EDITORIAL: Congratulations, Dean Farrington

Penn will miss Engineering Dean Gregory Farrington when he takes the helm at Lehigh. As we congratulate Farrington on his appointment as president of Lehigh University, we fervently hope that his replacement follows Farrington's lead closely in his or her attempt to fill the current dean's shoes. Among Farrington's many accomplishments, the one that stands out the most is his dedication to students. Beginning in 1993 with his "Operation Chili" program that brought freshmen to professors' houses for dinner, Farrington has consistently proven that he cares about building strong student-faculty relationships. Since then, he has gone out of his way to make himself available to students -- especially freshmen -- and even lived in the Van Pelt College House for three days as part of the Distinguished Penn Citizens in Residence Program. In his nearly two decades at the University, Farrington has been responsible for instituting and overseeing major changes that have made him an indisputable asset to Penn. Applications in the Engineering School are up 60 percent, there are four new masters' programs, the school's endowment has tripled and the Farrington is responsible for record-breaking Engineering School fundraising. Just this year, Farrington worked with the deans of the Annenberg School for Communication and the Graduate School of Fine Arts to create the Digital Media Design dual degree program -- the University's first to combine classes from three schools. And following University President Judith Rodin's release of the Agenda for Excellence, Farrington oversaw the hiring of the Engineering School's first two black professors. In addition to his strong people skills, Farrington has done a great deal to advance the Engineering School's reputation. For example, the Roy and Diana Vagelos Laboratories of the Institute of Advanced Science and Technology opened during his tenure as dean, creating state-of-the-art laboratory space for Chemical Engineering. We have no doubt that Farrington's influence will be just as great at Lehigh as it has been at Penn. And we can only hope that the next dean demonstrates an equal level of dedication and ability.