Rodin picks provost search committee

University President Judith Rodin took the first step toward finding a new chief academic officer earlier this week, announcing the formation of a search committee to advise her on the selection of a replacement for former Provost Stanley Chodorow. The committee, a diverse group of 11 faculty members and four students chaired by Wharton Dean Thomas Gerrity, will attempt to fill the position currently held by Interim Provost Michael Wachter, a former deputy provost. Rodin is scheduled to brief the committee about its task early next week, and administrators hope to appoint a permanent provost by next summer. Yesterday, members of the committee said they were eager to begin conducting their national search. Although the committee has not yet received their instructions from Rodin, committee members already have several criteria in mind for potential candidates. Committee member and College junior Rasool Berry said he will evaluate potential candidates based on their commitment to the "rejuvenation of academic programs and the intellectual culture of Penn." The committee will consider candidates from inside the University as well as from "nationally recognized teaching and research universities across the country," Gerrity said. Rodin categorized the search as "incredibly important." "I am extremely grateful that these wonderful people have agreed to serve," she said. The last search committee charged with finding a new provost was convened in 1993. The 16-person committee took a semester to complete its search and recommended several candidates, including Chodorow, who was only the second provost chosen from outside the University. Chodorow resigned his position October 31, effective at the end of last month, to pursue the presidency of the University of Texas at Austin. UT Austin officials last month selected Larry Faulkner, former provost of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, to head the University Chodorow had previously said that he would return to teaching in Penn's History department if he wasn't selected for the UT-Austin job. Wachter took office as interim provost at the beginning of this month. The University's students will be represented on the committee by Berry, College junior Rachael Goldfarb, second-year Wharton graduate student Owen Garrick and second-year Education graduate student Sandra Tilford. The list of faculty includes English Professor Herman Beavers, Law Professors Stephen Burbank and Geoffrey Hazard, Graduate School of Education Professor Marvin Lazerson, Communications Professor Larry Gross and Chemical Engineering Professor Eduardo Glandt.