Chosorow passed over for presidency at U. of Arizona, will remain at Penn

Provost Stanley Chodorow was a finalist for the presidency of the University of Arizona in July, but he was not chosen to head the school and will instead remain at Penn this year. The Arizona post is the third top position for which Chodorow has been a finalist in the past year. In November, he was up for the presidency of the University of Michigan, and in March, he was a finalist in the search for a new chancellor at the University of California at Los Angeles. Both schools chose other candidates. In lieu of Chodorow, the Arizona Board of Regents unanimously approved Lehigh University President Peter Likins as the 18th president of the university. A 23-person search committee chose Likins, Chodorow and Kent State University President Carol Cartwright as finalists from a pool of over 100 candidates for the position. After the finalists interviewed with the search committee and meet with Arizona students, faculty and staff in the last week of the search, the committee forwarded all three names to the regents. But Cartwright withdrew her name from consideration, citing unfinished business at Kent State. Chodorow explained that he did not apply for the job, but instead agreed to participate in the search process because of the quality of the institution. "The University of Arizona is one of the major public research universities in the country," Chodorow said. "It is an honor to considered for their presidency, and I believe that it is because I am provost of Penn that the committee is so interested in me." He voiced similar sentiments after learning he would not receive the Michigan or UCLA positions last academic year. Top administrators at respected universities frequently make the "short list" in presidential searches without having applied, so the interest in Chodorow does not necessarily indicate that he wants to leave Penn. Chodorow has already served three years as provost in University President Judith Rodin's administration. Few recent Penn provosts have stayed here longer than four or five years. At Arizona, the faculty and student body seemed pleased with the choice. "I believe Peter Likins will be one of the most extraordinary presidents the University of Arizona has ever had," Arizona Regent John Munger said. Arizona senior Jonathan Schmitt, who served on the search committee, said he felt Likins was more willing to reach out to students than the other candidates. "From a student's perspective, Likins is a true communicator," he said. Schmitt and other student members of the search committee conducted a survey which revealed that Arizona students wanted their next president to me more accessible than outgoing President Manuel Pacheco, who is leaving to assume leadership of the University of Missouri system. Likins said he was eager to take over the post. "I'm just pumped. I haven't had such a sense of exhilaration in a long time," he said. "I'm ready to take on a whole new set of challenges and the University of Arizona is the perfect place for me to do that." Likins holds a bachelor's degree in civil engineering and a doctorate in engineering mechanics from Stanford University and a master's degree in civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Before joining Lehigh in 1982, Likins served as provost of Columbia University, where he was also dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science.