Engineering Dean leaves U. for top Lehigh post

Dean Greg Farrington will assume the presidency of Lehigh University in August after nearly two decades at Penn. After an exhaustive 10-month-long search for a new school president, the Engineers of Lehigh University finally have got their man: Penn's Gregory Farrington, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Ron Ulrich, chairperson of Lehigh's board of trustees, announced the hiring of Farrington one week ago at a noon press conference in the Bethlehem, Pa., campus' Alumni Memorial Building. "So many people throughout the Lehigh community worked diligently for months to find just the right person to lead our university," Ulrich said. "It's a great pleasure for me to report that we have succeeded." Farrington, 51, will take office on August 15 as the 12th president in Lehigh's 122-year history. He replaces Interim President William Hittinger, who has served since August 1997. Hittinger, the former chairperson of Lehigh's board of trustees, came in as a replacement for former President Peter Likins, who left Lehigh to assume the top job at the University of Arizona -- a position for which former Penn Provost Stanley Chodorow was a finalist. Farrington said he was excited about the opportunity to face "new people, new challenges, new problems [and] new opportunities" at Lehigh. "The more I saw of Lehigh, the more I was impressed by it," he said. "It is poised for some very fine growth and intellectual leadership." Farrington, a materials science and engineering professor, found Lehigh -- a school noted for its engineering program -- a perfect match. He emphasized Lehigh's strength in science and engineering, but added that he was drawn by its current growth in the arts and humanities. "I didn't want to head a solely technological institution," he noted. Farrington said he was impressed by almost everything on Lehigh's campus, from the school's endowment to the house where he will live as president. "Most importantly, they offered me a job," he joked. The level of competition for the Lehigh presidency was high. The 12-member selection committee -- composed of faculty, students and administrators -- reviewed more than 175 candidates and conducted dozens of formal interviews. Farrington said he was first approached by the committee in late January. "We found him very impressive indeed," Hittinger said, citing Farrington's charm, leadership and "sound sense of judgment." Members of the University community said Farrington will be sorely missed. "Greg has been a great colleague, a great Penn citizen and a great dean of SEAS," University President Judith Rodin said in a written statement. "His bold, innovative vision for the School will continue to guide us into the next century. He is a wonderful choice for Lehigh and we will miss him very much." Among Farrington's colleagues in the Engineering School, his departure served as a point of humor and sadness. "Lehigh has exquisitely good taste," Associate Dean Dwight Jaggard said. "It will be our loss." Farrington told the Engineering School faculty of his decision to leave only hours before the official announcement at Lehigh. According to Associate Dean John Vohs, Farrington told the school's deans and department chairs the day before the press conference. A professor at Penn since 1979 and the Engineering School's dean since 1990, Farrington reflected on his successes from the last eight years. "My major accomplishment has been the consistent, steady, year-after-year hiring of the finest faculty available," he said. "That's the best accomplishment one can think of." By the numbers, Farrington's term as dean has resulted in major improvements in the Engineering School. Since 1990, applications to the school have increased 60 percent, four new master's programs have been created, the size of the school's endowment has tripled and the number of fully endowed professorships has doubled. Additionally, Farrington helped the school to a record fundraising year in 1997, 20 percent above the school's goal. However, Farrington's colleagues at both Penn and Lehigh praised him most profusely for integrating the Engineering School into the rest of the University. Through interdisciplinary, dual-degree and submatriculation programs, students can now combine their Engineering studies with work in seven of Penn's 11 other undergraduate, graduate and professional schools. "It's been an interesting, fascinating, creative, amazing eight years," Farrington said. The process of finding a new dean for Engineering could easily take until next summer, University officials said. Farrington said he will meet with Rodin sometime this week to discuss plans for succession. An interim dean will be appointed shortly and a search committee for the new dean will convene by the fall. Farrington was confident that this time of change will not be disruptive for the school. "Transitions like this are easier if the person who's leaving has been in office a long time," he said. "When transitions become disruptive is when they happen so quickly." Farrington said he hopes his successor would have a "strong commitment to excellence in everything." "I would hope the new dean understands the particular opportunities of a school of engineering within a broader University of Pennsylvania," he said. Preparing to leave the presidency at Lehigh, Hittinger has full confidence in the abilities of his successor to follow the school's "aggressive" path of growth. "It's a task that will take a pretty good university, like Lehigh already is, and make it better," he said.

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