When Stanley Chodorow met Judith Rodin last April, he was pleased to discover that they had a similar set of goals for the future of the University. "We had a lot in common, but were not exactly alike," he said. "In a way, we complimented each other in our differences. And one year later, both Provost Chodorow and University President Rodin feel that they have been a productive team. "I think in terms of the goals that we set for our administrative team in the first year, we have moved forward on many of them," Rodin said. The first goal they set out to achieve was to implement the recommendations of the Commission on Strengthening the Community, a project launched by the previous administration aiming to improve many aspects of University life. The Commission's report, which was released last April, included recommendations on housing Greek life and relations between faculty, students and staff. Rodin said that most of the Commission's 60 recommendations had been put in place by January. "We felt very strongly that the work that was begin last year was important and that it galvanized the interest and intention of faculty and students and staff in a very significant way," she said. Rodin added that the administration took this project so seriously because they felt they could make a "bigger and stronger Penn" by implementing as many of the Commission's suggestions as possible. The first project that the Rodin-Chodorow administration initiated on its own was the Provost Council on Undergraduate Education's creation of a model for the 21st Century Undergraduate Experience. Chaired by Chodorow, PCUE -- comprised of nine subcommittees of students, faculty and staff -- released phase one of its proposal in May. Phase two will organize and monitor the progress of the present committees. "The 21st Century project for the undergraduate experience is at full steam," University spokesperson Barbara Beck said. "Indeed, some projects will begin on a pilot basis next year." Chodorow explained that one of PCUE's objectives is to create an environment that prepares students for success, in addition to making the University a more comfortable, fun and effective place for students. "We want students to look back two years down, five years down, 12 years down, 30 years down and say, 'I am what I am because Penn really made a contribution to my being, and God was that fun,'" he said. Following the shocking off-campus murder of Al-Moez Alimohamed in August, the University went to work to increase the level of safety on and off campus. Rodin said the University has also been concerned with improving its relations with the immediate community. In February, Rodin unveiled a master safety plan for the University, designed to increase security both on and off campus. The plan included the construction of five security kiosks placed at strategic points running through the center of campus and heavily travelled off-campus streets, creating a series of Community Walks. The new administration also tried to keep student charges as low as possible for the upcoming year. And they were successful -- the University experienced the lowest percentage increase tuition and room and board in 20 years, as well as the lowest increase in the Ivy League. "We wanted to signal to students and to the families that we do understand that the costs of higher education have been escalating enormously, and that we intend to do our part at Penn to manage our resources well and to think seriously when we raise rates about what it means to the families," Rodin said. Rodin was also responsible for establishing a new leadership team this year, which included Coopers & Lybrand partner John Fry as executive vice president -- the University's top financial officer. And former Food and Drug Administrations Deputy Commissioner for External Affairs Carol Scheman was hired as vice president for government, community and public affairs -- a position created to link the University with federal, state and local governments. "I am extremely pleased with the outcome and with the commitment of the new team to Penn and where it is going," Rodin said. Along with a new team came a new approach to many old issues -- not the least of which was the idea of a student center. In January, Rodin and Chodorow scrapped year-old blueprints for the Revlon Center, which had been in the works since 1988. They replaced this with the Perelman Quadrangle, for which construction should begin in December. The project will renovate and restore Irvine Auditorium and Logan, Williams and Houston halls in order to create student offices, meeting rooms, eating and lounge areas, rehearsal and gallery space and an auditorium with variable seating arrangements. The announcement of this new center originally came a shock to many student groups that had been promised space under the Revlon Center plan. But the project has gained substantial support from members of the University community. In April, University Trustee and alumnus Ronald Perelman pledged a record $20 million to the new center, doubling his original pledge to the Revlon concept. And last month, University Trustee and alumnus Stephen Wynn committed $7.5 million to the project. Added to the $2.5 million from class gifts given during Alumni Week, the University has already raised nearly half of the $69 million cost. "In just 10 months, President Rodin has attracted several of the largest charitable gifts ever made to the University," Beck said. "And she managed to be enough of a presence on campus so that deans, faculty, students and employees are incredibly enthusiastic about her leadership." In November, Rodin was named to an independent committee to analyze security and safety at the White House. She also worked with two Keystone subcommittees, as a member of an advisory board composed of civic leaders from across the state. Rodin, who estimated in April that she spends 15 percent of an average semester away from campus, said last week that she expects to spend about the same amount of time on the road next year. But she added that she is trying to get more control over her on-campus time. "As a personal goal for next year, I really do want to continue to meet more faculty and students and staff and spend a little less time in formal meetings," Rodin said. "I think I have been out a lot, but I would like to continue that and not think, 'well gee, I did that -- that was last year.' "I get tremendous energy and ideas from being out there and really spending time with people who are part of Penn, and I want to fashion my schedule for next year in a way that continues to allow me to do that," she added. Chodorow set a similar personal goal for next year. "At mid-year, I started this program of meeting with students on a regular basis, and it worked well both for me to understand the students and for the students to understand me," he said. "And a lot of students tell me, 'you know, you are not such a bad guy.' "But I had a much harder time, and I am going to take much more time this year, getting to know the faculty," Chodorow added. Chodorow's relationship with students got off to a rocky start early in his term, when he was quoted in The Daily Pennsylvanian as saying, "The problem with student participation is that many of them don't have much time. It's not as if students are the best organized people in the world." This angered many student leaders. He admitted last week that one of the things he had to adjust to this year was the different traditions of participation and the decision-making processes adhered to by the University and University of California at San Diego, where he had been chancellor. "I didn't really know what to expect coming to a new institution," he said. "I didn't have a lot of preconceived notions, although naturally you expect things to be like what you know, and Penn is very different from UCSD." Chodorow added that he found his regular meetings with students in the spring to be "tremendously useful." "The character of someone who comes to Penn needs to be understood by someone like me," he said. And College senior and Undergraduate Assembly Chairperson Lance Rogers said that although he has not had the opportunity to work closely with the provost, he respects that Chodorow keeps an open mind. "If Provost Chodorow is set on doing something and someone comes forward, no matter who that someone is, and presents a logical argument, he will listen to that person, and in some cases even change his mind," Rogers said. Chodorow said his thoughts on undergraduate education evolved as he learned more about the University's traditions. "In the time that we worked on PCUE, I did learn the traditions and my expectations and my notion of how Penn does its undergraduate education ? changed quite a lot," he said. "It became about Penn, not about what I knew from this other institution. "And that happened in lots and lots of areas where Penn is organized so differently," Chodorow added. In particular, he discovered that the University's leadership is different from what he was used to. "Judy Rodin is a leader of a sort you come across very rarely," Chodorow said. "She has ferocious intelligence and determination to get things done that you rarely see." Another aspect of the University that surprised him was that "Penn is a place where you can actually get things done." He contrasted the University to UCSD, where every process has a procedure and everything is pinned down. "And in that kind of environment, even with the kind of drive Judy has, it takes longer," Chodorow said. "It is a very formal process. "Here, leadership has more room to move and things can happen more quickly," he added. "And Judith is exactly the right person to take advantage of that." Chodorow said he was also impressed by how much the administration was able to get done in a one year period. "Me and Judy changed the way we do our capital planning," he said. "I can't tell you how long that would take and how much consultations with state agencies that would require at UCSD. "But we were able to create a new process this year, and next year we will use that process which will make our capital projects more rational," Chodorow added. "When you think about the fact that I had to spend the first six months figuring out what the place was like before I was in a position to do something, we accomplished an enormous amount." He said that ever since the first time he came to visit the University, he has recognized the University as an institution ready for a sudden and drastic improvement. "At that point we were just coming from a billion dollar campaign, we had spectacular new resources and new energy," he said. "The little engine that could became a pretty good sized engine that could. "There was spirit, and you want to pick up on that," Chodorow added. "You don't want to pick an institution out of the gutter, you want to join it as it's starting to trot. And this institution was already at a good trot." He added that the other thing he noticed was that faculty and students "absolutely loved this place." "I thought this was a lovable institution, and I wanted to be at a lovable institution," he said. Chodorow said his goal is to make the University even more lovable. "So faculty and staff and students don't have to say, 'I love this place but?,'" he said. "They can just say 'I love this place.'" Rodin had a different feeling when she visited the campus last year because she was coming home, both to the University and to Philadelphia. She feels that her status as an alumna is an advantage for the University. "I believe and hope that it is true that it has helped me to relate to the students very well, particularly the undergraduates, because I was an undergraduate here and really do remember what it felt like," she said. And Rogers said the University was "lucky to get someone who was familiar with Penn and its traditions." Rodin said she has also been impressed by the warm feeling that people have for the University. "One of the most striking things to me is how many undergraduates stop me on campus and tell me how happy they are," she said. "And that never happened to me at Yale, and maybe I was just the provost so they didn't feel that they needed to tell the provost, but it is wonderful. It really is." Beck said Rodin is "well underway to building an efficient, well-run institution that is prospering during a time when many other universities are failing." "Time and time again this year, President Rodin demonstrated that good leadership includes teaching and learning, building relationships and influencing people, as opposed to exercising one's power," she said. Philadelphia Mayor and University alumnus Ed Rendell said Rodin has "injected new energy into Penn." "She's a great symbolic leader," he said. "But it is too early to tell whether she will make substantial changes."
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