday to meet with Governor Tom Ridge and other members of the Keystone Committee, an advisory body composed of civic leaders from across the state. Ridge created the Keystone Committee before he took office. Its task is to examine policy reforms that have been successfully implemented in other states. The Committee will conduct study missions to these states with the intention of using their innovative ideas to solve Pennsylvania's problems. The experts serving on the Committee were drawn from business, policy and academic circles across Pennsylvania. They represent professions ranging from banking to law and hold positions in private corporations and the public sector. At Thursday's meeting, each Committee member selected the states and policy areas he or she will focus on during the body's term. According to Vice President for Government and Community Relations Carol Scheman, Rodin will work with two Keystone subcommittees -- one dealing with economic development and education in South Carolina, and the other studying economic development, education and health care in Massachusetts. Rodin said she picked South Carolina and Massachusetts because both states have been heavily impacted by changes in education and health care policy that have the potential to affect Pennsylvania and the University as well. "I chose the states [and] areas where I feel I have the greatest expertise and the most to offer the Committee," she said. On Friday, Rodin was in Washington, where she had planned to meet with members of Pennsylvania's Senatorial delegation. But the threat of this winter's first big snowstorm led many public officials to clear out of the capital early, forcing many cancellations, Rodin said. "It's very frustrating," she said. "I'm going to reschedule -- we got a few things accomplished but not as much as I would've liked." Rodin said she plans to make up the missed meetings as soon as possible.