Editorial: Speed up the SAS dean search

Scheduling delays during the summer have kept the SAS search committee from choosing a new dean for the school. And while the SAS search committee is probably carefully examining each candidate, they simply need to do so a little faster. When former Dean Rosemary Stevens stepped down last September, a new dean was expected to be in place by this summer. However, scheduling conflicts during the summer slowed the search. But now that the fall semester is in full force, the committee should meet regularly and often in order to choose a candidate. Even though the slow dean search is not explicitly hurting the school, it can't be beneficial not to have a permanent leader. And the lack of an SAS dean is holding up the appointment of a new College head. The school has several issues it needs to resolve and while an interim dean is at the helm, significant work on the budget deficit and goals in the Agenda for Excellence are progressing slowly. A new dean would be able to better shape the direction of where the school is going under the University's long-term plan -- whether that person is from Penn or from another institution. It is also not fair to Interim SAS Dean Walter Wales or to current College Dean Robert Rescorla to keep them in their current positions when they want to return to teaching. Both are excellent professors -- Wales in physics and Rescorla in psychology -- who had hoped to be in the classroom this semester. It is important the SAS search committee choose the right dean to succeed Stevens and not let this search drag on for another year. But for now, the school will remain without two of its top administrators, and students can only hope that appointments will be made soon.